Suggestions for a very small scale home cinema

[DrPhil]

You guys don't know my wife...

Wall mounting absolutely not an option. It's A or B as per the pic.

At a stretch I could maybe get away with stands the same as the rear ones, on the same basis re putting them away when not in use.

 

[Harkon321]

putting them away when not in use.

That's going to be tiresome very, very quickly.

 

[DrPhil]

That's going to be tiresome very, very quickly.

That's the plan.....

 

[The Dreamer]

A would most likely sound better, with a little more separation than B, and also the speakers being a little higher.

If you can find a pair of speaker stands, so much the better - as you say, you'll quickly tire of putting them away!

You could just cut your losses and upgrade MrsPhil to a newer, more compliant model! j/k


Anyway, have you wired it up yet, even temporarily? It'd be worth running a basic Audyssey calibration from the sofa or those surrounds will appear far too loud being so close.

 

[Joe Fernand]

Layout C - apologies for the rough image

Joe

 

[DrPhil]

Layout C - apologies for the rough image

Joe

Thanks Joe, but as I say, that definitely won't cut it with the boss lady.

 

[DrPhil]

Well I connected everything up today, didn't run the in wall cable as yet until everything is tested.

Sky is coming through fine, sound only in the centre speaker as I haven't run the optical cable yet.

Xbox was just giving me a black screen though. I tried everything to get it back on track, only to eventually take it to the other room and swap it around with my original xbox and got the same result.

So it seems as though my xbox has crapped the bed entirely. Gutted.

Bought it here on the Classifieds so fingers crossed I can get it sorted.

 

[Belzok]

Hi,

Quick question about your Sky connection, youve mentioned you have the 4K Sky box and you've also mentioned running an optical cable.

I'm not sure you need to do that, it should be good through the HDMI cable that goes from the Sky box to the Denon receiver.

Might need a tweak of the audio settings on the Sky box.

Do you have an XBox One X? If so they had a know weakness of the HDMI timing chip sh*tting the bed and losing 4K, although mine still outputted 1080p, did it twice to mine and £70 to fix.

 

[DrPhil]

Quick question about your Sky connection, youve mentioned you have the 4K Sky box and you've also mentioned running an optical cable.

I'm not sure you need to do that, it should be good through the HDMI cable that goes from the Sky box to the Denon receiver.

See back a page or 2, @Joe Fernand recommended the optical. It's because I'm feeding 3 TVs from the one source and the other 2 are standard, no surround sound.

Do you have an XBox One X? If so they had a know weakness of the HDMI timing chip sh*tting the bed and losing 4K, although mine still outputted 1080p, did it twice to mine and £70 to fix.

Yeah One X.

 

[Belzok]

See back a page or 2, @Joe Fernand recommended the optical. It's because I'm feeding 3 TVs from the one source and the other 2 are standard, no surround sound.



Yeah One X.

Ahh gotcha, missed that bit.

The One X was superb until it broke. Such a rubbish fault.

 

[DrPhil]

I'll temporarily relocate my old Xbox One from the living room tomorrow to complete setup.

 

[DrPhil]

Well the Sky option just took a turn for the worse. The ducting in the wall can just about hold the speaker cables and the hdmi. If I'm very lucky I might squeeze an extra thin ethernet cable in there.

Not a hope in hell that the optical plug is going to make it.

 

[DrPhil]

@Joe Fernand any recommendations on a slim cable 20m hdmi, and a slim 20m optical that won't cost the earth?

The duct in the wall is just too snug. I almost managed to get everything in but not quite. Just didn't have any breathing room for pulling anything through.

Plus the 15m optical that I have isn't long enough.

Measure once, cut (or buy) twice...

(edit, if I can use extenders without any loss of quality then I'd only need a 4m version that can connect on to what I have.)

 

[DrPhil]

Well, whilst it probably looks like a complete dog's dinner to the good folk of AVF, it's as good as I can manage for now.

