New Home Theater Setup

H

hometheaternoob

Audioholic Intern
Good morning everyone.

Super Noob here. I currently have a 5.1 setup in my living room with 4 in ceiling speakers, and one half ass cheap center channel speaker. That's changing...

I am currently purchasing a new home, and I plan to setup a new home theater with a 65 inch OLED as my primary display. I am wanting to get a new receiver, and install speakers for an Atmos experience.

I am doing a lot of reading, and watching videos on YouTube, but most videos show a setup in an enclosed room. I am going to be installing this in my new living room, which is open format with my kitchen and my dining room, please see attached diagram that I made. And yes, I know its terrible lol.

How do my speaker placements look? Hope it is understandable. The current plan is a klipsch center speaker, with two floor standing front channel speakers. The back wall surround speakers I was thinking either wall mounted, or in wall Klipsch speakers. With the 4 Atmos speakers being installed as the in celing round speakers. Oh, and I forgot to put the sub woofer on the diagram, but it will be next to the TV.

I really want an Atmos 7.1.4 setup, but I dont know where to place the side speakers, unless I install them in the ceiling along with the Atmos, but I read that it is not a good idea.

Any feedback would be appreciated. I am sure I will have more questions.
layout4.jpg


Noob.
 
D

Danzilla31

Audioholic Spartan
Good morning everyone.

Super Noob here. I currently have a 5.1 setup in my living room with 4 in ceiling speakers, and one half ass cheap center channel speaker. That's changing...

I am currently purchasing a new home, and I plan to setup a new home theater with a 65 inch OLED as my primary display. I am wanting to get a new receiver, and install speakers for an Atmos experience.

I am doing a lot of reading, and watching videos on YouTube, but most videos show a setup in an enclosed room. I am going to be installing this in my new living room, which is open format with my kitchen and my dining room, please see attached diagram that I made. And yes, I know its terrible lol.

How do my speaker placements look? Hope it is understandable. The current plan is a klipsch center speaker, with two floor standing front channel speakers. The back wall surround speakers I was thinking either wall mounted, or in wall Klipsch speakers. With the 4 Atmos speakers being installed as the in celing round speakers. Oh, and I forgot to put the sub woofer on the diagram, but it will be next to the TV.

I really want an Atmos 7.1.4 setup, but I dont know where to place the side speakers, unless I install them in the ceiling along with the Atmos, but I read that it is not a good idea.

Any feedback would be appreciated. I am sure I will have more questions.View attachment 35511

Noob.
Do you have the ability to put the speakers for side surrounds on stands in ceilings are just not optimal for surrounds to be blunt they will sound like poop

The bookshelves on stands would eight at the couch or can be slightly forward or slightly behind the listener

I would go with bookshelves on stands for the rears as well

In walls aren't terrible but external will have an advantage unless your getting super expensive plus you can slightly angle the rear bookshelves to better cover the listening position

I like the layout just make sure the in ceilings are at the proper angle front and behind to the listening position

And make sure they are far enough ahead of your main l and r speakers otherwise separation is difficult from the bed layer

I like it! Hopefully other members will chime in!
 
D

Danzilla31

Audioholic Spartan
FWIW I had an open living room setup a lot like yours it sounded fantastic with proper room treatment and just great speakers which don't have to be too pricey and proper placement you can pull off good sound even when not in a dedicated space

I'll send you some pics in a sec to give you some ideas!

Also what subwoofers are you going to use?

The right subs especially in an open area like that are going to be CRITICAL. don't underestimate how much difference quality subs can make
 
H

hometheaternoob

Audioholic Intern
I am open to ideas on the best sub and speakers. I am not keeping this a super cheap budget, but I cant go crazy either.

My current speakers suck. so does the subwoofer. Basically there was a quincy jones box set with av receiver, sub, and speakers. and im running that lol.
 
D

Danzilla31

Audioholic Spartan
I am open to ideas on the best sub and speakers. I am not keeping this a super cheap budget, but I cant go crazy either.

My current speakers suck. so does the subwoofer. Basically there was a quincy jones box set with av receiver, sub, and speakers. and im running that lol.
Don't worry well have plenty of good ideas for you what will the overall room size be and the dimensions in your main listening area as well

Sometimes an open area can be helpful because you have lots of options to put your subs in the best position
 
H

hometheaternoob

Audioholic Intern
Suggestions on equipment would be great too.

I was thinking Klipsch R-25C for center channel. Suggestions for the front floor standing and surround speakers would be good.

Also, I want an amazing Subwoofer.

Suggestions on a great receiver as well.

If I dont go with 7.1.4, will I get a great experience with 5.1.4 or is 7.1.4 much better?
 
D

Danzilla31

Audioholic Spartan
Suggestions on equipment would be great too.

