recommendations for this small room?

[gryphon]

Hi,

Hoping for some advice for a novice to the whole concept of

 

[gryphon]

oops! Let me try that again...

Hi,

Hoping for some advice for a novice to the whole concept of surround sound. Been "trapped" in the 80s til recently. Old tv, receiver, speakers. Recently have moved into this century with:
Panasonic plasma
Pioneer 1018
PS3

Right now it's all coming through the Cerwin Vegas I got in '83 or '84. (I imagine that will inspire a range of and/or ) So we are looking at what would work well for speakers in our small room.

Our room is 11x15. Tv on a stand with shelves underneath. Here's a rough sketch:

Would 5.1 work well in this small space or would 2.1 or 3.1 be recommended? Not sure about proper placement for surrounds?

I'd like to stay right about a max of $1000. Been doing a lot of reading. Some speakers I'm considering (on paper at least) include Infinity Primus P362 and its siblings, Polk RTi options or possibly DefTech. (The Infinity are sounding good at the moment.)

I haven't listened to any yet, but plan to do that this weekend. I realize a lot of suggestions I've read about in forums won't be available to listen to, however. In my area there is: Frys, Best Buy, Circuit City, Tweeter, Brandsmart, and HHGregg for "big" stores.

It would seem that mains and center should be from same family (?), but I'm reading differing opinions re: subs and surrounds. Would the 10 or 12 sub in the Infinity line be recommended for my needs if I went Infinity? Or I've read good things about Velodyne?

And I'm not sure what would work best with the Pioneer 1018 receiver? Disturbing the neighbors is not a concern, but we don't need to be blown out of our seats. I've read that getting something good for music usually means it will work for home theater, but not necessarily the other way around? Primary use will be movies/tv, but will want to listen to music too. Will also want to listen to XM radio.

I'm a bit leery of buying online for such a big purchase but would consider it. Whew. Thanks if you made it through all that and can offer suggestions or advice!

 

[Adam]

Hey there, gryphon. I think that 5.1 would work quite well in that room. Placement of your center channel and front speakers is probably pretty clear to you. For the rear surrounds, you could place some in the rear corners: floorstanders, bookshelf speakers on stands, or wall-mounted. You might want to consider some bipolar speakers for your surrounds for a more diffuse effect, given that your sofa is right near the back wall and you have the love seat off to the side. I would envision the bipolar speakers being mounted on the rear wall about where you have circles in your diagram. I'm no bipolar placement expert, though...

 

[mazersteven]

Would 5.1 work well in this small space or would 2.1 or 3.1 be recommended? Not sure about proper placement for surrounds?

I'd like to stay right about a max of $1000.

SVS SBS-01 (surrounds on sides of couch on stands)
http://www.svsound.com/products-sys-sbs_black.cfm

Emotiva ERM-1 LCR Monitors, and 2 ERD-1 Surrounds (mounted on back wall)
http://emotiva.com/shop/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=25

5.1 will work in your room with proper speaker placement.

 

[gryphon]

Thanks for the quick replies, guys. And hey there again, Adam.

The sofa is flush against that wall (which I realize isn't the greatest, but it IS a small room). The circles are end tables. There are two windows behind the sofa. Are you saying surrounds (if mounted) should be actually on the back wall, not in the corners or at extreme end of side wall? I'm reading different recommendations in various places online.

Also, how high should surrounds be? I read this rather old review (http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_10_4/infinity-primus-speakers-10-2003.html) where the guy says he found it best to have them mounted high -- 7 ft?! If surrounds are on stands, how high should they be?

Thanks for those links, mazersteven. I'll check them out. SVS is online order only, no opportunity for auditioning, right?

 

[Adam]

The sofa is flush against that wall (which I realize isn't the greatest, but it IS a small room). The circles are end tables. There are two windows behind the sofa. Are you saying surrounds (if mounted) should be actually on the back wall, not in the corners or at extreme end of side wall? I'm reading different recommendations in various places online.

Oh, I'm definitely not an expert on that. It's just what seemed right to me. Audioholics has some articles on speaker setup, and the one here seems especially suited for you.

Also, how high should surrounds be? I read this rather old review (http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_10_4/infinity-primus-speakers-10-2003.html) where the guy says he found it best to have them mounted high -- 7 ft?! If surrounds are on stands, how high should they be?

That's probably covered in the articles that I gave links to, as well. My rear surrounds are bookshelf speakers that are on 25"-tall stands, so the tweeters are at about ear level. I like it that way. When I was living in an apartment and had a very similar layout to yours, I had my rear bookshelves at either side of the couch and pointed them towards the rear wall just a bit to get some reflection and to have them not pointed directly at my head. Worked fine for me.

Thanks for those links, mazersteven. I'll check them out. SVS is online order only, no opportunity for auditioning, right?

Correct, unless you can find someone locally that will let you. However, you can return them (I think within 45 days) for a refund if you don't like them. You do need to pay for shipping, though. There is a 10% discount on that system at the moment because they are experiencing shipping delays.

 

[mazersteven]

I didn't know those where windows. Kind of messes up proper placement for wall mounting rear surrounds.

 

[jliedeka]

Having your sofa against the back wall may be a better use of space but it is less than optimal for good sound. If possible, see if you can set up your main speakers 2-3 feet from the wall and your listening position 2-3 feet from the back wall. That will improve your sound regardless of your speaker choice.

There's nothing wrong with any of the speakers you mentioned but you may be able to get more for your money if you consider buying from internet vendors. If you can wait for October, the SVS SBS speakers are a good deal. You may also want to consider Ascend, Axiom and AV123.

You won't need a big subwoofer for your room but a smaller sub won't give you a lot of bass extension. Depending on your goals, you may want to consider an upgrade down the road to stay within your $1000 budget for now. If I were putting together a 5.1 system for $1000, I'd probably get the SBS 5.0 system and either the SVS PB10-NSD or the Hsu STF-1 or STF-2. I have a similar sized room.

Jim

 

[jcPanny]

HT layout

If possible, put your TV on the short, 11' wall with the couch 3-5' from the opposite wall. This should give you better speaker placement options for a 5.1 system. If necessary you could use in-ceiling speakers for the surround channels but there are usually a performance compromise.

The polk, infinity and ID companies are good options in your price range, I am using the ELT525 bookshelf speakers from AV123 for my surround channels. They are a nice, compact speaker that performs well for $300/pair. They also have a matching center channel and a floorstander version.