Sound is up and running beautifully with the xbox content (on my old Xbox from the main living room for now) and I'll live with standard stereo on sky for the time being. If I can find a suitably skinny hdmi and optical cable going forward then I might switch them around and get 5.1 from Sky but one step at a time.

In fairness I guess I could just manually change the Sky box settings to 5.1 over HDMI if I want to watch something on Sky cinema? Just need to change it back to re-enable the other 2 TVs.

Thanks to all for the help, (past and future ) particular mention to @The Dreamer and @Joe Fernand.

 

[The Dreamer]

Well, whilst it probably looks like a complete dog's dinner to the good folk of AVF, it's as good as I can manage for now.

View attachment 1647934View attachment 1647933

Sound is up and running beautifully with the xbox content (on my old Xbox from the main living room for now) and I'll live with standard stereo on sky for the time being. If I can find a suitably skinny hdmi and optical cable going forward then I might switch them around and get 5.1 from Sky but one step at a time.

In fairness I guess I could just manually change the Sky box settings to 5.1 over HDMI if I want to watch something on Sky cinema? Just need to change it back to re-enable the other 2 TVs.

Thanks to all for the help, (past and future ) particular mention to @The Dreamer and @Joe Fernand.

So what does the wife think to the improved sound? Awestruck? Or couldn't give two hoots!?

Now that you have 'surround sound' - you need some demo worthy material to show it off.

Depending on your (wife's) tastes, a revisit of Gladiator would be a good start. It was always the 'go to' movie that the stores would demo when it first came out. Nowadays of course, the list of candidates is huge - but it still holds it own!

 

[JamesR100]

Thanks for the detailed and idiot proof breakdown!

My plan (currently but ever changing) is to pick up a cheap set of Kef eggs and sub fairly soon (around £100) then a half decent AVR capable of 5.1.2 as suggested by @The Dreamer (maybe another £500)

So for somewhere around £600 I should have a pretty basic starter system. I'll see how that goes, and if all is well I might add a set of Atmos in the ceiling, presumably another £150ish?

Once all that is sorted then I may look at a new TV, something around 75-80" to give it a proper cinema feel.

So:
5.1 - £100 - now
AVR - £500 - maybe summer
Atmos - £150 - Christmas
Automated blackout blind - £250 - Christmas

So with a bit of luck, saving and bargain hunting I should have a basic starter by the summer, and proper up and running by Christmas for a total of around a grand.

As for the TV, that's a tough one. My budget would only be around £1,500 but I know that's pretty low end for that size range. Will have to wait and see.

As for the WAF, as you say easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. I'll make the rears as discreet as possible and if there is an uprising I'll just put them on stands and drop them out of sight when not in use.

Sorry to jump in here as you may have already sorted these out, have you considered the Q Acoustics 7000i system for your speakers if you are considering Kef Eggs? I am biased as I'm selling a pair with a BK Electronics subwoofer at the mo. But, the Q Acoustics 7000i, is a superb solution where you have limited space and sounds brilliant and look attractive as well. My set and subwoofer might be a little bit out of your budget, but you can often see a set with the original subwoofer for round about £200 - 250 on fleabay. I've heard the Kef Eggs, I looked at them when I bought my Q acoustics, and I definitely rated the sound of the Q's higher (What Hifi gave them an award).

As for the Atmos ceiling speakers, again, I bought a pair of Q Acoustics Q165C (currently £90) on Amazon. For the price I am very impressed, very easy to install, magnetic grille cover as well. Plus the tweeter is adjustable for position, so you can point it towards your listening position a little if the positioning isn't 100% ideal (i.e. can't quite follow where Dolby suggest for perfect Atmos). Hope this is helpful.

