Help with Surround and Rear Speaker Placement

[SMM]

I attached my latest and hopefully final layout. Looking for advise on where to place the surround speakersand rear speakers (the small red squares are my guess), the sub-woofer and the wall sconces. Thks!

 

[mtrycrafts]

I attached my latest and hopefully final layout. Looking for advise on where to place the surround speakersand rear speakers (the small red squares are my guess), the sub-woofer and the wall sconces. Thks!

That looks pretty good from here. I would have sub outs at 2 or 3 locations to try. Wiring is cheap. Right front corner and the two rear corners. This way you can experiment without rewiring afterwards. If you don't use an outlet, so what.
I may put the rear speakers a bit closer towards the center?

 

[SMM]

That looks pretty good from here. I would have sub outs at 2 or 3 locations to try. Wiring is cheap. Right front corner and the two rear corners. This way you can experiment without rewiring afterwards. If you don't use an outlet, so what.
I may put the rear speakers a bit closer towards the center?

The rear row of seats will be up on a riser. Other have suggested that the sub must be on the floor (no elevation) to get the best bass response. Given this, are there other locations that you'd try. I was thinking centered under the 92" screen on the front wall as the center channel is going above the screen

 

[Johnd]

Are you sure the scale and orientation on your drawing is correct. The reason I ask is beacuse the;
1) ell is mirrored (opposite) of your first drawing; and,
2) the ell is far deeper than shown in your first drawing. Before, the back row barely fit inside the ell, now both rows comfortably fit inside.
Did you redesign the room?

Also, measurements are not given, but the rear row is (what appears to be) several feet behind the side speakers. This will result in the side channel sound clearly "being" in front of them, rather than surrounding them. You may want to consider two sets of sides, or multidirectional sides (like Paradigm's adp) to eliminate this problem with the rear row. jfyi

 

[mtrycrafts]

The rear row of seats will be up on a riser. Other have suggested that the sub must be on the floor (no elevation) to get the best bass response. Given this, are there other locations that you'd try. I was thinking centered under the 92" screen on the front wall as the center channel is going above the screen

You could certainly try the sub under the screen. If you place an outlet in the front corner, it would not be far to the center. Or, you could also prewire for that location too
Hard to say beforehand where it will sound best in that setup. Corner placements usually gives you more output from the 2 walls and floor.

 

[SMM]

You could certainly try the sub under the screen. If you place an outlet in the front corner, it would not be far to the center. Or, you could also prewire for that location too
Hard to say beforehand where it will sound best in that setup. Corner placements usually gives you more output from the 2 walls and floor.

I was planning to buy a pre-made sub cable. If I wire for more than 1 location, this could get expensive. Have you made your own sub cables, if so,,,how...and what if any performance difference from hoem made vs. store bought cables

 

[ScottMayo]

I was planning to buy a pre-made sub cable. If I wire for more than 1 location, this could get expensive. Have you made your own sub cables, if so,,,how...and what if any performance difference from hoem made vs. store bought cables

If the sub cable is an interconnect, carrying pre-amplified signal (ie, the amp is builtin to the sub or placed near the sub, and the cable connects that amp to the processor), then the sub cable should be a good, double shielded interconnect that will reject background 60Hz electical noise. This is important; subwoofers *love* to reproduce 60Hz sounds. Hmmmmmmmm...

If the sub cable is carring the amplified signal, then all you need is a halfway decent quality speaker wire - I might get crazy and use 8 gauge copper, but you don't need to get any more exotic than that with a subwoofer. This is not the part to spend big money on.

I know people love to hide wires, but the subwoofer makes a reasonable exception. It's the speaker you're most likely to want to move around. If you MUST hide all wires, consider buying a passive (no integrated amp) subwoofer and a separate amp, so you can run speaker wire, not interconnect cable, to all the places you might want the sub.

If you're going to run interconnect cable to an amp, I'll make a commonly echoed suggestion - look at Blue Jeans Cable. Decent cable, decent (for audio) price, and they sell a well-shielded version of interconnect just for this situation. I use it and like it.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I was planning to buy a pre-made sub cable. If I wire for more than 1 location, this could get expensive. Have you made your own sub cables, if so,,,how...and what if any performance difference from hoem made vs. store bought cables

Buy RG-6/RG-59 type cables, same as cable TV. This is rather cheap. That is all you need for a powered sub.
Radio Shack or another such store.