Help with Set-Up

[samiamhere]

Hi All,

New to this audio world and trying to learn. I have a nice big bonus room in my house that I want to convert to a good home entertainment room. I just bought a 82 Inch QLED Samsung TV. I also bought a new 4k Onyko TX-RZ820 receiver. I have attached a sketch of the room as well as a picture facing the front where the TV will go since there is a strange cubby area. I want to get a 5.1 or 7.1 system for the room. My budget is in the 2k to 3k range. I have two asks to this group for advice:

1) Given my room layout what set up do you think would work well.
2) Given the sunken in area of the TV, would it be good to put my two front speakers in that cubby with the TV as well as my middle speaker? Or should I put them standing outside the cubby for the two fronts and the mid mounted to the top or bottom of that wall?
3) If I decide to go Dolby Atmos, will I need to have the two front speakers out of the cubby to get the sound to bounce right off the ceiling?
4) On the back wall, would it be better to ceiling mount (not in ceiling but hanging) my back two speakers (I have a crawlspace right above that area) or should I get two stands for those speakers?
4a) My wife greatly prefers the ceiling mounted speakers. If I go that route, how far back do you think the couch can be to that back wall without causing surround sound issues?

Thanks ahead of time for any help. Much appreciated.

 

[JerryLove]

That cubby looks like it would have been a good spot for a AT screen and projector setup.

- "Given my room layout what set up do you think would work well."

There are a number of good speakers in your price range. I'd recommend matching LCR speakers. I'd also recommond a reasonably high efficiency speaker (as you are looking for some SPL in a reasonably large space).

If you don't mind a little DIY: these look promising: https://www.diysoundgroup.com/home-theater-speaker-kits/home-theater-series/home-theater-monitors/htm-12-kit.html.

- "Given the sunken in area of the TV, would it be good to put my two front speakers in that cubby with the TV as well as my middle speaker "

I would wall mount all three outside the cubby. Use wall-mountable speakers, obviously. I'd put the center above the TV and angle it down towards the listening position. Try to limit reflections off the ceiling.

I'd also consider sound absorption/diffraction at the outside walls and ceiling at the first reflection points for those mounts.

If you had gone the AT-Screen route: they would have been just behind the screen inside the cubby.

If you do decide to put the speakers in the cubby: consider sound absorption in there.

- " If I decide to go Dolby Atmos, will I need to have the two front speakers out of the cubby to get the sound to bounce right off the ceiling?"

IMO: If you aren't going to place speakers in the high positions, don't bother with atmos (indeed: you likely don't want to anyway). nigh-upward facing speakers means you are getting off-axis sound to your ear first; followed by reflected sound. Both are bad.

- "On the back wall, would it be better to ceiling mount (not in ceiling but hanging) my back two speakers (I have a crawlspace right above that area) or should I get two stands for those speakers? "

Doesn't matter. Just get them ear-height.

- "how far back do you think the couch can be to that back wall without causing surround sound issues? "

Best thing will be to experiment.