 

[Joe Fernand]

20m HDMI - our HDFury Hybrid Fibre cable hoods are about as slim as you can get, HDFury 8K Fiber HDMI cable - The Media Factory

The alternative solution is to run Solid core, non CCA/CCS, CAT6 and use an Digital Audio over CAT Extender and or an HDMI over CAT Extender, there are a few designs which can cater for HDMI + Optical but those tend to get very expensive.

Joe

 

[DrPhil]

Thanks @JamesR100 but I'm done and dusted. Bought the Kef eggs and sub, and finished setting up today.

Still need to run a calibration tomorrow but I'm all but done.

Those Q Acoustics ones are nice though.

 

[DrPhil]

20m HDMI - our HDFury Hybrid Fibre cable hoods are about as slim as you can get, HDFury 8K Fiber HDMI cable - The Media Factory

The alternative solution is to run Solid core, non CCA/CCS, CAT6 and use an Digital Audio over CAT Extender and or an HDMI over CAT Extender, there are a few designs which can cater for HDMI + Optical but those tend to get very expensive.

Joe

Thanks @Joe Fernand

£180 on a HDMI is well over my budget sadly. My current 20m HDMI was from Amazon Basics and cost about £30 I think!

If I'm right in thinking that on the odd occasion I watch Sky in that room, I can just configure the settings for 5.1 over hdmi then I'll do so. 90% of my use will be on Xbox anyway.

 

[DrPhil]

So what does the wife think to the improved sound? Awestruck? Or couldn't give two hoots!?

Now that you have 'surround sound' - you need some demo worthy material to show it off.

Depending on your (wife's) tastes, a revisit of Gladiator would be a good start. It was always the 'go to' movie that the stores would demo when it first came out. Nowadays of course, the list of candidates is huge - but it still holds it own!

Sorry @The Dreamer it's not even as good as "couldn't give 2 hoots". She actively dislikes it. She always maintained that she doesn't like surround sound, despite being a regular cinema goer, so I'm not that concerned.

Most of our joint TV viewing is in the main living room so this will be used for me for gaming, and watching movies if she's at work.

Her concern was simply not to make the room look too much like a man cave and I think I've managed that for the most part.

Although she is now keen on a bigger TV unit so that the sub can be hidden! I didn't dare point out that it would be handy for when there's a bigger TV there too.....

 

[JamesR100]

Thanks @JamesR100 but I'm done and dusted. Bought the Kef eggs and sub, and finished setting up today.

Still need to run a calibration tomorrow but I'm all but done.

Those Q Acoustics ones are nice though.

Ah Congratulations, Eggs are still excellent and hopefully a while before you get the upgrade bug, for surely it will come!

 

[The Dreamer]

She actively dislikes it. She always maintained that she doesn't like surround sound, despite being a regular cinema goer, so I'm not that concerned.

Strange woman logic!

 

[DrPhil]

Strange woman logic!

Is there any other kind of woman logic?

I'm off tomorrow so it's all day movie marathon. I watched a few recommended scenes today just to test it out. The pod race from Phantom Menace, the nightclub scene from John Wick and the opening scene of Baby Driver.

Fantastic.

 

[DrPhil]

Well SWMBO has relented and accepted the new role of the room. She's still not giving in to watch movies in there but we're in the market for some new armchairs in the main living room, and during the search for that we have found amazingly comfortable chairs that also happen to look great for a home cinema.

The Calia Italia "Foxtrot" range.

Now I have to decide on an L shaped corner unit similar to what I have now, or a full on man-cave style pair of loungers, well actually 2 loungers with a single in the middle. The stool can be set tight to the single as in the pic, but also pushed forward to make it easier to get up!

Thoughts?

Current seating:

Replacement corner: (it would actually be a little shorter on the left side, single rather than double)

Man-cave:

PS also probably going to go ahead with some Atmos in the ceiling. All duck or no dinner as they say around here.

 

[mazon27091]

I see you have the right front speaker sitting on the subwoofer, if your sub is anything like mine that speaker will end up on the floor.