Recommendation and different surround distances

rolandjeff

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Hi,

I am in the process of having a house built. They are just starting on the foundation so I need to start figuring out my speakers. In the image below is a crop of the living room area. I plan to put a HT in the basement in the future where I will go all out, but currently I would like to have at least 5.1 or 5.1.2 in the living room. The TV is the green bar and the orange square is roughly where the couch will be. (About 11 feet from the TV). LCR is self explanatory. On the rear speakers, I cannot have them the same distance apart. Is this going to be a problem? Can I use ceiling speakers instead? I can only find mention of ceiling speakers for Atmos. I don't want to go with speakers on stands. I would prefer in-wall or in-ceiling if its possible. My budget is about 1k for speakers.
Does the sub location matter much? It can go in the corner by the tv or the corner behind the couch. Should I plan for one in each location?

Thanks


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You can use in-ceiling surround speakers although it´s not optimal placement for them and also that would mean Atmos would be no go. You can´t have both at same location. Another option would be the rear wall with the tweeters at seated ear height. Perhaps some model with tweeters that could be aimed more toward listeners. One would be at corner though which is not ideal. The way you have marked them i don´t think the tweeters have that much angle to be aimed toward listeners. Looks tricky. Usually in larger open plan rooms members in States have opted for the in-ceiling surrounds slightly behind listeners wide apart. Not optimal, but better than not to have them.

You probably meant 1000$ CAD? That is very low budget as i remember everything costs quite a bit there and would mean compromises. If i understand that floorplan correctly it opens to dining room and also to hall (kinda) up to deck area and open stairs, so there is no doors that you can seal the living room. With such low budget you would have to buy some uber cheap subwoofer which is going to have hard time filling that whole open space giving underwhelming feel. And yes the subwoofer placement matters. All bets are off usually in such open room, but i would opt furthest from the opening so the right front corner as a starting point. The rear right corner could work too, but probably localizes easier which you don´t want. You have front right speaker close to corner, not sure are you looking for bookshelf speakers with stands at front or you want full in-wall system. It`s a shame the system has to go so close to right side wall. The tv wall you have some door there, i would push the left main speaker very close to that door so you can move everything little bit to left hopefully.

Shame you can`t opt for the basement right away. Looks quite tricky with compromises and not sure what you are going to get with that low budget..
 
The 1000 cad doesn’t include the sub. Just speakers. I was thinking in wall at the front. I can shift it all left a bit. Roughly 2500 overall for speakers, sub, and receiver.

if I went in ceiling surround behind and to the sides, does that rule out the atmos? Is it one or the other? I can do without atmos as I have never experienced it, but want the surround if possible.
Are there speakers that would be recommended for the room size? Should I increase my budget?
 
The 1000 cad doesn’t include the sub. Just speakers. I was thinking in wall at the front. I can shift it all left a bit. Roughly 2500 overall for speakers, sub, and receiver.

if I went in ceiling surround behind and to the sides, does that rule out the atmos? Is it one or the other? I can do without atmos as I have never experienced it, but want the surround if possible.
Are there speakers that would be recommended for the room size? Should I increase my budget?

Yep increase budget if possible. I wouldn´t want to buy anything crap as you have to make holes in your walls.

You can`t have in-ceiling surrounds and Atmos. The surround l/r needs to be placed roughly at seated ear height or slightly higher at wall then. Atmos overhead speakers will go in-ceiling so you need to have the height difference between these two. See here:

This is UK based forum so quite tricky to know all the options there in Canada, but Polk is always popular choice in US/CAD and specifically this model. The RC55i is from cheaper range for surround l/r wall mounting if you still considering that.. If you stick with same brand you can save little by going cheaper effect channels. Most money should go to front three.

Tv would need to be wall mounted quite high so you don´t compromise the in-wall center channel location. Keep in mind that it`s one of the most active speaker in your system and it shouldn´t go too low shooting your knees.



Klipsch is quite legendary brand in States/Canada. This in-wall model is similar to Reference Premiere range which is super popular. It´s basically LCR speaker so you would use two of those vertically upright as main L/R and third would go horizontally just below tv.


They do bundle deals if you buy 2-5 speakers with the installation kit. You need to ask deal for three speakers.


Paradigm another legendary Canadian brand has cheaper LCR. No idea how decent this is.


In-walls aren`t ever cheap. Klipsch would be my choice for movies. The RP is not harsh sounding. You can listen Klipsches in many shops like Best Buy (Reference Premiere not Reference range!) to get idea do you like the sound!

For subwoofer my vote would go to SVS PB1000 Pro if you can stretch the budget.

If that is too much then the older model which is on sale open box, but it won´t be as good due to smaller driver. This was still considered the best 500$(US) sub earlier, spanking most cheaper 12" models easily! If you can opt for the Pro model then don´t think twice cause good subwoofer can make such massive difference if you enjoy action/scifi/horror stuff.

The same dealer actually carries Klipsch speakers so i would urge you to ask package deal if you are intrested about them. The more you buy / spend the better discount! As always ask deals from as many shops as possible.. There is always air in the prices, use your business man skills!


I would say something like below Yamaha (850$) as minium would be ideal for av-receiver although this can do 5.2.2 system at most so something like Denon X3700H (1500$) would make more sense in long run as you can move it to your basement and power 9channels and if you add 2ch poweramp you can power 7.2.4 system! It also has preouts for poweramps so basically you can then run any type of system you wish if adding those... Another important thing would be the better room correction, but yeah it´s really tricky with such tight budget. So you have to make the compromise somewhere. I would want good speakers and sub for sure. The Yamaha is not bad!
 
Great information. Thanks for putting it together for me. I think I will look into the Klipsch.
I think I will do away with the Atmos for now. I will save it for the basement. Would something like this work well for the surround speakers?

Klipsch CDT 5800 CII 8

The biggest thing I want to purchase right away are the speakers, so I can get them roughed in while they are framing. Plus if I buy it all in stages, I can get away with a larger budget.
Thanks for your help. I was having trouble reading through all the posts and figuring out what to get. There is a lot of good information on this forum.
 
Great information. Thanks for putting it together for me. I think I will look into the Klipsch.
I think I will do away with the Atmos for now. I will save it for the basement. Would something like this work well for the surround speakers?

Klipsch CDT 5800 CII 8

The biggest thing I want to purchase right away are the speakers, so I can get them roughed in while they are framing. Plus if I buy it all in stages, I can get away with a larger budget.
Thanks for your help. I was having trouble reading through all the posts and figuring out what to get. There is a lot of good information on this forum.

That is quite expensive near 500$ each. This smaller model should do fine:

There is also cheaper range on sale now (Reference) version if you want to save here (not at LCR or subwoofer!):

What ever you buy have a chat with the dealer as you are going to need to measure the speaker placement carefully. Not how it looks best, rather how it sounds best. Tweeters at seated ear height with the main l/r at least, center channel as high as possible without the tv going too high and giving you neck pain. This is something you need to think carefully as you can´t change the locations after making holes to wall. Better to hire professional installer if you are unsure.

The dealers might try to sell you matcing subwoofer or some other crap cheap woofer. Don´t fall for that. SVS is one of the most well known subwoofer manufacturer (US company) and you get quality products as they have specialized in them. 5year amp warranty and great support/service with daily chat. There is not much options in Canada like there is in US, the shipping cost/taxes are not cheap if shipped from there what i have read. Monoprice Monolith 12 THX is another great choice if it´s on sale. Equivalent to SVS PB2000 Pro. The model i linked first is the bare minium i would consider for your open plan lounge.
 

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