ALT0153 Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 (edited) We are in the final design stages for finishing our basement. I need to determine where cables should be run for speaker placement. The room is wide with a back wall that makes it difficult to adhere to Dolby's recommended speaker placement. I am audio newbie and this will be my first (and only) surround sound set-up, so hopefully someone can help me get it right! 1) At minimal I'd like 5.1, but if possible run wire for 7.1 or even 7.1.2 (if atmos ever catches on) 2) I've linked to our room layout with some initial speaker placement. - Red = standard center, left, right, sub (RC-42 II, RF-42 II, R-110SW) - Purple = possible rear placements? (RB-41 II or CDT-2650-C II) - Green = possible surround placement? (RS-42 II or R-2650-W II) - Blue = Atoms locations? (CDT-2650-C II) These speaker placements are primarily intended for movies. Looking a Klipsch Reference 42 II range of speakers since my speaker budget is around $3,000. Thanks in advance for your help! Edited October 31, 2014 by ALT0153 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budman Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 (edited) welcome to the forum i like 5.1 and i use all floor standing speakers. everything i've read is that you want your surrounds high up on the side walls. i don't do it that way. someone with more knowledge will chime in and help you and they are gonna want to know what speaker system you plan on using Edited October 31, 2014 by Budman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALT0153 Posted October 31, 2014 Author Share Posted October 31, 2014 (edited) Thanks! Yeah, we don't have any walls up yet so I have to opportunity to run the wires to the right spots. It's the side and rear speaker locations that I am unsure where to run or what type of speaker to mount (ceiling, wall, in-wall). I edited the OP to include budget and Reference Series speakers that I've been looking at. Edited October 31, 2014 by ALT0153 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paducah Home Theater Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 (edited) welcome to the forum i like 5.1 and i use all floor standing speakers. everything i've read is that you want your surrounds high up on the side walls. i don't do it that way. The new Atmos recommendations are to run them at the same height as your mains. If they want to lift the sound stage up they'll kick in the ceilings. Used to they had to rely on extra height from the surrounds to pull off a "panning overhead" effect. My only problem with floor standers is that I found that if you had a curved row of seats with a high back, it blocked the speakers, plus it does take up floor space. I opted for higher up on the wall because of this. Otherwise I believe floor standers that match your mains would be best. Edited October 31, 2014 by MetropolisLakeOutfitters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paducah Home Theater Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 (edited) Only thing that really stands out to me is the rear surrounds off in a far corner. That's not going to gain you much of anything, they're too close to the side speakers. Ideally they should be straight behind you. I'd stick one on each side of that storage closet in the middle before I put the 7.1/rear speakers way back in those corners. Edited October 31, 2014 by MetropolisLakeOutfitters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paducah Home Theater Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 Based on the multiple mistakes I made with my house, I'd at least take that fireplace and put it in that cubby hole off in the upper right, fire a projector against that top wall, and have two rows of three seats facing up. Actually unless that is a window or door on the bottom, I'd face everything down. Move that electrical door back to the back of the electrical room. That way you can have subs in the front corners. You will have a big open area as a lounge and card playing area next to the fireplace while still having a non-distracting dedicated theater area with a good layout on the other side of the room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALT0153 Posted October 31, 2014 Author Share Posted October 31, 2014 Only thing that really stands out to me is the rear surrounds off in a far corner. That's not going to gain you much of anything, they're too close to the side speakers. Ideally they should be straight behind you. I'd stick one on each side of that storage closet in the middle before I put the 7.1/rear speakers way back in those corners. I though the corners may be too far (purple). So would ceiling speakers work instead? (purple circle locations) The door under the stairs doesn't leave much room on either side and they'd be less than 3 feet apart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALT0153 Posted October 31, 2014 Author Share Posted October 31, 2014 Based on the multiple mistakes I made with my house, I'd at least take that fireplace and put it in that cubby hole off in the upper right, fire a projector against that top wall, and have two rows of three seats facing up. Actually unless that is a window or door on the bottom, I'd face everything down. Move that electrical door back to the back of the electrical room. That way you can have subs in the front corners. You will have a big open area as a lounge and card playing area next to the fireplace while still having a non-distracting dedicated theater area with a good layout on the other side of the room. Lol. Yeah, that's what I wanted to do, but my wife wouldn't allow it. "No theater rows and the fireplace is more important" paraphrasing a bit And yes, the bottom is a window. That's why I have a speaker placement problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paducah Home Theater Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 Lol. Yeah, that's what I wanted to do, but my wife wouldn't allow it. "No theater rows and the fireplace is more important" paraphrasing a bit Open your wallet, take your man card out, and cut it in half. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paducah Home Theater Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 Big Pimpin'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALT0153 Posted October 31, 2014 Author Share Posted October 31, 2014 If it was only that easy Pimps don't have wives 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paducah Home Theater Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 (edited) My wife was the same way at first but now she's driving the HT mods as much as I am. Biggest issue is that hardly anybody else has a nice setup so it's easy to go with the flow and get a traditional couch, tv, center, etc. Anything other than that seems like a weird idea at first. Edited October 31, 2014 by MetropolisLakeOutfitters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrappydue Posted November 1, 2014 Share Posted November 1, 2014 (edited) We are in the final design stages for finishing our basement. I need to determine where cables should be run for speaker placement. The room is wide with a back wall that makes it difficult to adhere to Dolby's recommended speaker placement. I am audio newbie and this will be my first (and only) surround sound set-up, so hopefully someone can help me get it right! 