I have used the Bosch laser measure in a variety of contexts with great results. Assuming you have the horizontal angles marked out (which can be easily done on paper with a floor plan of the room), getting vertical angles and speaker distances is very fast and straightforward. You'd want to be sure to center the measurement point (the device has a few reference points to choose from) on the tripod. This can be tough with some tripods, so for this purpose I ended up fabricating a gyro mount to make everything coincident. Note though that the device will only read up to +/-60 degrees elevation, I believe.
If your room is purpose-built, a crude mockup in something like Google Sketchup (free and fairly easy) with speakers and furniture in place might show you any red flags in advance. Cheers, Mike On Fri, Jul 11, 2014 at 6:12 PM, Ronald C.F. Antony <r...@cubiculum.com> wrote: > There's a laser distance measuring device from Bosch with built in incline > measuring aka electronic level. Not too expensive and useful for many other > things as well. > > > http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005AZZNXE/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B005AZZNXE&linkCode=as2&tag=cubiculumsyst-20&linkId=BE6RN3HLUWWGVJYK > > There's also a bundle with an aluminum bar that turns it into a level, but > for this purpose the device tripod-mounted would be good enough, as long as > the tripod head has markings for the horizontal angles. > > Ronald > > Sent from my mobile phone > > > On 11 Jul 2014, at 20:43, Marc Lavallée <m...@hacklava.net> wrote: > > > > Hi Steve. > > > > I understand your problem. I have a similar one; in my case the > > calculations and the installation were easy, but I'd like to measure > > the exact angular positions of the (installed) loudspeakers. > > > > First you need the angular positions of the loudspeakers from > > the listening spot. It shouldn't be too difficult to calculate for your > > layout, knowing the properties of the dodecahedron (and some > > trigonometry). > > > > Then you'd need some tool to report the angular positions on the > > walls, ceiling and floor, as seen from the listening spot. It could > > also be used to measure the installed loudspeaker positions. > > > > I suppose it could be made with a levelled tripod that can display > > horizontal angle positions, a "tiltable" plate with and inclinometer (or > > clinometer) to display vertical positions, and a laser pointer to > > report the positions, making sure that the pointer is perfectly > > installed on the plate and that the intersection of both axis is at the > > listening spot. For the distances, a soft measuring tape could be > > attached to the end of the plate. I hope it make sense... > > > > I found a few clinometer apps for mobile devices that are cheaper > > than digital clinometers. There's also analog clinometers (like those > > for satellite dish installation), and it's possible to build one. > > > > Maybe there's an easier solution. > > -- > > Marc > > > > Fri, 11 Jul 2014 02:00:25 +0100, > > Steve Boardman <boardroomout...@gmail.com> wrote : > >>> You can use "golden rectangles" (of ratio 1/1.618) to calculate > >>> placements of your speakers. You can refer to: > >>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icosahedron > >>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodecahedron > >>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_rectangle > >>> > >>> -- > >>> Marc > >> > >> Hi Mark > >> > >> Of course, but not sure how easy this may be in practice. > >> Would I use the first golden rectangle on the smallest plane, and > >> intersect the others with that. Then use each rectangle corner as a > >> line from centre until it hits reaches a wall and then mark the > >> speaker position? The problem I have is the room has a sloping > >> ceiling, low at front and then high at the back. I would prefer to > >> extend the angles and attach speakers to the boundaries rather than > >> build a frame to hold them, as that would use up space and become an > >> obstruction. It is also easier to attach to walls and ceiling. I was > >> thinking of having the face of a Dodecahedron on the floor. This way > >> there will be less obstruction in the room and I will only have to > >> embed one speaker in the floor (i'm using both the vertices and faces > >> of dodecahedron). Does anyone know of a simpler and maybe more > >> accurate method? > >> > >> Thanks > >> > >> Steve > > _______________________________________________ > > Sursound mailing list > > Sursound@music.vt.edu > > https://mail.music.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/sursound - unsubscribe here, > edit account or options, view archives and so on. > _______________________________________________ > Sursound mailing list > Sursound@music.vt.edu > https://mail.music.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/sursound - unsubscribe here, > edit account or options, view archives and so on. > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <https://mail.music.vt.edu/mailman/private/sursound/attachments/20140716/42ba88a5/attachment.html> _______________________________________________ Sursound mailing list Sursound@music.vt.edu https://mail.music.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/sursound - unsubscribe here, edit account or options, view archives and so on.
