HT setup in small room

[NewLaw83]

Hello All!

 

I have seen a lot of knowledgeable posters on here and figured I can get some great advice from some of you. 

 

I just recently became a home owner and now I have a dedicated room for my "Man Cave" which I would like to make into a HT. It is small though at 12'2" x 14'4" and a ceiling height of 7' (drop ceiling). With my budget being around $1500 to $2000(maybe a little more) I have been looking at Reference Premiere line as the way to go. I mostly watch TV, sports, movies, and a little bit of gaming but I will play music through the system as well. I  would like to, at least, go with a 2.1 or 3.1 to start and maybe eventually go to a 5.1 system. 

 

I have been specifically looking at the RP-160M speakers as the front L and R mains, R-115SW for the sub, and possibly the RP-250C for the center. For an AVR I been looking at the Denon AVR-X3200W. Not sure about surrounds yet... but maybe the Reference Premiere surrounds down the road?

 

Currently the TV I have down there is a 42" but I will upgrade it to a 55" once the wife and I get a new TV for the main living room < if this even matters.

 

So I guess my questions are, will this system be "too much" for this small room? Should I just stick with a 2.1 system for this size? Would you guys do anything different? 

 

Attached are some pictures of a CAD drawing I did of the room to scale. The current layout seems to be the best dealing with the vertical beam that is in the room.

 

Thank you for any help/advice!

 

[willland]

NL83,

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

Absolutely not too much system for that room.  You want to "feel it" don't you?

 

Start with your 3.1 system and then go from there.  The R-115SW should be plenty tactical in that size room.

 

7 minutes ago, NewLaw83 said:

Attached are some pictures of a CAD drawing I did of the room to scale. The current layout seems to be the best dealing with the vertical beam that is in the room.

Is it possible to place the TV on the 12'2" wall and bump the rear of the sofa up to the beam?  Would that put your viewing/listening postition too close to the screen?  My MLP is 10ft from my screen and I am very pleased with the results.

 

Bill

[holtrp]

29 minutes ago, willland said:

NL83,

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

Absolutely not too much system for that room.  You want to "feel it" don't you?

 

Start with your 3.1 system and then go from there.  The R-115SW should be plenty tactical in that size room.

 

Is it possible to place the TV on the 12'2" wall and bump the rear of the sofa up to the beam?  Would that put your viewing/listening postition too close to the screen?  My MLP is 10ft from my screen and I am very pleased with the results.

 

Bill

I would do the same. Acoustically you'll be way ahead facing the 12' wall.  

[Youthman]

Not too much for that size room.  My son has RF7 and RC64ii in his 12' X 12' bedroom.  

[Ski Bum]

I agree w/ Bill's suggestion.  I think in his recommended orientation it will be easier to get a symmetrical layout between the mains and the side/back wall.  Symmetry is key.  As it is, the right speaker will be closer to it's corner than the left speaker due to the entrance.

 

Square-ish room...consider a pair of subs for modal smoothing, even slightly more modest subs (if budget is tight).  It won't take much to pressurize that small room.

[NewLaw83]

2 hours ago, willland said:

NL83,

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

Absolutely not too much system for that room.  You want to "feel it" don't you?

 

Start with your 3.1 system and then go from there.  The R-115SW should be plenty tactical in that size room.

 

Is it possible to place the TV on the 12'2" wall and bump the rear of the sofa up to the beam?  Would that put your viewing/listening postition too close to the screen?  My MLP is 10ft from my screen and I am very pleased with the results.

 

Bill

 

Thanks Bill! I absolutely want to "feel it" ! I just wanted to make sure I wasn't buying speakers that will only be turned up 5% to 10% and the rest was over kill. Pretty much I don't want to spend too much money on stuff I don't need. 

 

Originally that was the way I was going to set up the room but I would probably have to lose the small chair. If I did it that way do you think I would be put surrounds on the location in the picture below if I ever go that route?

[NewLaw83]

2 hours ago, holtrp said:

I would do the same. Acoustically you'll be way ahead facing the 12' wall.  

 

Yeah totally agree on the acoustic part. It would be much easier to have the speakers EQ'd going that way than the way I have it currently.

[NewLaw83]

1 hour ago, Youthman said:

Not too much for that size room.  My son has RF7 and RC64ii in his 12' X 12' bedroom.  

That is awesome! I hope he doesn't go to deaf!

[NewLaw83]

1 hour ago, Ski Bum said:

I agree w/ Bill's suggestion.  I think in his recommended orientation it will be easier to get a symmetrical layout between the mains and the side/back wall.  Symmetry is key.  As it is, the right speaker will be closer to it's corner than the left speaker due to the entrance.

