New house pre wire vs installed

[bobbybobs]

Hi all.

I am in a little dilemma. I have a 5.1 system I bought last year. HKTS 16BQ

I don't know where to pre wire in my living room. The conduit can be in between the windows or the adjacent wall. Should I prewire with the above speakers? prewireing costs $450. Installation of home theater system is $3000 by the builder using CRS 6.0 speakercraft speakers,
yamaha rx a730 receiver and V8 sub.

Does anyone have any good options for where to do the prewiring? Should I get stand speakers or a wireless setup? Or should I just wait till my basement gets finished and plan it down there?


Thanks for helping a noob.

 

[WaynePflughaupt]

I’m afraid your post is impossibly vague, which is why no one has replied. If your builder is installing the system, why are you worried about pre-wiring? That’s his job. And how does the HKTS fit into the picture if the builder is installing a system with Speakercraft speakers?

On top of that, how can anyone make pre-wiring recommendations if you didn’t give us an indication of where you plan to set up the equipment rack? All the wiring starts at that point, after all.

You might want to study Dolby’s recommendations for 5.1 speaker placement (although their sub location is bogus, usually it works best in a corner). Decide which wall in your room should be designated as your “front of house” (i.e. where the TV will be) that best accommodates the recommended speaker locations. Judging from the provided pictures your room does not appear to be especially “home theater friendly.”

As far as the builder’s recommended system, in-ceiling speakers are only useful as rear surround speakers. You don’t want them for the fronts. You can’t expect good sound quality from speakers firing at the floor 10 ft. in front of you. Also the sub is drastically overpriced. You should be able to get at least a good 10” sub for that price, maybe even a 12. Eight-inch subs just don’t cut it for home theater as they don’t go low enough to get the bass that you feel more than hear.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[bobbybobs]

Sorry if it is vague. The tv is going to be between the windows where the conduit is. The problem I am having is where to put the speakers. The front speakers would go above the windows. The rear I would only have the option of in the ceiling since there is no rear walls.

The HKTS I have already. I wanted to get the house prewire so I can just install those speakers from the wall. Since I don't have a rear wall, the ceiling is my only option I guess. I have a Denon avr 1613 5.1 receiver. Since the room size isn't so big I was also thinking of just doing a 2.1 system.

Thanks for your help

 

[markw]

In a 5.1 system, the surrounds really should be on the side walls flanking the rear quadrant of listening area, not behind you.

 

[bompus]

I'm in the same situation. I'm having them pre-wire the room based on where I would like speakers and then I'll do the speaker install myself. It gives me more time to change my mind after we move in.