I recently got a 5.1 surround system. Although there is a tiny problem - the front speakers are big and are meant to be placed on the floor and the surround speakers are small box-like. The problem is i didn't known that the the big are front and the small are back , actually i thought it was reverse - the big ones in the back and the small in front (silly me) . Now it looks like I'll have to place them that way even that i don't want to (there's simply not enough room in the back for the big). My question is if i do it that way , will it hurt the sound performance badly , and is there a way to switch the sound inputs of the speakers in order to achieve my goal?(have in mind that they differ according to power (watts))
And one last final question - where should i put the sub woofer , to the left of me or to the right , because i have seen placement instructions with both types , how is it better?

There's a link for a better view - http://www.jarcomputers.com/l_bg/?m=7&i=1423&t=0

Depending on the frequency range that your woofer covers, it doesn't matter where you place it. If your woofer covers a larger spectrum including mids (=if you have really small satellites) you should place it somewhere in the middle - a bit to the left or to the right doesn't really matter.

If the sub is good, then the direction of the sub doesn't matter. The distance however does matter, because it makes a difference in low-freq loudness. Other things to take into account is that if you place the sub against a wall or even a corner, that also makes a difference in loudness.

But since you can probably set the sub-volume seperately anyways, the sub position is mostly just a question of room-coverage (ideally, your listening position and the sub would be at the center of the room, but since thats rarely an option, in practice its more about finding a good compromise).

- Lyx

Ok , thanks about the sub , but what about the main subject?

Since the speaker sizes as well as wattage are different so the sound will differ if you place the big speakers in the back than if you place at the front. The receiver is calibrated in such a way that the big speakers are for front use.
I am not able to understand from your statement what is your goal. To do the things as it is meant to be or the opposite??

If you want to place the big ones at the back you could try out either of the following:-

1) There should be an option in the receiver to independently control the volume of each speaker. You can lower the volume of the both the big speakers to create a similar effect like surround speakers.

2) Place the center speaker at the middle of the big speakers and then connect the speakers the way they should be. That way you will have the proper setting except that your receiver will now be at the "back".

I think you'll be OK with the small speakers in the front, as long as they are hooked-up to the front signals. Hopefully, the sound characteristics will be similar. In an ideal set-up, all 5 surround speakers are identical so that when sound moves around it doesn't sound different as it moves to a different speaker.

The exception might be stereo music. Most of the music will be routed to the front left & right speakers, and assuming the bigger speakers sound better... You will loose that benefit.

Your link says 18 Watts for each surround speaker plus 25 watts for the sub.


This set-up has it's own amplifier, right? The one concern I have is if the subwoofer crossover is set-up differently for the front & rear. ...Maybe some mid-bass from the "small speaker" channels is sent to the sub, but the same frequencies are passed-through to the big speakers". In that case, you would want to use the "front" amplifier connections to the big speakers, but hook-up the rear signal to the "front" amplifier input.

FRONT SIGNAL -> REAR AMPLIFIER -> SMALL SPEAKERS (in front)
REAR SIGNAL -> FRONT AMPLIFIER -> BIG SPEAKERS (in back)

That would put the center-channel dialog behind the listener!

P.S. Maybe you can hang the speakers from the ceiling, or build a shelf near the ceiling and set the speakers horizontally, etc. (My large rear speakers are hanging from the wall over the couch.)

I told "back", which means the listener has to sit/stand with his back to the receiver and hence the center speaker will be in front of him.

Ok , thanks to everyone for the help , I'll try it in all ways and if it doesn't help I'll have to re-arrange the furniture.