Hi MidnightSensi2,
I have a budget of around $10000 for the audio equipment (not including the TV).
I think you can put together a nice system for that.
From the research, I am assuming that surround speakers in a 5.1 setup should be placed in line with the ear. However since I do not have a wall on the right hand side, I need to use a stand. Is this the best configuration, or should I place them on the back wall? The surround speakers should be placed around 2 feet above the ear level is this correct?
You are correct that they are supposed to be to your side and 2 ft above, according to THX specs. However, on rooms similar to your floor plan, I have had better success with the rear wall and a wider stance.
Similar to the 'Desktop Configuration' on the bottom here:
Surround Sound Speaker Set Up « THX.com
Or the photo of the 5.1 setup with the directors chair representing the sweet spot here:
AIR Series
What about the 2 sub-woofer configuration - how should these be placed? Should they be placed on the floor or raised say 60cm?
In a typical rectangular room, generally two subwoofers work best center on opposing walls or 1/4 out from each wall in the front. That's a starting place, and I'm happy to go into more detail.
Generally the floor is fine, although the Auralex SubDude's I'd recommend would raise them a bit. They are mainly to reduce low frequency transmission to the floor. They are cheap, so, lots of people here tested them (including me) and actually only looking for some floor vibration, some felt a (surprising) minor increase in low frequency fidelity. We never confirmed it with measurements though.
Can you please explain how should the bass traps and the absorbers (if any) should be placed in my room?
Depends how you place the speakers, and the actual dimensions. Since yours isn't a rectangle or square, it's hard math to figure them out. But you can easily measure for them, most receivers will actually do this too and compensate for room response.
However, that doesn't solve issues in the 'time domain.' While the EQ can lower the volume/amplitude of frequencies, doesn't solve the 'ringing' or decay. Bass traps soak up the omnidirectional bass, and higher frequencies are more directional and you'll need to treat those at line of sight/reflection points (run a mirror along the wall and when you see a speaker, that's where you place it - would get into more detail on that later). Can start with first reflection points and some key area, there are inexpensive kits for doing a basic setup that are a great start.
I'm going to imagine that you might get better imaging and even response if you put the TV in the corner on the 45 and the speakers as such. So, tv faces the kitchen at 45-deg and then the speakers have the same 'wall' or first reflection points. Makes the soundstage more symmetric in a room shaped like yours.
Regarding concrete...my theater is concrete....
Good news: Good isolation. This might let you run louder without disturbing, no drywall hum (drywall has a resonance when sound bounces off it, able to be tamed with treatments, but still an advantage from concrete)
Bad news: (In my experience) you'll need to treat it more than drywall..... I work with both concrete and drywall rooms down here and concrete always seems to have more bass traps.... which are used to absorb standing waves (room modes). Drywall sound transmits through better than concrete (has less isolation), but concrete takes those long bass waves and keeps 'em tossing around the room. Bass traps 'capture' them, improving the rooms decay.
(I'm a bit tired, hopefully that made some sense, will check in AM lol)
Regarding the sofa position, I was thinking to place it around 30cm away from the back wall.
If you double the distance you sit from the front soundstage, you'll need to run FOUR TIMES the volume to hear the same loudness at your chair. This is why in apartments I recommend sitting /comfortible/ but CLOSE. You also will hear less of the rooms contributing and hear more sound coming directly from the speaker to you. This is why you often see in studios they have speakers really close, they are called 'near field monitors' .
I have two studio monitors and a subwoofer here. I can play them pretty loud without it even being irritating to my girlfriend doing something downstairs if I leave the door open. Now one room over is my big theater, if I crank that up to the same level at my ears, and left the door open, it would probably be annoying for her because it's 4x as much energy from the speakers to give the same perceived loudness at my seat in the theater. Thats 4x energy which is bouncing off stuff, vibrating it, going through cracks, etc. So, to put it mathematically, sound falloff is inverse square. So to get the best loudness close relative to when it becomes annoying at distances, closer is better.
Another reason to sit closer to your TV.
I'm going to get some sleep. See what you think (see if what I said makes sense) and I'll check in tomorrow and we can get to gear.
Remember, gotta keep it comfortable and user friendly too. So, best balance... right gear...but also not foam all over your living room (hard to get laid then, I tried that lol). We need to be selective.
