Here are some pics of my family room where I have my home theater setup.
I have the speaker locations prewired when we built the house and they are obviously not optimal for good sound. The front sound stage is terrible due to the high speaker locations.
Does anyone have setup advice for how I can make the most of this room based on its limitations, in particular the front sound stage? Thanks
Andrew the house is very nice. You or your wife will not like my suggestion. I love a fireplace but they seem to ruin the TV setup.The TV needs to get out of that corner,possibly in front of those windows and swing the couch around to face the windows and TV. Even though the TV viewing is not that large when you add in the kitchen, where the sound is also spreading to, its huge. Make the two speakers on the window wall the fronts and lower them slightly, put them on the window wall if need be. Give a list of your equiptment if you want any up grade sugestions.
You have a beautiful house and mounting the TV over the fireplace is definitely the way to go. I've had my Plasma mounted in that way for almost a year now and have had NO problems. Your TV would be off the floor and you could also mount that center speaker right above or below the TV. And contrary to the various opinions you will get about neck strain when placing the TV at that height, take my advice that no one in my family is in need of a Chiropractor. The setup actually reminds you of a movie theater. Good luck.
Thanks for the suggestions. The wife won't allow the plasma over the televsion and although I know that arranging the furniture differently might improve the sound room asthetics are still important to me and the wife.
I was thinking of simply putting the front left and right on top of the tv as far apart as they can go and seeing if this is better or worse. I also considered sliding the tv as far right in the cutout as possible and putting the left speaker on a stand next to the tv and putting the right speaker on the left side of the other cutout. Neither are great ideas but might at least make the front sounds stage more cohesive.
Andrew: Have you checked your audio as it stands today with an Audio Sound Meter? By reading the decible output of each current speaker, you may find that the real balance is out of whack. Radio Shack sells a Audio Sound Meter for about $49 list. Also, I cannot see the location of your sub-woofer from the pictures... Is there one and I am just not seeing it?
I do think that the height of the current speakers, especially the fronts must make for a rather dis-embodied sound stage for normal TV viewing. Is the center channel speaker right on top of the TV? If so you must get alot of Left weighted bias as the center and the Left Front are nearly aligned and the Right Front is way off up on its own.
I do like the Idea of moving the TV to the area in front of the windows and thus arranging the furniture to accomodate that setup. If that is not to your liking then how about having the TV at an angle across the left front corner. In other words pull out a bit and angle it?
I think that any way you go here, the front speakers should be lowered. This is a pretty big sound stage, are the speakers working well enough for the room? BTW, nice house, it reminds me of my Mom and Dad's place in Pheonix AZ.
I have setup the room with a sound meter and it helped a little. The sub is hidden in between the couch and the window wall. I played with different spots and this one worked out well.
I think I will disconnect the speakers from the wall in front and put some long wires on them and try them in a few places and see how it goes. I will post back my findings.
Andrew what is in the corner where the 3rd picture is taken from? I'd probably consider the TV on an angle in that spot where you took the picture from, then place the fronts on stands on either side of the tv aimed at the couch. I'd then move the surrounds probably again on stands, one just behind the arm of the couch (just in front of the pilar) and second one same position on the other corner of the couch.
A friend has a room setup VERY similar to this (fire place in same location). That setup works pretty well for him.
The third picture is taken from the entrance to the room coming from the front door so that location is out.
Jim V, I actually do want to do a drop down screen, projector and in walls in the bedroom. I have the attic above the bedroom so wiring will be easier up there. I just need to find a nice piece of furniture for the foot of the bed to house the projector and see if I can make the angles work.
Based on the above comments, I would look into converting a spare room, attic, or lower level into a light controlled, acoustically treated, dedicated theater room with a large screen. While it's true your family room is a beautiful room, it's also a terrible room for HT applications.
