Speaker and HT help please.

[Cbi1000]

Hello,

The living room in my new home is a little strange and really only provides one good layout. I’ve attached a drawing.

Currently I own GoldenEar speakers: Triton 5’s for fronts, Triton 7’s for rears, SuperCenter xl for front and a SVS pc12+ for my sub.

I have two issues that I can see:
1. As you can see by the time I put my left and right fronts next to the entertainment area I don’t have a good location for my sub. The right side with a sub and front speaker will be entering the dining area. No room on the left side. So I’d be forced to place the sub in the back of the room. Would that even work?

2. My center channel will be going into enclosed shelf area, with how the GE center channel is designed I don’t think it will sound very well there. If it sucks I’ll be forced to find a different brand.

Folks have stated I should do a sub crawl and the sub issue will work itself out. I’m considering going with some bookshelf speakers for my fronts. This would allow me to place them on the shelves within the entrainment center and free up some room on both sides.

Running my system is a Marantz 8012.

Are there other brands you’d suggest?

I know that was a long read and really do appreciate your time and input. Thank you.

 

[nbk13nw]

The sub placement would be dictated by the room interactions. So the back could possibly be the best placement after all. The easiest way to find out is to do the subwoofer crawl. I would hold off on getting new speakers until you have time to scope out possible position positions.

To be able to assist can you give use your room dimensions? L x W x H? Maybe a sketch of the room. Any openings to other rooms? Carpet, wood or concrete floors?

Edit... Not seeing any attached drawing..

 

[Cbi1000]

The sub placement would be dictated by the room interactions. So the back could possibly be the best placement after all. The easiest way to find out is to do the subwoofer crawl. I would hold off on getting new speakers until you have time to scope out possible position positions.

To be able to assist can you give use your room dimensions? L x W x H? Maybe a sketch of the room. Any openings to other rooms? Carpet, wood or concrete floors?

Edit... Not seeing any attached drawing..

I think I finally got it attached. Wood floors.

 

[everettT]

The 7 series is much better than the 6 series . The 7 series should all sound the same with the exception of deep bass and output.

If your gonna spend 7 series money, do yourself a favor and demo as many speakers as possible as well as consider some of the ID brands.

 

[nbk13nw]

I think I finally got it attached. Wood floors.

So your listening area is open to the dining area? Hard to make out dimensions in the drawing. What are the measurements for the room? Total including the open areas.

The 5's are more efficient that the 7's but I doubt it makes any difference at 1db. As for the center, if you pull it out to the edge of the shelf it may work well.

For the sub.. . Try a back corner if you can. Maybe nearfield would be best for you if possible. Just behind the couch or beside the couch. Regardless. If you do not have anything to measure the FR, or an SPL meter, the the sub crawl is your friend.

 

[Cbi1000]

The 7 series is much better than the 6 series . The 7 series should all sound the same with the exception of deep bass and output.

If your gonna spend 7 series money, do yourself a favor and demo as many speakers as possible as well as consider some of the ID brands.

What are ID brands?

 

[lovinthehd]

ID-Internet Direct. Salk for example.

 

[everettT]

What are ID brands?

Salk, Ascend, SVS, Philharmonic (what's left of the inventory) XTZ, Seaton, and JTR are a few. Certainly can get more bang for the buck compared to retail. Check out Paradigm and Revel on the retail side.

 

[Cbi1000]

So your listening area is open to the dining area? Hard to make out dimensions in the drawing. What are the measurements for the room? Total including the open areas.

The 5's are more efficient that the 7's but I doubt it makes any difference at 1db. As for the center, if you pull it out to the edge of the shelf it may work well.

For the sub.. . Try a back corner if you can. Maybe nearfield would be best for you if possible. Just behind the couch or beside the couch. Regardless. If you do not have anything to measure the FR, or an SPL meter, the the sub crawl is your friend.

I updated the attachment. I hope it is more clear now. As you can see there is really no room for a sub up front without putting it on the right side and that would be entering the dining area. So I’m left with only the area near the left surround area.

My other choice would be to sell my front towers and get bookshelf speakers. Those could sit on the shelves in the entertainment center and free up space to the left and right where the towers are shown in the diagram.

 

[Cbi1000]

Salk, Ascend, SVS, Philharmonic (what's left of the inventory) XTZ, Seaton, and JTR are a few. Certainly can get more bang for the buck compared to retail. Check out Paradigm and Revel on the retail side.

Oh. Internet direct. Gotcha.

I was thinking about SVS if I went the bookshelf road as I have heard great things about their ultra line. I own a SVS sub now and it’s great.

 

[ryanosaur]

Another vote for the subwoofer crawl: https://www.audioholics.com/home-theater-connection/crawling-for-bass-subwoofer-placement
It is crude, but once you do it (assuming you are patient, keep your mind and ears open, you will hear the differences in bass around the room) and find a couple good spots, you are set. Without dimensions, we can only guess, but with an open floor plan like yours, a second sub might be a good thing.
Also agree that you should shop around if you’re thinking of new speakers. I’m not a B&W hater, per se, but for the number of times I’ve seen people complain about them after buying, I would at least recommend you arrange an in home trial... but for the money, I think you can do better.

