....so I cashed in my Sony Points for a new STRDG-1000 7.1 receiver with HDMI and I'm thinking "Hey.. give the wife a budget to buy new furniture, paint and do a bit of remodeling and maybe I can sneak in some bigger speakers...". Well, there is my problem... here I have this cool new PS3, a building library of blu-ray discs and most importantly Resistance: Fall of Man and I've got these Boston Micro 90 Speakers which sound good (relatively speaking) but they just don't seem like they're all "there" since I was forced to mount them so high (to keep them out of sight; see pics attached).

So, I'm looking at the Boston 442's (I tried for the 460's but was shot down) for the front mains and front center... Anyway, I am completely open to suggestions for this room so please look at the pics and let me know what I need to negotiate with; unfortunately looks are better than quality (quality goes in the basement with the media room and bar). Unfortunately the 1080P Samsung is upstairs and it just doesn't seem right to not upgrade the speakers with this new free 7.1 receiver.

The room is 14'-6" x 17' (including the bay window) and the ceiling height slopes up to 17'...

Cheers!

Jerz

There doesn't seem to be any room on the plasma wall for real speakers.

I would have placed everything in the room 90 degrees to the right of where it is now, and then a solid pair of mains could ahve went to left and right of the fireplace with the plasma mounted above the fireplace.

I would have placed everything in the room 90 degrees to the right of where it is now, and then a solid pair of mains could ahve went to left and right of the fireplace with the plasma mounted above the fireplace.

Well... we are fixin' to remodel so reconfiguration is not out of the question. I kind of think that the plasma is too high now (I'm planning on lowering it 6" and putting a 36" cabinet underneath (if we can find one having a deep enough interior depth)) so I'm thinking the lcd *might* be too high over the fireplace. But I do like the idea of the proper mains on either side (I could get some *real* speakers then).

Thanks,

Jerz

You need a stronger pimp hand my man!

I know I didn't offer any speaker suggestions, but that position is just about impossible to work with.

I hope things work out for you.

Perhaps there is another room she can let you have.

How about moving the plasma on a base in between where it is now, and the fireplace in the corner?

Perhaps an 3 in 1 unit may work and mount it below the tv. Something along the lines of these:

Polk SurroundBar: http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/surroundbar/

Mirage UniTheater: http://miragespeakers.com/v2/product_page.php?open=lines&subid=677&id=598

DefTech Mythos Solo: http://www.definitivetech.com/loudspeakers/mythos/mythos_table.html#solo

This would at least allow you to move the speakers lower and they may blend well with the looks of the TV. You may also want to try to move the surrounds to stands behind or next to the coutch if possible.

You need a stronger pimp hand my man!

LMAO! I have the basement... but we'll get to that later. This is where I drink a beer, play with the ps3 and nod my head when she says something while she is cooking dinner (you know... "quality time").

You may also want to try to move the surrounds to stands behind or next to the coutch if possible.

... I was thinking about adding the 6th and 7th channel acually lower behind the sofa and pointing either straight up or out to either side of the bay window. I've never had the 7.1 so I'm not sure if that'll even do anything for me.

I know I didn't offer any speaker suggestions, but that position is just about impossible to work with.

I hope things work out for you.

I appreciate it... I wouldn't be here asking for suggestions if I wasn't stumped myself. I actually though about getting the Bose acoustimass with 6.1 just because I can aim those down closer to ear level for this room...

My wife is also "looks first" "Qalitiy whats that"

She is pushing me to buy the Klipsch SXL (kinda out of my price range at the moment) They might be to long for you, but they might bleen in.

Also definitive tech has some speakers that are thin, went to a store today and they sounded pretty good.

Perhaps an 3 in 1 unit may work and mount it below the tv. Something along the lines of these:

Mirage UniTheater: http://miragespeakers.com/v2/product_page.php?open=lines&subid=677&id=598


That Mirage Unitheater is actually looking pretty good... at least I'll have the sound down lower and when (if) she ever decides on a cabinet I can kind of mount that one almost total behind the cabinet since it points up....

Thanks.

My wife is also "looks first" "Qalitiy whats that"Because she's never heard quality. Take her to demo some quality speakers, using some of her favorite music, and see what happens. Some have overcome the WAF using that strategy.

LMAO! I have the basement... but we'll get to that later. This is where I drink a beer, play with the ps3 and nod my head when she says something while she is cooking dinner (you know... "quality time").

Sad ... Men relegated to the basement and garage :)

My wife loves my speakers. My current mains (all DIY) I covered in a killer Bubinga veneer and applied a piano finish - she loves them. Bedroom speakers I applied an automotive Titanium metallic gloss paint, she loves them. Basement speakers are Piano Black, again wife approval.

