Speaker placement in a tricky room (1 Viewer)

[idoseadoo]

Hey everyone. New to the forum. We converted the mother-in-law room to a TV room, but it has a weird layout with the doors and couch. The couch is a very nice one we inherited and want to keep it, so we're trying to make the layout work.

The room is 13' long and 11' wide. TV is about 11-12' from eyes and my ears are about 35" from floor. The TV is 66" wide and is about 10" away from the left door when it's open. I could maybe fit a tower in there. I haven't mounted anything yet.
From all the research, I know the fronts should go right where the doors are, and the rears should go on the side. I have seen people use those tiny bose satellite speakers in the corners of the ceiling, but some said that's a no-no. I really like this idea as running wire in the ceiling. It would be much easier than diving it down into the walls, especially in the rear. I have a nice Yamaha 7.2 reciever and a Klipsh sub. What would be optimal here? Can I get away with using small sattelite speakers in the ceiling corners?

 

[Adam Gregorich]

I think your best bet is going to be placing the L/R speakers as close as you can to the TV so they clear the door on the left. I'm not sure how the door on the right opens - does it come into the room and would it hit a speaker on the right of the TV?

If it were me (and some may disagree), I would put your speakers on the side walls if possible. I think you would really benefit from Atmos too. You can either do in-ceiling or get Atmos enabled speakers for your L/R if you don't already have.

 

[idoseadoo]

Thanks for the reply. The door on right is a pocket door and slides into the wall. I think I could fit towers next to the TV, but I doubt it'd give me any sort of "surround" sound from the front. Guess my dilemma is would it sound better being right up against the TV/center speaker or get smaller bookshelf speakers and mount it more to the side? Everywhere I read says you must be at least 17degrees off from the center line of the middle viewer. I agree, with the wall speakers, I'll probably just hang a few bookshelf speakers a bit above ear level. I thought about getting in-wall speakers and stuffing insulation above/below them ,How well do those perform?

 

[Bobofbone]

I assume your seating is as diagrammed, and can't be moved to another wall. I have another idea, but its a bit out of the box, and I haven't seen it done before.

If you have any, or can borrow some, try a speaker in the corner versus the side wall. If the speaker on the front has enough improvement to justify it, mount it on the door. You will probably need an exterior or solid core door, and I'd suggest in-letting an area for a shelf on the bottom to hold the speaker, possibly with casters. You would probably need something to arrest or dampen the momentum of the door when it moves with the additional weight of the speaker, as well as some sort of block like a couple of hinge mounted door stops. You are also going to need heavy duty hinges, and long screws to anchor the hinges past the frame and into the underlying studs. You would also need to mount the speaker with something to dampen vibration of the speaker being transmitted to the door.

Like I said, a bit outside of the box.

 

[idoseadoo]

I like it! Actually a very interesting idea. However it would be hard to mirror that on the other side as a speaker on the other side would be in the way of people walking to the kitchen (where the beer and popcorn are ) We don't have a dog, so spilling either would be a problem. How much worse would it be if the speakers weren't mirrored exactly?
How much worse would it be if the fronts were mounted higher above the door frame?

 

[Bobofbone]

You might also consider bookshelf size speakers for the front left and right channels along with a sub woofer. There are also low profile speakers that are somewhat thinner that might be out of the way. If they are mounted above the door frame, they may need to be angled downward towards the seating area. Concerning asymmetric speaker placement, some amps can be programmed for the distance of each speaker from the listening area.

Before I actually finalized my plans, I used white spray paint to make screens on a couple of the walls, the projector I'd purchased for the theater and an old sound system to experiment. I put a couple of lawn chairs in the room and tried different arrangements. I also used a collection of ladders, tables with books on them and whatever I could find to position speakers and the projector. Everyone seemed to think I was a bit wacked except one of our Maine Coon Cats. She joined me on the second seat, and we discussed the results at night. This really helped in coming up with the best layout. She still enjoys movies there, but sometimes likes to lay on the top of one of the sub woofers.

Dig out some step ladders and try different arrangements. What you hear in the actual room with the seating you use will give you a closer idea of what you are going to probably like.

One other consideration; having the speakers out of the way (above or on the adjacent wall, angled toward the seating area) might allow a larger size flat screen. I've found duplicating screen sizes with cardboard pieces clipped together and placed against the wall (helpers are useful for this) can give you an idea how a different size screen would look.

 

[idoseadoo]

The screen size is already established. My wife gave me a beautiful 75" Sony Bravia. It measures 66" horizontally and is accurately depicted in the diagram. I like the idea of trying out these various arrangements. Perhaps that's just what I'll do.