Small living room, first time HT 5.1 setup

[Jester1066]

I will point out though that with any 5.1.2 layout the ceiling is not suddenly going to burst into life. It's a far more subtle effect and many people get disappointed initially. Which ever layout you choose run it for a couple of weeks, then turn it off. I guarantee you'll miss it.

1000% Agree here.

I'll also add that I tried the C1's both ontop of my front floorstanders and as heights - Much preferring the latter placement. But as @gibbsy says you may as well try both as ymmv

 

[Just Pushing Play]

Thanks @Jester1066 and @gibbsy

On the recommendations, I spent a bit of time this afternoon fitting the C1s on the front wall, directly high above the floor standers. I'll have to think about lowering the On Walls sometime, as I haven't anywhere else to put the display units in the way currently.

Unfortunately I had a bit of an accident halfway through setup, as the chair I was standing on collapsed beneath me, and I deeply bruised a good length of my shin as I came down with it! As if spending money wasn't painful enough

Pictures of the new setup to follow once I get some new speaker cable and trunking

 

[gibbsy]

Unfortunately I had a bit of an accident halfway through setup, as the chair I was standing on collapsed beneath me, and I deeply bruised a good length of my shin as I came down with it! As if spending money wasn't painful enough

I did say placing them on top of the fronts was better. Well maybe not better but perhaps safer.

 

[Jester1066]

I did say placing them on top of the fronts was better. Well maybe not better but perhaps safer.

Alternatively:

"There's no gain without pain" ....

On a serious note. I hope you're not suffering too much

 

[Just Pushing Play]

I did say placing them on top of the fronts was better. Well maybe not better but perhaps safer.

Haha, well I thought if I'm gonna do it, best to do it properly

Alternatively:

"There's no gain without pain" ....

On a serious note. I hope you're not suffering too much

It's a bit sore, but I'll live haha. Thanks!

 

[Just Pushing Play]

Any recommendations on speaker cable for the C1s, @Jester1066 and @gibbsy ?

I was going to get some QED micro cable again, which my surrounds are connected with, but just weighing up options before I proceed. I probably should of got some advice there too

 

[gibbsy]

Amazon product

 

[Jester1066]

Amazon product

+1 on this cable. It's all the cable you'll ever need. I use it will all my speakers. Great quality at a good price. No need to pay any more imo

 

[Just Pushing Play]

Thanks @gibbsy and @Jester1066 ... ordered!

What are your thoughts on the QED micro cable? That's what I have connecting the surrounds, but the length for one is like 7-8m and another is approx 14m... Is that too long for the cable type? It's all a bit new to me haha.

 

[Jester1066]

I've not used the QED Micro specifically, but I have/do use other QED cable. It's also good quality.

My own opinion (and not based on any science), but I prefer 2.5mm cable - like the one linked to above - for longer runs.
Ultimately though as long as its good quality pure copper strand cable (not the cheaper CCA stuff). It'll be fine.

 

[Just Pushing Play]

I've not used the QED Micro specifically, but I have/do use other QED cable. It's also good quality.

My own opinion (and not based on any science), but I prefer 2.5mm cable - like the one linked to above - for longer runs.
Ultimately though as long as its good quality pure copper strand cable (not the cheaper CCA stuff). It'll be fine.

Sounds good. I've gone for the 2.5mm cable as linked above, and hopefully it'll fit into the same trunking type I've been using.

 

[gibbsy]

Thanks @gibbsy and @Jester1066 ... ordered!

What are your thoughts on the QED micro cable? That's what I have connecting the surrounds, but the length for one is like 7-8m and another is approx 14m... Is that too long for the cable type? It's all a bit new to me haha.

Longer runs are best with a thicker cable, I use 2.5mm cable for my surrounds.

 

[Htfanboy]

If you going to have speakers on the top of the wall. Please note there will be a massive gap overhead. The aim of Dolby atmos is to have sounds from above you. If you have the heights too far apart you will have a empty space from above you.
The goal here is to have even paning from front to back as in a bubble of sound.

Is this what your trying to achieve or is it something else?

