5.1 Advice for speakers + placement + Sonos integration

[astiling]

Hi, am getting ready to finalise the main tv area in my new house. Previously I found 5.1 was fine so would be happy with that again vs having more speakers. The room will be used for TV/Movies as well as general music listening. Room layout is below. on the right we have sliding glass doors to a terrace and behind the main TV watching position is a staircase. Ceiling height is 2.65m. TV is a Samsung QLED 75". Unfortunately my amp and sub have been in storage since selling our last place and I can't remember exactly what they are but think B&W Solid Sub and a Yamaha AV amp! The speakers were all in-wall/ceiling so we left for the new owner.

So looking forwards I need to get a shopping list together for the new place. Key requirements are:

Speakers need to be in wall/ceiling 5.1 preferred
Need to connect this the amp into Sonos so I can use the speakers for Sonos playback - I'm not looking to push the amp output into Sonos.

We have space around the TV for decent size speakers.

Budget around 2K - ideally less!

Front LCR - Was looking at the Yamaha NS-IW760 which seem to be on offer at £231 so well within budget. We have a turntable and appreciate a decent natural sound for that so ideally will be able to have front speakers that will work well for both purposes.

As rears will be in-ceiling is there a decent benefit in getting directionals? I had some before and seemed to work OK - maybe speakercraft AIM3 ones?

Would appreciate suggestions on what may work well.

For Sonos - do I just get a Sonos Port (£400) and have a line out from that into the receiver?

cheers for advice

 

[ShanePJ]

Just to clarify, you are looking for a fully fledged 5.1 cinema which can link into your Sonos account?

If that's the case, so long as you use the Sonos Port, it should be fine with any AV Receiver you choose. It has two output enabling you to see which one you prefer. The traditional analogue output will mean you are using the internal decoding solution Sonos uses whereas if you have a half decent AV Receiver, you have a digital coaxial output meaning you can try its internal DAC, so you are correct

Going back to the room, it's not the smallest and I feel with £1.6k of your budget left, you will not be able to fully appreciate it and always be left wanting. I would say because of this, you may have to compromise somewhere and with your budget, I wouldn't compromise on the speakers as upgrading them in the future will cost far more than you'll ever want to know (not forgetting the mess it will create), so that leaves the electronics

My minimum recommendation for that room based on your budget would be three Klipsch DS-250W-LCR plus a pair of Klipsch CS-180C. The woofer as a minimum would be something like the SVS PB1000 which really has swallowed your budget without even including an AV Receiver.

I feel you have some tough choices especially if you want to enjoy the system for a long time. So, that Sonos Port is really going to eat into your budget and maybe it's that product that can be compromised on in order to get a cinema system which will deliver something good in the room unlike one which will deliver a whimper

 

[astiling]

Thanks for the detailed reply.

I have some flex in budget if needed but the 1600 is just 5 speakers as I have a Yamaha av amp and Solid sub already. So I guess that means budget may be ok afterall.

Would directional rears make a big difference as they'll be in the ceiling and behind listening position?

 

[ShanePJ]

That's great news that you have two of the bits. This means you can improve those speakers as I mentioned they are a minimum.

I would say, that opens up a few options meaning you could look at something by SpeakerCraft, Monitor Audio, Dali and Focal for the front three LCR speakers then look to the partnering in-ceiling options by them

As for a 5.1 solution, if you went with in-walls at the rears, you could also look at adding Atmos to meaning you are completely future proof. Best thing about Atmos is they don't have to follow the same brand and with just a guide of making sure you use a larger 8" In-ceilings means that they should work perfectly

Read more about placement for Atmos if you are unaware here

 

[astiling]

OK, in wall isn't an option. With ceiling speakers the speaker craft aim5 is directional, I think I had aim3 before and was happy with those.

Would a circular rear be much better as this could be aimed better at the listening position vs the rectangular which for aesthetic reasons would be firing a bit to the side? Or is the difference pretty minimal?

 

[ShanePJ]

I feel every room has its plus and minus points, so don't change it and go for the best 5.1 solution you can create. With Atmos, you really have to have elevation between the Atmos speakers and the standard surrounds otherwise, the effects will be gone. It's like shouting from upstairs to someone downstairs, they can always tell where your voice is coming from and you cannot really get away from that without clever technology which adds delay and phase control whilst bouncing sound off walls to fasly create an almost convincing effect

Like I've said, if you cannot get the room to work with Atmos, then don't worry about it and just make sure you get the best CI speakers you can install