Surrounds placement - advice please

  • 22 February 2023
  • 3 replies
  • 195 views

Userlevel 3

I recently swapped the Beam in my lounge for an Arc and a Sub, moving the Beam to the smaller family room which, unbeknownst to my wife, was always my secret plan!

The sound from the Arc + Sub is amazing - even my wife described it as ‘more soulful’.

I have two Play 1 (S2 app compatible) that I am considering adding as surrounds but not sure with the layout of my lounge whether it is worth it.

As you can see from the rough drawing, the TV is in the corner with Arc directly below it and Sub in position A. On movie nights all chairs are used, so I was thinking of placing surrounds in position B and C to try and cover all the room. Would that work? Any advice greatly appreciated.


3 replies

There really isn’t an ideal spot for surrounds given your room layout.  The surround speakers are there to play audio that is to the left and right rear of the seating area.  No matter where you place these speakers, audio will be coming from the wrong location for half the seating area.  You could either go without and use the play:1s elsewhere, place them at A and Co and just accept it as best you can do, or pick one of the sofas as the primary listening area and place surrounds to the left and right of that.  The last option may be the best choice, but would still be off since it’s not lined up to TV/soundbar.  Maybe experiment and see what you like best.

Userlevel 7
Badge +22

I too have no place to properly place my surrounds, still I thought I’d give them a try and see if a bad location sounded better than no surrounds. I’m happy with the sound, it is not really too odd sounding so I’d say try it.

Looking at your room I’d think on either side or above the double doors might work out.

I am also Lack a suitable position for my surround speakers, but I decided to test them anyway to see if they would sound any better than they would without them. I like the tone, and it doesn't sound too strange, so you should give it a try. On either side of the double doorways or above them, depending on how your space is configured, might work.

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