 

[Cbi1000]

Another vote for the subwoofer crawl: https://www.audioholics.com/home-theater-connection/crawling-for-bass-subwoofer-placement
It is crude, but once you do it (assuming you are patient, keep your mind and ears open, you will hear the differences in bass around the room) and find a couple good spots, you are set. Without dimensions, we can only guess, but with an open floor plan like yours, a second sub might be a good thing.
Also agree that you should shop around if you’re thinking of new speakers. I’m not a B&W hater, per se, but for the number of times I’ve seen people complain about them after buying, I would at least recommend you arrange an in home trial... but for the money, I think you can do better.

I updated my room attachment. I hope it’s more understandable now. I have thought about selling my large sub and getting two smaller ones. Then I should be able to place one up front by the left front and one by the left rear.

I am not sure that I really want to move to bookshelf speakers over my floor standing, but it just opens up more room. Love the new house hate the new living room. Lol

 

[ryanosaur]

Smaller subs are never an option.
Also, the insistence people have of putting the sub on the front wall or in a corner is baffling. I've experienced first hand what can happen when you decide that Audio Dogma is not law. My "best" corner that many people insisted I use for one of my subs turns bass into a loud and muddy mess of cr@p. Why would I blindly do that? "Because, you corner load your subs, dude, that's where they sound best!"
NO.
They can, I do not claim it is wrong, always, but no. Every room is different and we all have to make due with what we have.
First, do the crawl. Set aside an hour or two, unplug your other speakers, and play some good bass heavy music. then Crawl around your room with your ear near where the Sub Driver would be. Best way to learn to hear a difference: Move in and out of a corner a few times. Then as you move around the room, listen: do you find places where the bass gets boomy/muddy/dies? (avoid those), and when you find places where the bass is clean and clear, mark those. Perhaps you find the best spot is in a corner of your dining room, or where an end table is beside your couch. (I said before, keep your mind open.) You can find a solution if you are willing.

I am not a standmount/bookshelf fan. Yes I've been using such for almost 5 mos while I wait for my mains to be built. And a good pair can perform well. If you choose to shop for speakers, really shop! Salk's speakers mentioned above may be some of the best you can find. Yes they can get expensive, but if you consider the alternative and you just make lateral moves from lackluster speaker to ho-hum speaker, you won't ever be satisfied. The Song Tower and Song 3 could be some of the best speakers for the money! I would take them over ELAC, KEF, or B&W any day.

Happy hunting!

 

[Cbi1000]

Smaller subs are never an option.
Also, the insistence people have of putting the sub on the front wall or in a corner is baffling. I've experienced first hand what can happen when you decide that Audio Dogma is not law. My "best" corner that many people insisted I use for one of my subs turns bass into a loud and muddy mess of cr@p. Why would I blindly do that? "Because, you corner load your subs, dude, that's where they sound best!"
NO.
They can, I do not claim it is wrong, always, but no. Every room is different and we all have to make due with what we have.
First, do the crawl. Set aside an hour or two, unplug your other speakers, and play some good bass heavy music. then Crawl around your room with your ear near where the Sub Driver would be. Best way to learn to hear a difference: Move in and out of a corner a few times. Then as you move around the room, listen: do you find places where the bass gets boomy/muddy/dies? (avoid those), and when you find places where the bass is clean and clear, mark those. Perhaps you find the best spot is in a corner of your dining room, or where an end table is beside your couch. (I said before, keep your mind open.) You can find a solution if you are willing.

I am not a standmount/bookshelf fan. Yes I've been using such for almost 5 mos while I wait for my mains to be built. And a good pair can perform well. If you choose to shop for speakers, really shop! Salk's speakers mentioned above may be some of the best you can find. Yes they can get expensive, but if you consider the alternative and you just make lateral moves from lackluster speaker to ho-hum speaker, you won't ever be satisfied. The Song Tower and Song 3 could be some of the best speakers for the money! I would take them over ELAC, KEF, or B&W any day.

Happy hunting!

Thank you. I’ll do what you suggest with the sub.

The other part of this issue is the center channel. I hope it will sound good in the shelf area. I’m worried the ge design will not work well in a more inclosed area.
At this point I think I’ll stick with floor-standing speakers even if I end up moving to a different brand. I’ll look into Salk.

 

[ryanosaur]

Our love of Audio has to balance with life, of course. And that includes some sacrifices each way (for me).

I'm not trying to sell you on Salk specifically, though his gear his top notch! Its a good practice to define your goals if you are considering even a minor upgrade to your system. But if Sound Quality is what you are after, then pursuing that is well worth while!

