Home theater space

[RhinoZ]

Hi Ya movie lovers,
I'm hoping you experts can help me out. Attached is a very crude picture showing my living room as it is now. I was wondering can a 5.1 setup be made to work in this room with the front channels speakers near the TV at the corner of the room? And where should the rear speakers go? If this cannot work then I'll move the TV in front of the window and use the standard setup for 5.1.
Also a question about the rear speakers. Any comments on them being dipole surrounds or would a regular speaker be fine ( is it all hype?). I'm thinking of upgrading my 14 yr old Pioneer ( no laughing ) dolby pro logic receiver, because I can watch movies again without waking up the kids. ( my oldest daughter would wake up if I broke wind, we sometimes had to watch TV with the volume off and use close captioning).
Thanks folks.

[RhinoZ]

Ooppps I forgot to include the pic.

[ALBPM]

Ok, I'll get this going.......

How about this setup if sound will be the main concern.



You will probably want the rear speakers mounted on the wall and aimed at the center of the sofa.

[Rakido]

You could try this online tool, maybe it's helpful. You can enter the room parameters, furniture you have, the boxes you use and so on ...

CARA Quick is an online program for evaluating room acoustic effects in rectangular rooms. It will give you a first impression of the influence of room acoustics on the quality of sound reproduction in your listening room.

http://www.cara.de/ENU/index.php?load=quick.html


Rakido

[RhinoZ]

Thanks Albpm, I was hoping not to move the TV in front of the window, but if I have no choice but to do this to get the most out of it then that's what I'll do.

Thanks for the link Rakido.

[Jon P. Inghram]

If you don't want to move the TV in front of the window, you can put the speakers as shown in the attachment. Use smaller satellite speakers and mount them on the ceiling. Put the woofer/subwoofer near the sofa (as per Wombat's suggestion. )

[gt40]

Is there anything wrong with moving the sofa with it's back to the entrance?
Then move the TV where the sofa was?

[Wombat]

Why put the woofer by the TV instead of by the sofa?

[RhinoZ]

Hi Gt40,
Nothing wrong with your suggestion, but the wife would definetly not go for it. The front door is on the other side of the wall beside the TV, and the couch pretty much covers up the entrance to the living room so there would be little room to enter the living room around the couch. Also when I did try that set up, she didn't like the idea of entering the room looking at the back of people's heads.

Hi Jon P Inghram,
I have my front speakers (your reds icons) like that right now (that's how I listen to my music), and I have no problem in putting the rear speakers where you have them pictured for the home theater effect. My question is that will it work that way since the speakers are not in the so called "standard" setup. You know the equal distance between speakers and your listening area etc etc etc.
Also I thought the sub woofer can go anywhere in the room since deep bass has no direction.
Thanks for the help guys.

[Jon P. Inghram]

That's basicly how Dolby says you should have 'em, to the sides: http://www.dolby.com/ht/Guide.HomeTh....html#chapter3

If you don't mind having the wires draped across the ceiling, you could stick them behind and to the sides of the sitting positions too, (I updated my diagram.)

If you're just using Pro Logic, the surround channel is mono anyway so it shouldn't make too much difference. And if you upgrade I think most receivers let you adjust the volume and maybe the delay also for each speaker.

As for the sub, as long as it isn't in a corner (unless you need to get more bass from a insufficently capable sub and don't mind it sounding "boomy") you are probably ok, although I'm sure the closer you sit to it the more likely you are to "feel" the bass.

[ALBPM]

My rear speakers mounted on the wall above my sofa with Vogel brackets. Wires run behind the wall so they can't be seen.




Nufoam compressed polyester batting behind the wall hangings to get rid of echo for sound treating the room.


Acoustic foam behind the front speakers.

Wood trim around the foam for W.A.F.

[RhinoZ]

Wow Albpm, speakers look awesome and probably expensive, excellent work on the foam and wood trim, very very nice.

