Some please help....losing my mind here

[eurovw89]

I am doing new construction on my basement and setting up a room for HT:
The room is (give or take a lil) 11W x 18L x 8H
My listen center is 8' from the front (10' from the back wall)

My T.V. and center channel are in the middle of the front wall...center channel is the same height as my fromt standing speakers, but below the T.V.

My side surrounds are on stands which make them within inches of ear level.

My rear surrounds are going to be (center of speaker) 7' off the floor...due to the fact they we behind my bar and dont want anyone knock'n their heads on em and making them fall.

So what I am trying to figure out is the distance, backwards, from the seating position to my side surrounds, and the distance from each side wall for my rear surrounds.

This 7.1 speaker placement and any other placement is making my head spin....everything talks about 90-100 degrees from listen center, 120-130 degrees...etc...how in the do I measure this....lol Why cant there be anything with measurements, etc....for placing speakers. I googled, yahooed, etc...could not find anything "degrees'

I appreciate any help, tips, and insight that anyone sends my way. I am talking pictures of the process, just need to load em on the computer and post them....they will be soon hopefully.

Thanks a mill,
Jeff

[htsteve]

Jeff,

First of all, you will love a dedicated room. I built one in my basement a coulpe of years ago. It was similar in size, 11 X 16 X 8. The back of my couch is about 3 feet from the back wall.

As to your question a very good one. I will suggest two ideas based on how my speakers are set up. They sound quite excellent.

* My sitting position is a triangle with my main speakers. 9 feet on all sides.
They are about two feet from the front wall and a foot off the side wall.

* All 5 speakers are pointed to a spot about 6-12 inches behind my head. This means the mains are towed in quite a bit. My rear speakers are towed in severely, in order to hit that spot. They are approximately 1 foot off each wall.

* As for the side speakers, they should be at least at your side on the walls, and maybe a little bit forward of your sitting position.

I've since done acoustic treatments to the room, with very nice results

I've attached pictures for reference.


Hope this helps.

[eurovw89]

Thanks HTSteve.....love the picture....looks amazing.
Thanks again everyone...I am in the process of getting the picture to post. My rear surrounds are going to be (on the back wall) two feet from each side wall. Does anyone think that I should go closer to the sidewalls?

[eurovw89]

Jeff,

First of all, you will love a dedicated room. I built one in my basement a coulpe of years ago. It was similar in size, 11 X 16 X 8. The back of my couch is about 3 feet from the back wall.

As to your question a very good one. I will suggest two ideas based on how my speakers are set up. They sound quite excellent.

* My sitting position is a triangle with my main speakers. 9 feet on all sides.
They are about two feet from the front wall and a foot off the side wall.

* All 5 speakers are pointed to a spot about 6-12 inches behind my head. This means the mains are towed in quite a bit. My rear speakers are towed in severely, in order to hit that spot. They are approximately 1 foot off each wall.

* As for the side speakers, they should be at least at your side on the walls, and maybe a little bit forward of your sitting position.

I've since done acoustic treatments to the room, with very nice results

I've attached pictures for reference.


Hope this helps.

Steve....what kind of treatments did you use...did u make em urself or buy em?

[htsteve]

Steve....what kind of treatments did you use...did u make em urself or buy em?

A friend gave me three panels. They are likely good DIY (1/4" drywall, insulation, and then covered in fabric). I recovered them myself in a heavy felt. I used two on the side walls for first point reflections. The last one I cut into triangles and put them up in the corners (which you can see in the picture of the back of the room).

The rest of them are from Real Traps. They work quite well.


Hope this helps.

[eurovw89]

what the 'triangles' for?

[htsteve]

what the 'triangles' for?

Corners are like horns (especially the upper corners). They project out and add blare to the room. By putting an absorbant triangle in the corner, the blare is greatly reduced or elimated. The resulting improvement is better soundstage and some detail improvement.


Hope this helps.

[eurovw89]

I think treatments are putting a new spin on my head....once I think I finally figured it out, something else comes along....JEEEZ lol

Does anyone know of some really good reading material online (free), websites, etc.....that could possibly help

[htsteve]

Jeff,

I totally understand. Room acoustics can be a bit intimidating. Good idea to search and learn. I first invested in a good gear. then built a very good room. The room treatments happened over about 1.5 years or so. I only bought a little at a time, that way I could understand what impact they were making. The corner triangles were actually the last thing I did.

