Lets talk home theater speakers

[MmmHamSandwich]

You've committed the first sin in asking for advice on audio equipment.

No budget.

Without posting a budget everyone trying to help is just taking shots in the dark.

I'd highly recommend steering clear of 7-point-whatever systems. You're taking your money and dividing it up even further only to dump it in the weakest part of your system (surround speakers) that gain you only a slight edge in surround soundstage that realistically few formats are going to take advantage of. Plus if you're not able to properly setup the speakers (judging by your drawing this might be an issue) you're just shooting yourself in the foot anyway. A well setup 5.1 system with better speakers is going to turd on a poorly setup 7.1 with lower quality speakers.

Even then, question whether you really need surround. If you're heavy into action movies or videogames, maybe you need it. Maybe you don't. You're going to be able to afford much better sound sticking to a stereo setup, but that may not fit your needs. From the sound of things you love your surround though!

Also used equipment is your friend. Audiophiles generally take good care of their equipment, and you can get good deals. Sadly I'm not sure I can recommend Audiogon anymore. A few gems can be found on craigs sometimes.

One last thing to consider. Speakers are always the best place to invest your money, second comes amps (not receivers lawlz). I know a couple friends who gave me shit for how much I spent on my 2.1 system versus my fairly budget tv, saying I should have put more money in the TV and yadda yadda yadda. Thing is those nice speakers you invested in today are still going to be just as nice 20 years from now if you take care of them. Plus, unless there is some bizarre totally unexpected departure in the next 50 years from how speakers have worked since forever, they're virtually guaranteed to work with any system well into the foreseeable future. That tempting $1800 tv will be surpassed by a $700 one in less than 5, and totally obsolete in less than 10.

[Vracer111]

Stands would work to get the surrounds where you need, you could but the right surround off the side of the sofa, maybe use 1" diameter PVC piping to create a conduit for the wiring and place it against the front and side wall for the LH side and run straight down the RH side under the side couch with RH surround being on stand in the corner of the two sofas (with the rear sofa moved closer to the display and the dog crate behind it...)

[litemup]

Originally Posted by Trashed675

I'm just now getting into sound(quality over quantity), and need advise, thoughts, and general input.

Never say "audiophile" and "surround sound" together.

[Vracer111]

Originally Posted by litemup

Never say "audiophile" and "surround sound" together.

...because there's no such thing as multi-channel SACD's or reference quality audio tracks on Blu-ray's that are the equivalent of well mastered SACD's....

Trashed675, just an idea on room/equipment layout...have no idea of the scale and proportions of your room and furniture but here it is:



The blue line is PVC used as conduit. Since MS paint is limited to 90 degree rotation the chair could be turned more like 45 degrees...

You need air space behind the main seating for proper acoustics (1/3 distance of room length would be near ideal)... also if you could hang some acoustically absorptive and diffusive material on the wall behind the listening area that will help as well. These can be DIY and look very nice at the same time... visual art while at the same time an acoustically functional device.


Acoustic absorptive designs:






Acoustic diffusive designs:

[Trashed675]

Originally Posted by Vracer111

...because there's no such thing as multi-channel SACD's or reference quality audio tracks on Blu-ray's that are the equivalent of well mastered SACD's....

Trashed675, just an idea on room/equipment layout...have no idea of the scale and proportions of your room and furniture but here it is:



The blue line is PVC used as conduit. Since MS paint is limited to 90 degree rotation the chair could be turned more like 45 degrees...

You need air space behind the main seating for proper acoustics (1/3 distance of room length would be near ideal)... also if you could hang some acoustically absorptive and diffusive material on the wall behind the listening area that will help as well. These can be DIY and look very nice at the same time... visual art while at the same time an acoustically functional device.


Acoustic absorptive designs:






Acoustic diffusive designs:

I'll be sure to look into getting some acoustic art. I tried putting the dog crate in between the wall and the couch last night. 2 problems,
1) The speaker outlet connects from the TV wall to the opposite window wall(only 2 channel) right where the crate would be. He only just turned 1, so he still likes to scratch and chew, probably both the couch and the speaker wire sticking out of the wall.
2) The wife walked into the room, took one look at it and said no(with that voice that says there is NOT going to even be an argument). It does look out of place a quite funky.

The only real rearranging that would look okay is to swap the cat tower and the dog crate, and to swap the couch on the right with the chair on the left.

I attached a more detailed picture that should show an idea. In between the kitchen and the living room, there is a hallway closet. It is open on the top, i'm guessing to allow airflow or to put decorations. It would be an almost perfect spot for the far right speaker. The problem is getting the wire up there. Wood floors so i can't go under and i can't string it across the hallway/dining area.

I stumbled across powerline adapters the other day. Theoretically it uses the powerline to transmit(primarily) network, and other AV signals. If its just a pass through(i think it is), It SHOULD work, right?

Thoughts?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...=-1&isNodeId=1


KEY: lightning bolt = power outlet, *=audio outlet/inlet

[Vracer111]

Unfortunately your receiver doesn't have speaker pre-outs, you would have an option of going with wireless speakers for the surrounds if you had pre-outs...

http://www.aperionaudio.com/aperion-...eaker-system-1

[Trashed675]

Experiment time. I bought a d-link powerline kit(HERE) and heres my plan. We all know you can use cat 5 as speaker wire, so i'm going to put one of these on the wall outlet right behind my receiver and the other on top of the closet. I'll then cut a cat5 in half, saving the prong on each side to plug into the adapters, then the exposed wires of the cable will be used as the speaker wires. The speaker signal should pass through the adapter, into the powerline, to the other adapter and into the speakers....thats the plan anyways. If it doesn't work, I can always return it.