Surround sound, will this work?

[zindan]

Hey, I am thinking about hanging 2 speakers in front of me and 2 behind me in these areas which are marked with an X 
How do you guys think it will work out?   Will it be wrong or something?  

The bass is going under the desk.
Will this improve the sound when listening to music or watching movies.

[HanZie82]

Ive had something similar way back.

Nothing wrong with it i would say.

Seeing you also sit in the middle even better.

On my setup i sat way to the right but sometimes you gotta deal with what you got.

[akio123008]

Wrong with it? Of course not, audio is all about personal preference and doing it wrong is therefore not a common occurence. (except for having speakers wired in opposite phase of course) That surround setup will be awesome when watching movies/playing games etc. For music, I usually prefer a regular stereo but that doesn't mean surround setups can't sound great playing music. 

[zindan]

3 hours ago, akio123008 said:

Wrong with it? Of course not, audio is all about personal preference and doing it wrong is therefore not a common occurence. (except for having speakers wired in opposite phase of course) That surround setup will be awesome when watching movies/playing games etc. For music, I usually prefer a regular stereo but that doesn't mean surround setups can't sound great playing music. 

Hmm, playing games. Never thought about that. I think headphones are more effective don't you think ?

[akio123008]

Because headphones are close to your ears it's usually easier to tell where in game sounds are coming from than when the sound is coming from 2 speakers in front of you, which is why many people say that headphones are better than speakers for gaming. However, this case is different, because in your setup, you'll also have speakers behind you, making this a "full" surround setup. This means that this speaker setup will probably be at least as good for gaming as a pair of headphones.

[zindan]

1 hour ago, akio123008 said:

Because headphones are close to your ears it's usually easier to tell where in game sounds are coming from than when the sound is coming from 2 speakers in front of you, which is why many people say that headphones are better than speakers for gaming. However, this case is different, because in your setup, you'll also have speakers behind you, making this a "full" surround setup. This means that this speaker setup will probably be at least as good for gaming as a pair of headphones.

Hmm.. It's an interesting thought but I spent like 250$ on my headphones + 100$ on an amp and it feels bad not to use them. But for movies I will definately use the surround sound! Thank you.

[Grifterguru]

One thing I have yet to see mentioned is the possibility of having to tune the sound level to the speakers so you actually get balanced audio relative to your seated position. Nothing worse than front speakers over-powering the rear speakers or vise-versa. Also, rear speaker position is just as important as front speaker position for optimum sound level and quality.

[akio123008]

4 hours ago, zindan said:

Hmm.. It's an interesting thought but I spent like 250$ on my headphones + 100$ on an amp and it feels bad not to use them. But for movies I will definately use the surround sound! Thank you.

Haha of course you should use them in that case!

[JZStudios]

12 hours ago, Grifterguru said:

One thing I have yet to see mentioned is the possibility of having to tune the sound level to the speakers so you actually get balanced audio relative to your seated position. Nothing worse than front speakers over-powering the rear speakers or vise-versa. Also, rear speaker position is just as important as front speaker position for optimum sound level and quality.

Looks to me like he's just hooking them all up to the 4 posts of a bunk bed and sitting in the middle. Shouldn't require any volume balancing. Also, unless he gets a receiver (I'd recommend it, even if it is only quad you could just get a cheapy center, but not required) he'll just be pumping stereo to all 4, so "overpowering" won't matter.

 

If you do get a receiver you can just tell it that you don't have a center. Windows also has quad output. It'll just direct sound to your left/right channels instead of center. As someone who has... decentish headphones and a decent surround setup other than trying to be quiet I just don't like using headphones as much. No way they'll ever match the physical presence of real speakers, and actual surround sound is SO much better than the simulated crap headphones use.

Hopefully though more binaural/ambisonic real time audio will become a thing to eliminate the need for terrible simulated surround which just kills any audio quality.

 

Fun fact, even though Battlefield (at least up to BF1 when I tried it before refunding) has some of the BEST sound recording and sound design, the positional audio and surround sound is TERRIBLE. Anything behind you gets a weird occlusion sound filter, but more importantly, it only supports quad sound, with the center channel being reserved for callouts like "Objective Apples captured" not any actual gameplay.

Real bummer too, because Battlefield with a kickass 7.1 or Atmos system would be amazing. My favorite surround sound in a game is The Witcher 3.

[Grifterguru]

@JZStudios I understand the point you make, but I know from experience that you have to balance the volume by adjusting the rear speaker volume and the left/right balance based on seated position. Not by much, granted, but initial setup of the speakers is when volume tuning to each pair/set is usually done. Even the position/angle of the speakers can change the perception of sound level, so yes, volume tuning and speaker position/angle are an essential part of four speaker Initial setup.

Even with non-computer surround, each surround system is volume tuned to the individual environment and the position of the speakers to give the correct volume levels, so that each speaker pair/speaker set is not overpowering another.

Even 5.1 / 7.1 needs volume balancing based on environment, speaker position and seated position relative to the speakers.

Not looking to argue the point, nor ruffle feathers, but having setup innumerable systems for many people, it has always been a case of speaker position/angle and  volume balancing being a necessary part of initial setup to get the very best from it.

[JZStudios]

10 hours ago, Grifterguru said:

@JZStudios I understand the point you make, but I know from experience that you have to balance the volume by adjusting the rear speaker volume and the left/right balance based on seated position. Not by much, granted, but initial setup of the speakers is when volume tuning to each pair/set is usually done. Even the position/angle of the speakers can change the perception of sound level, so yes, volume tuning and speaker position/angle are an essential part of four speaker Initial setup.

Even with non-computer surround, each surround system is volume tuned to the individual environment and the position of the speakers to give the correct volume levels, so that each speaker pair/speaker set is not overpowering another.

Even 5.1 / 7.1 needs volume balancing based on environment, speaker position and seated position relative to the speakers.

Not looking to argue the point, nor ruffle feathers, but having setup innumerable systems for many people, it has always been a case of speaker position/angle and  volume balancing being a necessary part of initial setup to get the very best from it.

I've been using surround for a while myself. I didn't say it wasn't ever useful, but if he's sitting in the middle and they are all evenly spaced it's not a huge issue.

And again, if he's not running actual quad audio then it'll just be left and right anyways so it doesn't matter if the fronts or rears are slightly louder.