Attic Home Cinema - Optimum Setup Advice Needed

[Sam Ash]

Need some help or advice from seasoned installers or experienced enthusiasts, I intend to setup a dedicated home cinema in the attic which is not ideal but that is what I have to work with as a dedicated home cinema room. I need to place the speakers and in-room objects in a way that will give me optimum sonic end results.

Please refer to the simple room drawing that has been attached, it is in PDF format and can be opened in Acrobat Reader.

Any help or advice will be appreciated.

[lechacal]

What is the distance from the front wall to the back wall?

[Sam Ash]

Originally Posted by lechacal

What is the distance from the front wall to the back wall?

Thank you for pointing that out, I have updated the drawing in the attached PDF file in my initial post.

However, to answer your question, it is 12 feet

[mossym]

at the distance out from the back wall the couch would be, can you wall mount the rear speakers so that they would be slightly above ear height?

or are you going with floorstanders for rear as well?

[Sam Ash]

Originally Posted by mossym

at the distance out from the back wall the couch would be, can you wall mount the rear speakers so that they would be slightly above ear height?

or are you going with floorstanders for rear as well?

Thanks Mossym, I appreciate your help.

Either wall mount or floor-standers would work and yes, I think it would be possible to position them slightly above ear height because there is a 4.5 feet clearance from the floor to the roof at the back wall.

[mossym]

Originally Posted by Sam Ash

Thanks Mossym, I appreciate your help.

Either wall mount or floor-standers would work and yes, I think it would be possible to position them slightly above ear height because there is a 4.5 feet clearance from the floor to the roof at the back wall.

well i won't tell you wallmount the floorstanders,

but if you for bookshelves that's be the best location for the rears. for the fronts i'd put them close in to either side of the screen, couple feet out from the wall if possible, give them room to breath...sub position as in your post, center as close to the bottom of the screen as possible

[Sam Ash]

Originally Posted by mossym

well i won't tell you wallmount the floorstanders,

but if you for bookshelves that's be the best location for the rears. for the fronts i'd put them close in to either side of the screen, couple feet out from the wall if possible, give them room to breath...sub position as in your post, center as close to the bottom of the screen as possible

Well, I suppose I could turn the floor-standers upside down and screw them into the ceiling

I think you're right, it makes sense to have book shelves at the back. Floor-standers for the front. I take note of your instructions.

However, do you think the low slanting roof will effect the sound ? Will it have a positive or negative effect on the sound. The ceiling is not flat but has wooden beams running in parallel with the short side of the room; if you know what I mean.

[mossym]

Originally Posted by Sam Ash

Well, I suppose I could turn the floor-standers upside down and screw them into the ceiling

I think you're right, it makes sense to have book shelves at the back. Floor-standers for the front. I take note of your instructions.

However, do you think the low slanting roof will effect the sound ? Will it have a positive or negative effect on the sound. The ceiling is not flat but has wooden beams running in parallel with the short side of the room; if you know what I mean.

have you any option to put some soft furnishings on the slanted wall? reflections from that would be a concern..i can't imagine what you could on the sloping ceiling apart from one of the big rugs that people hang...

other option would be some acoustic panels colored to match the wall color. you my get lucky and if the couch is far enough forwards any reflections may be behind you.

how deep into this do you want to get?

[Sam Ash]

Originally Posted by mossym

have you any option to put some soft furnishings on the slanted wall?

There are no slanted walls, just the attic ceiling which is slanting as per the drawing.

i can't imagine what you could on the sloping ceiling apart from one of the big rugs that people hang...

Well, that is not a problem, I could mount a rug-like material on the ceiling if the wooden beams don't help to absorb the sound.

other option would be some acoustic panels colored to match the wall color. you my get lucky and if the couch is far enough forwards any reflections may be behind you.

Is it possible to make my own acoustic panels or use other material that does the job well ?

how deep into this do you want to get?