I can share a video that explains it and there's feedback on the comments of that video that shows people have relocated their speakers and have noticed improvements and are enjoying it much better than what they had.

Regards.

 

[Just Pushing Play]

@Htfanboy That's pretty much the goal yes, but I'm building the setup piece by piece

Yes please, a link to that video would be great. Always enjoy learning more about this hobby.

I'm hoping to share an update on the setup soon

 

[Jester1066]

@Htfanboy That's pretty much the goal yes, but I'm building the setup piece by piece

Yes please, a link to that video would be great. Always enjoy learning more about this hobby.

I'm hoping to share an update on the setup soon

Just remember that the dolby atmos placement guides are just that "guides". Whilst in an ideal world (eg dedicated cinema room), you should try to get all and any speakers in the recommended positions, as long as you get them reasonably close, the AVR's room correction will compensate to an extent.

The reason I've positioned my front heights as I have, is for the reasons outlined by @Htfanboy.

 

[Just Pushing Play]

Just remember that the dolby atmos placement guides are just that "guides". Whilst in an ideal world (eg dedicated cinema room), you should try to get all and any speakers in the recommended positions, as long as you get them reasonably close, the AVR's room correction will compensate to an extent.

The reason I've positioned my front heights as I have, is for the reasons outlined by @Htfanboy.

I've fitted my C1s on the front wall, in line with the floor standing Oberon 5s for distance left to right. From what I gather that's what's required? I can always tweak if necessary

Hopefully I can get another pair of C1s sometime and have them as rear heights at the back.

 

[Jester1066]

I've fitted my C1s on the front wall, in line with the floor standing Oberon 5s for distance left to right. From what I gather that's what's required? I can always tweak if necessary

Hopefully I can get another pair of C1s sometime and have them as rear heights at the back.

Yep that'll be fine imo

 

[gibbsy]

I've fitted my C1s on the front wall, in line with the floor standing Oberon 5s for distance left to right. From what I gather that's what's required? I can always tweak if necessary

Hopefully I can get another pair of C1s sometime and have them as rear heights at the back.

Remember to run Audyssey and configure them as Front Height. Run the system for a fortnight or so so that the upmixing modes are in full swing as well as any Atmos soundtracks you have. Then either disconnect the speakers or run a 5.1 soundtrack in Direct mode and see if you miss the 'bubble' of sound that the speakers will produce. If you do it's set up sweet.

 

[gibbsy]

@Jester1066 I found the Direct option by accident. We were watching the Black Sails disc set which has a tremendous DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack. Neutral X made for a wonderful upmix, especially on the shipboard scenes when crew members were walking around on the upper decks of the ship. Really filled the room with sound. Now the effects were simply not there.

I must have pressed the Direct button by mistake, probably with my bony arse. I thought what the hell was wrong with the Denon (X6200) in those days. I checked the banana plugs everything tight, but the R50s were dead. Now I'm a glass half empty kind of guy and always think the worse until the missus told me to check I hadn't turned anything off. Delight soon returned when I eventually pressed the Direct button to bring back in the R50s.

By that time we had been living with the working set up for a good few years. As I say turn it off, with DIrect, and you will really miss it.

 

[Jester1066]

@Jester1066 I found the Direct option by accident. We were watching the Black Sails disc set which has a tremendous DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack. Neutral X made for a wonderful upmix, especially on the shipboard scenes when crew members were walking around on the upper decks of the ship. Really filled the room with sound. Now the effects were simply not there.

I must have pressed the Direct button by mistake, probably with my bony arse. I thought what the hell was wrong with the Denon (X6200) in those days. I checked the banana plugs everything tight, but the R50s were dead. Now I'm a glass half empty kind of guy and always think the worse until the missus told me to check I hadn't turned anything off. Delight soon returned when I eventually pressed the Direct button to bring back in the R50s.

By that time we had been living with the working set up for a good few years. As I say turn it off, with DIrect, and you will really miss it.

Denon remotes are clearly attracted to them!.....

