advice on living room setup

Jaime1981

Jaime1981

Audiophyte
I am looking to spice up my living room, I want to add surround sound. Not sure how to go about adding 5.1-7.1 or atmos.

My current front stage include Elac B6 bookshelf speakers and a Elac B5 Center channel, they are being powered by a pioneer VSX-44 Elite, this receiver does not support atmos so most likely I will need to update the receiver.

my issue is the surround placement of the speakers and also the rear speakers. I do not have the ideal space to floor place any of them, i was thinking maybe ceiling speakers?

I was also looking into the SVS prime elevation speakers, I could hang a set in the middle and possibly another set toward the rear?

I am looking for a SVS ported 1000 sub to add more bass. I have added pictures of my living room please see attached files.
 

Attachments

j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
Yes, you'll obviously need to upgrade to an Atmos supporting receiver. Do you plan to run wires in wall or along the left wall (facing front)? Other than wiring, I don't see an issue doing what you want with the Prime Elevation speakers.
 
TheWarrior

TheWarrior

Audioholic Ninja
Why not just start with a 5 channel system? Just grab a pair of surrounds, hang one where the wall ends before the kitchen counter, and one on the opposite wall. Mounts can tilt them down at your ears, and wall trim can hide speaker wire so you don't have to cut holes!
 
ParadigmDawg

ParadigmDawg

Audioholic Overlord
I would knock out that fireplace and cubbyhole, rebuild with the FP in the center and mount the TV there. Then maybe leave some insets beside the FP for your speakers. Then use in-ceiling's for surrounds and atmos. We just did something similar but I used all in-ceilings and stuck a giant sub in the attic.



Sub I put in attic.


 
Last edited:
Craig Gordon

Craig Gordon

Junior Audioholic
Ok. You have one of those typical horrible totally non symmetrical and off center situations with a giant opening into other rooms. Its a pretty bad room to do this in. But like most, it is what it is. So short of building a dedicated room, you will have to do what you can to get the best sound.

What is above this room and which way do the joists run?

If you must use reflective bounce atmos speakers, I would simply not use an atmos setup. Either put them into the ceiling like they should be, or skip atmos and just use a 7.2 setup. To do it right you will have to cut some holes to run the speaker cables, patch them up, and repaint. But it's worth it and if you simply take the time to do it right yourself, you can save a lot of money.

I would consider this:
1. Remove your fireplace completely, or re build it in the center of the same wall, thus centered in the room. This will require some work, time, and expense, but you will at least keep the fireplace which has resale value (even though nobody ever seems to use them). You should be able to use the existing chimney vent without dealing with new chimney issues which are too expensive in your situation. Then either put in a 65 inch television above the fireplace on a mount that will allow it to swing down in front of the fireplace (they do make these kinds of mounts, motorized or manual), OR, put in a ceiling drop down projection screen and purchase a projection system. If you keep the fireplace and center it, you would actually increase the resale value of your home.

Otherwise keep it the way you have it.

2. Use in wall speakers (same brand as your main speakers, whatever that may be) for left and right surround, and rear surrounds. You have spaces to do this. Keep the speakers at the same level, and keep the final position of these so that the tweeters in them are 1-2 feet above seated ear level. Take the time to run the wires in wall. Yes, it takes work to patch and repaint. But its worth it in the long run.

3. Get two inexpensive SVS subwoofers instead of one. Since the 1000 is already the cheapest, yes, its going to cost you more money. But two always sounds better than one especially considering you need the extra power because of the giant opening to the rest of your home. Put the subwoofers in opposite locations in the room, or anywhere that they are most unobtrusive.
 
Last edited:
Craig Gordon

Craig Gordon

Junior Audioholic
Or, you can go insane like I did and build this so that your speakers are perfectly located. This is just the left rear and left right speaker. Im recovering from surgery and have not motorized the right speakers yet. The atmos ceiling speakers are built into the ceiling and are/will be covered with the same fabric.

 
Jaime1981

Jaime1981

Audiophyte
Why not just start with a 5 channel system? Just grab a pair of surrounds, hang one where the wall ends before the kitchen counter, and one on the opposite wall. Mounts can tilt them down at your ears, and wall trim can hide speaker wire so you don't have to cut holes!

I was thinking about this, if I decide to go this route wall trim should do the trick.
 
Jaime1981

Jaime1981

Audiophyte
I would knock out that fireplace and cubbyhole, rebuild with the FP in the center and mount the TV there. Then maybe leave some insets beside the FP for your speakers. Then use in-ceiling's for surrounds and atmos. We just did something similar but I used all in-ceilings and stuck a giant sub in the attic.



Sub I put in attic.


Nice!
 
Jaime1981

Jaime1981

Audiophyte
I would knock out that fireplace and cubbyhole, rebuild with the FP in the center and mount the TV there. Then maybe leave some insets beside the FP for your speakers. Then use in-ceiling's for surrounds and atmos. We just did something similar but I used all in-ceilings and stuck a giant sub in the attic.



Sub I put in attic.


Never crossed my mind about taking down the fireplace. The cost would be too much to go that route, I was thinking about having a custom built insert into that space.
 
Jaime1981

Jaime1981

Audiophyte
Ok. You have one of those typical horrible totally non symmetrical and off center situations with a giant opening into other rooms. Its a pretty bad room to do this in. But like most, it is what it is. So short of building a dedicated room, you will have to do what you can to get the best sound.

What is above this room and which way do the joists run?

If you must use reflective bounce atmos speakers, I would simply not use an atmos setup. Either put them into the ceiling like they should be, or skip atmos and just use a 7.2 setup. To do it right you will have to cut some holes to run the speaker cables, patch them up, and repaint. But it's worth it and if you simply take the time to do it right yourself, you can save a lot of money.

I would consider this:
1. Remove your fireplace completely, or re build it in the center of the same wall, thus centered in the room. This will require some work, time, and expense, but you will at least keep the fireplace which has resale value (even though nobody ever seems to use them). You should be able to use the existing chimney vent without dealing with new chimney issues which are too expensive in your situation. Then either put in a 65 inch television above the fireplace on a mount that will allow it to swing down in front of the fireplace (they do make these kinds of mounts, motorized or manual), OR, put in a ceiling drop down projection screen and purchase a projection system. If you keep the fireplace and center it, you would actually increase the resale value of your home.

Otherwise keep it the way you have it.

2. Use in wall speakers (same brand as your main speakers, whatever that may be) for left and right surround, and rear surrounds. You have spaces to do this. Keep the speakers at the same level, and keep the final position of these so that the tweeters in them are 1-2 feet above seated ear level. Take the time to run the wires in wall. Yes, it takes work to patch and repaint. But its worth it in the long run.

3. Get two inexpensive SVS subwoofers instead of one. Since the 1000 is already the cheapest, yes, its going to cost you more money. But two always sounds better than one especially considering you need the extra power because of the giant opening to the rest of your home. Put the subwoofers in opposite locations in the room, or anywhere that they are most unobtrusive.

Its a two story house, I recently upgrade all the recessed lights to LED and I seen that there is enough room to run cables to the TV area. Should not be an issue adding in ceiling speakers, I could add 4 speakers.

Currently my front stage consist of ELAC's speakers, I am not impressed with the center channel, I need more out of it, originally I was looking to get all klipsich speakers, RF260's towers and run with their center channel speaker like the RP 450C and run with their wireless 10' subwoofer ( I could go with two wireless subs).
 

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