Speaker Placement for Odd Shaped Room

[Jammer]

I've got an odd-shaped room where I'm preparing to install a new set of speakers and a new receiver. I'm currently leaning toward a Yamaha HTR-5760 and a set of the Bose mini-speakers that I can drop down from the ceiling, but that's not set in stone yet. The wall the TV will sit against is being constructed as we speak and I've already run speaker wire in the wall, so going with the ceiling installed mini-speakers will be most convenient and will leverage my wiring investment best.

Any and all advice is welcome, since I'm an acoustical newbie for sure, but I'm primarily concerned about:

1. Subwoofer placement
2. Rear/surround placement (The primary viewing locations will be about 4-5 feet off the corner opposite the TV)

Floorplan for the room can be viewed at the following link:

http://home.triad.rr.com/jmayes/floorplan.jpg

Jammer

 

[Jammer]

As a follow-up, I just saw an article here that made me realize the likelihood that my post about wanting Bose mini-cube speakers may draw giggles here. If thats the case, I'm open to being educated, but it needs to be fast because the drywall is going up tomorrow.

Jammer

 

[Az B]

Jammer,

That is an odd shaped room! The room shape may work in your favor for some bass modes, the lack of parallel surfaces should prevent a lot of problems.

Unfortunately, it will create soundstage problems with mids and highs.

When you say ceiling speakers, you mean you're going to mount the speaker up near the ceiling? It's best to get the mains and center down to about ear height for the listeners.

You'll also need a really good sub for that room.

Bose stuff is ok, I guess. The main issue I have with it is that you can find similar stuff for a lot less. And if you spend similar money you can get some quite nice speaker! But it sounds like it's a little late to start changing plans so maybe you should just go for it.

 

[Jammer]

Thanks for the feedback and the acknowledgement that I am stuck with an odd room.

Well, after reading some more today, I ditched the Bose idea and went with the Athena Micra 6 package for the speakers. It had really good reviews across the board, including from Audioholics and it met hour requirements for smaller footprint. Not to mention saving me $500.00. That allowed me to definitely get the Yamaha HTR-5790 receiver. That will be more than enough for simple folks like us.

Thanks for the tip on elevation of the front speakers. It will be more convenient for me to mount them on the ceiling, because there's already speaker wire up there all run back to a handy wall plate where the receiver will be. But if that's not the best way, then I'll adapt.

I guess the biggest question for me now is where to put the rear/surround speakers.

 

[Unregistered]

The surrounds can be higher up, in fact they really should be a few feet above the heads of the listeners. So the ceiling mount should still work fine with them.

Congrats on the speakers. Much better value.

 

[plhart]

Jammer-

Your proposed set-up looks to be an acoustical mess on paper. My recommendations would be>

a) Take a listen to the Infinity TSS750 system. My buddy Bill designed them while I was there at Harman and they are the flatest response, best sounding tiny satellite-sub combo that I've heard. Now, having said that, I have to add that none of these tiny sats are capable of going down to 80Hz to hand off to a subwoofer. This type of system will get down to 150Hz at best. That's okay, most people don't notice this 80Hz to 150Hz frequency range has been absent in millions of systems since Dolby Digital/DTS receivers came out. But placement becomes critical when we're trying to achieve a seamless soundstage.

b) I'd suggest placing your TV 180 degrees opposite of what you're proposing, into the corner between the two windows. Place your couch(s) parallel to what is now your TV wall and at least 3-4 feet away. Left and right surround should be mounted next to the windows, 5.5 to 6 feet up, on the window side furtherest from where the TV is now placed. If you've got heavy drapes on the windows that's good. Aim the left and right sats into the semi-corners created by the the 4'11"/12'7" wall on the right and 3'6"/2'10" wall on the left. The reflections from these surfaces should give you some kind of immersion effect.

c) Ask a helper to place the sub that comes with the TSS-750 behind the TV and move it around the two walls behind the TV trying to stay out from the walls a bit and as close to the center as possible. Any of these little subs, none of which have any form of equalization, are tough to place without having their location often given away, and their presense made known, during a movie. So the idea is to try to anchor the total top-to-bottom sound to the screen as much as possible by putting the sub behind the TV.

c) Lastly, get some kind of padding, 2" minimum covering at least 25% of the what is now the original 12'7" TV wall. This will attenuate the slap echoes you'll get otherwise.

Good luck. And trust your ears. If you're happy with the sound that's all that matters.

 

[Jammer]

Thanks for the responses. I'll have to think through the last recommendation about swapping around the TV location, just to come to terms with the ramifications. One ramification might be the beatdown I'll take from my wife, if I do that.

One thing I could do that might get me closer to that ideal while leaving the TV where I envisioned is to place my main viewing couch in that opposite corner out a ways from the wall. This would allow me to put the surround speakers slightly behind as recommended (and save me the beat down.)

Thanks again, folks. They are finishing the drywall today, so I'll be hooking all this stuff up soon.

Jammer