shortcuttomoncton
Standard Member
We’ve set up a nice little wife-approved HT and music area on our main floor—it’s open to the rest of the first floor (about 1100sqf of living room and kitchen).
Area is 11 feet deep back to front, and 14 feet wide. Standard 9 foot ceilings. Walls are insulated exterior facing and there is no basement access underneath; there is a closed attic that should have plenty of space for in-ceilings once I start poking holes from below.
Issues are known and visible in the pics. The couch should be pulled forward as much as possible, but with kids jumping around it always seems to work its way back to the wall. The room is definitely too bright, with a bit of echo especially out to the main living room. I think this is most noticeable as a low-dialogue problem on many multichannel movies, where it feels like the dialogue is a little recessed and we have to boost the centre channel—a classic live-room reflections issue as I understand it.
We love having the listening area on the main floor, and it’s where we hang out the most. We have very young kids that are usually sleeping if we’re watching, so house-shaking volume is not necessary—having said that, they’ve gotten used to window-shaking levels instead.
TV is an LG C9 55” (will step up to 65-70” a few years down the road if money permits). It’s now a 3.1 system with Totem Tribe III speakers, Rythmik F12 sub, and Marantz SR7013 receiver...most delivery is via AppleTV 4 through Plex (I have a Mac Mini Plex server set up on the network) or one of the streaming services. We also play tons of audio-only stereo music via the receiver using Airplay 2 (integrated with various Sonos speakers around the house) or the HEOS system for more dedicated listening. I have a turntable and separate phono stage as well which used the receiver’s analog input, but due to little-kid curiosity it’s in basement storage until I can figure out how to protect from flying objects. Overall the sound quality is pretty top notch given the inherent limitations of on-wall speakers.
So. The point. I want to add strategic room treatment, and I want to try in-wall 5.1.2 Atmos multichannel.
Room treatment will be a struggle with the decor. It will likely take the form of minimal, strategically placed acoustic squares or circles on the front and back walls, and possibly the ceiling (dubious). I am working on heavy velvet drape options for the windows and have been told they will go up the same moment hell freezes over—all I’m likely to get are those thin blinds on the side window added to the rear window. The other option may be one of those entire-wall-accent-design acoustic panel jobs for either the front, back or left-side walls, but that would also be getting pretty expensive and unlikely.
I really want 5.1.2 Atmos audio. Possibly .4 but since the rear ceiling pair would be directly overhead that seems a stretch. For the ceiling, I may just remove those pot lights which are already superfluous, but I could put the speakers in-line with the LR almost anywhere above. If in-wall, the rear surrounds would pretty much have to be behind the couch, in the wall space to either side of the rear window. There’s almost no room for proper placement of these surround speakers to each side due to the side window (and no wall on the right hand side, closest to camera).
I’d likely be looking at Monitor Audio in-wall speakers, with aimable tweeters. I have a pair of CS180 in-ceilings left over from a previous project that should be pretty good for the ceilings?
I checked Reddit and recommendations varied from don’t bother going beyond 3.1 to go for it! Of course with in-walls and no floor/roof access, going for it will mean punching a ton of holes and making a big mess, so I’d at least like to have a plan before starting this.
Finally: yes there’s a basement in the house. Yes it could be turned into a more dedicated theatre room, although the room is only 10.5” wide (by 18” long), and yes room treatment would be easier and less style-conscious. But it’s currently the kids’ play area and it would require adding some interior walls and a decent bit of electrical wiring for where everything would have to fit...a better overall solution, but much more difficult in the short term.
Any recommendations on whether going Atmos should be viable? Would it even work better than what I have now?
Area is 11 feet deep back to front, and 14 feet wide. Standard 9 foot ceilings. Walls are insulated exterior facing and there is no basement access underneath; there is a closed attic that should have plenty of space for in-ceilings once I start poking holes from below.
Issues are known and visible in the pics. The couch should be pulled forward as much as possible, but with kids jumping around it always seems to work its way back to the wall. The room is definitely too bright, with a bit of echo especially out to the main living room. I think this is most noticeable as a low-dialogue problem on many multichannel movies, where it feels like the dialogue is a little recessed and we have to boost the centre channel—a classic live-room reflections issue as I understand it.
We love having the listening area on the main floor, and it’s where we hang out the most. We have very young kids that are usually sleeping if we’re watching, so house-shaking volume is not necessary—having said that, they’ve gotten used to window-shaking levels instead.
TV is an LG C9 55” (will step up to 65-70” a few years down the road if money permits). It’s now a 3.1 system with Totem Tribe III speakers, Rythmik F12 sub, and Marantz SR7013 receiver...most delivery is via AppleTV 4 through Plex (I have a Mac Mini Plex server set up on the network) or one of the streaming services. We also play tons of audio-only stereo music via the receiver using Airplay 2 (integrated with various Sonos speakers around the house) or the HEOS system for more dedicated listening. I have a turntable and separate phono stage as well which used the receiver’s analog input, but due to little-kid curiosity it’s in basement storage until I can figure out how to protect from flying objects. Overall the sound quality is pretty top notch given the inherent limitations of on-wall speakers.
So. The point. I want to add strategic room treatment, and I want to try in-wall 5.1.2 Atmos multichannel.
Room treatment will be a struggle with the decor. It will likely take the form of minimal, strategically placed acoustic squares or circles on the front and back walls, and possibly the ceiling (dubious). I am working on heavy velvet drape options for the windows and have been told they will go up the same moment hell freezes over—all I’m likely to get are those thin blinds on the side window added to the rear window. The other option may be one of those entire-wall-accent-design acoustic panel jobs for either the front, back or left-side walls, but that would also be getting pretty expensive and unlikely.
I really want 5.1.2 Atmos audio. Possibly .4 but since the rear ceiling pair would be directly overhead that seems a stretch. For the ceiling, I may just remove those pot lights which are already superfluous, but I could put the speakers in-line with the LR almost anywhere above. If in-wall, the rear surrounds would pretty much have to be behind the couch, in the wall space to either side of the rear window. There’s almost no room for proper placement of these surround speakers to each side due to the side window (and no wall on the right hand side, closest to camera).
I’d likely be looking at Monitor Audio in-wall speakers, with aimable tweeters. I have a pair of CS180 in-ceilings left over from a previous project that should be pretty good for the ceilings?
I checked Reddit and recommendations varied from don’t bother going beyond 3.1 to go for it! Of course with in-walls and no floor/roof access, going for it will mean punching a ton of holes and making a big mess, so I’d at least like to have a plan before starting this.
Finally: yes there’s a basement in the house. Yes it could be turned into a more dedicated theatre room, although the room is only 10.5” wide (by 18” long), and yes room treatment would be easier and less style-conscious. But it’s currently the kids’ play area and it would require adding some interior walls and a decent bit of electrical wiring for where everything would have to fit...a better overall solution, but much more difficult in the short term.
Any recommendations on whether going Atmos should be viable? Would it even work better than what I have now?
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