5.1.5 or am I just dreaming (1 Viewer)

[John Dirk]

OR maybe I'm just over-thinking this

Yea. For in-ceiling speakers, this is not a real issue as they are not carrying full range data and also have higher crossover points.

 

[John Dirk]

How do you see yourself using a dedicated room? Really interested. I only know one person that had one and it was on his 3rd floor. He said that he hasn't been up there for a few years as after a glass of wine he cant be ar$$ed going up the stairs to listen.

For me my dedicated room is the one place in the house where my wife will allow me to do whatever I want to optimize the Home Theater experience. This could range from the color you choose for the walls and ceiling all the way to sound deadening measures such as wall treatments. Aesthetics take a back seat to quality, but only in this room.

 

[JohnRice]

anyway... after lots of reading, I am looking at doing a 5.1.4 + VOG (for future proofing)

Not a fan of VOG. Not that anyone asked.

 

[aard]

For me my dedicated room is the one place in the house where my wife will allow me to do whatever I want to optimize the Home Theater experience. This could range from the color you choose for the walls and ceiling all the way to sound deadening measures such as wall treatments. Aesthetics take a back seat to quality, but only in this room.

Do you both use the room or it more just yourself? My wife quite likes it all (so long as it is hidden away and not messy)

 

[aard]

Not a fan of VOG. Not that anyone asked.

Happy to ask ... why not @JohnRice

 

[JohnRice]

FWIW, I'll definitely be installing 4 Atmos speakers, in the ceiling. Probably RSLs, due to the great price. $500 for the four of them. I need to do some other modifications first. My HT room, which was finished in the early '70s has absolutely wretched looking surface mount fluorescent fixtures that need to be removed first, to make room for the Atmos speakers. It's sort of a floating ceiling with acoustic tile, so it'll actually be pretty easy to cut holes into and 10" joists, so there are cavities that are 14" wide and 9.5" deep. The ugly fluo fixtures will be replaced 2 for 1 with 4" recessed LED lighting fixtures, which I already have ready to go. That will open up space for the four Atmos speakers. The cavities are open on one end, so I can fish wire through them pretty easily.

the plan has been in place for some time, waiting for the motivation.

 

[JohnRice]

Happy to ask ... why not @JohnRice

Mainly because a VOG channel is not an official part of any home surround format, so it's something that has to be matrixed out, and there's just no way to know how well it'll work. I think 7.x.4 is probably as far as most rooms and systems can benefit from.

 

[aard]

Mainly because a VOG channel is not an official part of any home surround format, so it's something that has to be matrixed out, and there's just no way to know how well it'll work. I think 7.x.4 is probably as far as most rooms and systems can benefit from.

The one thing I have learnt is that the current state is not static. tomorrow brings change. I think of it as a centre speaker on the z-axis. Its bound to catch on.

 

[JohnRice]

The one thing I have learnt is that the current state is not static. tomorrow brings change. I think of it as a centre speaker on the z-axis. Its bound to catch on.

When I wire the rest of my stuff, there's no reason I can't wire a VOG channel and just leave it in the ceiling, ready for a hole and speaker.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Mine will be ~18x18 in the back of the house on the ground floor that's 1/2 way into the ground -- there's no actual basement per se though I guess some might consider it so as it feels 1/2-way there. It used to be a rec room and has the doorway to our small backyard.

Moving the HT down there because my wife has grown tired of its ever expanding dominance of our modest livingroom space, haha... and I certainly can't blame her and kinda agree myself.

We just didn't think to move the HT down there before in part because we thought the space was better used as partitioned into another small bedroom plus (my) computer-room/home-office, but basically, we don't need that anymore... and it could use some reno work anyway, especially after some bits of flooding this past year.

The space is next to our laundry area, and our makeshift gym room is on the front side of the house -- it was converted from our very tiny garage, which is a rarity over here in this part of Brooklyn (near downtown). And it's essentially surrounded by the house's foundation w/ modest exposure to the small backyard, which should help us be neighbor-friendly enough while blasting away at night, haha -- that's definitely an issue here in NYC... even in most of Brooklyn, particularly w/ many young families around.

Having the dedicated HT/rec room in this part of the house seems pretty common and sensible.