 

Square-ish room...consider a pair of subs for modal smoothing, even slightly more modest subs (if budget is tight).  It won't take much to pressurize that small room.

This is very true!

 

Thanks everyone for their replies so far! This is great!

[holtrp]

One other thing, regardless of room size, there is no such thing as "too much".  

[Youthman]

53 minutes ago, NewLaw83 said:

If I did it that way do you think I would be put surrounds on the location in the picture below if I ever go that route?

You might want to consider putting the side surrounds on the side walls instead of the back wall and face them towards the couch. 

[NewLaw83]

1 hour ago, holtrp said:

One other thing, regardless of room size, there is no such thing as "too much".  

[NewLaw83]

31 minutes ago, Youthman said:

You might want to consider putting the side surrounds on the side walls instead of the back wall and face them towards the couch. 

Thanks Youthman! 

 

If I end up with the Reference Premiere surrounds would those be best going flat on the side walls?

[Youthman]

It's hard to say.  From what I can see, if you put the couch on the wall with the beam, will you have any place behind the couch to mount the Reference Premiere speakers?

[NewLaw83]

2 hours ago, Youthman said:

It's hard to say.  From what I can see, if you put the couch on the wall with the beam, will you have any place behind the couch to mount the Reference Premiere speakers?

Ideally I would put the surrounds on the back wall where the plexiglass window is but the way the door opens toward that wall I would be afraid someone hitting the speaker. Plus, I plan on hanging some guitars on the wall in the opposite corner on the other side of the plexiglass.

 

Do you think the RP-250S surrounds (In blue in the pictures below) would be pointless on these spots on the wall?

[willland]

3 hours ago, NewLaw83 said:

Ideally I would put the surrounds on the back wall where the plexiglass window is but the way the door opens toward that wall I would be afraid someone hitting the speaker. Plus, I plan on hanging some guitars on the wall in the opposite corner on the other side of the plexiglass.

 

Do you think the RP-250S surrounds (In blue in the pictures below) would be pointless on these spots on the wall?

 

I think that is a perfect location.  It is just a vertical beam in the room and not a wall as the CAD drawing could indicate, correct?

 

Bill

[Youthman]

Placing the surrounds on the side walls would be perfect.  In the first photo, they are located away from the back wall with plexiglass window but in the second photo, they are in the corners of the room (not ideal).

 

Both Dolby and THX recommend placing your surrounds on the side walls between 90 and 120 degrees.  So in your setup, you could place them at 90 degrees and be perfect.

[Youthman]

Take a look at this diagram.

[Grizzog]

Adding another comment for agreeing with the placement of the couch against the beam. The surrounds would work great where you have shown. Also, having a system running at 5-10% is way better than having it run at 80%. You'll have plenty of headroom, never get distortion, and be able to crank it up on those rare occasions...

[NewLaw83]

6 hours ago, willland said:

 

I think that is a perfect location.  It is just a vertical beam in the room and not a wall as the CAD drawing could indicate, correct?

 

Bill

Correct. Sorry I should have been more clear about the horizontal beam. The horizontal beam drops downs about 8" lower than the drop ceiling and the vertical beam comes down off of that. So its actually not a wall just a horizontal and vertical structural beam off center of the room. Hopefully I made it clear enough. If not, I can take an actual picture of it when I get home. The horizontal beam will make the surrounds sit about 5'8" from the middle of the speaker to the ground If I have the speakers just under it

 

Thanks again for your help again Bill!

3 hours ago, Youthman said:

Take a look at this diagram.

So that looks like I would be perfect then! Thanks, Youthman!

 

2 hours ago, Grizzog said:

Adding another comment for agreeing with the placement of the couch against the beam. The surrounds would work great where you have shown. Also, having a system running at 5-10% is way better than having it run at 80%. You'll have plenty of headroom, never get distortion, and be able to crank it up on those rare occasions...

Very true!

 

Yeah all you guys have convinced me to rearrange the room, get rid of the small chair and place the couch against the beam. I am so glad that this will work out for a 5.1 system. Always wanted to have a room like this and be able to do a HT correctly! Thank you all again for your input! 

 

Unfortunately, this won't happen right away but I at least can start planning for it. I can't wait to be able to come here and help other people the way you guys have helped me. Funny thing is that I went to school for audio and now work in the live event/entertainment field. But HT is a completely different beast audio wise then doing a large show in mono through line-array speakers and delay stacks. Last time I messed with surround sound was college project that I had to mix in 5.1 but that was 13 years ago! So thanks everyone for helping me take the rust off the wheels on this as well! You guys rock!