In the home we are building, the basement theater will be roughly 18 wide by 21 long. There will be two rows of theater chairs, and a few bar stools in the very back for to accommodate extra guests for game viewing parties. Usage will be roughly 50% or more for movies, 45% for TV including sporting events, and 5% for concert videos. Other than concert videos, we will not play music in the theater room.
I've read countless threads about recommendations, but it's becoming impossible to sort through it all. My work hours are demanding, so I need to narrow things down before I try to do any listening tests. Here are my issues:
1. My front speakers (L/C/R) will be behind an acoustically transparent screen. Looks don't matter for these. They will sit in large shelves that will be built under door headers -- each shelf will protrude into the unfinished room behind the theater. (The wall itself couldn't be moved to make the room longer because of the load it bears for the two stories above.) This allows us to place the speakers behind the AT screen without losing much length from the room itself. Given this design, I am assuming that front ported or sealed speakers will be preferable to rear ported.
2. The surrounds need to be on wall or in wall and will be mounted in columns. Aesthetics is driving this choice, and we need the columns to be as shallow as possible to avoid cutting into our seating space. If in wall, from what I've read, it appears that sealed in walls with a backer box would be preferable.
3. Four Atmos speakers will be on ceiling or in ceiling. Again, I'm assuming sealed in ceilings are preferable to infinite baffle.
4. There will be two subs, but I'm not worried about choosing these at this stage.
I am concerned about how to build a system that not only features quality for L/C/R, but also acoustically matches the surrounds and atmos. There are tons of threads about which bookshelf speakers are well liked. But what bookshelf speakers are not only good for the front channels, but also will blend really well with in wall or on wall options for the surrounds and atmos speakers?
For example, I'm intrigued by Ascend 340s for the front, but given that I'm not going to hang big boxy speakers on the sides, rear and ceiling, I'm questioning whether those would work for me. I haven't seen any sealed in walls offered by Ascend.
To give another example, Elac's are well liked, but reviews say they need space to breath, a no go in my set up, and again, there are no in walls or on walls from the same line that will acoustically match.
For the budget, I'm struggling with what to spend. I would hope a nice system can be put together for less than $3,000 for the speakers, not including subs. But perhaps I'm being unreasonable in my cost expectations.
I've read countless threads about recommendations, but it's becoming impossible to sort through it all. My work hours are demanding, so I need to narrow things down before I try to do any listening tests. Here are my issues:
1. My front speakers (L/C/R) will be behind an acoustically transparent screen. Looks don't matter for these. They will sit in large shelves that will be built under door headers -- each shelf will protrude into the unfinished room behind the theater. (The wall itself couldn't be moved to make the room longer because of the load it bears for the two stories above.) This allows us to place the speakers behind the AT screen without losing much length from the room itself. Given this design, I am assuming that front ported or sealed speakers will be preferable to rear ported.
2. The surrounds need to be on wall or in wall and will be mounted in columns. Aesthetics is driving this choice, and we need the columns to be as shallow as possible to avoid cutting into our seating space. If in wall, from what I've read, it appears that sealed in walls with a backer box would be preferable.
3. Four Atmos speakers will be on ceiling or in ceiling. Again, I'm assuming sealed in ceilings are preferable to infinite baffle.
4. There will be two subs, but I'm not worried about choosing these at this stage.
I am concerned about how to build a system that not only features quality for L/C/R, but also acoustically matches the surrounds and atmos. There are tons of threads about which bookshelf speakers are well liked. But what bookshelf speakers are not only good for the front channels, but also will blend really well with in wall or on wall options for the surrounds and atmos speakers?
For example, I'm intrigued by Ascend 340s for the front, but given that I'm not going to hang big boxy speakers on the sides, rear and ceiling, I'm questioning whether those would work for me. I haven't seen any sealed in walls offered by Ascend.
To give another example, Elac's are well liked, but reviews say they need space to breath, a no go in my set up, and again, there are no in walls or on walls from the same line that will acoustically match.
For the budget, I'm struggling with what to spend. I would hope a nice system can be put together for less than $3,000 for the speakers, not including subs. But perhaps I'm being unreasonable in my cost expectations.