Advices for a Home theater

[FrantzM]

Hi

I have asked to put together a Home Theater for a friend. It is a blank slate. Room is concrete, 7 x 4 x 3 meters (LxWxH).
Family of 4, they have friends, Seating is one (2?) couche facing the TV (98 inches) no complicated multi seat. multi row arrangements.
So Far I have in mind:
Denon AVR-X3800 or 2800 if it is compatible with Audyssey MultiEQ-X Windows App.
JBL Studio 690 as LCR or anything less expensive but as good...Polk?
JBL Studio 620 for Surrounds again , or less expensive alternatives?
Need suggestions for Atmos/ceiling speakers. I may use 4...?
3 x Monolith M-15 V2m SVS or HSU equivalent or maybe one 15 inches and 2 lesser 12 or 10 inchers. Will go with ported.
Perhaps a miniDSP 2x4 HD to linearize the Subwoofers via MSO. Count me among the fans/convinced.
Some treatment in the very reflexive room , may ask later for advices

Suggestions? Trying to keep the budget low. It's his desire to have good sound. Music but mostly movies.
all,

Long Wall? Short Wall. The family is adamant about a 98 inches TV .. Recommendation is at least 12 feet for viewing distance. That wpuld put them at the back wall.. Not my favorite MLP.

Waiting for your suggestions

Thanks in advance


Peace.

 

[kyuu]

If you're in the US, for less than the price of the JBLs I'd get a set of the Revel F36 with the Revel M16 for surrounds. For Atmos, are you using in-ceiling speakers or something that mounts to the ceiling?

 

[FrantzM]

If you're in the US, for less than the price of the JBLs I'd get a set of the Revel F36 with the Revel M16 for surrounds. For Atmos, are you using in-ceiling speakers or something that mounts to the ceiling?

I’m mounting the speakers on the ceiling. I didn’t think about the Revel speakers.
Thanks.

Peace.

 

[masterhw]

I would forego the miniDSP and utilize A1 Evo on the Denon to get MSO-like results using Audyssey. mild learning curve to getting it set up, but should simplify things in use. Definitely go with the 3800.

 

[TheZebraKilledDarwin]

Room acoustics = sound quality.
Speaker distance = sound quality -> sit as close as possible to the front.
Listening should be along the long axis of the room, LR symmetrical.

Use only identical speakers for the bed (companies calling a different speaker center speaker, does not overcome physics; they often sound very different).

Avoid a different C model, I'd say, at all cost. Because it is the most important channel.

Try to find creative solutions for the positioning problem of the center channel, instead of simply grabbing a smaller speaker as center.
Maybe even no center will sound better? But it's a huge screen and sitting should be aimed to sit as close to the screen as pleasantly possible (biggest vision angle, most realistic surround sound quality).

If dedicated C different model, make sure, that it is capable to be crossed over at the same f as LR speakers and not higher (not claims by manufactuer, but real world measurements).

Sit as far way as possible from the rear wall.

Get identical speakers for the bed, that play at least down 60 Hz (-3 dB) (also surrounds - most ppl make the mistake, to use small surrounds, because they beleive the falsehood, that summing bass @80 or even higher, into a sub was acoustically transparent).

Because: crossover frequency for the rears @80 is way too high: To much of the soundfield energy (thunder, storm, engines) in the rear is lost and the sound collapses, because of the summing to the sub(s).
While it is theoretically true, that we cannot locate or pinpoint lower frequencies, but reality is always more complicated than black/white: we FEEL if a sound with weight was coming from the back (just as we feel the difference, if the sub is placed directly in front of us, or in a corner).

Everyone with capable surrounds, who has never tried it at home, because he simply believed in this theory and the automatic setup routine, can check that by crossing the surrounds lower.
In many cases, also in smaller cinemas that do not have dedicated subs for the rear arrays, it sounds better, to allow, say a 55 Hz surround speaker, to play fullrange and accept the theoretical loss of bass, but avoid the summing of bass into the LCR subs.
Bass per se is nothing. What counts is the coherence and the resulting realism. Bass in the surrounds, not strictly summed @80 into subs for all channels, can result in a much better overall surround soundstage.

Also be aware that with Atmos old truths have not changed:
A good 5.1 setup will not sound as convincing, as a good 7.1 setup. Adding speakers to the height does not make the sound more realistic. The base is the bed, and the base for the bed is the center sound.