Just act really really passionate about whatever speakers you want, pout when she shoots it down, then do something really nice for her. You'll get what you want. Trust me, she knows how to play the game!

I can't answer your question without mixing design and audio advice. Since your wife is a designer, she may take offense at my suggestions, but you asked so here goes . . .

The best-designed rooms I have seen mix classic and modern styles and elements. They don't go for one color or texture, or even one style. Your room, while nicely put together and very comfortable looking, strikes me as perhaps a bit too matchy-matchy and beige. I also think the painting you have over the fireplace is much to small for such a large open wall.

That being said, if it were me, I'd move the TV above the fireplace and then cover it with a much larger painting on tracks that I could just slide to the side when I wanted to watch TV. I'd win by getting a better TV position, and my wife would win by getting a room in which you don't see the TV unless it is in use.

I'd then put something modern and architectural, such as Gallo's 3.1 reference speakers, on either side of the fireplace. Again a win-win as I'd get better sound and I think my wife would end up with a more interesting room overall. There are a lot of very good sounding speakers in wood veneers, but I think your wife would object to most of them as they are not very interesting looking. I think the Gallos would get a lot of good comments and, from what I hear, they have good sound.

Those ideas failing, I'd do what hdmi4ever suggests. That worked for me and my wife has since commented that she can no longer listen to music at her friends' houses because their speakers generally suck compared to ours (which she did not originally see the point of buying).

Good luck whatever you do!

Your room, while nicely put together and very comfortable looking, strikes me as perhaps a bit too matchy-matchy and beige. I also think the painting you have over the fireplace is much to small for such a large open wall.

Oh, you're exactly right... we just moved some stuff in there to kind of fill it in before we really bought anything... I'm not sure if you can notice but there are probably about ten different color patches painted on the wall... vases, plate, cups on fireplace mantle to look at differnt colors... the old CRT stand of the 27" TV that I gave to my brother a few years ago (this was in the basement and actually the 53" projections screen used to be in the plase of the plasma; covering the boxes on the wall)... yup... everything is pretty much going except maybe the wingbacks and the coffee table... New paint and everything; I'll be patching holes and whatnot too so I'm looking for the best alternative for this room for speakers (I know I'm not going to get anything stellar)... believe me this is not the intent of the look of the room; we're pretty much starting over so yes your input is awesome; thanks.

Edit: Oh, she is NOT a designer (just an architect)... may have misrepresented that... she had the designer she is working with over today actually, but if I don't get my stuff set up I may be designed out of the picture.

I'd then put something modern and architectural, such as Gallo's 3.1 reference speakers, on either side of the fireplace. Again a win-win as I'd get better sound and I think my wife would end up with a more interesting room overall. There are a lot of very good sounding speakers in wood veneers, but I think your wife would object to most of them as they are not very interesting looking. I think the Gallos would get a lot of good comments and, from what I hear, they have good sound.

I'll second the Gallo's, they are different and always provoke notice! :cool:

I just realized you attached pics of the room ... I'd agree with Kal, you SOL as far as getting any 'real' speakers in that room.

I bet you could have some fun with it though. Like cutting out and finishing an area right below the display for your components. You could probably also mount a subwoofer into the wall under the stairs - the volume is likely adequate to model as an Inifinte Baffle. That would be a super cool install :)

There 'is' room for some ok speakers in the spots where you have those current sats. Like those current 'trendy' plasma speakers ... the long thin wall mount stuff. Far from ideal, but decent. And get them mounted lower than your current sats are. Just keep the tweeters at ear level.

My wife owns a home decor shop, so I know where you're coming from with the "Designer" Wife thing. I got my wife involved in the design of our HT right from the start. I gave her the requirements, (i.e., light control, sound absorption, etc.) and let her integrate these requirements into our HT design. She really got into it and spent considerable time researching acoustics as well as light reflectivity properties of various materials. She came up with, and/or helped design the curtains surrounding the screen, (which cover the front acoustic treatments and enhance the front light control), the acoustic panels, (which we made and are placed at the first reflection points and other acoustically strategic places), the overall color scheme, (which enhances light control, but is still quite tasteful ), and the black ceiling, (which she actually suggested!)

Obviously, your design requirements are different than mine. Nonetheless, you'll probably have much better luck if you try to get your "Designer" Wife involved in a cooperative effort than in trying to get her to accept your ideas of good HT design. In fact, you may end like I did, with a much better overall HT design than if I had done it all by myself.