I was thinking Klipsch R-25C for center channel. Suggestions for the front floor standing and surround speakers would be good.

Also, I want an amazing Subwoofer.

Suggestions on a great receiver as well.

If I dont go with 7.1.4, will I get a great experience with 5.1.4 or is 7.1.4 much better?
Okay here's some pics of my old home so you can see how an open concept theater room can look 20190523_015806.jpg
20190523_015735.jpg20190325_173156.jpg20190523_015806.jpg20190523_015735.jpg20190325_173156.jpg20190528_101336.jpg
 
D

Danzilla31

Audioholic Spartan
Ok so what I had in there was a JBL 590 3 of them for the front 3 l c r the surrounds and rear surrounds were the SVS prime towers
The in ceilings were 4 of the RSL c34e's
The subs were 2 PB 4000's from SVS one near field one up in front for a 7.2.4 system with a denon X4500H reciever with crown 1502 and 1002 amps for the front 3 and surrounds with an emotiva UPA-7 amp for the heights

As you can see it's a very open floor plan but it sounded very good not quiet as good as the dedicated theater room I have now but very very very close
 
D

Danzilla31

Audioholic Spartan
So know that you can see what you can do let's talk about speakers but first what are your listening habits are you mostly movies and streaming tv and video games or are you music or both? What percentage would you say you go with the most?
 
D

Danzilla31

Audioholic Spartan
And how many subs do you want to start with you want 1 or 2? The biggest baddest sub you can afford then save up for a second one?

Also what is the room size including the open parts of the floor plan how many cubic feet we talking about here?

Are you going to run all this off a reciever or do you also want to use power amps

How much distance from speakers to couch both the front speakers and the rear speakers?

I just need some basic info before I can give you some options to look at
 
D

Danzilla31

Audioholic Spartan
Siiigh I still miss that house the ultimate man cave sigh.....
 
D

Danzilla31

Audioholic Spartan
That had to sound amazing iam a jbl guy myself how do the 590's sound if I may ask ?
OUT OF THIS WORLD. Especially when they go on sale I got mine for 480 each so for like 1500 shipped I got the big 3 there performance is already excellent but for that price? Man it'll be hard to upgrade without it being a lateral move the only 2 I could justify upgrading too would either be JTR or the new JBL HDI lineup
 
D

Danzilla31

Audioholic Spartan
Good morning everyone.

Super Noob here. I currently have a 5.1 setup in my living room with 4 in ceiling speakers, and one half ass cheap center channel speaker. That's changing...

I am currently purchasing a new home, and I plan to setup a new home theater with a 65 inch OLED as my primary display. I am wanting to get a new receiver, and install speakers for an Atmos experience.

I am doing a lot of reading, and watching videos on YouTube, but most videos show a setup in an enclosed room. I am going to be installing this in my new living room, which is open format with my kitchen and my dining room, please see attached diagram that I made. And yes, I know its terrible lol.

How do my speaker placements look? Hope it is understandable. The current plan is a klipsch center speaker, with two floor standing front channel speakers. The back wall surround speakers I was thinking either wall mounted, or in wall Klipsch speakers. With the 4 Atmos speakers being installed as the in celing round speakers. Oh, and I forgot to put the sub woofer on the diagram, but it will be next to the TV.

I really want an Atmos 7.1.4 setup, but I dont know where to place the side speakers, unless I install them in the ceiling along with the Atmos, but I read that it is not a good idea.

Any feedback would be appreciated. I am sure I will have more questions.View attachment 35511

Noob.
Okay my bad looks like you gave the dimensions on the scale here so your going to be about 10ft back or around 10 to 14 ft from the front 3 when seated surrounds about 3 ft from the couch rear surrounds about 10ft okay I'd really suggest the new klipsch reference premier they are excellent speakers for the price and won't break the bank they were well reviewed here on audioholics I owned the RP 8000fs and loved them

I would go with the klipsch rp8000f towers for the front l and r the klipsch rp504c for the center channel and 4 of the RP 600M bookshelves for your surrounds and rear surrounds and for the in ceiling if you want to keep it klipsch 4 of the PRO-180RPC in ceilings that would be a great system for movies and streaming video games sports you name it above average efficiency should be easy to drive with a quality reciever even a mediocre one so you can skip amps and save money

Now for subs that's a big space big so I'd be looking at some beasts something like the monoprice monolith 15 which is the best 15 inches in its price range but the winner for you to stay in budget is the HSU VTF15H-MK2 the best 15 inches out there for the money best bang for your buck 2 or more of those would just be monsters in that room and they'll only give up a bit of deep extension to the monoprice but hang with it everywhere else and they go plenty deep too

That's one suggestion right there some of the other guys can give you some more and I can give you other ideas to look at as well

And for the record your placement for the heights looks excellent

Good luck happy hunting!!!
 
