Hey y'all!
I am currently working on my first hi-fi music/home theater setup, and seek advice on speaker placement in my small room. My HT room is also my bedroom (a sunroom with heavy curtains) 13' x 8'4". The basic room is drawn to scale in the first attached jpeg. Thanks to plenty of research and the good advice of AVSForum members, I currently own the following:
Onkyo TX-SR805 AVR
Ascend Acoustics Sierra-1 L/C/R
Samsung PN50a550 50" 1080p HDTV
I plan on soon buying the following:
Ascend Acoustics CBM-170SE surrounds
HSU VTF-2 MK3 Subwoofer
Samsung BDP-1500 Blu-ray Player
The question now is: how do i configure my HT room for optimal performance? My main question concerns a 5.1 vs. 7.1 setup. In the second jpeg, I have drawn (to scale) one idea for a 7.1 setup. The side surrounds would be ceiling mounted, dropped from the ceiling to a couple feet above ear level. The rear surrounds would probably be on stands at the same height. Both side and rear surrounds would have ~4" of breathing room between their rear ports and the wall. Is such a 7.1 setup overkill in a room of this size? It seems like side surrounds would pretty much only be effective for the sweet-spot (center-couch -- me
), but what about back surrounds? Also, is the sub in a good spot? Will the built-in heater mess with the sound of the sub (since it places the sub in a little nook)? Any input regarding 5.1 vs 7.1 in this room, as well as the placement of the surround/rear speakers and sub would be most helpful. Also, are the CBM-170SE's overkill - should I go with the HTM-200SE's? I would like to have a system that fulfill the needs of a little bit larger room (when I move, someday...)
Thanks much,
Jacob

I am currently working on my first hi-fi music/home theater setup, and seek advice on speaker placement in my small room. My HT room is also my bedroom (a sunroom with heavy curtains) 13' x 8'4". The basic room is drawn to scale in the first attached jpeg. Thanks to plenty of research and the good advice of AVSForum members, I currently own the following:
Onkyo TX-SR805 AVR
Ascend Acoustics Sierra-1 L/C/R
Samsung PN50a550 50" 1080p HDTV
I plan on soon buying the following:
Ascend Acoustics CBM-170SE surrounds
HSU VTF-2 MK3 Subwoofer
Samsung BDP-1500 Blu-ray Player
The question now is: how do i configure my HT room for optimal performance? My main question concerns a 5.1 vs. 7.1 setup. In the second jpeg, I have drawn (to scale) one idea for a 7.1 setup. The side surrounds would be ceiling mounted, dropped from the ceiling to a couple feet above ear level. The rear surrounds would probably be on stands at the same height. Both side and rear surrounds would have ~4" of breathing room between their rear ports and the wall. Is such a 7.1 setup overkill in a room of this size? It seems like side surrounds would pretty much only be effective for the sweet-spot (center-couch -- me

Thanks much,
Jacob

