Speaker stands or wall mount?

[Kimbo]

Hey all.. i am building a HT room into my new home, just a query on speaker location.

As far as the surround speakers of a 5.1 system, do you think its best to mount them on the wall, or buy/make some stands for them? I dont have a decent sound system atm, but are planning on spending something around $1000-$2000.

The thing that worries me about wall mounting is possible vibration on the speaker on the wall. Then again, my room is not very big, so positioning stands in a good position could be difficult.

Just wanted to find out your opinions so i can bring the speaker cables out in the right place before putting up the plasterboard.

Cheers
..
Kimbo

[rrobor]

Usinng 5 speakers, only 2 of those need to be positioned well. Tweeters should be behind you and its usual to tack them to the wall at ceiling height. You should not be aware of them, they just add crispness to the sound. The woofer is the guy that handles most of the power, sit him on the floor at the front. Woofers do not give direction so again the exact position you put that , doesnt matter. The squawkers are the guys that give you direction. Technically they should me in the position the microphones were when recording. That is on the floor and a few metres apart. In your case front side corners is about it.

[Master Splinter]

For 5.1, anything that gets you to the arrangement shown below (or try the interactive placement guide from Dolby (http://www.dolby.com/consumer/setup/speaker-setup-guide/index.html)). Ideally your speakers should be at the height of your ears when seated (or whatever your listening position will be), so the best position for the centre channel is right slap bang behind the screen...which tends not to be acoustically transparent, so just below it works for most people!

Try to avoid placing left and right channels in the corners of the room, as this can introduce unpleasant resonances.

The sub can also go under the TV, or if you are feeling creative, it can masquerade as a coffee table between you and the TV. If you are really keen, extra low frequency (under 20hz) effects drivers can be bolted to the frame of the couch to make sure you feel your movies!

[NigeC]

My rear speakers I mounted to the wall and ran the speaker wire through the wall and the ceiling using clipsal wall plates and binding posts, I didn't worry about any padding between the wall and the mount or the mount and the speaker. I doubt the rattle freqs will be heard at normal volume.
My system comes with a little microphone that you put in the centre of the room and the receiver goes through a test pattern to find the location of the speakers and adjusts volume accordingly
I think wallmount speakers look better than the stands they come with.

[tricky4000]

Hey Kimbo,
Have you thought about integrated wall speakers? They're usually white and you install them by putting a hole in the wall and flush mounting them. You can even paint them the same colour of the wall in some cases. If you're going for a new system, maybe you should look at 7.1 instead of 5.1. This involves more speakers but Blu-Ray is going that way.

[rrobor]

My I advise you not to do that. By all means feed cabling throurh the walls but have it terminate for external speakers. Now Tricky4000 is not incorrect as such, its just I am a fixer and see things when they go wrong, and this will go wrong long before your house does. So if this is a price you are willing to pay, Ok . If not, dont do it.

[tricky4000]

Price is the key and price almost always reflects quality.
Flush mount look better in my opinion and surround speakers don't usually get blasted that hard anyway...unless you turn your home theatre into home disco after 11 that is.