[jiggaross]

Hello, this is my first post to this forum, although I've been doing a LOT of reading. I've ordered my system (BIC Acoustech HT-88 5.1 surround & a Onkyo 606) and am trying to figure out my surround locations.


So, I'm attaching a sketch of the living room layout and my proposed speaker locations.

I'm somewhat concerned about the stairwell open to the rear, dining area off to the right, and hallway that opens up to the back-right. Should I mount these surrounds in the shown locations or is sound going to be so screwed up that it doesn't matter? The work required to get speaker wire to the surround locations is going to be immense and I want to make sure the sound will be awesome before I commit.


I would love to get as much input as possible from as many of you that are willing to respond. Thank you in advance!

 

[jiggaross]

I decided to upload pics of where the surrounds will have to be installed...


Will my surround speakers (BIC Acoustech HT-63) project sound correctly from these locations or will the sound go up the stairwell and down the hallway?

 

[jesyjames]

I think you will be fine. I'd even go so far as to say your setup will probably be pretty good with that location. Dolby recommends a 90-110 degree angle and you should be close to that. I don't know much about those speakers, but if they are bipole/dipole switchable you might be better off in bipole mode since the setup requirements for dipole are a bit more strict. Personally, I wouldn't mount them so high. Do a search on here for surround speaker height and you will find a ton of info.


When in doubt, run the speaker wire in ugly mode(ie. exposed) and try it out before you commit to an involved wire hiding scheme.

 

[jiggaross]

Although I'd love to put them the correct height, my wife has veto'd putting them so low...being that this is our main living room. I could move the theater to the upstairs living room but, it would be inconvenient and whatnot to go up there, etc., etc.


So, I'm going to have to mount the surround speakers high like it's shown and angle them down. I'll have to make some sort of angled box that looks oem with the speakers, not sure exactly how I'm going to do this yet.

 

[deneb]

Given your room configuration, that setup looks OK, though I'd move your fronts out a little farther from the wall, such that the front plane of the speakers is further out than the front plane of the TV/rack that sits in between them.


If you could move your setup to the upstairs, would you be able to get more favorable speaker placement? Would you be able to utilize room treatments?

 

[lwien]

Surrounds look ok, but your left and right fronts seem to be a little too close to each other. Ideally, you want to separate the fronts by the same amount of space that there is from the fronts to your couch.


No sub?

 

[jiggaross]

Thanks for the great thoughts, by the way!!!

Let me answer things as they were posed.


1) If I move upstairs, The only difference would be that it's a more favorable room shape for acoustics. Although...it may be a little small for the speakers that I have coming. The other issue is that my wife is starting the baby talk and the baby room is right next to this living room...sure would stink if I couldn't listen to my system while a baby is sleeping.


2) The room will not be decorated as a dedicated theater or whatnot. It's secondary purpose will be theater, no matter how much I'd like it to be the opposite.


3) When I threw that TV in there, I didn't think to check it for scale...its probably wider than shown there (50" dlp). That being said, I'm planning on building a tv cabinet that will be nice and wide and will push those speakers out further without bothering the wifey...good food-for-thought, though.


4) I am a retard and left the sub off the drawing...I have a sub on the way. I think the best place for it will be in the top-left corner, out of site. What yall think.


Update: I've decided that I'm going to run the surround wires behind crown moulding. That got the ol' lady much more excited about this whole project!

 

[Franin]

Thats fine.