5.1 Surround Sound Speaker Placement

[Funky54]

This is a 17x22 room.

One wall a 22' is not there, it's open to the kitchen. Except at the back there is 3' of wall... So 19' of 22' is missing.

The listener section is about the middle of the room.

My surrounds are alon bi- or di-pole... Can't remember, but they project at 45 degrees away from each other.

Should I place the surrounds 8 to 10 feet behind the listener, on the back wall?
Or should I place them about 8' behind the listener but on the sides?

 

[Flogger59]

Dipoles should be on the side, slightly behind the listener.

 

[bluesjunior]

Here you go.
http://www.dolby.com/us/en/consumer/setup/connection-guide/home-theater-speaker-guide/index.html

 

[gtrdave]

Ideally:
http://www.thx.com/consumer/home-entertainment/home-theater/surround-sound-speaker-set-up/

But many rooms have challenging areas, like the one you're describing that you have, so you place them as close to spec as possible @ head level (again, if possible) and adjust channel levels once they're set.

 

[Two-Octave]

You shan't recover from this one.

 

[NyteOwl]

This is a 17x22 room.

One wall a 22' is not there, it's open to the kitchen. Except at the back there is 3' of wall... So 19' of 22' is missing.

The listener section is about the middle of the room.

My surrounds are alon bi- or di-pole... Can't remember, but they project at 45 degrees away from each other.

Should I place the surrounds 8 to 10 feet behind the listener, on the back wall?
Or should I place them about 8' behind the listener but on the sides?

I have a similar sized room, also with no back wall, but with a header beam running across the ceiling where the back wall would have been. Because of door and window placement on the side walls, I had to mount my L&R Surrounds on the beam - as shown in the Dolby® TrueHD Or DTS-HD Master Audio™ Set Up diagram - in place of the SBL & SBR speakers and used a Rocketfish system to avoid having to run wires from the receiver. Works for me...

 

[dohootowl]

Sigh. My 5.1 system went bye-bye. Won't regale you with the reasons, but yes...ideally on the sides, at, or close to ear level. If you can't do that, then just run some temp cables and experiment with the placement.