HT Newb, room setup

[MoreDakka]

Hey, thanks for taking the time to view my post.

I don't have the model numbers of the equipment I'm using, I'll post that later.

I have a room that is about 10ft wide by 18ish ft long. I'm trying to do in wall wiring for a 7.1 system. The walls are unfinished so this will be easy to wire but the placement is what I'm not really sure about.

I was thinking of dia-polar speakers (like Energy RVSS or Infinity Beta 250) for the sides and rears. But then I got thinking (which can be dangerous), will the rears and the sides have problems working with eachother being that they might have speakers facing in the same direction? Should I do dipolars on the sides and regular surrounds for the rears?

Thanks for your assistance, if you need more information, I'll definitely try to provide it. thanks.

 

[bpape]

Where they go is going to depend on how many rows of how many seats you're trying to do. If just one row and you can get it around 2/3 of the room length, you can get a really nice surround field.

Use dipoles for the side surrounds and direct firing on the rears. If one row, put the sides directly to the side of the row. If 2 rows, put them in between the 2 rows.

Bryan

 

[MoreDakka]

Would it be beneficial to use bipolar's for the sides and rears or stick with what you mentioned above, bipolars for the sides and direct firing for the rears?

Also, the speakers have to be mounted about 7.5 ft off the floor, should the speakers face the listener or level?

Thanks for your help, I know these questions have probably been answered a bunch of times in here so thanks for helping me out ;-)

 

[MoreDakka]

Well lets see if I can specify equipment a little more here. I'm not big into spending tons of money, I want good sound for a decent price:

**Current**
Sub Velodyne 12" (not sure what the Model# is)
Center - Energy RVS
L/R - Yamaha (not sure what the Model# is)
Surrounds - Something from a discount store, RCA plastic speakers...temp speakers

**Expansion**
Left and Right Sides - Energy C-R100s
Left and Right Rears - Energy C-100s or 200s

Will that work? Comments on the speakers chosen? The Yamaha fronts will eventually get replaced as well but they are decent right now.

Thanks.

 

[D.R. Payne]

Would it be beneficial to use bipolar's for the sides and rears or stick with what you mentioned above, bipolars for the sides and direct firing for the rears?

Also, the speakers have to be mounted about 7.5 ft off the floor, should the speakers face the listener or level?

Thanks for your help, I know these questions have probably been answered a bunch of times in here so thanks for helping me out ;-)

Depends on how far from the back wall you're going to be sitting. At 10' wide you for sure want wide dispersion on the side walls, if you're sitting more than {magic number} feet from the back wall direct radiators are for sure the way to go.

 

[bpape]

Yes - that can matter. To me, getting seating away from the rear wall is a must for ANY kind of decent surround effect from any kind of speaker.

I'd personally stick with dipoles on the sides and directs on the back wall. The Energy speakers are a good choice.

Personal opinion - I'd look at a Pioneer before a Yamaha on the receiver. The amp section on the Pioneers is much stronger and gutsier and IMO a better match for the Energys.

Bryan

 

[MoreDakka]

Thanks for the input. The couch will be about 10 ft from the back and front walls so that distance is no problem but like mentioned it's going to be pretty much centered right in the middle of the room. So being that the speakers are going to be 7ish ft high should I have them pointed down? Specially since the couch is going to be close to the side walls.

 

[bpape]

Not really. You really don't want to be able to localize the side surrounds. Their primary purpose is ambient effects and an intermediate speaker for hard front to rear pans.

If I may make one more suggestion - sitting right in the middle of the room isn't a good idea - you'll have all kinds of bass respons anomolies there. I'd shoot for your ears to be about 12.5' from the front wall.

Bryan

 

[MoreDakka]

Well here is the layout I'm going for. As you can see, no a lot of room to work with.

 

[MoreDakka]

 

[bpape]

2 rows with a riser would allow you to put the seating in the proper places and have plenty of walkway. Just hate to see you put all this time, money, and effort into it and then sit in a place where the bass isn't going to be good.

Bryan

 

[MoreDakka]

Heh, I don't think my wife will let us put two rows of seats in. I'm having enough problems trying to get new speakers ;-) If anything I can sit closer to the TV.

With the overhang won't that "move" the bass around more making the middle of the room not as bad as it could be?

In that setup will the bass be good closer to the wall as further away is (lets say 12.5 as the far and 8-9 as the close)?

Alright, so the speaker placement is good. Should I follow http://www.audioholics.com/images/img2.jpg for the surrounds 150 degrees probably (except I have a window in the way...hmm...maybe 135).

 

[MoreDakka]

Finally got the equipment models that are at least decent in my system:

Receiver - Pioneer VSX-1016TXV
Fronts - 2* Yamaha NS-T649C (Yeah I can't find any info on these either, bought in 1994ish)
Ceneter - Energy RVS
Sub Velodyne VRP-1200

 

[bpape]

The overhang won't change where you're sitting in relation to the front and rear walls (length dimension). It can skew some of the tangential and oblique modes. Those, while still important to consider, are not of the magnitude of the axial modes.

Sitting closer is certainly an option. Just reverse the dimension I gave you to be from ears to back wall instead of ears to front wall.

Bryan

 

[MoreDakka]

Thanks bpape!! Very much a great help!