Help with Home Theater Design

[bme]

Well, my Dad over the past 9+ months has renovated his basement from completely unfinished with nothing but concrete to a very nice looking entertainment room. There's now a bar and a pool table a long with a nice 1080p 46" HDTV. To complete the transformation, I'm helping him get a home theater surround sound setup.

Let me preface this with saying at first he just wanted a *shudder* Bose wave machine. I know, I know. I talked him out of it and told him all of his work would be wasted if he didn't go the correct route of getting a receiver + at least 5.1 surround. He finally agreed. I was hoping you guys, the experts, could help me help him get the best bang for his buck.

Here's what I came up with after a few hours of research and review reading:

Yamaha RX-V665 Receiver
Energy Take Classic 5.1 Surround Sound
Sirius Connect

That put's it right under $1,000. That's his budget but is able to go over if necessary.

But the big thing I am wondering about are the speakers. I know those are quality from everything I've read. But the room layout is what is bothering me. The main need is a quality surround sound experience when viewing movies, TV shows and live sports. But the setup should also be able to fill the room with sound via Sirius while shooting pool.

The issue is the way the room is laid out, it is going to be difficult to fulfill both needs. I will be going over there tonight to create an accurate room layout with true measurements. The walls are drywall and the ceiling is made of removable tiles. Running/hiding the speaker wire won't be a problem. Anyways, I will update this post later with an accurate room layout. After that, will you be able to recommend correct speaker placement ?

Along with ensuring I am getting him quality components, the main goal of this post is to determine:

1) 5.1 or 7.1 speakers

and

2) Correct speaker placement based off the answer to #1.

Thanks so much in advance for your help!

 

[Exit]

Here is the THX site with recommended 5.1 and 7.1 speaker system layouts;

http://www.thx.com/home/setup/speakers/index.html

If you dont have an enclosed back wall, then go with 5.1. It is also less cost on the budget.

If you have a wide room (say over 15 feet) with a back wall, 7.1 might be better for you to fill in the back center with sound.

The surrounds do not get used much so I wouldn't go over budget on their prices.

 

[lsiberian]

Well, my Dad over the past 9+ months has renovated his basement from completely unfinished with nothing but concrete to a very nice looking entertainment room. There's now a bar and a pool table a long with a nice 1080p 46" HDTV. To complete the transformation, I'm helping him get a home theater surround sound setup.

Let me preface this with saying at first he just wanted a *shudder* Bose wave machine. I know, I know. I talked him out of it and told him all of his work would be wasted if he didn't go the correct route of getting a receiver + at least 5.1 surround. He finally agreed. I was hoping you guys, the experts, could help me help him get the best bang for his buck.

Here's what I came up with after a few hours of research and review reading:

Yamaha RX-V665 Receiver
Energy Take Classic 5.1 Surround Sound
Sirius Connect

That put's it right under $1,000. That's his budget but is able to go over if necessary.

But the big thing I am wondering about are the speakers. I know those are quality from everything I've read. But the room layout is what is bothering me. The main need is a quality surround sound experience when viewing movies, TV shows and live sports. But the setup should also be able to fill the room with sound via Sirius while shooting pool.

The issue is the way the room is laid out, it is going to be difficult to fulfill both needs. I will be going over there tonight to create an accurate room layout with true measurements. The walls are drywall and the ceiling is made of removable tiles. Running/hiding the speaker wire won't be a problem. Anyways, I will update this post later with an accurate room layout. After that, will you be able to recommend correct speaker placement ?

Along with ensuring I am getting him quality components, the main goal of this post is to determine:

1) 5.1 or 7.1 speakers

and

2) Correct speaker placement based off the answer to #1.

Thanks so much in advance for your help!

I don't think that's a very serious system. You can do better even on your budget. 110hz bottom? Are you kidding me? For surrounds maybe that's ok, but not for mains.

