Quad vs 5.1 speaker placement

[jackan]

Hello All,
I have been searching around the interwebs, and this site, but have not found exactly what I am looking for.
(Sometimes it is because I am not making the right searches, but I have tried.)

My question is, what is the proper speaker placement for 4.0?
5.1 is very specific, 30 and 30 degrees, center, and 115 and 115 degrees.

I have the impression that 4.0 is one in each corner, or 90 degrees from each other. But I am not sure where that came from. Maybe old marketing pictures?

If it is different than 5.1, do you change your speaker positions when you listen to 4.0 vs. 5.1?

Regards, Jack

 

[wavelength]

Wendy Carlos has some ideas about quad:
http://www.wendycarlos.com/surround/surround2.html#optquad

 

[proufo]

My question is, what is the proper speaker placement for 4.0?
5.1 is very specific, 30 and 30 degrees, center, and 115 and 115 degrees.

At least one manufacturer of Quad gear, Lafayette, proposed front and side speakers, not at the corners.

In my case I use side speakers both for Quad/mch and ambiance/movie surround. I might eventually have different speakers for those two duties but as it is now I find it quite acceptable sonically and pleasing.

 

[jackan]

Thanks for the replies. I now know where my perception came from. All live shows that I have seen, or seen photographs of, with quad speakers, always have the speakers in the rear of the hall. Never beside the audience. Wouldn't this speak to "original intent"?

 

[jackan]

duplicate

 

[jimfisheye]

Hello All,
I have been searching around the interwebs, and this site, but have not found exactly what I am looking for.
(Sometimes it is because I am not making the right searches, but I have tried.)

My question is, what is the proper speaker placement for 4.0?
5.1 is very specific, 30 and 30 degrees, center, and 115 and 115 degrees.

I have the impression that 4.0 is one in each corner, or 90 degrees from each other. But I am not sure where that came from. Maybe old marketing pictures?

If it is different than 5.1, do you change your speaker positions when you listen to 4.0 vs. 5.1?

Regards, Jack

5.1 isn't specific to the point of "2 degrees off and game over" or some such.

You want 30 deg and corners or the room and/or listening area in front. That can go to 45 deg just fine. The back can also swing back to 135 deg if necessary. Swung in to 115 deg makes for less bouncing off the back of your head and less need to move your head to perceive the "blind spot" in perception where you can't tell if a sound is in front of you or behind you (until you move your head to hear a cue).

Quad works well on a 5.1 setup. The ideal placement for the rear speakers in 5.1 really ends up being the same thing for quad. Some quad mixes are 'perceptual' with instrument placement, others (some of the old school stuff) are 4 corner. The separated 4 corner mix stuff is quirky to begin with and works just fine with 115 deg back speakers.

Pink Floyd shows were diamond configuration for the quad (front, back, sides). I think there was an oddball quad format that was diamond as well. Most were Lf Rf Ls Rs.

 

[ar surround]

You might want to play around with the speaker placement if you can do so, and then choose which sounds best to you in your listening environment. Over three years ago, I moved around my speakers to "temporary" locations that I thought were not going to work out. I have not changed their locations since.

 

[MidiMagic]

One thing I used to do when switching between Dolby Surround and quadraphonic was to move the chair. This changed the speaker angles.

Another thing I did was to have two sets of back speakers - one set to the sides and one set in the back corners. This got rid of the "hole in the side" problem (trying to hear a quadraphonic sound panned between front and back on the same side).

I now have 8 speakers placed as in my avatar and fed the proper decoded signals for their positions for an octophonic version when using matrix quadraphonic. 4 of them are used for Dolby.