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Surround Sound and other speakers in open floor plan...WHERE???

post #1 of 17
11/17/12 at 3:31pm
Thread Starter 
Hi All,

I will be building a house and we agreed on the attached plan. It is an open floor plan with minimal walls and an 8/12 pitch roof. Question to all of you pros out there. What should be my strategy for running wires? In ceiling? I have a polk audio system with TL250 satellites right now. Should I use these? Looking for some professional suggestions of placement and strategy!

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post #2 of 17
11/17/12 at 8:17pm
First is the roof 8:12 or is the ceiling? No use running wires in the ceiling if you do not use in-ceiling speakers.
You do have a wall to the right and back, those sats can be placed there. So that only leaves the left surround. What does that yellow line on the left, running over the side sofa represent?
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post #3 of 17
11/17/12 at 8:36pm
It shows as a green line on my screen, and is the measurement of the room length. With a vaulted ceiling it is going to be a crap shoot with rear speaker placement, unless they hang down off of poles, so they can be aimed towards the seating area. Other wise, if they are too high up in the vault, you loose the surround sound.
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post #4 of 17
11/18/12 at 4:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by gregzoll View Post

It shows as a green line on my screen, and is the measurement of the room length. With a vaulted ceiling it is going to be a crap shoot with rear speaker placement, unless they hang down off of poles, so they can be aimed towards the seating area. Other wise, if they are too high up in the vault, you loose the surround sound.

As I did not enlarge the pic I was not sure what it was.
Its only the LS that is a problem. The RS and rear speakers can be hung on the walls.

One solution would be to go with only 5.1 and place the surrounds at the ends of the back wall, on 45* angles. So the LS would be near the point where the common wall is between the den/mud room and the RS in the corner between the entry and bath/bedroom entry.
I've got my current setup similar to that as I have a room 27 ft wide with my system set up in the middle spanning about 14 ft between surrounds.
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post #5 of 17
11/18/12 at 6:44am
Thread Starter 
So are recommendations to use mounting brackets and satellites instead of in ceiling/walls? Also if we use rear walls, is it too far away? Should we be putting speakers on stands and running wire from the floor in the back?
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post #6 of 17
11/18/12 at 6:57am
Quote:
Originally Posted by JonBlixt View Post

So are recommendations to use mounting brackets and satellites instead of in ceiling/walls? Also if we use rear walls, is it too far away? Should we be putting speakers on stands and running wire from the floor in the back?
You have not clarified if the ceiling is 8:12, as you mentioned 'roof'.
But in-ceiling is really a bad compromise. And NO the back distance is not too much. The AVR adjusts/sets all the distances from speakers to center seat. Having the surrounds too close to the seats is quite distracting, imo.
You certainly can place surrounds on stands, I do, at the 'corner' locations. That is strictly a personal call, as to if you wall mount or set on stands. I have done both, depending on the room layout.
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post #7 of 17
11/18/12 at 8:55am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the input. 8/12 is the roof line. Not sure yet what the inside is....yet. I just want to give the impression that the ceiling is a long ways away. Not exactly ideal for surrounds at head level.
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post #8 of 17
11/18/12 at 2:17pm
What is the space like upstairs & downstairs? You may be better to just go with a sound bar for the great room, and go with the home theater in another space. Also, it appears you cut part of the blueprint off for that floor. Can you post the whole floor plan. The good thing is, if you are going to be entertaining, now is the time to plan whole house music distribution.
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post #9 of 17
11/18/12 at 6:36pm
Thread Starter 
Great question, i actually think the sound bar is another good option. The basement is unfinished so I can do whatever, whenever. I just know that I will be spending a lot of time upstairs, and wouldn't mind good sound upstairs. I am open to any more suggestions!
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post #10 of 17
11/18/12 at 7:09pm
Get ahold of BigMouth and have him design a multi-use space with a home theater in your basement. Large spaces are harder to do anything with, but it can be done. You just need to work with the significant other to understand that this will work for all, and really will not see it in the long run. If you could have a 3D rendering of what the main floor will look like, that could help with better visualizing placement of speakers.
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post #11 of 17
11/19/12 at 3:36am
Quote:
Originally Posted by gregzoll View Post

Get ahold of BigMouth and have him design a multi-use space with a home theater in your basement. Large spaces are harder to do anything with, but it can be done. You just need to work with the significant other to understand that this will work for all, and really will not see it in the long run. If you could have a 3D rendering of what the main floor will look like, that could help with better visualizing placement of speakers.

Actually, large rooms are better for sound, as the main speakers can be situated away from the end and side walls.
Its rooms open to one side, like a great room that causes problems. But a large symmetrical room, thats a whole different thing.
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post #12 of 17
11/19/12 at 7:55am
4DHD, the pronlem the OP is having is visualizing the placement of the surrounds, not the fronts.

Until the house is built or they have a 3d rendering of the space, all we can do is throw out ideas.

I ran into the problem that due to we have a archway that separates our living room and dining, that I could only go about 16" out from the corner and went 58" up from the floor. I am usung Klipsch RB-41 ii for my rears and have no problems with the sound footprint.

Once you leave the footprint you can tell. As for the OP, it is getting the Sig. other on board, due to no matter what, they believe that anything larger than the bose soundmates are too gaudy.
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post #13 of 17
11/19/12 at 9:00am
Quote:
Originally Posted by gregzoll View Post

4DHD, the pronlem the OP is having is visualizing the placement of the surrounds, not the fronts.
Until the house is built or they have a 3d rendering of the space, all we can do is throw out ideas.
I ran into the problem that due to we have a archway that separates our living room and dining, that I could only go about 16" out from the corner and went 58" up from the floor. I am usung Klipsch RB-41 ii for my rears and have no problems with the sound footprint.
Once you leave the footprint you can tell. As for the OP, it is getting the Sig. other on board, due to no matter what, they believe that anything larger than the bose soundmates are too gaudy.

As long as there is some kind of wall then its not a problem, as you managed to work out.
But if there is NO wall between the LR area and the kitchen then the only real option is to place both surrounds at the ends of the back wall, and angle them towards the middle.
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post #14 of 17
11/19/12 at 10:01am
The big problem with their back wall, is the large entryway & the hall.
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post #15 of 17
11/19/12 at 10:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by gregzoll View Post

The big problem with their back wall, is the large entryway & the hall.

Not really, the entry is off center, leaving plenty of room to mount the LS. And at the point where the common wall to the den and mud room comes in would put the LS at the left edge of the LR area.
The RS could be mounted in the corner between the entry and BR entry.
Those two positions would place the surrounds symmetrical to the seating/screen.
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post #16 of 17
11/19/12 at 1:10pm
I do not think that they have much of a corner for the right rear. They may be better to go with a 3.1, or in ceiling rears.

I think that if they can get a 3d rendering , it will be easier to visualize for placement.
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post #17 of 17
11/19/12 at 2:22pm
Well those TL250 sats look quite small, as would fit in that corner.
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