Good luck,

Craig

Sound like I need to get the "real" speakers for the basement and settle on something like the mirage unitheatre design. I definately need the souund lower than what it is now so if I put one under the tv and another behind the sofa (for 6.1) it may be the best that I can hope for in this room. I'm not trying to turn the family room into the home theatre but in all practicality with a kid we usally cook dinner just before we start the movie so it's nice watching a movie here next to the kitchen and would be enjoyable to at least have an enveloping sound instead of the current sound with the speakers too high.

Are there any other suggestions for the "unitheater" type of speaker?

Thanks for all of the comments.

Jerz

Where are the pictures?

Where are the pictures?

They're back...

I like the TV over the fireplace idea because it would "look" good but the tv would definatley be too high; I don't like looking up when watching a movie a playing RFOM. Although I'm going to lower the tv about 6"... what is nice is that I find myself standing right in front of the lcd while playing a game with the wireless controller.

Have you considered leaving that room alone, removing the large tv and replacing it with a small 32"ish lcd set atop a matching credenza that fits in with the room's decor? The room is very nice looking from a design point of view but all the angles, open areas, ceiling height and small alcove video/audio gear has to make it brutal for any type of quality sound disregarding speaker quality. I just don't think you are going to be able to do it and meet any type of design/looks requirement.
Were it me I would leave the room void of all overwhelming gear, other than the afore mentioned 32" lcd and perhaps a small 3 way sound system just to provide comfortable sound and tell the wife, out of the goodness of my heart and taking into consideration her desire for a great looking room, the room is too nice to fill with gear. I would then claim a room to be dedicated to "entertainment" and set it up to fit my needs and desires. Both sides are satisfied. Wife gets a beautiful room to entertain and you get a room dedicated, not necessarily a true "home theatre" unless that is what you want, to the pursuit of video and audio bliss.

Speaking of the "basement", men have always considered the basement or cellar to be their domain. I am 51 and as a young child of 6ish or so remember going down to the cellar to see my grandfather. He had an area set up just for his relaxation. A rocking chair beside the coal fired boiler, a table next to the chair with his favorite pipe, ash tray and pipe tobacco nearby. It was his "quiet place" to sit smoke his pipe drink some wine...he and a friend had a one acre area of grape vines and they made Portugese Port wine mmmmm. This was back in 1961 so men have probably always preferred being in such areas. My grandmother did not allow smoking in her house...WAF even then lol...but my grandfather could do as he liked in the cellar. He was also surrounded with his tools, it was a bit dark, quiet and peaceful...does that not sound like a nice "entertainment room"?

Another possibility
http://www.mksound.com/mp4512.php

Have you thought about in-walls? I know they have mixed reviews around here, but if this is not your main HT, they may work better for the space. Good luck!

Is there any space behind that stairwell to build an in-wall equipment rack? That cabinet sitting out on the floor looks pretty out of place in that nice living room...I would try to hide the gear if it were my wife.

I don't think they've been mentioned yet, but you can look at Orb or Gallo Micros/A'divas as well. They have a unique spherical design, and come in a variety of colors, depending on the maker (black, white, copper, stainless steel, wine, blue, yellow, etc.). They produce unusually large sound for such a small size, and have a variety of good looking mounting options (I prefer the Gallo stands, as they look nicer and are cheaper). They aren't going to give the best cinema sound, but paired with a sub, they sound great for their size and looks.

Have you thought about in-walls? I know they have mixed reviews around here, but if this is not your main HT, they may work better for the space. Good luck!

There's no real place for an in-wall on the left side. That's the major problem - the left side. There isn't much you can do in this room, unless you want to put the TV above the fireplace. You might be able to do a corner-placement of the TV, but I'm not sure how that'd look. Unfortunately, even though it'd free up more space for real speakers, the acoustics are worse (more first-point reflections).

However, since you said your planning on doing some remodeling, see if you can do this. Move the light switches to the left wall (see pic). Build out that cut-out section where the TV is. Build an outlet and an AV rack into it (venting underneath the stairs). Get a slightly smaller TV - it's a bit overpowering. Use on-walls where the light switch used to be, and, identically on the other side. You loose soundstage width with this placement, but you do bring the speakers down to ear-level. Orb-like speakers would nicely complement a designer room, and wouldn't be overpowering. You should be able to move the TV to the right, allowing you more soundstage width - but it may throw off the symmetry of the room.

First off, it sounds like your primary concern is TV/Movies - is that right? If so, you definitely NEED a subwoofer. I didn't see one mentioned. If this isn't your primary theater, you don't need a great one, or one that goes super low, but you really need one to go with such small speakers. This you can hide in a corner somewhere that will be acceptable to the wife. Even if it isn't ideal placement, it would definitely make an improvement.

