New construction - speaker positioning

[islesfan8]

Hi guys:

I am currently in the process of building a new house and this site has taught me a ton regarding structured wiring and audio systems. I was wondering if you guys could give me some speaker placement advice on a room I'd like to setup for 7.1.

I am currently researching audio components still... more then anything else, I'd like to make sure my wiring locations for speakers are in proper locations.

The house is going to begin construction in 4 weeks and should be done by the end of Sept. It is being built on a crawl space too.

I sincerely thank you for any help.

-Chris

 

[Johnd]

Welcome to Audioholics, islesfan8. It's not clear from your thumbnail, but are the redlined boxes the proposed speaker placement? If so, I'd say all looks fine but
1) the sub (corner is not usually best...you will most likely have to do trial and error via crawling or so other method); and,
2) the left surround is too far away, unless they're mighty efficient. You might want to deal with the minor hassle of a stand to achieve optimal performance...just set it aside when not in use.
Cheers.

 

[islesfan8]

Thanks Johnd. Yes, the red squares are speaker placement.

I didn't consider the stand as an option. I don't suppose their is any way to mount that left chaneel from the cieling or something, possibly extend it from the rear wall?

I was considering flipping the contents of the room 180 degrees.

 

[STRONGBADF1]

Welcome Chris,

Flipping the seating and tv positoning would make your speaker placement easier. I don't know if the room would be ok for everything else you plan to do in there though??? Like Johnd suggested that left surround speaker on a stand could be and option. Also placing the speakers in the most symetrical way possible would be best.

Changing to a 5.1 system with a straight back rear or 45 deg. back surround speaker placement might also be an option but you would still want to prewire the house for at least seven speaker locations and 3 or 4 sub locations not to limit yourself. (Don't forget about "presence speakers" if that interests you.)

Good luck,
SBF1

 

[Johnd]

Yes, flipping the layout 180' would give you better separation on the fronts. You would still have an issue with the side (now right side), but that can be worked around.

Be deliberate before you go to the expense of pre-wiring. Honestly, I don't think running speaker wire after construction is that much of a hassle. I think the only wires you "need" to pre-wire are the surrounds (the mains and center remain proximate to the system, and the sub you want to be able to move around to achieve optimal performance). Flat wire, colored wiring and sheathing make wiring unobtrusive. You also retain speaker placement flexibility when not pre-wiring. Just food for thought if you can't finalize the plan prior to closing up the walls. Cheers.

 

[Daz3d&Confus3d]

I'd leave it the way you have it since the current wall with the sofa is longer and it will give you more room for an end table and even possibly your sub beside your sofa. I'd also seriously consider just going with a 5.1 setup and angle your rear surrounds high on the wall on angle mounts that you can adjust to your liking. You could still go with rear surrounds I suppose or even a sigle rear channel seeing how its the same sound coming from both rear channel surrounds anyway. You dont want your side rear surround on that far, wall eliminate that idea right away....But Id say you have a few nice options there and I also agree that it's just primarly your side/rear surrounds you need to worry about running wire for...

Be sure to use cl3 rated in wall wire of at least 16 gauge or even 12 gauge depending on the length of the runs....congrats on your new house!

 

[Daz3d&Confus3d]

To bring clarity to what I was saying about the rear surround.....you could just also mount a single rear surround on the wall above your head level. Guys will use a variety of choices here....Ive seen guys use center channels as a solo unit....bipoles or dipoles....towers...lots of options. What sort of WAF (wife acceptance factor) to you have? Is she pretty flexible? If so, add the extra speakers..lol