Look at TSC, Infinity Betas, KEF iQ1s/iQ2, Behringer 2030p

 

[bme]

Thanks for the quick responses. I posted this in the beginners forum because well, I am still pretty much a beginner. I'm by no means an audioholic so I'm not even sure what why you're upset over "110hz bottom". I just went on crutchfield, read the reviews, googled for some more and came up with something in the budget range.

Once you see the room layout you'll understand my dilemma. It was not designed with home theater in mind at all, so that's why I am having trouble deciding what needs to go where. Again, thanks for all the help.

 

[lsiberian]

Thanks for the quick responses. I posted this in the beginners forum because well, I am still pretty much a beginner. I'm by no means an audioholic so I'm not even sure what why you're upset over "110hz bottom". I just went on crutchfield, read the reviews, googled for some more and came up with something in the budget range.

Once you see the room layout you'll understand my dilemma. It was not designed with home theater in mind at all, so that's why I am having trouble deciding what needs to go where. Again, thanks for all the help.

110hz is very high for the low end of a speakers bottom response.

Can you not have normal speakers in this room?

I could think of a lot of speakers that would work very well in the 1000 budget range.

Since this is for home theater. Look at this SVS sound. they make very nice looking speakers for a nice price.

 

[popotoys]

For the pool table option you might want to think about a reciever that has a second zone option. You could run a second set of speakers for this zone in the pool table area to help fill in the sound when needed. Also, alot of recievers have A\B speaker options for the mains. You could use B for a set of speakers around the pool table as well.

 

[AVRat]

The Speaker Company
TSBL - $180
TC2 - $100
P5-PR - $70
T250 Sub - $250
Total - $600

Yamaha HTR-6260 - $410 (Amazon)

 

[bme]

It's all pretty much the same room so I don't think there will be a problem filling up the area with one set of speakers. 5.1 would probably be sufficient considering this is for my parents who have always used just the tv speakers to be honest. They can upgrade to 7.1 later if need be.

Here's a quick image I put together in ms paint (Sorry, if I had Visio here it would be much better) that explains the room.

That back wall behind the TV chairs could probably hold the rear speakers but it might be best to put the one closet to the pool table on a stand and the other just under the bar. Otherwise it might be possible to mount one to the center beam and another higher up on the angled wall near the bar. Crap, can't post a link to the room image until I get 3 more posts

So you recommend buying the speakers separately instead of a 5.1 package ? That looks like a great receiver, one that I will probably end up with.

TSBL for Front Pair, TC2 for Center, P5-PR (out of stock) for rear and then the sub of course.

He wants to order this weekend if possible. Any other good recommendations for rear speakers on that site, since those are out of stock?

What about speaker cables ? What kind are good ? I've heard Monster cables are overrated and too expensive. What's the consensus here ?

 

[Soundman]

If on a budget, this is tough to beat for the price. You may need to upgrade the sub at some point depending on your room, but you can't beat this price. This also allows plenty of room in the budget for a decent receiver. http://store.audioholics.com/product/1793/17/emp-htp-551t-5-1-speaker-system

 

[Soundman]

What about speaker cables ? What kind are good ? I've heard Monster cables are overrated and too expensive. What's the consensus here ?

This is all you need. These are excellent quality and very affordable. http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10239&cs_id=1023901&p_id=2817&seq=1&format=2

 

[bme]

Great! I read the reviews and more comments from people about that speaker set and will be going that route it seems. Also I like that receiver AVRat recommended. Looks like I found everything I need. I am going to try and hang the speakers from the ceiling if possible.

 

[just-some-guy]

you REALLY should post pics of the room.

 

[bme]

You can't post links or images until you have 5 posts. This will be my 5th....

 

[bme]

And here we go. This is the room. I showed my dad this thread and he decided to pull the trigger on the above components. The EMP HTP-551T 5.1 Speaker System and the Yamaha HTR-6260 receiver.

http://www.shackpics.com/viewer.x?file=basement_nt9w2k9pimcwr6vhjkvb.jpg