Aha! - now you're talking ! Lets go very deep, I'm very interested and I must admit, I'm enjoying all this very much

[mossym]

Originally Posted by Sam Ash

There are no slanted walls, just the attic ceiling which is slanting as per the drawing.

sorry that is what i meant

Originally Posted by Sam Ash

Well, that is not a problem, I could mount a rug-like material on the ceiling if the wooden beams don't help to absorb the sound.

that could help if you have a problem

Originally Posted by Sam Ash

Is it possible to make my own acoustic panels or use other material that does the job well ?

making your own is very doable, question will be do you need them

Originally Posted by Sam Ash

Aha! - now you're talking ! Lets go very deep, I'm very interested and I must admit, I'm enjoying all this very much

actually, let me ask it another way...how much do you have to spend on this? this can get expensive quickly

[Sam Ash]

Originally Posted by mossym

sorry that is what i meant

making your own is very doable, question will be do you need them

actually, let me ask it another way...how much do you have to spend on this? this can get expensive quickly

Well, I'd appreciate it if you can tell me how I can build my own sound panels whether I need them or not. I'm interested to know, if you don't mind.

Oh sorry, I thought you 're talking about how technical we can be when you said "how deep do you want to go". Why does it have to be related to expense, tell me what you mean ?

[mossym]

i've never done it but if you go to teh room acoustics section here and do a search, you'll get some threads describing how it is done.

by how deep i meant both, technically and financially..the deeper the problems you try to solve the more it is going to cost. Simple panels for first reflection points are one thing sound absorbing/diffusing roofs are another .

i'd recommend a trip to the room acoustics forum and a read there first. a lot of things are going to come into play here. how are you going to measure what you have iniitially and have afterwards. Some people have great success using auto room eq like audyssey, others need to give it a helping hand with some initial movement of speakers/subs. others discover that their rooms just have a problem they need to eliminate before they can eq correctly.

you may find you have a pretty good response with no special measures. They will always help, but maybe not enough to justify them.

if you have a laptop, an spl and some time have a search for REW software, this is a room eq wizard which will measure your room response. it will give you an idea what effect your room and speakers are having.

however, you will need your system first, and since i was replying to your thread asking for an mp recommendation you likely don't have that yet so this step will have to wait a while...

[RipMaster]

What size screen do you want and do you know which model of projector you are going to get? Looking at that setup and using a quick mockup I did in sketch up then the biggest issue you are going to have with that room is probably the projector placement and throw ratio limiting the screen options.

If you have the funds if I were you I would seriously consider putting in some sort of attic window/dormer type recess that would give you more roof space at the short end of the room. I think that would give you a lot more options regards screen size, projectors and placement. Something like this:

That is to scale showing a 1.8m wide sofa placed about 2 feet from the wall. Screen is 8 feet wide 16:9. With a setup like that you could probably avoid having the projector directly above you or above and to the front which would make the room a lot more comfortable a place I would have thought.

[Sam Ash]

Originally Posted by RipMaster

What size screen do you want and do you know which model of projector you are going to get? Looking at that setup and using a quick mockup I did in sketch up then the biggest issue you are going to have with that room is probably the projector placement and throw ratio limiting the screen options.

Ripmaster, thank you so much for such a thorough response. Wow! I am really impressed with your drawings and renders !!! Are you an architect or interior designer ?

You are 100% right, one of my biggest concerns has been projector placement because of the limiting throw ratio.

If you have the funds if I were you I would seriously consider putting in some sort of attic window/dormer type recess that would give you more roof space at the short end of the room. I think that would give you a lot more options regards screen size, projectors and placement.

That sounds like a good idea and I have been pondering over the issue. I will definitely have a word with a builder to find out if we can incorporate such a recess. I agree, it would solve the problem in terms of projector placement & screen size.

Because the seating area is quite close to the screen, I am thinking of installing an 80 inch wide (16:9) screen (92"Diagonal). I am very keen on the InFocus IN83 DLP projector but according to the projection calculator, for an 80" wide sceen, the short throw distance is 3.84 meters. For a shorter throw distance, I've been looking at alternatives such as the JVC DLA-HD350 and the Marantz VP-15S1 which I believe have shorter / better throw ratios (by about 1 meter if I'm not mistaken)

That is to scale showing a 1.8m wide sofa placed about 2 feet from the wall. Screen is 8 feet wide 16:9. With a setup like that you could probably avoid having the projector directly above you or above and to the front which would make the room a lot more comfortable a place I would have thought.

Will be needing seating for at least 5 to 6 people, small but comfortable seats would be the answer i think.

Yes, it would be good to avoid the projector being directly above due to the louder fan noise in DLP projectors and to make the room more comfortable.

Any idea how the recess could be incorporated considering the fact that there are wooden beams going from front to back ?

[Sam Ash]

Had a look at your own restoration project too, very interesting