Hi All,

I am putting together a small theater room in my basement and need advice on speaker placement. Here are the overall specs:

Room Size - 13x10.5
Front Wall Size - 8 x 6ft 9.5in

AV Components:
TV - Samsung LN46A750
AVR - Denon 2809CI
Front & Center Speakers - Sonance S623T - In Wall
Surround and Rear - Sonance S622TR - In Ceiling
Subwoofer - TBD

My main questions are is 7.1 too many speakers for this small room and where should the surround and rears be placed. I have attached a couple of drawings with my current ideas. I have limited space to work with and appreciate all feedback.

Cheers,
Mike

http://pattersonchicago.smugmug.com/photos/465629175_LB2AY-L.jpg

http://pattersonchicago.smugmug.com/photos/465629151_5iPNR-XL.jpg

Hi All,

I am putting together a small theater room in my basement and need advice on speaker placement. Here are the overall specs:

Room Size - 13x10.5
Front Wall Size - 8 x 6ft 9.5in

AV Components:
TV - Samsung LN46A750
AVR - Denon 2809CI
Front & Center Speakers - Sonance S623T - In Wall
Surround and Rear - Sonance S622TR - In Ceiling
Subwoofer - TBD

My main questions are is 7.1 too many speakers for this small room and where should the surround and rears be placed. I have attached a couple of drawings with my current ideas. I have limited space to work with and appreciate all feedback.

Cheers,
Mike

Mike ----

I looked at your post this morning and decided not to even attempt a reply at that time. This afternoon, I see that no one else has either.

Let me tell you what my problem is with your request. I look at the furniture arrangement that you have shown for your room and it appears to be totally ludicrous. You show only one seating position (out of eight!) where a person can see the screen without turning their head more than forty-five degrees. Two positions have absolutely zero knee room!

If you want people to think about your problem, you have put a bit of forethought to come up with a reasonable furniture arrangement.

Thanks for the reply Frank. I realize the furniture used in my drawing program does not fit the room and I didn't spend any time trying to make it fit. It was for representative purposes only and is not to scale.

The room is certainly not ideal, but it is what I have to work with. Finding furniture will be as much of a challenge as building the room hence why I am asking for advice.

I will be sitting in the best position most of the time. There are 3 other places in my house for my kids to watch TV and this room is primarily for me and my wife. I may have no couches and 2 recliners instead.

My question still stands given the size of the room, would 5.1 be better than 7.1.

Cheers,
Mike

Thanks for the reply Frank. I realize the furniture used in my drawing program does not fit the room and I didn't spend any time trying to make it fit. It was for representative purposes only and is not to scale.

The room is certainly not ideal, but it is what I have to work with. Finding furniture will be as much of a challenge as building the room hence why I am asking for advice.

I will be sitting in the best position most of the time. There are 3 other places in my house for my kids to watch TV and this room is primarily for me and my wife. I may have no couches and 2 recliners instead.

My question still stands given the size of the room, would 5.1 be better than 7.1.

Cheers,
Mike

OK. Here is what I would consider doing. Since you and your wife will be the primary users of this theater room, I would go with the 7.1 speaker system. I would put two or three theater recliner seats (I believe most are smaller then the standard recliners because they share a common arm between them.). I would place them directly under the surround speakers so that the rear surrounds are well behind you.

On your front wall, I would move the TV down as far as possible to reduce the neck strain from having to look up at the screen. The front speakers should be located at about ear level when seated but this may be difficult with the fireplace being on that wall. (If I were setting up the room as my theater, I would place the TV low on the wall opposite the fireplace. However, I realize that most people would find it difficult to turn a fireplace into a secondary element in a room!) If your TV is a 1080 model, you should probably only be be seated 4 to 6 feet away to be able to see all of the detail that it will deliver!

Use blue tape on the walls and ceiling to test different layouts and to see if what really appeals to you.

Tough space to work with. Try looking here to see if you can get some ideas.

http://www.dolby.com/consumer/home_entertainment/roomlayout2.html

Thanks Frank. I like the idea of the theater seating. We are going to look at some this weekend.

If I understand correctly, my front speakers should be much lower than pictured. As you said they should be a ear height when sitting. I can accomplish this. As it stands now I plan to mount my center speaker vertically at the same height. Is there any reason not to do that.

I will push the rears as far back and to the sides as possible aiming them towards the seats, and the surrounds just in front of the seating again aiming towards the seating. As I have never worked with ceiling speakers, is there a distance they should remain away from the walls?

Thanks again for the assistance.

Thanks Frank. I like the idea of the theater seating. We are going to look at some this weekend.

If I understand correctly, my front speakers should be much lower than pictured. As you said they should be a ear height when sitting. I can accomplish this. As it stands now I plan to mount my center speaker vertically at the same height. Is there any reason not to do that.

No. In fact, I don't know of any good reason why you couldn't mount the center speaker horizontally! The tweeter is the speaker that you actually want at ear level as the human ear can more accurately locate the source for high frequency sounds then low frequency sounds. (That is why we can use subwoofers to handle all of the real frequency material regardless of its position in the sound field.)

I will push the rears as far back and to the sides as possible aiming them towards the seats, and the surrounds just in front of the seating again aiming towards the seating. As I have never worked with ceiling speakers, is there a distance they should remain away from the walls?

Thanks again for the assistance.

Have you look at the Dolby two posts above? It shows the relative position of all the speakers as recommended by Dolby. I know that you should not have ceiling speakers right against a perpendicular surface but I am not sure of the distance you should be away. I would make it a minimum of two feet and more if possible. Perhaps someone with more knowledge might jump in and provide a better answer.

as for sound, ideally for the room size, it's best with a 5.1 setup. if you must do 7.1, place the back in the back room and the 2 surround toward the back side walls. 5.1 is recommend mainly due to the length of the room.