I will say that Salk offers Center speakers as well, and some are front ported which can give you a little more freedom in placement. I'm not a huge fan of shelves and cubbies or the like, as you can experience diffraction issues from such placement, but that said, its also uncertain how audible that distortion may be. That front porting may help ease some placement concerns.
@everettT 's list, post 8 above, is pretty solid for alternate companies to look at. There is gear there I would love to own.

Cheers!

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Hello,

The living room in my new home is a little strange and really only provides one good layout. I’ve attached a drawing.

Currently I own GoldenEar speakers: Triton 5’s for fronts, Triton 7’s for rears, SuperCenter xl for front and a SVS pc12+ for my sub. The main issue I have is space. As you can see by the time I put my left and right fronts next to the entertainment area I don’t have a good location for my sub. The right side with a sub and front speaker will be entering the dining area. No room on the left side. So I’d be forced to place the sub in the back of the room. Would that even work? Then add in my center channel will be going into enclosed shelf area, with how the GE center channel is designed I don’t think it will sound very well there.

So I’m considering selling my current speakers and starting over. I was at a speaker store and listened to some B&W’s and really enjoyed the their sound. But I have a couple questions I’m hoping you folks cam answer.

I’m considering going with some bookshelf speakers for my fronts. This would allow me to place them on the shelves within the entrainment center and free up some room on both sides. I could tell a huge difference between the 606’s and the 706s2’s. But I didn’t see much of a difference between the 706s2’s and the 705s2’s. Am I missing something? Was it maybe the demo? Are the 706 with the extra $? Also the B&W center is ported would that make a difference in an enclosed shelf?

I’m also considering the 704s2’s as fronts due to their small size (as fronts go). I really did enjoy their sound. Opinions?

To round out my system I’m thinking either 707 or 706 for rears, HTM71s2 for center, and four ceiling speakers to round out my 5.x.4 HT. As for my sub I will more than likely sell my SVS and either get one or two smaller ones.

Running my system is a Marantz 8012.

Are there other brands you’d suggest?

I know that was a long read and really do appreciate your time and input. Thank you.View attachment 29152

You definitely have some challenges here but none are deal breakers. So I’ll see what I can add

For the mains, GE’s are pretty skinny so IMO if you like their sound, I’d keep them. If you move them out away from the wall a little (which is good acoustically) you could put the PC in the left front corner. (2/3 of my subs are so pc12pluses and all 3 are in corners) As Ryan mentioned, this may not be the best place acoustically, but it also might. The layout might be symmetrical, but the ROOM is not, so keep that in mind. Don’t know unless ya go! You can also try the rear left corner, as long as the xo is low enough, you shouldn’t have any issues with the sub calling attention itself. Also, 2 smaller subs might fit the space but it will take very expensive powerful ones to compete with that PC and I think you’d regret selling it. Although there are benefits to using multiple subs, and consistent bass from seat to seat is one of them. This also takes a bit more work to integrate but can be worth it especially if you have multiple seats in use.

Can you put up some pics front/back? I’m having a hard time imagining the layout of the cabinet, but IMO you will have trouble with any speakers that are installed inside a cabinet.

I also doodled a more appt layout for the surround speakers. My hunch is the right surround will be in the way, you might consider some nice in walls for surround speakers.

 

[Cbi1000]

You definitely have some challenges here but none are deal breakers. So I’ll see what I can add

For the mains, GE’s are pretty skinny so IMO if you like their sound, I’d keep them. If you move them out away from the wall a little (which is good acoustically) you could put the PC in the left front corner. (2/3 of my subs are so pc12pluses and all 3 are in corners) As Ryan mentioned, this may not be the best place acoustically, but it also might. The layout might be symmetrical, but the ROOM is not, so keep that in mind. Don’t know unless ya go! You can also try the rear left corner, as long as the xo is low enough, you shouldn’t have any issues with the sub calling attention itself. Also, 2 smaller subs might fit the space but it will take very expensive powerful ones to compete with that PC and I think you’d regret selling it. Although there are benefits to using multiple subs, and consistent bass from seat to seat is one of them. This also takes a bit more work to integrate but can be worth it especially if you have multiple seats in use.

Can you put up some pics front/back? I’m having a hard time imagining the layout of the cabinet, but IMO you will have trouble with any speakers that are installed inside a cabinet.

I also doodled a more appt layout for the surround speakers. My hunch is the right surround will be in the way, you might consider some nice in walls for surround speakers.

Thanks for the info. I am installing 4 ceiling speakers for sure.

The back part of the room opens up to my entry way.

If the center channel sounds great in the entrainment shelf I will keep my GoldenEar equipment. I do love my SVS and I agree it will be difficult to replace. So I’ll try moving it to a few of the available locations I have.

The left side of the room with the long wall has a 12 foot bay window. No speakers going in that. Lol

I’m going to update my original post talking about bookshelf speakers. Going to stick with towers up front.

I’ll attach a quick drawing of the entertainment center.