Newbie's 1st Attempt at HT - Layout Advice Needed! (1 Viewer)

[Chandra]

Hi Folks,
First off, this forum is absolutely incredible! I have been a lurker in this forum for some time now, and finally took small tentative steps to building my first HT. This is the (meager) equipment I have:
- Sony Wega KV-36FS17
- Sony HT-5000D HTIB (I know, I know, I'm not proud I bought a HT in-a-box,
but I didn't know about this forum then :frowning:!!). The HTIB consists of the
STR-DE445 receiver, DVP-C660 DVD Player, SS-V230 Front Speakers, SS-V230
Surround Speakers, and SA-WMS230 Subwoofer
- Sony RM-AV3000 Universal Remote Commander® Remote Control
- A very small apartment (20x20 living/dining area)
- A huge wall of windows across from the TV (facing South, so I get close to
12 hours of glare every day!).
I haven't calibrated the system yet, but my AVIA DVD is on its way! I can't
wait for midnight tonight, when my wife will be sleeping and I will be up
calibrating the other love of my life
I just wanted to participate in this forum and share my excitement with you
people...
I need your advise on a couple of things, though!
1. How do I prevent/minimize TV glare? What kind of fabric/material can I install over my 12ft tall shades so they don't look ugly and don't interfere with
the shade open/close mechanism?
2. What's the best HT/speaker placement you suggest for an L-shaped room?
My current placement is in the graphic below, and I'm not too pleased with
it. I am willing to change the layout (provided some of you guys in the LA
area can help me out in moving the Wega monster at > 225 lbs!)
Any and all suggestions are very highly appreciated!
Thanks all!!

 

[David Ison]

have the drapes relined wth a heavy dark naterial(probably quite a few bucks) or move the t.v. to the south wall /the couch about 9 ft. from the t.v./a speaker on either side of the couch high on the wall and slightly behind the listening position. this of course is just a few basic suggestions, keep reading this forum. good luck!

 

[Jeffrey Forner]

I second David's recommendations for the new arrangement. That will not only minimize glare, but it will also place all the speakers where they should be.

 

[Ted Lee]

agreed...
(assuming top is north)
1. move the tv to the south wall
2. move the couch to the north wall
3. reposition speakers appropriately
you can run all your wiring down the east wall, so that it doesn't interfere with the path to the dining.
you absolutely must do that if you're going to get any kind of accurate rear-channel sound. where they currently are is not going to cut it!
btw - be proud of your setup...it's not bad at all...

 

[Chandra]

David, Jeffrey, and Ted,
Thanks a bunch for your responses. However, I screwed up by omitting to include that the south side of my living room is a sliding door that leads out to the balcony. I am attaching a more detailed graphic of the layout. My dilemma is that I can't have the TV on the south side because the door to the balcony would then be blocked. This is really frustrating, because I just can't think of an innovative way to use my layout. I will appreciate any and all suggestions on how to make the best use of my existing layout. Thanks a bunch!

 

[Jeffrey Forner]

Chandra;

Try this: Move the TV rack so that it's against the north wall, so that the TV itself is staring down the middle of the room. Move the front right speaker onto the east wall. Since you have a walkway there, you might need to raise the speaker up above normal head height and attach it to the wall with a wall bracket to keep that space open. Move the front left speaker so that it's on the wall directly opposite of the right speaker.

Move the couch and the coffee table so that they're facing the TV, with the coffee table between the couch and the TV. Move the recliner to the left side of the couch. Finally, leave the rear right and left speakers where they are. I don't think you'll be able to place them in a better position in this room.

Will that work?

 

[Ted Lee]

agreed (again)....
go with jeffrey's recommendation.
assuming your tv is on the north wall....how big are your main speakers? the only problem i see is where to put your right front speaker. will it fit at all in the little "nubby" between the doorway opening and your east wall? if so, then you're all set.
if not, then i suppose you'll have to scrunch the mains beside the tv. will that fit?
the other issue is now you'll have to deal with glare again, since the tv now faces the sliding glass door. i suppose you'll have to buy some mini-blinds or something.
good luck!
[edit] i meant right front...not left speaker.

 

[Chandra]

Thanks a lot for your posts! I'm going to re-arrange this weekend and experiment a bit per your suggestions (moving a Wega around a room doesn't sound like fun, though!). I played around with your suggestions, and here's how I think the room will look after I'm through with it. Not pretty, but it'll have to do till I can afford my own home with a finished basement .
I don't think I will have a problem with my front speakers, they are small cubes and are mounted on floorstanding speaker stands (image below). My rear speakers are wall mounted with brackets.
What do you think?

 

[Ted Lee]

that looks pretty solid.
i know i'm being anal, but hopefully you'll be able to sit directly in front of the tv while watching?
in any case, that appears to be about as optimal as you'll get in your current setup.
btw - nice graphics!

 

[Robert Mayrand]

I really don't like the last graphic. The space will really look to compacted. I really like your first setting with 45° angle. Putting object at 45° in a room often take up more space but quite strangely make it look more open.

Here's what i would do. Mainly I would keep everything about the same place as in the first graphic. The main advantage is that i would leave the TV exaclty like it is. But move the front speaker a bit away from the tv along the wall. The FR speaker just beside the door and the FL at the same distance on the other wall. Giving a better sound effect. I would use the couch as the main viewing position. Just put it at 45° on the east wall so that it is parallelled to the tv, about 8 feet from the set. I would then put the reliner a bit off to the left near the end of the kitchen wall. Or if you absolutely want to be able to use it you can put it in about the same line as the couch maybe the two at a little angle in front of the tv. As for the rear speaker you got a few choice. You could leave the RL where it is an mount the RR on the east wall about 4 feet off the north-east corner. But the calibration between the rear speaker might be tough to do. The other solution is to put them on those kind of table that goes behing couch and pointing up. Or to get small stands. The other solution if you want to minimize glare would be to use about the same set-up but the other way around put the couch at 45° in place of the tv, and the tv at 45° on the east wall parrallelle to the couch.

Just my opinion

 

[Rob Dawn]

Chandra,
If you don't want to move all your furniture around (or the wife won't let you ), try moving the Right Rear speaker to the other side of the couch.
That's not the greatest positioning as it will now be fairly close to the right front speaker, but at least that puts the rear spekers on the correct sides for anyone sitting on the couch and recliner.
Many people don't have ideal speaker set-ups due to room logistics or WAF. My right rear speaker is off to the side of the couch (where it should be), but the left rear is behind, and to the left of the couch. This is just due to where we have plant ledges as well as a large foyer right where the left rear should be! I built a five foot high speaker stand that I can set in the foyer and move the left rear speaker onto whenever we're watching action movies. (Means the rear calibaration is always off when the speaker is in it's usual position, but oh well.)
Have fun with all this!
Rob

 

[DougKrockeTT]

wow, talk about a dilemma. how about this...i have a nice 13" TV that i would be willing to trade for your sony monster. i'll even let you throw in some $$$ for my moving expenses.
seriously though, i like the idea of the tv on the north wall, keeping the coffee and recliner where they are, but moving the sofa to the west wall. assuming there is enough room there, it will actually make the living room look bigger because the sofa is not obstructing the walkway.
besides, the HT is your baby, all you need to worry about is proper centering for the recliner (the master's seat)
good luck!