Other than that, my suggestion for your current configuration is to just keep satellites where you have them, and get a really good and big center channel. Don't skimp here. I think this could work placement wise and aesthetically.

Set all the speakers to small except for the center, and you should get a fuller sounding experience. The high placement of the sats isn't great, but I would just live with it in that room. Most of the sound, or at least the important sound for non-critical listening is going to come from the center channel anyway. Make sure the sats are angled toward the listening area, and of course upgrade them if you want. Small sats to the far right/left will keep the spaciousness you need for effects while the big center will do primary sound duty.

There have already been many good suggestions for making changes, and you say you have a real HT in the basement, so this is my suggestion for improving the CURRENT setup with minimal cost/trouble/change.

They make TV mounts that allow you to swing the TV down a foot or more. You could mount the TV on one of those above the fireplace and then, when you want to watch TV, swing it down to the level you like. Just swing it back up when done watching.

I can understand your situation. While my media room has 5.1 sound (and big tower speakers), my living room does not. It has a 3 bookshelf speakers, which is enough for background music and TV shows. I would not mind bigger speakers and a sub in my living room, but my wife does. So this was our compromise.

First off, it sounds like your primary concern is TV/Movies - is that right? If so, you definitely NEED a subwoofer. Or to put it another way, the .1 channel is also known as the Low Frequency Effects channel for home theater. If LFE are important to you, you need a subwoofer. LFE doesn't matter as much to everyone, for a variety of reasons. Thinking of it that way might make it clearer to people.

Dolby explanation (http://www.dolby.com/assets/pdf/tech_library/38_LFE.pdf) - even though they say "LFE does not equal subwoofer", while that's true on a given soundtrack, the above is the way to think about it more generally.

I haven't read all of the replys yet but here are a couple of quick answers:

The stairs to the basement are behind the flat panel so no recessing the stereo.

There is already a subwoofer in the room to the right of the stereo to go with the existing 5.1 setup.... and the sub will definately remain...

I think the multiple unibar/soundbar/etc (and other 5.1 single-speaker solutions) will be hampered by the recessed mounting. However, you might take a look at the Boston P400, which is just the front 3 channels in one "bar". Or perhaps a matched set of 3 of the other p-series bostons with a pair of bravo's for surround.

Have you thought about letting your wife keep this house and getting one of your own ? ;)

Have you thought about letting your wife keep this house and getting one of your own ? ;)

No... but I'm liking that idea. :rolleyes:

Have you considered leaving that room alone, removing the large tv and replacing it with a small 32"ish lcd set atop a matching credenza that fits in with the room's decor?
No... not really... we enjoy the 46" 1080P screen VERY much and we WILL make it work... The 46" will be too small for the basement; 53" in the basement looks good now except it's only 480p and the polks at ear level aren't *too* bad either (but that's another story).

What if I keep the speakers that I have and "fill in" with the Boston P400 as a center and right and left front and rear center and right and left, put on speaker "B" and use all speakers at the same time. The high ones will give more separation while the lower unibar speakers will be closer to the ears.... so essentially I'll have two rights (unibar and upper right boston), two front lefts (unibar and upper left boston), two surround right and lefts (unibar and upper boston) and a center rear (unibar).... put the unibars on speaker B and the original setup as speaker "A"... and keep the existing boston sub... Or is that just stupid?

It might cloud the image or, it might sound good. It's somethign that would just have to be tried to find out. BTW, does anyone else keep accidentaly reading "unibrow" in the last post?

I also have a "designer wife" who insist on leaving a watercolor painting where I need to put my front left and right Axiom 350 speakers. Otherwise, I have to place them 9 feet off the ground. Is it worth the really nice Valentines gift to get things my way or keep peace and harmony in the house and just install them 9 feet off the ground? Any advice?

I also have a "designer wife" who insist on leaving a watercolor painting where I need to put my front left and right Axiom 350 speakers. Otherwise, I have to place them 9 feet off the ground. Is it worth the really nice Valentines gift to get things my way or keep peace and harmony in the house and just install them 9 feet off the ground? Any advice?

Nice Valentines Gift?

Man you need to remember who wears the pants in the family. Get your balls out of her purse, and remove that painting. LOL :eek: :D

...Is it worth the really nice Valentines gift to get things my way or keep peace and harmony in the house and just install them 9 feet off the ground? Any advice?

... well you can see what I did... I'm glad I'm not alone... lol...

:D