Simple things like carpeting and curtains on windows are treatments. Also, look at the picture of the rear of my room. There is a bookcase on the back wall. I arranged all the books so they varied alot. Thick book next to thin book. Some on the front edge, some back. The whole bookcase is a diffusor. The sounds from the front hit the bookcase and are greatly dissipated. It was a free diffusor, the only cost was my time moving it there.

Here would be my order of room treatments:

* First point reflections - floor (Carpeting or a rug is a great place to start)
* First point reflections - side walls
* Bass traps
* First point reflections - ceilings
* Back walls
* Directly on ether side of the listening position (this might be where your 6th and 7th speakers are, so it might not be applicable to you).


Hope this helps.

[eurovw89]

Htstever when you say "First point reflections - side walls" is that with the mirror trick? and would a "bass trap" be the same as a 'subdude'?

[htsteve]

Jeff,

Yes, the first point reflection side wall is the mirror trick. The same also applies to the ceiling. That's how I figured out the ceiling 1st point reflection.
The same would apply to the floor, but with carpeting or a good rug, that tends to be easy to deal with.

I wasn't familiar with the Subdude, so I Googled it. The only audio related item was a subwoofer isolation platform from Auralex. This is different from a bass trap. The subdude is an isolation platform. It will reduce (and maybe greatly reduce) the amount of vibration that the sub transmits to the other componenets in the room (depending on how well built the sub is). Less vibration in the system is a good thing. I've heard first hand the imporvements that isolation devices (spikes on speakers, 'feet' under digital components, etc.) can make (pretty cheap and effective upgrades, IMO). And the Subdude does not cost much, so it will likely be a pretty cost effective purchase.

Bass sound waves can accumulate in the corners. They did in my room. So the bass traps were put in the front corners on an angle behind my main speakers. The improvement in the amount of bass (more) and quality of bass (the depth of the bass, integration with the rest of the system) was instantaneous and impressive. On the absorbers on my back wall (reference that picture again), I actually mounted them on brackets so they created a space between them and the wall. This had the effect of creating 'mini bass traps'. They work quite well. This was a suggestion from the owner of Real Traps (yes, I dealt with one of the owners directly!).


Hope this helps.

[eurovw89]

Wow....again impressed. and thanks again for all the helpful info. I am uploading my pictures on here sometime today.

[eurovw89]

Here are the pictures finally:

The back wall where the rear surrounds are going…you can see the speaker wire hanging down. I pulled wires for 6.1 and 7.1, just incase I don’t have my two rear surrounds by the time this is finished



The front right of the wall where T.V. is going



Front wall center



Rear right wall



Another picture of back wall



Left side of front wall….the reason there is insulation is cuz the furnace is on the other side, and “trying” keep the sound down a lil



Right side of front wall…..there was a wall there, but decided it would be to “closed” if I didn’t open it up….to turned into a lil countertop. When I have poker games in the other room, everyone and talk without walking up to the “door”. I have it roughed in for a door, so when the time comes to sell I can throw up some studs, doors, and make it an extra bedroom



Another straight on of rear wall



Rear again



Front wall again

[htsteve]

Jeff,

A dedicated space will be quite excellent. I built mine two years ago, a dedicated HT room in my basement.

Some quick thoughts:

* Did you wire up for a projector? If yes, do you have backup wiring for it? My main cable is an HDMI, but I also put in componenet cables as backup (in case either end didn't work at some point).

* I assume you will get a heavier curtain for that doorwall.

* What colors are you painting? My room is quite dark (it's not a family room setup, so I could set it up for optimsl video performance). Dark grey screen wall, dark navy blue walls and black ceiling.

* Good idea on insulation. It does help. If there are rooms above, don't forget to insulate the ceiling.

* Another idea is to put in resilient channel before the drywall goes on. This decouples the drywall from the studs. It's a great way to control the very low bass that you feel. That low bass is like water, it will leak out everywhere. I've attached pictures (although they're small).

* Front right wall where the half wall opening is. You might consider putting some kind of 'closet' door(s) on it. You can keep them closed if you want (preserving the sound integrity of the room) but have the option to open them up and use the space.

* What are the overall dimensions?

[whoaru99]

Dolby Home Theater Speaker Setup Guide

This just gives angles too but also some visual layout for you to see.

I'd think using Excel, or similar, one could whip up some equations to convert into distances based on seating location. Or, you can just wing it using the visual cues from the Dolby guide.