My kitchen and family room are one big room separated by a breakfast bar ( counter top) and no solid wall. This makes the room about 22 feet long and 35 feet wide, and the room is 14 feet high. I recently purchased a Samsung 50" DLP and now need to build my system. I have about 2500k to spend on speakers, receiver, and dvd player - including wires, cables, etc. Any ideas? My biggest obstacle, is that my section couch is centered in the room, but the right side of it is almost against the wall, while the other side is about 6 feet from a wall that is on an angle and has an area 9.25" wide that is perpendicular to the side of the couch.
The front and center speakers can be towers or bookshelf, as they will be sitting in a custom built wall unit that will be built once I choose my speakers. The surrounds must be wall mounted. I also have a wall 8 feet behind my couch that could have either wall mounts or bookshelfs on it (this would allow for a 6.1 or 7.1).
Please help! I'm dying to get this stuff going but am afraid to start buying without a good plan. I have been searching the boards until my eyes hurt, but have not found a thread that would really answer my questions. Seems as though most HT set-ups are in smaller rooms.
Matthew - That type of construction is not that uncommon today, it really should not present a large problem to any qualified dealer who has had experience in the homes in your area. Just curious, but why have you not sought assistance from a dealer? I would suggest you first ask around to see if anyone in the neighborhood has experience with a dealer they can recommend or recommend staying away from. Take a drawing of your room (if this is new construction take the blue prints) to a few dealers to get some opinions and select from the ones you feel gave the best advice and showed the most interest to do a site survey and propose a bid for you. Make the drawing as accurate as possible with measurements and placement of furniture and architectural details. Unless I am misunderstanding your question I would say you are looking for rather efficient speakers with a subwoofer that has a 12" woofer and a decent sized amplifier. But I don't understand why the sectional is your "biggest obstacle". Maybe you could explain more about that problem. Otherwise, choose from the equipment that a single dealer can provide. If you are unhappy with the sound you do not want to be in a position where one dealer says the problem lies with the product you purchased from another dealer and vice versa. You will never get the problem fixed until you go to a third dealer who will tell you to scrap all the stuff you bought and start over because they don't know why somebody would do yada yada whatever. Maybe I am missing the point of your question. Are you looking for someone out here to suggest the exact products you should buy? What have you been looking at and what is available to you locally?
J. Vigne, thanks for your advice. I didn't seek help from a dealer because I thought my budget was too small for them. I guess I was asking for advice on specific equipment. My biggest question is although my room is large by dimensions, I only want to really worry about how it sounds if I am sitting on the couch. In other words, I don't need to fill the entire room with a home theater experience, just focus it on the area we'll be sitting.
What I meant by my sectional couch being an obstacle is that I don't have room for speaker stands or floor speakers and I need a wall mounted speaker. To follow up with that, the right side of the couch is up against a wall while the left is sort of floating in the room. To the left of the counch is sort of the edge of a wall, which is only 9.25" wide (limiting the size of the of wall speaker I can put there)...ie, a 12" speaker would stick out on either side and look bad.
My ultimate question is equip recommendations. Thanks....
J. Vigne
Unregistered guest
Posted on
Matthew, the nature of a sound wave means you will fill the room no matter where you sit. In many ways a large room is better for sound reproduction since you have the ability to do more to control the reflected sound you will hear. So I don't think you should be concerned about the size. The shape of the room might present some difficulties but that will depend on how flexible you can be in placing the equipment. Surround speakers most often go to the rear of the seating position rather than directly to the side anyway. I would think the amount of money you are willing to spend should be sufficient to get the interest of a salesperson. Just realize that most are working on a commission or at least expected to meet a minimum sales figure and don't expect them to spend hours with you on a busy day. Go in when the store is quiet and you can sit down with a salesperson or possibly make an appointment. Unless you live quite a distance away an on sight survey will probably be best but a good drawing can often suffice.
As far as equipment recommendations go, you should be able to get so many you will not know which to pick. I don't suggest anything on these forums since I think you should go listen and decide for yourself. Research is good but you are the person who has to live with the system. As I said above I would suggest you pick your equipment from one dealer to avoid a problem in the future. As a final suggestion, if a dealer spends time with you please give that store a shot at your business even if you see lower prices on the internet. Most dealers will work with you on price and the value of a person to resolve a problem instead of having to ship back a problem piece can be worth the difference in pricing. Good luck!