Help with a home theater setup

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Illusio

Illusio

Golden Member
Nov 28, 1999
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My parents are building a new house and they want me to take care of setting up their home theater.

Some requirements:
Satellite speaker system (no big or floor standing ones).
Must be very easy to us. I'm thinking video switching. So they can watch tv, dvds, play games without having to go through a series of steps.
Budget is between $1000-$2000
Most likely 7.1 channel

you can see a layout of the room (Great Room) here:
Great Room
The TV will be going on the wall in the brown area just below the fire place. The wire is run for the speakers already.

Any ideas on speakers and a receiver? I have a set of orbs at home, which I really like. Not sure if they are willing to spend the money on those though. They are a little pricey (but sounds great).

Any help would be appreciated.
 
YOyoYOhowsDAjello

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
Aug 6, 2001
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Orbs would probably be a good idea if they really need them that small.

No floorstanding ones... does that mean that wall mounted bookshelf speakers wouldn't work either?

The wire is already run? Is seems like it's pretty open... does that mean the speaker wires are running out of the ceiling, or are they on walls in that picture?
 
Illusio

Illusio

Golden Member
Nov 28, 1999
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Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Orbs would probably be a good idea if they really need them that small.

No floorstanding ones... does that mean that wall mounted bookshelf speakers wouldn't work either?

The wire is already run? Is seems like it's pretty open... does that mean the speaker wires are running out of the ceiling, or are they on walls in that picture?
Click to expand...

Yes, I'm pretty sure my mother is anti big speakers on the wall. Plus some of the mounting areas are pretty slim. The mounting areas are on the walls.

You can see a couple of room photos here
 
YOyoYOhowsDAjello

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
Aug 6, 2001
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What if the surround and rear speakers were very small but the very important front three were more substantial?
 
T

Tiamat

Lifer
Nov 25, 2003
14,068
5
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Please don't take my post the wrong way, I'm just going to list the negative things:

1. The side-surround speakers are not wired in the right spot. It looks like they are wired to be in front of the main listening position rather than to the side and slightly behind.

2. Do you have a picture of the rear area behind the couch? It is possible that 7.1 is doable, but they might have to be mounted up high and pointed down towards the listening area. I saw the 2nd picture, but do you have a shot of the wall behind the couch straight on?

I'll be sending you an email with some pictoral thoughts.
 
N

nicolaskl

Member
Nov 12, 2008
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Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Is this kind of what's going on?

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...sDAjello/Picture_3.jpg

Red = speaker locations pictured
Blue = my assumption for the Center and Front Right speakers
Green = one of these locations is wired for surround or rear duty?
Click to expand...

Yeah, we need to know if there are indeed additional wired spots corresponding to those locations. Really what I want to know is if there's another wired spot on the wall to the right of the dining room entrance, directly below the green dot you put in. If there is, I'd say you can do a passable job at 5.1.

If there isn't one there, but there is one where the green one near the kitchen is, then I don't WTF they were thinking. I guess the two by the kitchen are supposed to be rears, but they're horrible off center, and the one by the DR and the one by the MR are supposed to be sides, but they're horribly off center.

If the red dots are the only wired locations then it looks like it was set up, very poorly, to do 7.1 with the TV above the fireplace (and knowing what I know about homebuilders, I would say without further information this is the most likely scenario). If that's the case then do 3.1 and forget about it. I'd rather have good 3.1 than wrong 5.1 or 7.1. Or you can put the TV above the fireplace, like they wanted you to, and sit on the coffee table while you're watching it. Then it'll be about right.

So, if you've got another one by the DR, you're okay for 5.1. If you don't then I don't really see how you can do anything other than 3.1 without have speakers in the totally wrong places. Maybe some people don't really pay that much attention, and as long as they occasionally hear something from the side or behind them they'll be happy with it and think it's cool. But having rears to the side of me and sides to the front of me would bug the shit out of me, and I don't see how you can avoid that unless there are multiple wiring points that we're unaware of (in which case shame on you for taking crappy pictures =P ).
 
vi edit

vi edit

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 28, 1999
62,484
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If they are in the process of building I'd just go with a full array of in walls from somebody like Polk. I'd skip the 7.1. It's not worth the added cost with that funky of a layout and size of room.

http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Aud...qid=1226548471&sr=8-2#

~$700 for fronts and rears.

