Help on making quasi home theater in great room

[autoidiot]

Hi all,

Tried this post on another site, and all I got were comments about how bad my room is. Ok, OK, I got it, but it's the only room I've got for a decent size TV, and it seems like doing something is better than doing nothing, right?

So please help me make the best of a tough situation...

My house is currently under construction, and I'm in the process of planning all my low voltage wiring.

I am hoping to set up the "living room" area of our great room as a home theater with a 7.1 setup. I realize this is far from an ideal setup (just wait...it gets worse). Our goal is to have a decent area to listen to music and watch movies, but we're not aiming for the perfect audiophile experience.

Take a look at the attachment for a diagram of what we're working with. The ceilings are 10', with a soffit around the perimeter roughly 2' x 2', and floors are hardwood.

For rear and side surround, the only thing that makes any sense (I think) is ceiling speakers. Subwoofer and center speakers should be fairly straightforward (I think).

My big challenge is what to do about the front speakers. On the left of the TV is a set of doors, and on the right is the fireplace. I could put something under/over the TV, but I assume that doesn't give me sufficient distance between right & left. What do you think about an in-wall speaker (aimable tweeter?) mounted in the soffit (~9' high)? Or how about a small bookshelf type speaker bracket-mounted to the soffit and aimed at ear level for the couch? I could put a floor speaker to the left of the doors and the right of the fireplace, but then they wouldn't be spaced evenly around the TV (~9' on left vs 6-7' on right). Since my original post, I found a thread on the Orb speakers, and it seems like they might work for the left, right and center...thoughts??

Is there any option that can make this plan work-able? Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.

Thanks,
Dan

 

[AccessX10]

You have quite a few options.

Or how about a small bookshelf type speaker bracket-mounted to the soffit and aimed at ear level for the couch?

This can work just fine and is a good option for your situation.

You could also go with something like these:

http://www.inwallstore.com/Merchant2/merch...uct_Code=JATC62

http://www.roundsound.com/ceiling-speakers-mounts.htm

http://www.home-technology-store.com/C1-C6...it.aspx?ID=2250

Also... look into a Receiver that will do automatic room calibration. Since your room if far from ideal, this will help.

 

[ver0776]

There are speaker arrays where there are like 40-60 speakers all in a little box under the plasma. The speakers use an auto-adjusting setup to aim sounds around the room to get them sounds to the correct points.

It is a little new and probably expensive. I don't know anything, but here is a link to one of them at least...

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1430168,00.asp

Sorry I did not spend more time to find better links. I saw it on TV at the HighDef expo (can't remeber the name it it either /growl)

Vaughn
www.vCrib.com

 

[TonyNo]

If you can't get a receiver with room calibration, look into heavy drapes and area rugs. That should help a lot.

You do have a good case for a nice plasma or LCD for hanging over the fireplace. But that may put the couch too close to the counter.

 

[elcano]

Interesting finding, Vaughn. I wonder if that Yamaha system is in anyway related to the directional ultrasound systems developed some years ago. You can have sound to appear to emanate from the spot that you want. Check here:

http://www.holosonics.com/technology.html

http://www.edn.com/article/CA296500.html

http://www.audiospotlights.com/directional_sound_intro.html