Morning all,
1st post so please be gentle
& a big hellooow from the UK, Liverpool.
Found out about this forum through YouTube searches - watched around 10 videos and there is sooo much knowledge out there.
I'm looking for some advice after moving house recently please. I've had a quick scour around the forum and I can't seem to find exactly the answer I'm looking for. I guess new setups are different for everyone dependant on room size and requirements.
Background:
When I was living with my partner, I brought with me an Onky875 and a set of 7.1 Q-Acoustic 1000 series speakers which includes the centre, sub, 4x sides and 2x towers. We were planning to move into a larger house so we opted to wait i.e. the AVR was never set up. I had a split/ breakup with my partner so I moved into my parents. To get some use out of the system, I decided to set up the AVR, centre & 2x sides. They didn't like it, it was too loud so it just sat there gathering dust. Recently I have managed to save enough to move into a small house on my own so I'm need to set up again.
New house:
Size (very small): 7.5ft Height x 10ft Length, 13ft Wide.
"=" are the walls
"-" empty space
"+++ " distance
(c) centre
(sF) front surround
(sR) rear surround
(sub) subwoofer
(t) tower
Below is a diagram showing where I plan to have the speakers if I go ahead permanently. For now, just to test everything is working, I only connected (sF)'s & (c). The (sub) doesn't power on. FYI, the (sR)'s & (t)'s are still in their packaging and have never been used/ unsealed i.e. brand new.
Something to consider is that the wall behind the 2x couches backs onto the next door house. They don't tend to moan about volume but I know they can hear me when I'm playing my piano which is situated against the same wall so I don't want to press my luck pushing too much volume.
++++++++++++++++++++ 13ft Length +++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ =<Stairs door> -- TV on wall (Sony 75xf9005) --- <Elec cupboard>----- =
1 = (sF)----------------- (t) ---------- (c)(sub) ------------ (t) --------------------------- (sF) =
0 = -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =
<Front> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ======== kitchen =========
<Window> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =
f =--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <Conny>
t =-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <Conny>
+ = --------------------(sR) 2 x couch ---------- 2 x couch (sR) --------------------------------------------------------------------- =
+ =============-Back wall to neighbour (semi detached) ==========Dining Room ==========
Tech:
Now I know that tech has moved on since this setup was bought. I now have a 4K TV (Sony 75xf9005 Android), Nvidia Shield (2017), Panasonic DMP-UB900 4K Ultra HD,, Amazon 3rd Gen 4K stick and may buy a Vu+ Uno 4K sat receiver. The only reason the setup has been brought out again is because the Sony TV sound isn't loud or immersive enough i.e. Dolby/ Atmos etc.
Usage case:
I watch YouTube for most music. I watch movies using the UHD player, amazon4K stick & shield. I have Disney+, Netflix & Amazon prime installed on all of these devices.
I'm not interested in music streaming, 8K, 4K@120htz or gaming using next gen consoles.
Questions:
Q1: With the room being so small, is Dolby Atmos out of the question? Will 5.1 or 7.1 do and can I get away with "virtual Atmos"?
Q2: With the room being so small (and having the neighbours able to hear), is having an AVR setup overkill Should I just sell all of this and get a sound bar? I don't need the sound to be loud, I just need it be be subtle enough to be immersive and I don't see how a sound bar can do this with only being at the front.
If I keep the AVR setup:
Q3: The Onkyo875 is only 1080p and has no ARC/eARC so I guess that I need to upgrade this straight away. Any suggestions on what to get taking all of the above info into consideration. Sony STRDN1080 or STR-DH790 maybe?
Q4: The sub isn't powering on. Due to the room being small, will I get enough low end from the other speakers or should I defiantly get this fixed and plug it in?
Q5: When connecting the tech, Should I be connecting them all into the AVR then us the Arc/eARC to the TV? Or should I connect everything to the TV (as it is now) and just use the ARC/eARC for everything audio. I guess the latter means I would not benefit from any upscaling from the AVR which in all honest I don't think I would need anyway cos all the tech is 4K capable.
Q6: Tech upgrades: I think the AFTV 4K stick is NOT Atmos capable (5.1 only) so I guess I may need a Cube. I think all the others are Atmos capable.
Answers on a postcard please?
Seriously though, I realise it's a lot of information but any advice would be much appreciated?
Warm regards,
Tagteam
