[Juan234]

Hi everyone. My wife and I just moved into our first house, and I am trying to figure out how I'm going to configure a 5.1 setup in my living room. There are a couple gotchas with my situation:


#1. The TV area is non-symmetrical, and there aren't a lot of great options for equidistant speakers in the front.


#2. The couch is situated in one corner of the room, so the left side speakers are probably going to be closer than the right (front and back). Also, there is no room for a stand in the back corner, b/c the sofa is flat against the wall.


#3. The TV has to be placed awfully high (53.5" at the base). The center speaker placement is going to be difficult.


#4. Any configuration must meet a high wife-acceptance-factor. She keeps asking about tiny speakers.


I've posted some pics below of my setup. There is a crawl space below, and another floor above. I'm curious what type of speakers you would purchase, and how you would situate them. I'd sincerely appreciate any feedback!

 

[JohnLocke88]

Gee Whiz that is a tough one; I've managed to cram Polk RTi8s, RTi6s, CSi3 and a KEF PSW2150 into a 10x10 room, but your situation is very tricky indeed. I'd say you should definitely look into a satellite system or an in-wall, especially with #4. Polk RM series are an option, as should be KEF KHT3005 series.


If I have any brainwaves I'll post again.


EDIT: In-ceiling may be an option for the rears as well, due to asymmetrical properties you mentioned in your OP.

 

[spl_nut]

I'd consider in-ceiling - Looking at your layout it's likely second floor joists run in your favor (perpendicular to TV front). Retro shouldn't be that difficult.


Is a new set in the plan

Jason

 

[SpiderX1016]

hmm, some suggestions I have:


Projector with some small speakers like KEF

LCD or Plasma on a Swivel Wallmount ( here ) with small speakers as well


or this one (My fav

)
http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/879/jfku37kr5.gif


1 = Subwoofer (Any or both spots)

2 = Sofa

3 = Floorstanders or w.e speakers you like

4 = TV on Swivel Wall Mount or on Floor

 

[quadriverfalls]

Personally, I would ditch the "TV" area right now. Completely re-arrange the living room and move the viewing area to the front wall as shown. I'm assuming those optional french doors are just that.... optional (in BOTH Living room locations) as it looks as though there are only windows there now. The sofa table may need to go unless there is room behind the sectional. And, even the cat tree thing could stay to the right of the blue chair like it is now.


Buy a low audio/video stand for a Plasma/LCD TV.... place your center channel in the stand and set the TV on top of the console. I would also dump the audio tower and buy the Mrs a nice curio cabinet or even better yet, a media (CD/DVD) storage for that nook and cranny thing. Talk about a bizzare set up. Sometimes I wonder where these "designers" get their brains.


The surrounds would be mounted high on the back wall leading to the kitchen, the sub could go almost anywhere in this arrangement (with the best spot likely being in the corner behind the sectional almost directly under the left rear surround) and the front L/R mains could be bookshelf speakers on nice stands to big honkin' towers if you want.

 

[buzzy_]

Dimensions would help. So would a budget.

 

[jmichaelf]

quadriverfalls got it. The living room is poorly configured to meet your needs. Reconfigure and you're golden.

 

[JohnLocke88]



Quote:
Originally Posted by jmichaelf /forum/post/14183730


quadriverfalls got it. The living room is poorly configured to meet your needs. Reconfigure and you're golden.

+1, Find a nice time when the wife will be gone, and rearrange everything to make sure the spacing works first; then if it does, go from there.

 

[Bob7145]

Sleep on the couch, put the HT upstairs. I bet there is a better room there!

 

[quadriverfalls]

Hmmmm.... wonder what happened to the OP. Maybe he got WAF'd to death?!?

 

[Juan234]

Sorry, I'm back.


Someone on another forum mentioned the Yamaha YSP speakers. I was thinking maybe the YSP-1100. Would this do any good in my living room, considering I have no right-side wall and I'm up against the rear wall? Also, I'd probably have to put it up high in the back (above the TV on a shelf), so it'd be blocked by the right column. Thoughts on this?


I just don't see us rearranging the room for the TV, or setting up a projector.


In-ceiling speakers are an interesting option. I'm afraid of having someone cutting a hole that big in my ceiling though. I guess once I put them in they stay when we move out? They'd look funny if they weren't equidistant from the center of the living room, so the right-rear speaker would be farther from us than the left-rear.


