Help please! Removable surrounds!

[Andywidd]

Hi,
I’ve had a traditional 5.1 set up for years but now renovating and having to do a trade off with the wife whereby I can keep my audiophile stereo speakers but surrounds have to go. Please note that I will be mixing speaker makes which I know is not ideal but stereo music is my priority so happy to have a trade off with a 5.1.2 set up audio quality up to a point. Hoping the amp will compensate during set up. My proposal is to use my Dali epicon 2’s as my left and right being wired to my naim stereo amp but using the pre outs on the AV amp,
getting an in wall invisible monitor audio IV140 centre speaker, an in wall sub, 2 over head monitor audio atmos speakers and then I would like right have the option to be able to plug in the surrounds left and right just when I watch a movie and unplug them and store out of site when watching normal tv. So is it possible to get floor plates whereby I can plug in the speakers (thinking banana plugs on speaker wire) into the plates in floor? Is this dangerous! Also when unplugged I think I can set up the amp to recognise that 2 speakers will be missing so it will compensate. Options would be appreciated and thanks for your time. Andy

 

[Jamie]

Sounds like a good plan to me. Plenty of suitable speaker plates about, I'd suggest sockets for banana plugs only rather than binding posts, so for example
Amazon product

Although that's a double, you'd probably use 2 single plates, one for each speaker. If it's a suspended floor you could even use a recessed floor box with a lid like this for example
Tass TFB1 (1 Compartment Floor Box)

Quite a few AV amps these days have a quick select or scene function that allows more than one speaker configuration to be stored and switched between. For example a Denon 3700 has 2 speaker presets detailed here in the manual.

Changing the speaker settings to match the listening environment (Speaker Preset) AVR-X3700H
so easy enough to swap between rears enabled or not.

 

[Joe Fernand]

Are In-wall surrounds not an option?

Floor plates are fine, with a cover, but more of a pain that wall plates.

Joe

 

[Andywidd]

Sounds like a good plan to me. Plenty of suitable speaker plates about, I'd suggest sockets for banana plugs only rather than binding posts, so for example
Amazon product

Although that's a double, you'd probably use 2 single plates, one for each speaker. If it's a suspended floor you could even use a recessed floor box with a lid like this for example
Tass TFB1 (1 Compartment Floor Box)

Quite a few AV amps these days have a quick select or scene function that allows more than one speaker configuration to be stored and switched between. For example a Denon 3700 has 2 speaker presets detailed here in the manual.

Changing the speaker settings to match the listening environment (Speaker Preset) AVR-X3700H
so easy enough to swap between rears enabled or not.

Brilliant Jamie. Thank you for taking the time to reply. I’m pretty much sorted then. Just hope the speaker mash up works!

 

[Andywidd]

Are In-wall surrounds not an option?

Floor plates are fine, with a cover, but more of a pain that wall plates.

Joe

Hi Joe,
My left hand side is pretty much all patio door glass hence the floor plate question. Would have been nice to have in wall surrounds though. Cheers, andy

 

[Andywidd]

Sounds like a good plan to me. Plenty of suitable speaker plates about, I'd suggest sockets for banana plugs only rather than binding posts, so for example
Amazon product

Although that's a double, you'd probably use 2 single plates, one for each speaker. If it's a suspended floor you could even use a recessed floor box with a lid like this for example
Tass TFB1 (1 Compartment Floor Box)

Quite a few AV amps these days have a quick select or scene function that allows more than one speaker configuration to be stored and switched between. For example a Denon 3700 has 2 speaker presets detailed here in the manual.

Changing the speaker settings to match the listening environment (Speaker Preset) AVR-X3700H
so easy enough to swap between rears enabled or not.

Hi Jamie, i have another question which is probably really basic- from the back of the floor/wall plate is it just normal speaker cable that will run under the floor and then will plug into the amp as normal? Thanks again, andy

 

[Jamie]

My only reservation on the speaker front is the fronts and centre having a very different tone to them. In the past I've found on occasions I've preferred no centre Vs a mis-matched centre.

 

[Jamie]

Hi Jamie, i have another question which is probably really basic- from the back of the floor/wall plate is it just normal speaker cable that will run under the floor and then will plug into the amp as normal? Thanks again, andy

That's exactly what I used for my surround cables. I ran my cables in some flexible corrugated plastic conduit similar to this.

Polypropylene Flexible Conduit Kit 10m 25mm Black | Toolstation

Self extinguishing, temperature range: -5°C to +90°C. 10m kit with 10 fittings and locknuts.

www.toolstation.com

My cable exits the floor behind the amp using a brush plate.

 

[Andywidd]

That's exactly what I used for my surround cables. I ran my cables in some flexible corrugated plastic conduit similar to this.

Polypropylene Flexible Conduit Kit 10m 25mm Black | Toolstation

Self extinguishing, temperature range: -5°C to +90°C. 10m kit with 10 fittings and locknuts.

www.toolstation.com

My cable exits the floor behind the amp using a brush plate.

Cheers Jamie, that’s perfect. I’ve being struggling for weeks for a solution and you’ve sorted it in minutes!
Thanks again, Andy