Hi folks,
I'm in the process of finishing my basement, which will include a family room that will serve as our main TV and movie watching area. I'm at the stage where I need to decide where to pull speaker wire. I've identified some candidate locations on the attached plan, and would appreciate any feedback you could provide.
Background: The room layout is attached. The ceiling height is fairly low at just over 7'. The TV (or maybe projector) will be on the east wall. The primary viewing position is indicated by the black arrow toward the TV in the middle of the room. It will probably be at least a year before I add a surround speaker setup, but I'd like to go ahead and wire for 7.1.4, since there's no reason to limit my options at this point.
Candidate speaker locations:
1/2: Left/right speakers, placed 3' in from outer walls. This is 0.5xRoom Width. If I put them at 0.7xRoom Width, that would be two feet in from each wall, but from what I've read most speaker companies recommend keeping 3' away from side walls. The angle to the main listening position is much smaller than recommended, but there's not much I can do about it based on the geometry of the room.
3/4a/4b: Potential surround channel location. I'd prefer to avoid this. It requires either the office nook pocket doors to be open (3+4b), or would require me to mount the speakers very high (3+4a) to avoid blocking the doors. But if 5/6 are unacceptable locations for surround channels, maybe I need to use these spots.
5/6: No problem wiring hear for left/right surround channels. But this is a bit too far behind the main viewing position. Will this work?
7/8: Rear channel locations. They are slightly off-center, shifted about 1' to the south, but I don't think that's too big a deal.
A: Ideal Dolby recommended Atmos speaker position. Puts rear height channels in front of 5/6 side surrounds- does this matter?
B: Atmos locations spread out for better coverage to max angle from main viewing position.
Not sure A/B is a big deal right now- I can probably run several wires down each side of the room and then just pull it back wherever I install ceiling speakers.
I'd appreciate any comments or suggestions on the above, thanks!
