Room layout question

[GeekDrew]

I finally got around to renting a house, and am in the process of moving. The "livingroom", where the TV/music will be located, is far from ideal, but it'll do. I'm looking for suggestions as to how I should arrange the speakers/furniture so I can make the best of the situation. Landlord doesn't want me mounting speakers anywhere, so I'll probably buy floor stands for whatever speakers I end up buying. Right now I have a Panasonic 42" Plasma and an Onkyo TX-SR606 receiver. Main use will be DirecTV, and then movies (DVD and BluRay).

So ultimately I guess I'm looking for suggestions both for speakers and for placement of the seating furniture so that the speakers will sound good (dare I say 'great'?) for at least one person. I've drawn up a couple of diagrams of placement that I think might work (I tried to get it to scale, it's close but not exact).

#1 pdf odg
#2 pdf odg
#3 pdf odg
#4 pdf odg
#5 pdf odg

I'll take whatever suggestions that anyone might have... or perhaps I'll just wing it and do whatever if you say that I'm being too anal.

Thanks!

 

[Tiamat]

That is a weird floor plan. Whatever you go with, make sure the TV is directly centered and in front of the main viewing position. As for sound, you are extremely limited in your options. You can get good sound, but I can't think of any arrangements that would grant great sound. I define great sound as minimum well-controlled acoustics in terms of decay times of bass, mids, and highs, in addition to optimal seating placement at 0.38 of the room's length dimension, right/left symmetry, speakers placed away from walls (at least 4' from the wall behind them, at least 3' from the side walls. If all you care about is just 'good' sound, then you can get it as long as the speakers flank the TV and all are centered with respect to the main viewing position. For multichannel, follow Dolby's guidelines. Personally, I wouldn't go with multichannel unless the speakers can be placed as shown by Dolby.

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[GeekDrew]

I know it's a weird floorplan, but that's the room and furniture I have to work with... I'm having a hard time finding a reasonable arrangement. Perhaps arrangement #4 would allow me to comply with Dolby 5.1 (and get tolerable sound from the situation). Primary seating position would be right where the word "sofa" is.

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: GeekDrew
I know it's a weird floorplan, but that's the room and furniture I have to work with... I'm having a hard time finding a reasonable arrangement. Perhaps arrangement #4 would allow me to comply with Dolby 5.1 (and get tolerable sound from the situation). Primary seating position would be right where the word "sofa" is.

That layout is certainlly better. Remember, acoustics follows the laws of physics, not the laws of what looks nice cosmetically. If you can get the two to coincide, then props and you are lucky!

If you cannot get the couch 0.38 of the length dimension from the wall, make sure the couch is not anywhere near 0.25 or 0.5 of the length dimension.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Is there a basement option? I don't like any of those layouts, but #2 or #4 are what I would go with personally. I don't know how much free space you have, but if you go with #4, can you rotate the recliners to face the TV?

Whatever you do, make sure that your primary seating position is 90 degrees from the tv, and centered. Also for sound (if you have towers) make sure you can bring them off the wall. With sound though, make sure the "sweet spot" is where you sit usually.

 

[GeekDrew]

Originally posted by: DisgruntledVirus
Is there a basement option? I don't like any of those layouts, but #2 or #4 are what I would go with personally. I don't know how much free space you have, but if you go with #4, can you rotate the recliners to face the TV?

Whatever you do, make sure that your primary seating position is 90 degrees from the tv, and centered. Also for sound (if you have towers) make sure you can bring them off the wall. With sound though, make sure the "sweet spot" is where you sit usually.

No, there's no basement option at this time (it's still unfinished). I'm going to try moving this furniture around tonight, to how it works out in person ("will it fit", not "does it look good"). If my drawing sizes are correct, no, I won't have room to rotate the recliners to face the TV.

I'm also looking for recommendations for speakers. I'll probably be getting bookshelf speakers and put them on stands. I'm not so much worried about the sound sweet spot being where I *usually* sit, as that'll probably be one of the recliners -- I don't really care how the nightly news sounds. I'm looking to make the sweet spot where I'll sit when I care what's on TV.

 

[Tiamat]

Gonna need much more info for giving speaker recommendations. Such as, what is your budget per speaker, what is your budget for subwoofer, what kind of sound do you have to compare to, what dealers are available to you, do you care how the speakers look? etc.

 

[SlickSnake]

I'm not sure I understand what wall the front door is opening on in your room. Is it the wall next to the TV? If so, your best HT layout is going to be the long wall on the other side of the entry way, on the left of the diagram. Even if the door opens on that wall, as long as it don't open into a speaker next to it, I think your best option is setting the TV on that long wall on the left. As far as optimal seating, then that's another challenge. One recliner can go in the upper left corner. Then the other recliner can go where the TV appears, such as in figure 1. While this is not ideal, it permits the most flexibility for TV and speaker placement on the longest wall. And depending on what seating you want directly in front of the tv, you might want the couch or a recliner placed in front of the TV, with a walk space behind it to get into the hallway.

And in difficult situations, you can even place the TV at an angle in one corner, such as the upper left one, with the sub positioned behind the TV in the empty space, and 2 speakers on either side. It creates a sort of clam shell concert venue effect, and works well if you are trying to maximize viewing positions, too. I had to use a corner array in my previous house, and it really expanded the sound stage more than I had imagined it would. It also made the room sound more live and less muddy after the change.