1) At minimal I'd like 5.1, but if possible run wire for 7.1 or even 7.1.2 (if atmos ever catches on) 2) I've linked to our room layout with some initial speaker placement. - Red = standard center, left, right, sub (RC-42 II, RF-42 II, R-110SW) - Purple = possible rear placements? (RB-41 II or CDT-2650-C II) - Green = possible surround placement? (RS-42 II or R-2650-W II) - Blue = Atoms locations? (CDT-2650-C II) These speaker placements are primarily intended for movies. Looking a Klipsch Reference 42 II range of speakers since my speaker budget is around $3,000. Thanks in advance for your help! well as much as we all wanna tell you to change the room around to get a better setup you have spoke your peace about your wife. so i will just leave that alone. what i will suggest so far from what i see with you saying you want one set of speakers and you have a large room. skip the 42 home theater. i have owned them and while they are good speakers you aren't gonna be happy in a room that size. i will tell you right now that if you are looking at retail prices and are budgeting for the 42's you can probably afford the 62's. i have owned every size speaker in the reference lineup up to the rf-63. in my opinion the very best bang for your buck in the reference line up is the rf-62ii, rc-62ii, and the rs-52ii for your size of room. you should be able to get those 5 for 1800 i believe. all you have to do is google acoustic sound design. call the number, mike will answer. he is the owner. he will give you the best price of anywhere. also skip the klipsch sub. there is better stuff out there. svs, hsu, psa are all internet direct companies that sell killer subwoofers. and also i would plan for the killer 5.0 setup i suggested above before i even thought about atmos or 7.1 svs subs to look at would be the pb-2000 or the pc-2000 if you need to save some floor space. svgs makes great subwoofers, they have killer customer service, and a thing called the bill of rights that is pretty sweet. check it out. Edited November 1, 2014 by Scrappydue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALT0153 Posted November 1, 2014 Author Share Posted November 1, 2014 in my opinion the very best bang for your buck in the reference line up is the rf-62ii, rc-62ii, and the rs-52ii for your size of room. you should be able to get those 5 for 1800 i believe. all you have to do is google acoustic sound design. call the number, mike will answer. he is the owner. he will give you the best price of anywhere. That makes sense. I'll definitely be calling them soon. Where on my diagram would you suggest I place the pair of RS-52 ii? The green area or behind somewhere? also skip the klipsch sub. there is better stuff out there. svs, hsu, psa are all internet direct companies that sell killer subwoofers. svs subs to look at would be the pb-2000 or the pc-2000 if you need to save some floor space. svgs makes great subwoofers, they have killer customer service, and a thing called the bill of rights that is pretty sweet. check it out. I will look into those thanks. I like the small footprint option of the pc-2000 and also i would plan for the killer 5.0 setup i suggested above before i even thought about atmos or 7.1 I agree with you. I'd rather have a killer 5.0/5.1 than a mediocre 7.1....However , wouldn't it be a good idea to at least pre-wire the other speaker locations with a gang box or something before all the walls are sealed up? That way I could add speakers in the future? If so, were should I run the other cables? Thanks for the great advice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrappydue Posted November 1, 2014 Share Posted November 1, 2014 Ahhh I now see a budget! So if you can get the five speakers for 1800 shipped then splurge and get the Svs PC-12 plus. That would put you right at your budget. Or you could look at the hsu-vtf15h since you had a little extra money left for sub. And absolutely wire for everything you think you may want. To me in your room I would say it's not deep enough for full atmos. So if it were my room I would do as I suggested already and then wire your 7.1 as in ceilings where the purple is and then wire for just the blue channels in atmos. Then if you ever wanted to add them you would have the front two channels. I would call Svs and talk to them about your room they may reccommed dual subwoofers since your room is so big. And if you had to you could get dual PC-12 Nsd and to save a little money elsewhere you COULD get RB-61ii for your surrounds and wall mount vs the rs-52ii and that would save you 250 on surrounds. Then you would have the 1450 for dual subs IF you could squeeze them both up front. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrappydue Posted November 1, 2014 Share Posted November 1, 2014 Just looked on their website dual of either PB or PC 2000 is 1499. So you'd have to spend extra 50. But if you only have room for one sub by all means splurge on the PC-12 plus. If you could do two your room is big enough you would probably benefit from duals and a receiver that can calibrate both for optimal bass in the LP And also not sure if your military or previous military but if so Svs offers a 5% discount so that would turn duals into 1425$ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrappydue Posted November 1, 2014 Share Posted November 1, 2014 One last thing. Google sound distributors as well and call them and ask for Eric also. Some one just wrote in another thread he beat mikes prices by 300$ If that is the case and you have to do a single sub then you can really splurge and get the Svs PC-13 ultra. Their flagship. And it's a beast! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twk123 Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 (edited) One thing I noticed with your setup is how close the side of the couch is to the TV. If someone is sitting on the left they are going to be at an extreme angle that is far beyond the optimum viewing for most flat screen TV's. All in all I think Metropolis's layout is going to be much better. I would tell your wife that the current setup wont let you really enjoy the fireplace from the couch or the circular table due to the couch being in the way. Since the couch is meant for TV watching anyway you might as well do stadium to some degree, even if you want to have two matching couches and one on a riser behind the first then you can put some chairs and a coffee table near the fireplace for a more cozy social experience. With Metro's setup you will also be able to do far more regarding sound treatment with dampening primary reflection points which will go a long way to making your system stand out and increase your enjoyment. Edited November 3, 2014 by twk123 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALT0153 Posted November 5, 2014 Author Share Posted November 5, 2014 The only important seat is the one in the middle That's where I'm sitting. So here's the revised speaker layout. I never asked what everyone would recommend for an A/V receiver.I was originally looking at the Onkyo TX-NR636 for it's 7.2 atmos capabilities and HDMI 2.0. Will that work with this setup? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heritage_Head Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 Any nice receiver will sound great really. Imo find a really good deal on one that has everything you want and let that decide for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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