I imagine part of the issue for your friend is having to climb stairs up to his 3rd floor HT instead of just down one flight. OTOH, many of us might be tempted to fall asleep in our downstairs/basement HT room and just stay there all night instead, especially after some wine, haha... I often fall asleep for the night in my livingroom HT area as is anyway...

Actually, I might just keep my modest home office setup in the HT room, so I'm going there often apart from using the HT anyway. Haven't decided just yet, but that would certainly make it easier for me to spend time listening more seriously to music down there. Maybe I'll also keep a couple of my instruments down there to practice and "jam" as well, especially since I should finally have better climate control down there.

Definitely gonna become a bit of the Man Cave (pun most definitely intended, haha)...

We're also thinking to finally make more use of our small backyard, which kept growing into a jungle in the past, and regularly invite friends and family over... which means more use of this space (and the HT) that leads to/from the backyard.

Question is whether I'll be competing w/ my new neighbors in this regard and spending time hanging out in each other's HT/music room -- they definitely already have us beat w/ soundproofing... pretty much their entire house as part of their gut reno it seems (and we definitely heard and felt the work done over some months prior)...



_Man_

 

[John Dirk]

Do you both use the room or it more just yourself? My wife quite likes it all (so long as it is hidden away and not messy)

I built my room out with that in mind but, over time, my wife has tended to only be interested when a specific film she wants to see becomes available, assuming she hasn't already seen it in a commercial theater. Nowadays my room is my sanctuary. It's where I listen to music, watch movies and sports and research even more potential upgrades.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

I built my room out with that in mind but, over time, my wife has tended to only be interested when a specific film she wants to see becomes available, assuming she hasn't already seen it in a commercial theater. Nowadays my room is my sanctuary. It's where I listen to music, watch movies and sports and research even more potential upgrades.

Before streaming on phablets and tablets (and everyone having own PC/laptop) became part of our reality, everyone had to enjoy whatever content on the same shared TV-based setup in our livingroom. And if I had moved the HT into some other dedicated room, that becomes where we all go too. But going forward, not quite so much.

Yeah, I've sorta trained my family to appreciate the (much) bigger, better HT setup -- and it'll get better still in the dedicated room -- but there are plenty of streamable (largely binge-worthy TV series) content they don't feel the need for the big HT setup and are more convenient to squeeze into whatever free time wherever they are... and that's only sensible.

My firstborn actually thought maybe we shouldn't move the HT to a separate, dedicated room downstairs because we'll likely all spend less time together. Will have to see... but we won't be keeping any regular TV in the livingroom space, so it's just the HT room if anyone wants to use a setup larger than their computer. We'll probably become empty-nesters (more or less) in 5 years anyway, and my wife doesn't use computers for streaming -- she does do some bits of series binging on her phablet/tablet combo though... more these days than finding time to watch a movie w/ me...

Actually, we do also have a cheap 40" LCD TV in the makeshift gym room (that's just down the hall from the future HT room), but that's been abandoned for a long while... until we get that room (and new gym equipment) back in order. I might consider setting up the old, entry-level, BenQ 1080p FP there to enhance exercise routines particularly if those virtual video routines and such become advanced/good enough to make that worthwhile...

_Man_

 

[aard]

@JohnRice I consulted with some experts and they are with you. No VOG. Hardly ever used.

 

[aard]

I built my room out with that in mind but, over time, my wife has tended to only be interested when a specific film she wants to see becomes available, assuming she hasn't already seen it in a commercial theater. Nowadays my room is my sanctuary. It's where I listen to music, watch movies and sports and research even more potential upgrades.

Thanks for sharing. Its good to hear how people use their spaces.

 

[John Dirk]

@JohnRice I consulted with some experts and they are with you. No VOG. Hardly ever used.

Actually, @JohnRice is pretty much an expert in his own right.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Actually, @JohnRice is pretty much an expert in his own right.

For fact.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

I didn't spell it out, but I was referring to surface mounting something like the SVS Elevation or ELAC Debut OW4.2, which are only a few inches thick and can be surface mounted to a ceiling as well as wall mounted.

Hmmm... I just asked about ceiling (surface) mounting the ELAC A4.2s in the other ELAC thread, but maybe I should be considering the OW4.2s instead. Apparently same $200/pair sale price going on right now...

_Man_