The whole 7.1 HT enchilada HELP

[jsound]

Layout, with back wall as reference:
-partial rectangle 18.5 ft by 13.5 ft, right side is open except for closet, bookcase and kitchen counter by soundstage

-viewing area is L shaped with back wall (primary) and left wall with a wood stove at the vertex. The hearth encroaches 5 ft 8 in on either side of the vertex.

-soundstage 6.5 ft on center (doors left and right)

-ceiling is vaulted; left side 7.5 ft and peak at the partial wll 10 ft

Today, I just finished gutting the room. We are looking at open trusses and stud walls. For the surrounds I bought RC65i rear and RC80i side and Monster XPHP-CI cable. These are the only puchases made toward the 50 in Plasma screen butt-kicking system HT system.

My questions
How far from the wall edges should the rear speakers be mounted? Is the convention to target the prime area, (rear couch) and let the rest of the sounds fall where they may?

Should the sides, RC80I (ceiling) be off the right and left shoulders of the prime area? Should I angle speaker near the peak to offset the slope of the ceiling?

Should I cheat the rears or sides to more envelop the left side?

The rest of the system:
I plan to buy a Denon AVR 985S.

What Polk towers, center and sub are timber matched for a complemented system?

Am I making a fundamental mistake by not buying the components and testing before installation?

For my education and out of respect for your experience, I have read the 40+ page Polk handbook, read dozens of threads, visited dozens of websites. With all the details, I am one step from turning into a blithering idiot.

Regards,
John S

[Frank Z]

Is there any way you can post a few pics of the room? I'm having a hard time visualizing what you're working with. Even a bitmap (paintbrush) drawing of the floor plan would help.

As far as buying and testing the components before hand is concerned, it really wouldn't help you much at this point. The accoustic characteristics of the space you're working with are going to change drastically when you hang the sheetrock.

[reeltrouble1]

Agree a picture would be helpful. Oh, if you can I would suggest returning your MC wire, plenty of wire at Home Depot, Radio Shack, Parts Express, etc that is just as good or better and not as costly.

As far as the speakers the Polk RTi, is there Reference Home Theater line. They are not the most musical speaker (Lsi) but are fine HT speakers, the RTi 10 and 12 towers, seem to need lots of power to make them sing. I dont own them, but there are so many posts here about the power they need.

RT1

RT1

[jsound]

I made a drawing in microsoft Paint. How do I upload?

[Vr3MxStyler2k3]

Post New Reply -
*When the reply button loads*
*scroll down*
*there will be a button called "Manage Attachments"*
*There will be 5 spaces to upload pics*
*start uploading*

[jsound]

hopefull this works

[Frank Z]

Based on your drawing I'd suggest a 5.1 system using direct radiating speakers for the rear channels.

[Dennis Gardner]

The sloped ceiling makes me want to mount sides in the side walls and rears in the rear walls @ 6 foot high levels. This would be preferable to me than having the ceiling speakers actually 2 foot lower/higher left to right. Distances should remain even if you can left to right.

Edit: I agree with Frank about preferring 5.1 to 7.1 for your setup. Side speakers should actually be a bit behind your seating if possible and that puts them pretty close to the rears. Leaves more amp power for 5 channels. I went back to 5.1 with a similar size room as yours from the 13X24 room that housed my 7.1 in my last house.

[BIZILL]

agree with frank. with no side wall, it would be weird to just place a speaker in the middle of the liveable area. go 5.1 for sure, unless you can build or create an island where the right side surround would sit with a stand or go tower speaker in that locale.

[jsound]

First off, thanks for your advice. Sid the Kid. It took a day to upload. Once I realized the site dosen't like 1 Mb maps.... reeltrouble1 I bought the surrounds because the retailer guy said "better speakers." We will be listening to music too. FrankZ my immediate goal is to nail the location of my rear and side speakers.
I'm kinda set on 7.1. When the industry migrates, I don't want to regret not upgrading. However, a well tuned 5.1 is better than a average 7.1 install. The secondary viewing area may need to be sacrificed. I read about direct radiating speakers vs dipole. I assume the suggestion of radiating speaker is due to the lack of reflecting areas. The RC80i and RC65i posess aimable tweeters.

Three things can happen when sound hits a wall. It can be reflected, absorbed or diffused. Polk documentation states to have absorbing materials in the front half (main stage) and sound diffusers in the back half of the room (Polk Home Theater handbook p28).
-I could use sound absorbing material like 440 Sound Barrier (Home Depot) or cork.
-all walls to be insulated
-diffusing window shades on the exterior side wall,
-coupling and the dreaded standing wave must be defeated!
As stated, the HT room is bare studs and vaulted trusses. I'm upgrading my outlet/light circuits from 14 to 12 gauge. The HT is getting a unique line. The weather is still warm but it won't last.