Home Theater Audio

[Psychorugby]

In the VERY beginning planning stages of wiring my new house for sound. I was wondering if anyone had any expertise to lend when It comes to home theater audio. I will have a living room downstairs that will be primarily regular TV watching, so I'm debating even wiring it up... and a huge loft area upstairs that will serve as the "theater" room. I have a set of Onkyo 7.1 speakers that sound amazing, but are pretty bulky, as well as a pretty nice Pioneer receiver. I am open to any and all suggestions, with the one stipulation that the price not be astronomical. I have no clue when it comes to how far away certain things need to be from each other either.

[maverick0817]

In the VERY beginning planning stages of wiring my new house for sound. I was wondering if anyone had any expertise to lend when It comes to home theater audio. I will have a living room downstairs that will be primarily regular TV watching, so I'm debating even wiring it up... and a huge loft area upstairs that will serve as the "theater" room. I have a set of Onkyo 7.1 speakers that sound amazing, but are pretty bulky, as well as a pretty nice Pioneer receiver. I am open to any and all suggestions, with the one stipulation that the price not be astronomical. I have no clue when it comes to how far away certain things need to be from each other either.

What is your price range?

I am a Huge fan of JBL.

My current setup is 2 pair's of JBL l820's, a JBL LC2 center, and Klipsch RW-12D sub and a Pioneer Elite-52 Reciever.

All the speakers are wall mountable and I am extremely pleased with the setup.

[1997cobra]

Older Klipsch stuff is a super good bang for the buck, as well as yamaha recievers and disc readers. As for speaker positioning, it will depend on speaker size, how / where it is vented, and how solid the walls are etc...here is a start as far as positioning. Each speaker will have to be adjusted individually for optimum quality. I'm not sure if youre game for a new receiver, but most newer yamahas come with their "YPAO" which is great for amateurs. Here is a quick description from their website:

Yamaha’s YPAO system uses a small microphone and sophisticated equalization to automatically set the best sound for any room, no matter where the speakers are. First, it checks the speaker connections and phase of each speaker. Then it sends out tones which are captured by the microphone to analyze the room acoustics and sets a variety of parameters, such as the speaker size, the distance of the speakers and even the sound pressure level, etc. Until it achieves the best sound conditions for your room and you don't have to do anything!

So, basically when you set it all up, Play around with it. Stuff a speaker into a corner with an inch of clearance, listen to a few tunes with a wide range of tone (not garbage hip hop). The, pull it way out of the corner, listen again. There is a difference that most people (even my grand parents) can hear. play with it till youre happy

[Psychorugby]

Good advice! I don't have a price range yet since I'm still learning. I was debating having the builder pre-wire the house, but I think I am going to try it myself. The speakers and receiver I currently own were purchased on an extreme budget. That's the only reason I can tolerate the size of the speakers. They sound great though. I bet I haven't even used half of the functionality of the receiver. The builder was charging $2,000 for Klipsch 5.1 speakers, which sounded pricey and led to this thread.

[1997cobra]

That depends on the speakers, some klipsch speakers are big bucks. If you want to see real high dollar stuff, look at the B&W 800 series. You're looking at 7k per speaker lol. And their nautalus is even more. The big question is, how much do you want to spend, and how picky are you about sound. A good reciever (royal, old Yamaha etc) and a set of older klipsch speakers are usually enough for a casual listener

Edit

Every good, hi fidelity speaker is big..if you want small, sound will be compromised

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[Steve-Oh]

+1 for Yamaha. I have and older 6.1 Yamaha system in my basement and that thing sounds amazing. Now, with the updated info from 1997cobra, it would be a no brainer for me to buy their products again.

[Psychorugby]

That depends on the speakers, some klipsch speakers are big bucks. If you want to see real high dollar stuff, look at the B&W 800 series. You're looking at 7k per speaker lol. And their nautalus is even more. The big question is, how much do you want to spend, and how picky are you about sound. A good reciever (royal, old Yamaha etc) and a set of older klipsch speakers are usually enough for a casual listener

Edit

Every good, hi fidelity speaker is big..if you want small, sound will be compromised

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I'm a little more than a casual listener, but no pro by any stretch of the imagination. The budget setup I have now is fine for our small living room, but I would really like to see something nicer for the giant (20x17) loft we'll have. I'll definitely check into Yamaha receivers. I could see spending $2-3k on the system once we have everything else in place... still have to find a suitable TV or projector too.