Slap in a matching center like the CSi3
http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Aud...&qid=1226548595&sr=8-2

Another $120-$200.

That leaves $350 for an Onkyo 606
http://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-TX...&qid=1226548862&sr=8-1

And then plenty of cash for somethign like a HSU VTF-3
http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/vtf-3-mk3.html

AV123 MFW-15
http://av123.com/component/pag..._virtuemart/Itemid,37/

Or any of the other big sub players like SVS, Outlaw or Elemental Design.
 
S

s44

Diamond Member
Oct 13, 2006
9,427
16
81
Orbs aren't really that expensive, you know, esp. if you skip the 7.1 idea.

For a moderately price receiver, I'd get the Onkyo 705 -- $450 at Amazon. 3 HDMI in, plus pre-outs (which the 605/606 lacks).

Edit: It's funny how little care is usually taken, even with nice houses, on speaker placement. Lots of builders seem to think you can throw speakers pretty much anywhere up on the wall (*high* on the wall!) or in the ceiling and it'll be surround.
 
Illusio

Illusio

Golden Member
Nov 28, 1999
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Thanks for the help so far guys. I appreciate it.

Here is a map where the speaker mounts should be. They are going to visit the house today and double check. Also get the mount heights for me.

Speaker Wires
 
T

Tiamat

Lifer
Nov 25, 2003
14,068
5
71
Originally posted by: Dark Jedi
Thanks for the help so far guys. I appreciate it.

Here is a map where the speaker mounts should be. They are going to visit the house today and double check. Also get the mount heights for me.

Speaker Wires
Click to expand...

If you cant get the side surrounds lined up with the back of the main couch, don't bother with them. If you can't get the rear surrounds to equally flank the main center couch position, don't bother with them. I know this sounds somewhat defeatist, but really, if you do not follow Dolby's standards for multichannel setup, you will get a lot of audio confusion in the room. Soundwaves behave a certain way within rooms and the optimal locations are given with symmetrical angular deviations that you are allowed. If you cannot stay within these deviations, the soundfield will be completely screwed up.

Link

If you decide to just use the front 3 speakers, you can increase the quality of them by diverting the entire speaker budget to them. There are many offerings that will bring more than just satisfactory results.


S44: I am stunned by the lack of intelligent placement for speakers in modern homes. As humans, we have a desire for symmetry. Fancy that soundwaves also have a "desire" for symmetry and yet people go against their inner wishes (and that of acoustic physics) and assume tossing speakers into a room randomly equates to surround sound. I look at the speaker placements and am just completely confused.
 
S

s44

Diamond Member
Oct 13, 2006
9,427
16
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I think you could probably set one red and the green one as rears in a 5.1. Forget 7.1.
 
Illusio

Illusio

Golden Member
Nov 28, 1999
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I think the room is definitely a challenge because of the open floor plan and the other things, like the fire place and the sliding glass doors.

I think they still want at least 5.1 surround though. I am not sure on where they are placing the furniture specifically. I'm guessing its going to be somewhat close to the plan. I wish I could have been there when they did the wiring though. Would have picked different spots.
 
S

s44

Diamond Member
Oct 13, 2006
9,427
16
81
Whoa, Maggies at $600 for 3.0! (Low-end, but still...) Is that still the price?

That would be really nice, but you'd probably have to invest in an amp as well as a surround receiver.
 
Illusio

Illusio

Golden Member
Nov 28, 1999
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76
Just as an update, It looks like the speaker mounts are about 6' or so in the air.
 
Illusio

Illusio

Golden Member
Nov 28, 1999
1,448
0
76
Anyone have any other speaker recommendations? Perhaps cheaper than the orbs? I want to give them a couple price options. I don't think they want in wall speakers either. So some kind of satellites would be good.
 
YOyoYOhowsDAjello

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
Aug 6, 2001
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