Installing 5.1 Speaker Cables

[ukmercenary]

Hello

Me and my Dad are renovating an old house and while the ceiling is down the floor boards are accessible and the walls have not been plastered I thought it would be a good idea to run some 5.1 speaker cable around the lounge. I will pay to get someone in to do it as my Dad is getting angry as he is having to do all the work. The room is square apart from in one of the corners is the stair wall which will have all the AV Receiver in and that. I don't really want to have to get my DAD to cut out the walls again for the speaker cables but is that the best option? Is it also best to have the 5.1 speakers mounted in the top corners of the room? and should the cable run from the top of the ceiling or the bottom from the floor boards?

A wireless system would be easier but they look too expensive for me.

Cheers
Paul

 

[DeadBeat]

to be honest the position of the speakers is up to you, the audiophiles would say they have to be at ear hight, but this isnt really that practical iin some rooms, i opted for near the ceiling in my house to keep them out of harms way. in the new house im probably going to fit ceiling speakers as they are quite hidden and out of the way.

the wire can run down from the ceiling or up from the floor. it will just depend on where they are easier to run. again in my house, they all went up the wall in the corner of the room ran through the ceiling and down the walls

see here

//www.diynot.com/forums/audio-visual/router-to-cat6-network-neat-n-tidy-solutions.406356/

 

[Lucid]

The further your front three speakers are from the TV then the more disjointed the sound from the picture. This isn't being a picky "audiophile"; it's just common sense. Putting the front three speakers closer to a level line will improve the panning effects as sound moves across them. Flank the TV wioth the front speakers if you can.

Surround speakers aren't really supposed to go on the rear wall but the side walls, about inline with the seating position and at roughly 1ft (30cm) above seated ear height.

The problem with putting any speaker up high and in a corner is that there's a lot of early reflections from adjacent walls. This creates the effect of three or four sound sources all sightly out of time with each other. It's less precise, more like the effect of adding a touch of echo. It's nowhere near as pronounced as the effect of shouting in a tunnel, but it does create a reverberation which means that the speakers can't do their job as well as they should.

BTW, anybody who takes the time to consider sound and the effects of eqiuipment positioning on sound quality is, by definition, an audiophile.


Here's some images of the effect of speaker placement on front channel panning. They're followed by a couple of rooms I've done where clients were kind enough to allow me to use the photography.

 

[DeadBeat]

wasnt having a go, of course the audiophiles are not wrong. the sound will be better if you can put the speakers where they recommend, but i dont think the sound is ruined if you have to put the speakers up high because of a door or to stop you walking into them, especially if your only using cheaper hifi equipment. but as a rule follow that posted above