For optimal seating, it looks like you have only a few choices with a couch with an odd attachement on one side, which is the biggest placement problem seating wise. You are kind of having to arrange the room according to the sectional on the couch. But as long as you can get a good central soundstage for 5.1 placement, you should be good to go. And anything you don't like, you can change again later, after you experiment a bit with speaker placement.

And also in your diagrams, I don't like the TV on the wall it's on next to the entry door on the bottom. So if that's just placement for easy cable access, you should consider running it to the other wall on the left side, I think. And I don't see windows on the diagram. Are there windows?

 

[GeekDrew]

I'll reference #4 while responding, as that's how the furniture is currently sitting. The room is carpeted; the red block that reads "Entry" is tile floor, where the door swings open. The door is on the left wall, and opens toward the bottom wall. This door will only be used occasionally... probably only when people show up that don't know it's not the usual entrance. The blue labels are open passageways to other rooms. I stupidly omitted windows. I don't have measurements for the to know exactly how big they are, but probably 2/3 of the entire left wall is windows, centered between the area designated "Entry" and the top wall. The windows will probably be covered by heavy light-absorbing curtains 95% of the time... I detest sunlight.

I'd honestly like to have one of the recliners be the 'best' position, in front of the TV... but I've pretty much given up on that, and I'll deal with it being some part of the couch.

Hadn't thought about turning the TV at an angle... see drawing 5. Were you picturing something like that? While on paper it looks like it might work, in reality the speaker on the right side of the TV would probably be sitting on a stand in the middle of that doorway. I could try that positioning, though, and see how it works out.

As far as speakers go, Tiamat, I'd like to spend no more than $750 on speakers + subwoofer... preferably less than that. The next door neighbor is a friend of mine, and he has the Klipsch Synergy Quintet III Home Theater Speaker System, and a Klipsch sub. His setup doesn't even come close to correct speaker placement, though... it drives me up the wall when I watch TV at his house, but I'm 100% certain it's because of the way the speakers are set up, not because of the speakers themselves... the sound itself sounds good to me. I don't really have anything else to compare to. I live in a really rural area, and very rarely have time to make it to Columbus (or some such city), where there are (I assume) better dealers. The only place that even carries speakers in my area is Best Buy, as far as I know. I'm not terribly picky about how the speakers look.

 

[SlickSnake]

Hmm, yea like in figure 5. Too bad the right speaker would extend in the hallway, though. The couch could also go on the wall in the lower left, or pulled out a bit to allow hallway access on the upper right, if you wanted to work a better recliner position into an angle setup. And if you ever want to watch TV while in the kitchen making something to eat or drink, the angle array might work better, too.

 

[GeekDrew]

Yeah, I'll try rearranging the furniture tonight just to see how it works in reality. I kinda like drawing 5 better than the others, now that you've suggested an angle. lol

Any thoughts on that set of speakers I linked?

 

[SlickSnake]

Originally posted by: GeekDrew
Yeah, I'll try rearranging the furniture tonight just to see how it works in reality. I kinda like drawing 5 better than the others, now that you've suggested an angle. lol

Any thoughts on that set of speakers I linked?

Yea, I looked at your link for those. Klipsch makes good speakers. But I typically do not like the horn tweeters for music reproduction on HTs. And I especially don't like the horns used in 2 way speakers. In towers paired with a regular cone midrange on a 3 or more speaker array, the horn tweeters sound a lot less harsh to me, because they are not reproducing as much of a midrange frequency since they use a better crossover. And also personally, I do not like speaker packages sold like that. I almost bought into Klipsch when I bought my 2 different 5.1 sets of various Infinity Interludes, but what turned me off at the time was the harsh sounding 2 way horn surrounds I would have to use on the Klipsch towers I was looking at.

If you want to build your own system, or just compare other brands, here is a link to Harman Kardons Ebay website. Some of the stuff sold there is not refurb but new overstock, but you have no way of knowing what's what until you win and order it. The speakers tend to be new more often than the electronics there, though. But to keep from undercutting their retailers, it's all listed as refurbs. Full factory warranty, though. The Infinity line and the JBLs are both made by them, too.

Ebay Harman Audio

Harman Audio Sales

The Beta series is a close match to the Interlude series, and I also have a set of the Beta 20s, the Beta c360 center and the Beta e250 diapoles that I use for surrounds and the Betas are all exceptional performing speakers for the price you pay for refurbs.

 

[s44]

Originally posted by: GeekDrew
I live in a really rural area, and very rarely have time to make it to Columbus (or some such city), where there are (I assume) better dealers. The only place that even carries speakers in my area is Best Buy, as far as I know.

Then internet direct is a good option. Better than low-end Klipsch, that's for sure.

You can get this all-bookshelf setup for $500. Or a front tower version for $700. Or configure a 5.1 package from Elemental Designs based on their A3-5TC for ~$700.

Other options are the Harman ebay shop mentioned above (the cheaper Infinity Primus might be better than the rear-ported Betas if you're using them by a wall). There are also clearance sales on Energy and KEF out there...

Don't cheap out on a subwoofer, though.