Thanks Jon, I'll read up on that link. I found something about Home theater with "corner loading" and it looked like the setup you describe except that the rear speakers can be placed on stands instead of on the ceiling. The link was old and wasn't enough, but at least I'm happy that I don't have to move the TV.
Thanks

[Jammrock]

If memory serves me correctly they are B&W Nautilus 803's ... They run about $5k USD a pair. They are a fantastic speaker. The rears are B&W CDM 1 NT's ($1k USD a pair), the center (not pictured) is a B&W Nautilus HTM-1 ($2k USD). Denon AVR 3801 and a Rotel amp, can't remember the model since it's an older one

Man I'm pathetic.

I have the complete B&W CDM NT setup, with the 9NT fronts and SNT surrounds.

Back to the original post. Just be sure your surround processor (AV Receiver) has contol over speaker levels. With your surrounds spread so far apart you'll need to increase the sound level and possibly the delays. Otherwise I see no problem in the setup Jon suggested.

Jammrock

[KvHagedorn]

Hi Rino,

Go with Paul's (ALBPM's) room arrangement suggestion (his first post) if you possibly can. You will enjoy this much more. If you have huge heavy drapes on that window, close them and you will have a pretty good acoustic space for home theater. Dipoles will work alright if you can rearrange your room like this and that huge opening on your left allows room. If that's a doorway (with some wall above it) dipoles should work much better than if it's just a huge opening with a continuous ceiling. The problem is, the dipoles need something to bounce their sound off of. They will still work, more or less as normal direct-firing surrounds, if you place them back further and hang them on those side walls, but from an economic standpoint you will get more for your money if you get better direct-firing speakers and aim them toward the front of the room, perhaps placing them on a shelf about 6-6 1/2 feet high on those side walls.

Apart from the proper placement, as discussed above (which is the best thing you can do, and it's FREE! ), the most important thing you can do for the sound of this room is to get a well matched set of speakers. Even if they are all cheapies from a home theater in a box set, if they are matched you will be more pleased with the result. Jammrock and ALBPM both have excellent speaker sets, but if you don't want to spend that kind of money, here is the setup I'd recommend for you:

Center: B&W LCR60 (US$350.00)
Mains: B&W DM602.5 (US$700.00/pair)
Surrounds: B&W DM601 (US$450.00/pair)
Subwoofer: B&W ASW600 (US$500.00)

Get a new receiver. A good one that won't break you is a Yamaha RX-V740 (US$600.00)

This is a great system for the money. We've set up several like this and people are always pleased with them. Of course, if you can swing it, go for higher-end B&W, but don't get something like the CDM9NT or Nautilus 804 and expect to get their full potential with just a receiver. When you get a big high-end B&W floorstanding speaker like this, they want all the power you can give them. If you stick with the CDM1NT or Nautilus 805 bookshelves for a main pair, however, you can get away with a BIG receiver, like an RX-V2400 or RX-V3300. Oh, and stay away from Pioneer .. get a Yamaha or a Denon. Onkyo is ok too.

One last thing.. if you have to run speaker wire in the ceiling, use class 3 rated custom installation wire, and don't use under 16 gauge. Go ahead and use 4 conductor 12 or 14 gauge wire if at all possible, and biwire those puppies. I'll show you how when you get it.

[ALBPM]

I was wondering when KvH would show up. He advised both Jammrock and I on what to get and how to setup our systems.

I had a lot working against me in my room. The main speakers and TV had to go on the long wall and I have a 15 ft ceiling in my living room.

You have the opportunity to put your mains on the short wall so go for it. Like KvH said get some heavy Drapes for the window.

(If you or your wife can customize the drapes by adding polyester batting to them it would be ideal for sound absorbtion.)

You may want to get some sort of wall hanging on the right wall opposite the opening to absorb sound and balance things out since there will be no sound reflecting off a wall on the left side.

I learned that "Tuning the Room " is far more important than how much you spend on speakers and recievers, etc..

You can spend $100,000 on a sysytem just to have it sound like CR%$#%#%*AP if the acoustics of the room aren't right.