Advice on Speaker Placement for Corner TV

[mr starface]

Sorry for yet another corner speaker issue thread but after some advice on where to put my 5.1 system in my new house.

Our new lounge is rectangular and quite long (about 22 ft), have attached a diagram to show where things are.

The TV and assorted AV stuff is in the far corner and cant really put it elsewhere. Dont want it above the fireplace as will mean viewing at a large angle all the time and cant mount on the wall opposite the main sofa as then the screen isnt visible from the sofa at the other end of the room.

So although it isnt ideal I'm after the best bet placement for my speakers, I am only interested in getting decent surround sound to the main sofa so not fussed about the other end of the room.

Seems my only options are to put the front L + R speakers opposite the main sofa on the wall and the rears above the sofa. Not sure what to do with the centre speaker as will look odd on the wall, will it work ok to have it at the bottom of the TV? Sub will be off in the corner next to the fireplace.

As always any advice appreciated

TV Room by mrstarface, on Flickr

 

[BlueWizard]

Any thoughts on a working budget?

I can think of a couple that involve a sound bar in front, which would fit under you TV, and have left/center/right speakers built in, and then separate rear speakers.

At about £500, the now discontinued Q Acoustic QAV system would work -

Q Acoustics QAV

This £899 Quad Lite system can be purchase with the front three speaker replaced by a sound bar -

QUAD L-ITE 2 5.1 SPEAKER SYSTEM - available from Superfi UK

I have a thread going about the Quad Sound Bar -

http://www.avforums.com/forums/speakers/1311262-quad-l-ite-sound-bar-anyone.html

With links to photos and more information.

Keep in mind these are not traditional sound bars which have active amps and surround decoding. These are passive speakers that require external AV amps to drive them.

Consider these and get back to us with your working budget.

Steve/bluewizard

 

[mr starface]

Sorry if I didnt explain well but I already have a set of 5.1 speakers (Jamos) that I want to use, just unsure of what the best positioning for them would be based on the info in my post.

 

[BlueWizard]

Given us a photo of the TV sitting in the corner so we can get a better sense of the space available.

Are these the Jamo A102? Some details would be helpful. Tiny satellite speakers, bookshelf, floorstanding,... inquiring minds want to know?

The quality of the answer is proportional to the quality of the question. We can't give answers based on information we don't know.

Steve/bluewizard - not being sarcastic, just pragmatic.

 

[PSM1]

My first instinct would be to put the front L/R each side of the TV either wall mounted or on stands. The centre can either go on the stand under the TV although you could wall mount it above the TV and angle it down. The rears you would put either side of the main sofa up fairly high and then angled down.
In the future I would look to get some dipole/bipole rears to give a more diffused sound in the limied space to the rear of the sofa.

 

[mr starface]

Thanks guys here are a couple of photos. First one shows the TV in the corrner and second the area opposite the TV with the Sofa.

Speakers are the Jamo 102's so quite small, previously I screwed them into the wall so have no stands to speak of.

The flooring is laminate wood, and as you can see from the photos I have some curtains immediately to the side of the TV at the end of the room leading to the conservatory. For this reason putting speakers directly to the right the TV could be an issue as the curtains will block the sound I would imagine? Cant really move the curtains either as they block the light.

TV


Sofa Opposite TV

 

[PSM1]

You need to find some way to get a speaker to the right of the TV as the front right needs to be right of the TV. The only real option I can see is to buy some stands and put it in front of the curtain immediately to the right of the TV.
The rest of the speakers would go as I said above.

 

[mjbtin]

Thanks guys here are a couple of photos. First one shows the TV in the corrner and second the area opposite the TV with the Sofa.

Speakers are the Jamo 102's so quite small, previously I screwed them into the wall so have no stands to speak of.

The flooring is laminate wood, and as you can see from the photos I have some curtains immediately to the side of the TV at the end of the room leading to the conservatory. For this reason putting speakers directly to the right the TV could be an issue as the curtains will block the sound I would imagine? Cant really move the curtains either as they block the light.

TV
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[/url]

Sofa Opposite TV
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[/url]

Any reason why you cant have the tv flush with the wall directly opposite the sofa this would give you a better viewing angle and easy speaker placement.

Regards Martin

 

[mr starface]

Thanks for the quick replies, can look at the cost of some stands I suppose though , I can see them on Amazon for just under £100.

Reason for not having the TV opposite the Sofa (and I agree this would make things a lot easier!) is that from there it wouldnt really be viewable by anyone else at the other end of the room (where my other sofa is). Can discuss with my OH but obviously makes it tricky whenever we have people round to visit and watch a film, play games etc. Saying that of course 95% of the time its just us watching it so maybe we should be selfish!

Oh also all the power points and satellite bits are in the corner as well so makes it easier to hide the cables!

 

[mjbtin]

You could wall mount the tv with something like this.

SWIVEL CANTILEVER ARM CORNER TV WALL BRACKET 37 40 52 | eBay UK

Regards Martin

 

[mr starface]

Thanks Martin that looks interesting, I wonder if the fact it swivels would mean it would stick out from the wall a lot?

Will drop them an email to see if my model TV would fit, I have a 50" Panasonic TH-50PZ800B. Mind you the thought of wall mounting such a beast with my crappy DIY skills is a bit worrying, may have to call in some help if I do go that way!

 

[mjbtin]

Thanks Martin that looks interesting, I wonder if the fact it swivels would mean it would stick out from the wall a lot?