I'm also considering plain old 2.1/3.1 or a soundbar

.


I've done some more research on TV's, and I'm thinking I'll go with the Samsung LN46A550. With the TV being 44.5" wide, that'd leave 8.5" total above the fireplace, if I wanted to put some small speakers up there.

 

[dekaliber]

Putting the TV above the fireplace seems highly suboptimal. I'm not sure which wall your couch is against right now, but I can't imagine that being comfortable to watch from a seated position. If it were I, and that were my only recourse, frankly I think I'd save up until I was able to buy new furniture that would work better with the space as well as electronics. If you're going to do it, do it right!


Your best bet, as quadriverfalls suggested, is to move the sofa away from the wall. It serves as a room divider and allows the TV to be seen from more locations. That said, there needs to be enough space to allow for a comfortable walkway behind the sofa. Dimensions would definitely be helpful here.


A nice tool that I started using to help with furniture shopping is Google Sketchup. It's a really simplistic CAD program that allows you to build and rearrange spaces in 3D. I've fully modeled my new living room, and I have a pretty exact idea of what I'll get and where it will go. Hopefully it works all according to plan in 2 weeks!

 

[jmichaelf]

Juan, those processor sound bar things are an interesting option, but I'd rather go with a 2 channel setup before dealing with that weirdness. The plus side is that you get to spend a whole lot more of your budget on high end poop instead of compromising to get 15 speakers in your tiny little room!


I actually downgraded from 5.1 to 2 for space issues. It looks and sounds awesome.

 

[Juan234]

Well I asked the wife about rearranging the sofas.


"VETO!"


The room is 15 feet wide. The sofa is 12 feet by 12 feet. So the sofa in the drawing by quadriverfalls would have to be enlarged by approximately 30%. Add in the blue chair and there is very little space to navigate the living room. EDIT: actually that picture is drawn pretty close, though the sofa is a little bit longer than shown. Problem is the "media niche" area isn't open space like in the layout pic. In any event, the wife veto'd. In fact she's still worked up about me even asking.


Honestly the height of the TV doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would. We just lay back or lay down while watching it.

 

[dftkell]

Juan,


Here's what I'd do. It will cost a little money to get a contractor but it will give you a nice look and solve your problem:


Sheetrock and enclose the left side, so the fireplace is centered on that wall. Now there is plenty of space to center a flatscreen TV above the fireplace. I quickly retouched a picture to give you an idea.


I would then use on-wall speakers with your TV. Paradigm Millenia's are very good for the money. I used Artison Portraits and they solved the center speaker placement issue for me.


Then if you really want a clean look, you can build shelves into the side of the new wall that would face the staircase, and place your AV equipment in there. You could then get rid of the AV rack and just have a sub sitting on the floor facing forward in that space. To give you an idea of what I'm talking about I've enclosed a second photo of what I ended up doing in my living room.


When I moved into my NYC apartment, a TV above the fireplace was the only solution. (Much to my dismay.) I ended up building out the sides of the fireplace 2 feet on each side. One side holds my AV equipment and sub (see photo 2) and the other side which faces into the room holds books, artwork etc.


In walls or on walls in the back of the room high on the side walls above your couch would then complete the 5.1.


Dan

 

[the rick]

Personally, I only see 3 decent options:

1. move around until tv is blocking the window, big WAF veto i'm sure

2. do what dftkell is saying, fill in the fireplace

3. remove fireplace


or, I think you are just going to have to live with so-so sound like a sound bar

 

[Oliver Deplace]



Quote:
Originally Posted by the rick /forum/post/14268118


Personally, I only see 3 decent options:

1. move around until tv is blocking the window, big WAF veto i'm sure

2. do what dftkell is saying, fill in the fireplace

3. remove fireplace


or, I think you are just going to have to live with so-so sound like a sound bar

4. Do nothing, enjoy the new home.


IMHO, you'll gain a lot more by getting a bigger TV. I'd call "dibs" on the sofa next to the lamp or stretched-out in the corner. From either spot, that TV is going to seem tiny.


Give it some time. The prospect of a different arrangement might look more attractive to your wife after the "new" has worn off (she may even initiate).