[Blackmage]

Just curious, is the house already built and the walls finished? Just thinking out loud here, but if the house is being built, get a lot of that wiring done before the walls are finished, otherwise it could be a pain in the ass to do it later haha.

[Drake]

^Exactly what i was going to say because fish sticking the whole house would suck balllllsss.

[Blackmage]

using conduit is extremely helpful as well, if you need to go between floors or w/e, pulling wires is a breeze then! I had to pull some networking cable at a business we acquired and everything was stapled inside the walls.... Needless to say there is now conduit running along the walls and ceilings instead of inside the walls. lol

[Psychorugby]

Just curious, is the house already built and the walls finished? Just thinking out loud here, but if the house is being built, get a lot of that wiring done before the walls are finished, otherwise it could be a pain in the ass to do it later haha.

They haven't broken ground yet, so I will be sneaking around to wire the speakers myself. I'm actually online looking for wire right now. The builder wanted $530 just to wire the downstairs living room, and $230 for the back patio. I figured for that price, I could buy good wire and still have money left over to buy some new speakers.

Here's what I currently use:

http://reviews.cnet.com/surround-speaker-systems/onkyo-sks-ht540/4505-7868_7-31930496.html

http://reviews.cnet.com/av-receivers/pioneer-vsx-9040txh/4505-6466_7-33974899.html

[1997cobra]

I'm a little more than a casual listener, but no pro by any stretch of the imagination. The budget setup I have now is fine for our small living room, but I would really like to see something nicer for the giant (20x17) loft we'll have. I'll definitely check into Yamaha receivers. I could see spending $2-3k on the system once we have everything else in place... still have to find a suitable TV or projector too.

I'll check some stuff out tonight for you. Its hard to tell what is a good speaker and what isn't..please, do not fall for the bose garbage

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[Psychorugby]

I'll check some stuff out tonight for you. Its hard to tell what is a good speaker and what isn't..please, do not fall for the bose garbage

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Haha, thanks. I like Bose, but I don't want to spend the cash. Honestly, I like them for the service they've given my parents over the years, not for the actual product.

[1997cobra]

Haha, thanks. I like Bose, but I don't want to spend the cash. Honestly, I like them for the service they've given my parents over the years, not for the actual product.

Older bose is cool, they really used to be a good company. They are total trash now.

so, what style speakers would you want? bookshelf?floor standing?in wall? Do you have any HIFI audio shops around you? if you do, stop in and ask questions, and take a listen. Most will have klipsch's reference series, which are very nice. They will also most likely have some B&W stuff also. The rest will be kind of random from what ive seen

and speaker porn

and amp/ reciever porn

[Psychorugby]

Older bose is cool, they really used to be a good company. They are total trash now.

so, what style speakers would you want? bookshelf?floor standing?in wall? Do you have any HIFI audio shops around you? if you do, stop in and ask questions, and take a listen. Most will have klipsch's reference series, which are very nice. They will also most likely have some B&W stuff also. The rest will be kind of random from what ive seen

I wouldn't mind the front speakers being floor or bookshelf speakers. I think I'd really prefer wall-mounted or in-ceiling speakers. Like I said, this is a blank slate and I am totally clueless. That first picture you posted looks awesome!

[CompOrangeSN95]

I'm using a Yamaha RX-V673 receiver and Klipsch RB-41II front, center, and rear speakers with a Premier Acoustic PA-120 Sub. I couldn't be happier with it. Just my $.02

[Psychorugby]

Among other reasons, I cannot wait for the house to be done so I can hook up a new TV, new receiver, and new speakers. Although I might use my current speakers for a while. I also need to find some discrete speakers for the downstairs living room.

[1997cobra]

I would sick with the stuff you have for a while. Take your time speaker shopping. Try to listen to a wide variety before making a decision

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[Psychorugby]

What gauge speaker wire should I be looking at? The longest run to any one speaker would be less than 50 feet I think.