William Lemmerhirt

William Lemmerhirt

Audioholic Overlord
Suggestions on equipment would be great too.

I was thinking Klipsch R-25C for center channel. Suggestions for the front floor standing and surround speakers would be good.

Also, I want an amazing Subwoofer.

Suggestions on a great receiver as well.

If I dont go with 7.1.4, will I get a great experience with 5.1.4 or is 7.1.4 much better?
IMO, if you’re going to hold back on an area it should be rear surrounds. IMO/IME, 7.x.4 is better, but other cost is higher, and it’s slightly more involved with placement and wiring. 5.x.4 imo, is absolutely worth it, and also better than 7.x.2.
Unless you’re hell bent on 7.x.4, I will recommend doing 5.x.4 and saving the money spent on extra speakers/amps/receiver, and put it towards subs and the rest of your speakers. You might wanna wire for rear surrounds just in case though.

Also, whichever bed layer you choose, IMO S1 and S2 should be at the sides and just behind the couch. Something like this...

And A1 and A2 should go back a little bit.
What is the ceiling height? Measure from seated ear height to the ceiling and that is the distance fore and aft the MLP.
 
H

hometheaternoob

Audioholic Intern
Thanks guys. Im trying to save where I can, but those speakers look great.

As far as the question on ceiling height from ground, I am not sure yet, havent moved in. I can post a photo of the room if that helps?

From a quality stand point, is a Klipsch rp504c vastly superior to the R25c?

On the center surround speakers, since my couch will sit in the middle of the room, and there's no where great to place them, would they be terrible to mount on the ceiling? Is it a waste of time to bother with getting these speakers if they will be ceiling?

And any recommendations on receivers?
 
D

Danzilla31

Audioholic Spartan
Thanks guys. Im trying to save where I can, but those speakers look great.

As far as the question on ceiling height from ground, I am not sure yet, havent moved in. I can post a photo of the room if that helps?

From a quality stand point, is a Klipsch rp504c vastly superior to the R25c?

On the center surround speakers, since my couch will sit in the middle of the room, and there's no where great to place them, would they be terrible to mount on the ceiling? Is it a waste of time to bother with getting these speakers if they will be ceiling?

And any recommendations on receivers?
They would sound pretty awful for one they would completely screw up your heights they would interfere with them both in soundstage presentation not to mention all sorts of auditory issues Is imagine

Surround speakers are meant to be surround which is at either ear height at the sitting position or slightly above at the recommended positions that Dolby and DTS and other surround formats recommend which is exactly where Will recommended you place them

What's worse is you can go without the rear surrounds and just do a 5.1.4 system

But you can't go without the surrounds at the sides if you have to place them on the ceiling I honestly don't see the point

Speakers on stands don't look bad they can look classy honestly in your setup Is give them a little more breathing room and just go with 5 RP8000f's for 5.1.4 or 7 RP 8000fs and call it a day it would be seriously sick how that would sound

But I understand budget and the need to make others in the family happy as well

But don't put the surrounds on the ceiling it won't sound right and it will mess with the images the ceiling speakers are trying to produce

And yes the rp504c is better then the R25c much more
 
H

hometheaternoob

Audioholic Intern
Im thinking of going with the 5.1.4 setup.

If the suggestion is to move s1 and s2 to behind the couch, would it be better to move the couch to just near the wall and still mount those on the wall? And just adjust the 4 atmos ceiling speakers back?

Is Denon the most recommended receiver brand?
 
Mark E. Long

Mark E. Long

Audioholic General
Love mine, too.
I have two par of jbl HP-520's in my setup now Danish made European market 4 ways and use s-38's for the front heights and an jbl s-2 center 4 way ,. the towers have an weird set up inside for the bass two 8inch bolted together face to face vented out the top they sound very good but there's always something new . I had a crossover switch go bad on one and contacted them they sent me a whole new crossover for free and these are over 20 years old . also use s-26's two ways for the rear surrounds . I got a set of jbl l-810's to put up for the rear presence but haven't run the cable yet . I use two carver TFM- 35 THX amps for the front mains and rear side surrounds and a carver TFM - 25 for the center channel . I had these amps serviced by the carver service center not cheap but like new when done . I've not got to hear the new jbl 590' yet but ive herd and read good things . I use the internal amps in the Yamaha rx-a 3020 to power the rear back surround and the front presence . iam really wanting to upgrade my two subs They are psw - 1200's that do a decent job but me and the receiver haven't come to an understanding on how they should sound by fare the hardest thing to get sounding right at least to me . The whole setup is open airy very detailed soundstage when fired up .
 

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