Will drop them an email to see if my model TV would fit, I have a 50" Panasonic TH-50PZ800B. Mind you the thought of wall mounting such a beast with my crappy DIY skills is a bit worrying, may have to call in some help if I do go that way!

Another option you could use is a cantilever stand with swivel action something like this.

Black Glass Swivel TV Stand Bracket 32 37 40 42 46 50 on eBay (end time 07-May-11 11:05:57 BST)

Regards Martin

 

[PSM1]

What is the wall made out of that you would mount the TV too.
If it is an exterior wall with plasterboard attached then just need to drill though to the brick work and either expoxy bond some studs into it or use one of numerous fittings designed to grip strongly to brick work.

 

[mjbtin]

Or the simplest method a stand on castors easy to move and a bonus when cabiling kit.

Stil Stand TV Stand | STUK 1400 RANGE STUK1401 STUK1402

Regards Martin

 

[mr starface]

The idea of the swivel wall mount is growing on me together with 4 stands for he speakers so that we can hide the wiring better. However need to have a think and ell the idea to the wife as would involve parting with hundreds if precious pounds!

Its a 1930's house so the walls are solid stone as far as I am aware, the wall it would go is not an exterior one though as its the one between us and the house next door (we are in a semi) is that ok for wall mounting?

Will have to read up on what the ideal height from the floor is for a wall mount or is it based on the height you are stitting at? Would want a cricked neck through staring too high up the wall!

 

[mjbtin]

The idea of the swivel wall mount is growing on me together with 4 stands for he speakers so that we can hide the wiring better. However need to have a think and ell the idea to the wife as would involve parting with hundreds if precious pounds!

Its a 1930's house so the walls are solid stone as far as I am aware, the wall it would go is not an exterior one though as its the one between us and the house next door (we are in a semi) is that ok for wall mounting?

Will have to read up on what the ideal height from the floor is for a wall mount or is it based on the height you are stitting at? Would want a cricked neck through staring too high up the wall!

Eye level to the middle of the screen is regarded as the optimum but generally put a tv on the wall at this height doesnt look right.
Alot of people get over this by mounting higher and use a tilting bracket.

Regards Martin

 

[PSM1]

The party wall will be a solid one so no issues mounting to that.
This may help:
Installing a Plasma TV Wall Mount: Plasma TV Installation Guide (2)

I have mine wall mounted and the base of the TV is about eye level when seated but I sit about 3m away from the screen so I am not looking up much. Hence it is comfortable for me to watch and is also not a bad height when we play Wii etc.

 

[mr starface]

Cheers will have a look at the guide once I have convinced the OH this is the way to go!

I would be about 4.5m away from the screen

 

[bravogolf]

You're right about the wall, it most certainly is a solid block wall. But give it a knock or two and see if there are hollow sections. A single block is wide enough to hold your TV stand. You'll probably need a jackhammer drill (it's a standard drill still, isn't particularly specialised) with a concrete compatible drill-bit, bear in mind it's VERY noisy so give your neighbours forewarning! Check that there aren't any electrics or pipes behind, very unlikely if it isn't a cavity wall.

 

[BlueWizard]

Since the Jamo A102 speaker are very small and light, you could consider building a shelf above the TV, but before you say no, let me explain.

Another member of the group has done this quite successfully. Your TV likely has bolt holes in the back that are meant to be used to mount it to a bracket or to a stand. This member built a custom shelf that attached to these rear bolt holes and place the shelf literally above the TV. Two vertical sections to support the shelf and bolt to the TV, and a centered horizontal shelf attached to that.

You Left/Right/Center speakers could easily sit on that small shelf. The shelf could even be wider than the TV to spread the speakers out a bit.

While it may sound complicated, this is really a project that can be accomplished with a minimum of tools and skill. Really, using standard sized lumber of any type you want (pine, oak, walnut, maple, ash, birch, etc...) attach the two vertical section to the shelf with some common right angle brackets. Since the weight is somewhat centered over the vertical section there is not going to be much stress to the joint.

The shelf section can also be a standard common lumber size. Also, every hardware, and lumber supply store has pre-finished ready made shelves in a variety of light and dark finishes. These are very cheap. Since the vertical risers are mostly hidden, then can be cheap pine, and the shelf can be, say, Oak, or one of these common low cost pre-finished shelves.

You can get a miter box/saw and cut the wood to length, or they will pre-cut it at the lumber yard for you.

Then it is just a matter of drilling the holes in the vertical risers to match the bolt holes in the TV, and finding the proper size bolts to attach it to the TV.

How far you want to take this is up to you. The member who did this used angle iron (right angle, pre-made steel, or possible aluminum) and used the same angle iron to brace the shelf. But he was using small bookshelf size speakers.

The other alternative, is to made a riser/shelf to set you TV on that allows the speaker to be place under the TV.

Here is an example of what I did, again using pre-made pre-finished low cost shelves. In my case, I needed to place my amp under the shelf, and my speakers on top.

I bought one long wide shelf, and one short narrow shelf, cut the narrow shelf to make two risers, and nailed and glued it together -

To brace the shelf a bit, I added a horizontal board of common low grade pine across the back. I think it is about 19mm x 65mm.

Again, all I needed was glue, nails, a hand saw, and some patience. The cut edges of the vertical risers are in the back and can't be seen, so the cuts didn't have to be perfect.

This options will take some time and effort, but are both very cheap relative to other options.

Just a thought.

Steve/bluewizard