moving to new home: anyone spare some setup advice? (1 Viewer)

[matt:hen]

Greetings!
Long-time fan - first-time poster. I have two main questions that I hope the experts that frequent these boards can help clarify for a neophyte like myself. Thanks in advance for your consideration!

1) HT placement. I'm moving to a new house in a month, and I need some advice concerning HT setup location. The first thought upon walking into the family room of this house was, "This is perfect for my HT - let's buy this now!" However, add a picky wife and the situation has become more ...interesting. First, the basic floor plan.

----FFFFF-----
|...................P
|...................P The room is basically a perfect
|...................| rectangle (~22ft x 15ft)
|...................|
|...................| F = fireplace
|...................| P = patio doors (glass)
|...................| (only source of sunlight)
|...................| O = doorway to other rooms but
|...................| there is no door - open
O...................O
O...................O
---------------

So here is the problem. Although I have not bought it yet, my next purchase (saving now) is the big screen HD tv. I want to wire room now as I would for this tv. I want roughly 45"-50" HD widescreen, and from what i've read viewing location should be about 7 feet from tv.

So here are issues:
a) obviously can't put tv right in front of fireplace
b) i first though place tv between open doorways, but the issue is that by placing the couch 7 feet from screen the couch leaves approx 10 feet behind it to fireplace...*sigh* which the wife thinks looks really bad. It is a little odd to have couch bisect room facing the door and to have TV blocking path between doors. Plus, where do you put sub?
c) placing tv on wall opposite patio doors and centered would i) only leave like 2 feet from back of couch to wall (is this enough room for 7.1 rear speakers) and ii)leave left side open and right side closed (affect sound?)

Any other ideas?
Which is worse?
Is the 7 foot guideline for HDTV accurate? Would it be bad to be too much farther back?

2) Speaker help. First, I have to put the obligatory note about what a loser i am. You see, I received the bose acoustimass speakers as a gift. :frowning: I know. I know. Currently, I cannot afford to do much to change that. Saving for TV first, then I'll work on speakers. Can only do a little at a time. The receiver is a Denon 3903.

Here is the question. Is this possible/advisable? Considering I'll be stuck with them awhile, I was thinking of making the satellite bose speakers into a 7.1 system and then add some fronts. Currently, I have an old pair of decent bookshelf speakers that I would use for fronts, which I can work toward replacing after the TV. However, as you know, the wiring would be tricky.

The 5 satellites and LFE go through the bose "sub" and get routed (yes there is a dedicated LFE channel input). So if i use the bookshelf speakers, I would have to set them as SMALL. Would the BOSE "sub" supply the bass for the bookshelf speakers if they don't go through the sub unit?
My other concern is no basement - carpet on concrete. Would the bose "sub" just completely lack the ability to supply all the bass?

The bose speakers are actually the kind with 2 satellites connected (so really 10 speakers total). I was thinking this might be ideal to do 7.1 positioning and set the satellites to the side of viewing area like dipoles. I'm just not sure if the integration of 2 additional speakers for the fronts is possible/advisable?

Or should i just stick to the 5.1 setup?

Thanks guys. My HT will get there....slowly but surely..

 

[John S]

Tough room. Consider 6.1 instead...

Consider putting the display in the corner left of the fireplace. Furniture could be oriented to the diplay or not...

If not, Love seat would be just inside the patio door, sofa would extend in the room at a 90 degree angle to the love seat. Toe your two fronts out a little to help widen the soundstage. Wives seem happy with such a arrangement, and not to many trade offs on surround performance.



-------FFFFF------
|DDDS..............SP
|DD...................P The room is basically a perfect
|S...................L| rectangle (~22ft x 15ft)
|.....................L|
|.....................L| F = fireplace
|R...................L| P = patio doors (glass)
|S.......CCCCCC.S|(only source of sunlight)
|......................| O = doorway to other rooms but
|......................| there is no door - open
O......................O
O......................O
---------------

D= Display
S= Speaker
L= Luv Seat
C- Couch
R= Chair / recliner

Your sub would become the end table in the corner made by the sofa and the luv seat.

Not greta, but I think you get the idea.

 

[John S]

Dang that was hard to do with text characters as my graphics...

7.1 seems almost impossible to me....

 

[matt:hen]

you rock thanks!

that's a very good idea!

:b

 

[John S]

PS: Not sure how to tell you to integrate the Bose stuff though.....


In my opinion, you need speaker connections direct to the speakers fromt he AVR, and LFE/Sub out directly to the sub/sub amp, period. So I just have no idea, maybe some Bose users on here will have more insight.


As somebody that installs on the side.... I refuse to install Bose systems. Just not up to my personal standards.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Matt,

I personally would not do a TV-in-the-corner set-up in that room. Those typically only work well in perfectly square rooms, and only then with everything else in the room arranged to accommodate the system - i.e., the furniture and all speakers is also set up on a diagonal. Unfortunately, few people seem to be willing to follow through with a corner arrangement and do it right.

What you’re looking at here is everything that’s wrong with most corner set-ups: The sofa and rear speakers are arranged as if the TV and the rest of the system were up front and center, yet the front speakers are all off to one side, and with each one at an increased distance from the seat to boot. Bottom line, you can expect your front soundstage to be abysmal (unless you happen to like all your sound coming from the left). The rear sound stage won’t be so hot either, since one speaker is right up close to the sofa and the other further away.

I’d set up the system on one of the long walls, with the one opposite the patio door as first choice. The nice thing about the Bose speakers (probably the only nice thing about them) is that they can easily be aimed, so you should be able to get good dispersion and imaging for the rear speakers behind the sofa, even being so close to it.

Probably your best bet for now. 6.1 might be a future option, but 7.1 will be problematic, as it needs the rear surrounds to be on the side walls.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[DanHal]

I thought I might throw this out as well. Depending on how "handy" you are, and the requirements for the adjacent rooms, you could always knock out a wall, or two, and give yourself some more room to work with. Now this may not be possible due to many factors, but it's always an option.

Good luck with your room!

 

[John S]

Without orienting the furniture to thw display, I think what I posted is the best he can do.

Cramming into the 15' will have just as many trade offs with the soundstage.

No sweet spot, but you do generally turn towards the screen when watching. Not every seat can be on axis in a living room environment anyways.

 

[matt:hen]

thanks again guys for the advice. I'll try both when we move in and see which sounds best.

Looking over your equipment lists...i can only wonder how the heck do you acquire all the knowledge to even know what to get (not to mention the funds!).

I'm not sure if the "knocking down walls thing" would work just yet. Gonna have to give my wife at least a bottle and a half of wine just to be able to suggest that to "the boss" without losing "my manhood". (guess that means i lost it already)

Unfortunately, I went the "higher ed" route and am envious of those who are handy around the house.

Well, it definately is good to know you guys are here for when I can save enough money for good speakers. Of course, by that time I'll need to get a blue laser dvd player.

It just never ends does it?

 

[MarkN]

Hi Matt,
The obvious question for me would be, is it feasible to relocate 1 or both of the open doorways?

I am going to assume that the doors at the bottom left are from some stairs leading to the lower level and can't be relocated.

If so, no problem. You can still do a dramatic home theatre given the space and if the doors can be relocated, nobody will be walking in front of the screen when coming in. Even if the doors can't be relocated, the sofa setup below will give a dramatic look, keep the room looking large and keep people from walking in front of the screen - also, keeping the HT in the rectangular setup will give the best sound AND keep the fireplace area as seperate area for enjoying by iteself. Proper lighting installtion would be the keep though.

---FFFFF--
O...........P
O...........P
.............
.............
............O