What is the best location for Bipolar Surrounds?

[jfrost]

I just bought some bipolar surrounds, and i was wondering what the best placement for them is (how high above floor level? distance from sitting area? etc.). If anyone knows, please post here.

Thanks

[DVD_O_Rama]

There isn't any set-in-stone rules about speaker placement, and what sounds best to your ears <i>is</i> the best placement for you, but I've found that my bipolar surrounds sounded best wall- mounted roughly three feet over my head (at sitting position) on the wall behind the primary listening position.
Of course, YMMV.

[Gomez]

I'll have to defer to the folks who designed the technology: http://www.dolby.com/ht/Guide.HomeTheater.0110.html#s3.2

[DVD_O_Rama]

Originally posted by Gomez
I'll have to defer to the folks who designed the technology: http://www.dolby.com/ht/Guide.HomeTheater.0110.html#s3.2

The link in question is showing placement of direct radiators, and not bipolar speakers. Just wanted to clarify that.

[Gomez]

Yeah, you're right Rama. I suppose if we want to be sticklers then bipolar speakers are taboo anyways if you want to be true to the mix.

My understanding was that a good starting point was behind, beside and above by a few feet each way, with the drivers facing forward/rearward from you at a 90 degree angle. I could be way off, of course.

[DVD_O_Rama]

Originally posted by Gomez
Yeah, you're right Rama. I suppose if we want to be sticklers then bipolar speakers are taboo anyways if you want to be true to the mix.

My understanding was that a good starting point was behind, beside and above by a few feet each way, with the drivers facing forward/rearward from you at a 90 degree angle. I could be way off, of course.

Hope you didn't think I wasn't trying to criticize you or anything like that at all, I was just clarifying that point. The Dolby site has some fine diagrams for getting started with speaker placement. Bipolars are a tad trickier to place then direct radiators, but to my ears the end result is worth it. An no, they aren't taboo ;)

[JimRochester]

Everything I had seen indicated bi-polars are supposed to be above and to the side of the watching position shooting forward and back. However when I had mine mounted on the wall, the installer said I didn't have enough depth to the room and put them behind me and to the sides shooting toward me and out into the room. It certainly sounds fine like that. They are about 6 feet high on the wall. My room is only about 13' deep so the shallower room isn't quite as sensitive to placement as a larger room would be. The pictures in the link below show my setup but the surrounds were still on stands when I took these pictures.

[Gomez]

Originally posted by DVD_O_Rama
Hope you didn't think I wasn't trying to criticize you or anything like that at all...

Not at all! I was looking into bipolars myself until I re-aimed my rears for a more diffuse sound. Now it seems much more natural - I have them facing each other above and behind angled perhaps 15 degrees downwards. They used to aim much more sharply down towards my ears but that made it too easy to "know" where the speakers were.

Seems tha twith loudspeakers experimentation is always the key, whether for fronts, rears or sub. Only the center channel seems foolproof to place.

[jinhopark]

Everything I had seen indicated bi-polars are supposed to be above and to the side of the watching position shooting forward and back.

A few years ago when I had Bipolar speakes I put them to the sides 6 feet up, and that gave me the most convincing surround experience. I have since traded them in for a direct radiator type, but on some material I definitely enjoyed the bipolars over the direct radiators.

I am thinking of buying another pair of bipolars and just switching between the 2... Still contemplating....