I've lost count of the number of times my OH thinks she's broken our HT setup, because the remote stops responding.....

Turns out she's accidentally pressed the "Zone 2" button on the remote with her derriere.... Happens so often now, I just sigh (under my breath) and shout "Press Main Zone"

 

[Gasp3621]

Dual subwoofers are indeed very tempting. When my best mate came round to see the setup, he felt strongly I should get another sub... mainly because of the OCD of one side of the setup not matching the other

Just a heads up when you start looking subwoofers. While the dual route has clear benefits you should consider doing that in long run because the E-9F sub you have now is the one thing that let`s the system down. If you look the specs of the small ported unit (37hz +/-3db) it basically can´t play deep enough so you are missing ton of stuff. It´s cheaply made lightweight box to fit certain package price. Adding 2nd you can get smoother response and more room filling bass (no localization) when placed optimally which could end up being one sub at front left and 2nd at rear right or the first proposed. Adding 2nd E-9F won´t help you getting the better extension and greater impact of bigger unit which is why you want to look elsewhere. You could really transform your system if you can go larger.

Your taste in movies leans toward scifi/action so even more reason to look something very different to E9F if that is possible. You have nice looking decor in the room and you probably (?) don`t want massive black box. One alternative could be taller sub that doesn`t come too much in to room and the ability to choose finish so example walnut wood veneer. So you would be looking example BK Monolith DF in that case. Check the links and dimensions. There is also FF which is lower in height and deeper with front grille, so it won´t look as nice.

Monolith Walnut

Monolith-DF

They have satin black and white DF in their 2nd ebay site. New grade-b and this is the Plus model for nearly same price as the lower power version linked on top. Bookmark the site if you warm up for the UK built Monoliths. They add new products often weekly.

Items for sale by colosussxb | eBay

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Naturally there is other options aswell (even better ones for ££) if you aren´t against larger deep black box. When the time is right tag me or better yet make new thread in subwoofer section so folks can give you better options over the Dali.

 

[Htfanboy]

Here you go. It's very helpful and I've even learned from it myself and it provides an explanation about the placements etc and the faults in the Dolby guides and diagrams.

Ceiling based placements are best when you are sitting in the middle of the room.

It's all angled based not where it's easy to place or any personal preferences.

Just because it's easy to have them on the front wall at the top, doesn't mean they perform best there.

 

[Just Pushing Play]

Remember to run Audyssey and configure them as Front Height. Run the system for a fortnight or so so that the upmixing modes are in full swing as well as any Atmos soundtracks you have. Then either disconnect the speakers or run a 5.1 soundtrack in Direct mode and see if you miss the 'bubble' of sound that the speakers will produce. If you do it's set up sweet.

Have done so, thank you

Just a heads up when you start looking subwoofers. While the dual route has clear benefits you should consider doing that in long run because the E-9F sub you have now is the one thing that let`s the system down. If you look the specs of the small ported unit (37hz +/-3db) it basically can´t play deep enough so you are missing ton of stuff. It´s cheaply made lightweight box to fit certain package price. Adding 2nd you can get smoother response and more room filling bass (no localization) when placed optimally which could end up being one sub at front left and 2nd at rear right or the first proposed. Adding 2nd E-9F won´t help you getting the better extension and greater impact of bigger unit which is why you want to look elsewhere. You could really transform your system if you can go larger.

Thanks for the suggestions on a new sub @Gasp3621, but literally 3 days before you posted this message I had bought another E-9F sub second hand

I do appreciate the thought though, but I'll live with what I've got for now and see how I get on for the time being. New setup pics to follow...!

Here you go. It's very helpful and I've even learned from it myself and it provides an explanation about the placements etc and the faults in the Dolby guides and diagrams.

Ceiling based placements are best when you are sitting in the middle of the room.

It's all angled based not where it's easy to place or any personal preferences.

Just because it's easy to have them on the front wall at the top, doesn't mean they perform best there.

Cheers for this. Admittedly it went a little over my head with the explanation on angles exactly I wonder how much his methods work with Dali's, since they are wide dispersion anyway. I'll keep investigating.