I'm building a new house and I'm trying to figure out speaker placement (1 Viewer)

[My.only.stupid.dream]

I'm am building a new house... I originally thought I would not care about home theater so the room isn't ideal



I would like to do a 5.1.2 setup



The wall where the TV or projector will go is 135" wide... But there is a door on the right so we loose 38"



I would really like to do an 85 to 100 in 4k TV



But due to the door on the right I'm forced to either go down to a 65-in TV and center it in the room



Or



I can do up to 100 inch TV and center it on the open space of the wall But I would need to shift the entire screen and sound to the left



Some things to note



A little less than 10 ft back and 115" up there is a beam that goes from the right of the room to the left of the room



There is an additional beam about 17 feet back



The first 4ft of the room is 9ft tall... The rest of the room has 18 ft ceilings



I COULD just do a 65" 4k tv and then a cheap LCD led 1080p projector

Note: I'm including some pictures of the very unfinished room and the beams... We are a very long way away from being done... The beams currently have some walk boards on top of them because we are doing drywall work in the 18-ft ceiling area

 

[Nathan_H]

Home theater, even in dedicated rooms costing hundred of thousands of dollars, is all about intelligent compromises.

In this case, buying the larger TV and shifting it to the left to fit makes the most sense. The 97" TCL is a leading choice and probably the best value.

If your budget for the TV is in the 2 to 3 grand range, I'd be looking at:

The TCL 98” QM7 (98QM751G) TV which is currently available for early Black Friday pricing at $2,299 on Amazon and Best Buy, which is about 54% off the regular price.

This is NOT their cheapest model, but I really think if you can afford to, this one is a better bet than their low end model.

---

Regarding speakers: 3.1 will be easy in this room. 5.1 gets more complicated because the surround speakers don't really have a good place to go.

Your diagram shows them directly over the couch in the ceiling. If you do put them in the ceiling please put them a foot or three behind the couch to get a more enveloping feeling.

 

[My.only.stupid.dream]

Regarding speakers: 3.1 will be easy in this room. 5.1 gets more complicated because the surround speakers don't really have a good place to go.

Your diagram shows them directly over the couch in the ceiling. If you do put them in the ceiling please put them a foot or three behind the couch to get a more enveloping feeling.

So what I'm actually thinking about doing is placing stands either directly behind the couch where it's basically hugging the couch back or even mounting stands directly to the back of the couch

This still wouldn't be ideal... Another option would be to use 1.5 inch metal black pipe to connect the beam at 10 ft with the beam at 17 ft and to run two channels that allow me to fully adjust how far back or forward the rear surrounds will be placed

Unfortunately though if I place them off the beams I can probably only bring them down to an ear heights of about 7 ft?

This is why I think it makes more sense to place them directly on the back of the couch at or slightly above your level

 

[Nathan_H]

So what I'm actually thinking about doing is placing stands either directly behind the couch where it's basically hugging the couch back or even mounting stands directly to the back of the couch

This still wouldn't be ideal... Another option would be to use 1.5 inch metal black pipe to connect the beam at 10 ft with the beam at 17 ft and to run two channels that allow me to fully adjust how far back or forward the rear surrounds will be placed

Unfortunately though if I place them off the beams I can probably only bring them down to an ear heights of about 7 ft?

This is why I think it makes more sense to place them directly on the back of the couch at or slightly above your level

Yeah closer to ear height is ideal. But as you note being right up against the couch is not great (because it will "hot spot" and possibly be distracting) but if you do that, simply point them at each other and not at the seats, and keep the level low if you get distracted by them, and it can certainly work!

(And remember in a 5.1 system, those surrounds are NOT rear surrounds, but are ideally side / and a little bit rear, and simply called "surrounds".)

 

[My.only.stupid.dream]

What abo

Yeah closer to ear height is ideal. But as you note being right up against the couch is not great (because it will "hot spot" and possibly be distracting) but if you do that, simply point them at each other and not at the seats, and keep the level low if you get distracted by them, and it can certainly work!

(And remember in a 5.1 system, those surrounds are NOT rear surrounds, but are ideally side / and a little bit rear, and simply called "surrounds".)

what about bipolars for the rear?

 

[Nathan_H]

What abo

what about bipolars for the rear?

Those can definitely work VERY WELL for such a situation. Their wide dispersion tends to create less hot spotting, but they are still "directional" enough to maintain coherence.

(DO NOT use DI-pole speakers.)

 

[My.only.stupid.dream]

Those can definitely work VERY WELL for such a situation. Their wide dispersion tends to create less hot spotting, but they are still "directional" enough to maintain coherence.

(DO NOT use DI-pole speakers.)

I have access to some Polk bipolars.. or only $40

 

[Nathan_H]

I have access to some Polk bipolars.. or only $40

worth a try for sure

 

[My.only.stupid.dream]

worth a try for sure

Correction... They are infinity p-qps

 

[Nathan_H]

Correction... They are infinity p-qps

Well, that’s even better. On average Infinity makes more reliably consistent, and accurate, speakers across their product line then does Polk, based on standardized testing of speaker accuracy.

 

[My.only.stupid.dream]

Well, that’s even better. On average Infinity makes more reliably consistent, and accurate, speakers across their product line then does Polk, based on standardized testing of speaker accuracy.

Apparently they're not a bipolar but they're a quadrapole??? What the heck is that?

 

[Nathan_H]

There isn't a lot of info about those but they appear to be more like DIPOLE and try to make the surround field very diffuse. If you have them already I would try them. I'm not sure I would spend much money on them. But I haven't heard them. I am just going by how they are described.

 

[My.only.stupid.dream]

There isn't a lot of info about those but they appear to be more like DIPOLE and try to make the surround field very diffuse. If you have them already I would try them. I'm not sure I would spend much money on them. But I haven't heard them. I am just going by how they are described.

A buddy of mine has them. He looks like 5 minutes for me and he said he would take $40 for them. And knowing him if he has them they're in near perfect condition

 

[Nathan_H]

I would ask him to let you test drive them in your home for sure and see.

 

[lordbrawler]

Great plan!

If your focus is on immersive theater, go with Option B (offset 85–100" TV) and just center everything around the TV—not the room. Use acoustic treatments or furniture to visually rebalance the space.