PROBLEM: My main goal in getting surround sound is to help my husband hear the dialogue! He can't hear clearly when there's any background noise in a movie, it makes the voices harder to distinguish. I'm constantly 'translating' for him & he's only 46! I know some people want the big booming sound in home theater. That's great, but my real focus here is CLARITY, of dialogue especially. Someone told me that it's all about the center channel & that's where the dialogue comes from. Will dialogue come from one of the smaller speakers set directly next to my husband's head?
CURRENT GEAR: I have a 62" HD Mitsubishi DLP. We watch regular TV programs or order movies via pay-per-view from our cable provider. Our current DVD player is a $65 Phillips I got just to watch exercise CD's with, it's crap & so we don't use it for movie DVD's at all, even though we have this great widescreen DLP, sad I know. I'd like a new one.
No, I don't know what I'm doing.
BUDGET: $1500-$2500 for speaker system, receiver & DVD player. Do I need special wires/cables, powerstrips, etc? $2500 is my max.
THE ROOM: I'm read that room size should influence my choices. Living room is 20' x 28' with ceiling height starting at 10' & peaking in the middle at 11'. Dining room is at one end & takes up 11' with a tile floor. The main TV viewing area is 20' x 17' and all carpet. The wall behind the TV is all huge windows with living room to the left of the TV & dining room to the right of it. TV angles toward the living room. I can't move the TV because the room is very bright & this was the only spot to see it clearly with little glare. It's a house so I'm not worried about the neighbors like I would be in an apartment.
I have space on either side of the TV for floor standing speakers, but cannot mount them on the wall behind because the wall is all glass windows. Cannot put the center channel below the TV because there is a loveseat there, but it could be mounted above the TV. Where the sub goes is to the left of the loveseat I think? Can't put it to the right, fireplace is there.
Plenty of space (2-4 feet deep) behind the main 11' long sofa for floor standing speakers, and to either side of it.
POSIBILITIES: I read good reviews for Harmon Kardon HKTS 14 speakers, it has a 12" 200 watt sub, but is the center channel enough? I wanted sleek, demure speakers but will they do the job? My friend is now getting the Klipsch 52 system, his brother-in-law is an audiophile so maybe this is a better choice though more money? Should I go with 5.1 or 7.1 (just 2 extra speakers right?)
Since my room is kinda big, how far can I string speaker wire without degrading the sound? This may be a stupid question but I heard that your cables & wires can make a big difference. I don't even have an HDMI cable yet for my TV, and yes I'm ashamed. ;-)
Thank you in advance for your advice, it won't fall on deaf ears. ;-)
You need to do this the right way and not the wrong which is what you’re doing and its what I have learned though listening not only to dialogue as this can be played back in many forms of loudness from soft whispery sounds like when, “Neil McCauley” in (Heat 1995) is talking softly to “Trejo” the sound is so realistic you have to lean forwards to grasp what is being said, this was the case even on the professional JBL 4675-A loudspeakers at the ABC screen #1 when I first saw Heat in Dolby stereo type SR, only they where using type A cards for the NR in the Dolby CP-200.
Now in the home its the same thing it must have a realistic sounding approach from the softest whisper to loud undistorted sounds!
Now here’s one way to tackle this, buy a Behringer DCX2496 and matching amplifiers and more importantly matching loudspeakers.
Set the levels so that the left and right have equally the same sound pressure and frequency response, then test the centre channel out on its own of course, note the differences in the SPL db level and then set the main levels to match the centre channel level in (sound pressure level). This takes hours to do right but its rewards are well worth it will less loudness on the left and right and with the centre channel delayed only and phased checked as well to make sure its in-phase when all three matching LCR have equal amounts of bass, like in the opening of Titanic.
Not only will this make centre channel dialogue easy to follow but it will also make the music sound better as well with Dolby films especially on the end credits of Star Wars Episode 3 Revenge of Sith, even the smallest high note sound can be heard in the centre channel along with the rest of the competition on the left and right with high string violins and violas as well as in the centre channel mix.
Most of what the manufactures are telling us is not all true its only half and if you what to do this right you have to shell out a bit of dosh, I don’t mean it should cost a few grand for one product that is silly! I’ve only spent less than £500.00 in the last few months and the improvement is tenfold better than what it was originally, now then.
I understand the placement for loudspeakers, but if there is one word I don’t what to hear, and that’s the word impossible.
I tell you why most of you’re are getting this wrong! It’s the size of the silly TV monitor VS the costly home cinema loudspeakers and AVR and the rest. You have to plan it out with either a video projector if you really what to show off, or don’t moan about this because as far as I’m conceded I’ve heard this all before, which is why cinemas are far better sounding than most of our home cinemas.
Lastly its research stop looking at all the junk yard home cinema sites, the only thing you’d need from them is an affordable AVR with Dolby-EX dts-ES and few other trimmings to accommodate the silly HD-DVD Blu-Ray format war!
The rest go to a PA store and get the best at the best price use large 18” sub bass cinema types that are so well up to the task, get large 12” to 15” bass mid driver cabs for LCR and HF horns and use active crossover!
Use 1/3 octave EQ 31 bands for each of the LCR and surrounds.
Use larger speakers for the surrounds in that large room of yours I mean most small cinemas are that size here in the United Kingdom, and they all use JBL professional not some junk yard rich mans home cinema equipment.
If you what the best its not far away from I’d bet you 10p there’s PA store down the road from, or look around the Internet, I grantee with less than a week you’d find some products that would but huge smile on that face that will stretch from one side of the state to the other.
