Small theatre - Placing center speaker.

Need some help on positioning the center from a mounting / fastening stand point.

Background – You can skip to question below if you want..

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We have a 10 x 15 theatre in the basement. There are 2 couches (one raised 14") , the front couch is only 4.5 feet from the screen.

Currently there are Polk Rt4i s in the front, an older generic small center, fastened above the screen , and 2 Polk M10’s for the rear and a Polk 108 sub all driven by a 2006 vintage HTR 5xxx Yammy.

====Forgot to mention that sub is currently between the fronts, in the space below the screen where a center speaker would traditionally sit =====

Upstairs I have a pair of Paradigm monitor 7’s (About 6 yrs old) and a CC-300 and a Polk 108 sub again all tied up to a 2006 vintage Yammy RX-V4xx . This set up really never gets that much use (shed a tear) as the upstairs set up is in our common room.

As the bulb has reached its useful life on the theatre projector (Optoma 800x600) I upgraded to a refurb Optoma true 720P projector. This made me re evaluate the distribution of equipment in the house.

Wife did not want me to exchange the Paradigms upstairs for the Polk’s down stairs as she says it will throw off the aesthetics of the upstairs furniture (roll eyes)

So Cruising ebay again I found a nice combo of Jamo S 426 towers and the S420 center.. $190 for the refurb set. Reading reviews here, and in general, I pulled the trigger.

So the shell game is...

Paradigms & CC 300 & RX-V4xx to the theatre room & The RT4i’s move to surround rear .

The Jamo 426 and 420 upstairs with the HTR-5xxx and the M10’s becoming the rear surrounds up there.

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Question

So I would like to bottom mount the centre under the screen. The 4.5 foot from the front couch to the screen cramps my options as the sub and floors already occupy this space..

Option #1 – Install a shelf under the screen. The CC-300 is a good 25 lbs so it will have to be a substantial shelf.

Option #2 – Build a U shaped table to go over top the sub to hold the center. My fear is that the shelf will resonate and rattle to no end.

Any experience or direction ?

Thanx
Edited by billbly11 - 1/17/13 at 7:53am

There is a crawl space behind the back couch. It will be a heck of a job to get it back there though. I think the crawl space is 18" and the sub it 14" wide

I have read that it is OK for a sub to be buried as the lows are not attenuated that much and it adds some rumble to the seats. Have to try searching the forum for that I guess.

I just had a smack my forehead moment..

The Current fronts (Polk Rt4i) are on concreat Ikea 18" speaker stands I picked up 4 or 5 yrs back..

Since I will be moving the polks to the back I will have the 2 free stand available to hold the center..

Problem solved..

Thanx for the catalyst to put 2+2 together on this.

Here is the room from 18 months back, showing the M10's as fronts and an old passive SW.. The Polk SW now sits center below the screen. (The yellow circles were meant to point out other things) . The polk will now end up under the back shelf in picture #2.

The general "Red Green" motif of the room will be addressed once the sound is settled

I got everything placed last night... Well in the Movie room anyways . Still have to get the living room reconnected..

The Ikea stands were perfect. The top of the center is about 3" below the bottom of the screen.

The sub placed behind and under the couch is just stunning.. I did not think that the subs reverberating off of furniture make that much of a difference. Used the final scene of transformers III as the test piece on the apple TV.

Still have to set up the video path / Digital in path for the other 2 components though the RX-V459. Have to blow the dust off the manual for that. (Blue ray and FTA satellite/ATSC receiver).

Had an 2005 ish version of the Minimus 7 design (For those of you versed in classic Radioshack) that I used as the rear center (So I am now 6.1) and was amazed at the difference it made as well.

Pictures to follow in the weekend.

So this is the end result... My only dilemma now is whether to get a HDMI receiver or work with a HDMI/SPDIF 4 or 5 port switch.. The Component cable is cumbersome and the switching of the digital audio is limited by the RX-V459.. The Blueray, Nfusion are already HDMI capable but I am using component switched by the 459 and I have to share the SPDIF/analog input for one component port and the apple TV which feeds the projector HDMI port directly.. OK for me to switch between HDMI and sRGB , but the wife is baffled by it..

One HDMI source selected and using only 1 Dig in on the receiver will simplify things so much..

It is actually click wood on concrete so resonance is close to zero.

The rear riser is so high so as to hold the collection of fold down chairs my wife has accumulated.. They occupy the entire 20"x 10' crawl space.. Save for the Polk 10" buried at the very end.


I thought I would try and extend the live of the RX-V459 by buying one of those 4 port HDMI switch with optical output. So far it has not been a positive experience.


I may just have to break down and buy the RX-V573 I was eyeing at Xmass next time it goes on sale..

Not that I can hear..

The chairs do rattle at domething below the 80hz cut off.. But the floor not than can be perceived.

It is the standard 1/4ish inch foam. This floor is 15yrs old and is the glue type and 8mm thick if that is of any additional incite to you.