My small livingroom 5.1.4 setup - updated 2020

muntos

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Hi everyone, I recently finished my HT enhancement by adding 4 Atmos speakers to the current setup and I would like to share with you... :)
The road was longer that expected and bumpy, starting with convincing the Wife with the changes, clearing the room from all the equipment and them some problems on the execution phase, bad calls, etc.

I wanted to upgrade my setup with some Atmos speakers, did some research and decided with in-ceiling speakers. The problem was that I didn't have the possibility to install them as all my walls are from concrete...so I had to build some drywall structure :

2020 - Big revamp , scroll down or click here...
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Next was to install the in-ceiling speakers and light strips:
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Then was the hell of cable management :) !
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System:
LG OLED 55 inch (55B6)
Marantz SR5011 receiver
Hegel H80 stereo amplifier in HT mode
Front L/R speakers: Elac BS-403
Centre: Monitor Audio A40
Surrounds: Monitor Audio A10
Sub: SVS SB1000
In-ceiling: 4 x Kef Ci160QR
Intel NUC (Squezebox Media Server) with iFi Audio Micro iUSB 3.0 for stereo Music
Minix Neo U9-H with Kodi for movies
Xbox One X for gaming
Logitech Harmony Elite remote
Philips hue lights
and some automation of curtain, lights, power sockets with some coding from my side :)

Next steps:
- changing AVR with a 5.1.4 or 7.1.4 capable receiver (SR6013 or Denon X4500H)

Would be nice:
- convince my wife to change the sofa with some sofa with recliner and moving it a little away from the back wall :)
- add back spekers, in-wall style
- get 65" / 75" OLED
 
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It'll be difficult to get it working with the sofa against the wall.

You could *try* having speakers on the floor like I do and pulling sofa forward a few inches.

You really don't want them on/in the wall when they're so close as someone is going to get an earful ;)
 
Yes, the plan would be to change the sofa with something more cinema style (smaller when is not extended, something as the one in the pic) that would allow me to pull it a little from the wall.
If someone who went from 5.x.x to 7.x.x could share his impressions, if the sound improved, if does make a worthy change.

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I went from 5.1.2 to 7.1.2 and it made a massive difference imho. More so than Atmos to my ears (though I only have .2 not .4!).

Atmospheric sounds like crowds / sea / wind etc are an entirely different level of realism with 7.x and then you have fun things like planes / cars panning front to back. Voice echos too.

If you can borrow some speakers to try it, do. :)
 
So, I took a step (maybe more steps :)) closer to my dream living room and changed almost everything 😅 !
First I upgraded my 55" OLED to 77" C9 LG model. It was this or a Sony VPL-VW270ES projector, in the end I I chose the TV due to various constrains and compromises that I should have done for a projector setup.
The second thing was to ditch the sofa and get a recliner and some furniture. Big drama with the wife, she still don't want to use/touch the recliner 🤣
And third was the big project that involved building a fake wall and move all the audio equipment in the kitchen 😁! On this topic I thanks to @Mr X for inspiring me regarding the fake wall !
For this I had to give up my beautiful fronts Elac speakers but my heart didn't let me to sell them so I changed the Apex A10 surrounds with the Elacs. Not a deserved place for the Elacs but at least I can keep them!
In place I opted for 3 x KEF Ci3160RL-THX for LCR, another stunning and potent looking speakers!
Building the wall was a quite exhausting project, as the tight space forced me to measure everything to millimeter, measure and calculate 10 times, cut once :)! But in the end the calculations pretty match the expectations :).
Part 2 of the project was to build a box to house all the AV equipment that would be hosted under the kitchen sitting furniture. Another sub-project that necessitated all my attention and energy.

Next steps: TV calibration, a new subwoofer to change the SVS SB-1000, and MAYBE an additional projector, but this I will very very carefully to think of...

And now the pics :) !

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Lovely setup there. Can I ask where did you get sofa from as I'm looking for the same sort and style as that.
 
Great, job. nicely thought through and finished :smashin:
 
Great setup loving the ceiling and atmos speakers,would love to do the same thing with my ceiling but I think my room too small at 13ft x 12ft out of intrest what size room is this?
cheers
 
hi which leds did you use for your ceiling? how do you find the hegel for music and ht has the hegel got enough power to drive your cinema fronts as im looking at the hegels for ht and music connected to my denon 4500h,i also have a nuc with roon server installed which I would like to stream to a hegel amp cheers gary
 
These are Philips Hue led strips, a little more expensive that other solutions but fits in the Hue ecosistem and the API allows me do a lots of automation in the future.
Hegel amps are great on music side (and HT), they can drive almost any speaker without much effort.
 
Another day, another upgrade :)!
SB-1000 said goodbye, welcome SB-2000 PRO :clap:!
Didn't expected to be such an improvement, but it is! I can "feel" much better the lower frequencies now, the bass is deeper, contributing to a better imersive experience.

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I must have missed your mention back in April as didn't see this. Great job! much prefer how it looks now and I really like the Kitchen bench idea, very clever.

Glad my measurements helped in the end. Phew! Now sit back and enjoy until upgrade fever takes over again!
 

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