Hey everyone! About to move into a new apartment and am trying to sort a few things out. I attached the layout of the apt I will be moving into soon. The living room is about 13x21 feet. The AC is in the middle with the return vent in the living room on the wall between the bedroom and the kitchen.

The apt theater will be in the living room with the tv centered in the room on the end with the window. I want to keep it away from the end with the kitchen to avoid noise from the fridge, and any un-predictable acoustics. The tv is a 46" 720p lcd rptv (KDF46E2000). It sits on a 2' tall 4' wide 21" deep and the front of the screen will be about 2 - 2.5 feet from the wall, so I can sneak behind it to open the window or shades or whatever. The viewing distance will be about 9-10 feet away. Maybe more maybe less after playing around with speaker placement and seeing how a couch fits in the room in relation to doors and stuff.

For sound I'm running a 5.1 setup.
Receiver Yamaha RX-V1600
Mains Kef iQ-7
Center Kef Q9c
Surround Kef iQ-3
Sub Velodyne CT-80

A/V source consist of:
PS3 for dvd/blu-ray/sacd/games
wii for... well playing with my wii
whatever hd cablebox I end up with... I think its charter :(
Pioneer LD player... late 80's with optical digital out, great for dts ld's
JVC VCR
homebrew htpc
Denon CD player, I believe its a DCD-815
Maybe some other stuff... I might be forgetting soemthing. All the old game consoles will be in tubs or something. Easy to get to, but not hooked up. For when you feel the urge to play some dreamcast or snes... maybe even bust out the ol master system or get crazy and play some saturn
Ive been thinking about picking up a Rega P-1 turntable but thats down the line

I plan on playing around with speaker placement quite a bit but I think I will start off with an ITU style layout. I was going to try 45 degrees for main L/R but I think thats going to be too wide, so Ill start off with just 30 degrees. I think I will have enough room to run everything at an equal distance for the front stage, but I might not have enough room in the rear to go 9-10 feet out at 90-110 degrees. I guess thats where time alignment on the receiver earns its money.

I'm not totally sure where to place the sub. I was thinking corner, but I don't want to bother the neighbors so I might put it between the main right speaker and the tv. I guess that will take some experimentation to find the optimal sound vs neighbors ratio. I doubt the 8" Velodyne sub will be exactly blowing holes in anyones will, but I think it sounds quit nice in most small rooms. I am somewhat worried that this sub wont be big enough for the room. I keep looking on craigslist and ebay to try and find a matching ct-80 for a deal.

I want to do acoustic treatments but budget is limited right off the bat so I'm going to start with nothing and progress from there. When funds permit, I'm thinking some DIY 24"x48" panels with 2" rigid fiberglass. Maybe make them 4" deep so that there is 2" of air behind them. I'll start out with a pair at the first reflection point on the side walls. After that I'm not sure where to go. Maybe something on the first reflection point on the ceiling, or maybe something behind the speakers. I might do bass traps later on if the room needs it. Being a cheap apartment I'm going to guess that it can use all the help it can get. I also plan to put a bookshelf or two in the very back of the room for books, cds, lds, dvd/blu-ray , games and whatever else. I think that will help diffuse the sound a bit. Maybe throw down a thick rug or something too... I don't know if it will help with sound when the room already has carpet, but it might trick the ladies into think I have some sort of class.

I'm kinda worried about the AC return vent being so close to where I'll be seated. If its a problem I might try to make some sort of baffled fiberglass thing and make it look like a small table or something. Any ideas on this?

The place is a 3 floor complex and I cant decide on top or bottom floor. Its about an hour away from KC so I'd like to be able to pick up some tv/radio stations, which makes me think 3'rd floor. I think the acoustics would be better on the 1st floor though. It would also be harder to piss off the neighbors on the floor above me, opposed to below me. I'll have cable, so I can live without tv reception... and I've never been able to pick up radio in any apartment before so I guess I can live without that. I'm leaning towards 1st floor. This is the one I'm having the hardest time making my mind up about. Absolutely not middle floor. I'm not living bitch again!

Sorry for the long post. I'm sure I missed something. Any input or constructive criticism is much appreciated. I'll post pics when I get everything setup.

Well I'm finally moved in and have everything setup. I wouldn't say I'm finished yet, I doubt I will ever be finished. I would like to get an audio rack to put everything on. I don't think I will build another flexi-rack for an audio tower. I don't have anyplace to stain another one anymore.

I got the main speakers setup 8'8" from me and from each other in a nice triangle. They are about 2' from the side walls and almost 5' from the front of the speakers to the back wall. Its really nice having some extra room to play around with. It took quite a while to get the speakers where they are now. I played around with toe quite a bit and I think I have it where I want. The hardest part was getting the angle to be the same between the two speakers. It took a lot of measuring... nudging... and re-measuring. I've never had my speakers this far apart before, its neat to hear stereo working the way it should. Its a lot different than having the speakers right next to the tv and having a blob of sound coming from in front of you. I've had to get up a few times to make sure that sound wasn't coming from my center channel.

I had my sub in the corner to start with, but my upstairs neighbor kept banging on the wall, so I guess it was traveling straight up the wall or something. I moved it between my left front and my tv. It didn't have a lot of bass when it was in the corner and not it still has very little. It sounded nice in my ultra compact dorm room, but the ol Velodyne CT-80 just doesn't have what it takes to fill my 3k'ish cubic foot room. I'm thinking about getting the SVS PB10-NSD (http://www.svsound.com/products-sub-box-10nsd.cfm). I'm a little skeptical about a 10" but I've read a lot of great things about it in rooms my size and larger. If you look at my post above you can see a layout. My kitchen is open to the living room and together they are about 2800 cubic feet. I don't know if I should include my bedroom in my thoughts of a sub or not. My wall is thin and I usually leave my door open.

I want to put up panels but I just haven't gotten around to buying anything yet. I think I will buy a 6 Pack of Roxul Rockboard from ATS (http://www.atsacoustics.com/item--Roxul-Rockboard-60-Case-of-6--RB60.html) and have a little DIY fun. I want to start with a panel at the 1st reflection point, but I am unsure what to do after that. Maybe stack the other 4 in the front corners to act as some sort of a bass trap... not really sure though. I have drapes in the middle of the room hiding an off center window, but they are really thin. At some point I would like to put up something with some thickness. Maybe I will throw a panel behind them for good measure.

I tried to take some pics, but the ol 3.2 isnt quite holding up as well as I would hope. I'll post the best picture I could snap. The teddy bear tiger rug thing is absolutely VITAL to the sound... and the girls think its cute. It might give way to a big rug at some point, but not today.

http://www.badahab.com/pics/lrht1.jpg

-Sean

I like it.

I have a very similar setup in terms of positioning. Actually I just changed it, I have a rectangular living room, and always had it set up with the TV on the long wall, but it wasn't great for sound. Recently I finally changed and moved everything to the small wall on the far end. Acoustics improved dramatically. The sound is more focused, and with my 8" sub sitting on a subdude in the corner, the bass sounds better than ever.

I am still trying to get the hang of front speaker position though, how far would you say your speakers are from the sides of your TV stand?

About 32" give or take. Sometimes its hard to measure those kefs'. I don't mind how hard they are to measure, as long as they keep sounding as good as they do. I do wish they had a bit more bass to them though.

-Sean