I would really appreciate some help / advice on speaker placement and whether to go 7.1 or 5.1
The backstory.
Like most folks, WAF is an issue. For the last few years she compromised by letting me have wires all over the floor, and I compromised by using an AVR I hated but she thought looked good. We recently wised up and realized nobody was happy. So, I bought a new AVR (Yamaha HTR-6063) and promised to do away with as much visible cabling as possible.
And that’s when the trouble began!
The situation:
The system is:
TV: Toshiba 47VZ650U Regza 47" LCD HDTV
AVR: Yamaha HTR-6063 (RXV567)
BRP: Sony BDPS570
Front speakers: Paradigm Cinema 70 v2.0
Centre channel: Paradigm Cinema CC v2.0
Sub: Paradigm PDR8 v.3
The old AVR was 5.1 and the surrounds were also Paradigm Cinema 70 v2.0’s, mounted on stands like the front, at the ends of the couch. It looked and sounded terrible, nobody liked it, not even me.
I have ditched the surround stands, and will mount the surrounds on the walls, running the cables through the walls. Originally I was planning on using Dolby recommendations, and planned mounting the surrounds 5-6” above seated ear level, using Monoprice wall brackets.
Problem – this put them in prime danger of being knocked off the walls by kids / dogs / me carrying something heavy.
So I jumped the gun and ordered some in-wall speakers – a pair of Speakercraft MT-TWO’s.
These were planned to be installed at locations “A” in the pictures.
BUT – I soon realized that on the right, this would mean mounting it in an exterior wall, with the attendant insulation, drafts, vapour barrier concerns that would bring.
Soooo – plan B is to go back to using the Paradigm Cinema 70’s for surrounds, and mount them using the monoprice brackets, but higher up, out of harms way, more like THX-type recommendations. This is shown by the B’s in the pics, as you can see from the pic of the left side – it’s a bit of all-or-nothing on the height, as the light switches, thermostat, etc. prevent an intermediate height option.
The question:
If this plan B isn’t soundly rejected by the experts (you lot!) – the question then becomes:
Would it be worthwhile installing the Speakercraft in-wall speakers as rears in a 7.1 setup? As you can see, I don’t have ideal space for this either, the most likely being up in the wall behind the couch, in the positions marked “C” in the pics. Would this be worthwhile or could it make the system sound worse than just sticking with 5.1?
The dimensions:
Assumed “sweet spot” = centre of couch.
Seated ear height – 38”
Viewing distance = 9’
LS (A or B) to ear – 11’6” – lateral distance
RS (A or B) to ear – 6’ 6” – lateral distance
L&R mains – 11’ from ear / 38” high / 22.5” from edge of TV
Centre – 10’ from ear / 53” high / centred over TV (ignore the fact that it is shown below the TV, I am making a custom bracket to mount it above the TV and point it down a few degrees).
REAR WALL 3’ BEHIND LISTENING EAR.
Position A approx 43” from floor or 5” above ear.
Position B approx 73” from floor or 35” above ear.
Position “C” approx 7’4” from floor or 50” above ear.
PLEASE IGNORE THE KITCHEN TABLE, FRIDGE, AND STOVE – THEY ARE TEMPORARILY DISPLACED FOR KITCHEN RENOS (How did you think I got the new AVR and the spanking new SONY BDP!!!)
Notes / constraints:
1)There is no more budget – this is strictly work with what I have.
2)The room is doubtless atrocious acoustically – what with all the tile floor. It is also mostly full of noisy kids, boisterous dogs, and other things that bring joy to my life, so it is very much a “multi-use” and “compromise” situation.
3) I would like to achieve a setup where, as much as possible, I can finish it, pop in “Master and Commander”, “Hulk”, or “Kung-Fu Panda” and finally demonstrate “what’s the big deal with all this surround stuff anyway?”
