Looking to create new Living Room Surround Sound Setup for new apartment

[NerroEx]

Hello yall

I am very new here and I have no idea where to start with this. My budget is $1500. I am looking for a 7.1.2 setup ( I understand that means 7 surrounding you, 1 sub, and 2 speakers above). My step-dad has a yamaha receiver he is giving to me but I Have no idea what the specs are. When I get back home I will look it up and see what it says. I recently saw the AsciLab F6B's, but I don't know how to purchase here in the USA. I intend to have a lot of traffic in my house, my hose being where we watch lots of movies, football/baseball night, ppv nights, lots of netflix, and Cyberpunk 2077 Gaming with surround. Any and all help will be so much appreciated.

 

[staticV3]

Hi @NerroEx! Welcome to ASR.

I recently saw the AsciLab F6B

The F6B costs $400-450 per speaker (incl. shipping) and can only be ordered in pairs.

Is $1500 your total budget? Then Ascilab is out of the question.

 

[NerroEx]

Hi @NerroEx! Welcome to ASR.


The F6B costs $400-450 per speaker (incl. shipping) and can only be ordered in pairs.

Is $1500 your total budget? Then Ascilab is out of the question.

Yes for now it’s my total budget. My grandmother has two speakers she used for music so I intend to use those , and I’m going to send a picture of a receiver my step dad has . Idk if I can use it for that (7.1.2). Idk if I shouldn’t use different brand speakers and stuff, which is why I want help ! Thank you for the response (no that Panasonic thing at the top isn’t one I’m going to use)

 

[staticV3]

and I’m going to send a picture of a receiver my step dad has . Idk if I can use it for that (7.1.2)

It says 7.1 on the front, meaning that this AVR does not support height (overhead) speakers.

 

[Jiraya369]

1500 for a whole setup like that is rough and from what i've researched, 7.1 isn't that massive from 5.1 for movies but only worthwhile for games.

If we just consider that a subwoofer like the RSL Speedwoofer 10e, a 300 dollar sub is "good enough" then you have 1200 for cables and speakers, let's say 1100 for speakers.

7.x.2, that's 9 speakers. 122 dollars per speaker. Only the Edifier MR3 comes to mind, 120 USD per pair.

I'd say you could do an Elac DB63 (500) as mains and then MR3 (120x3= 360 for 6, 1 will be extra) as surrounds setup and you can use one as center if you want. But those edifiers are meant for close, desktop listening, it's crucial to get them completely in line with your ears and not to think of too loud output.

Main issue is atmos/height channel stuff. Firstly idk if your receiver will even play that, i'm not too knowledgeable on receivers, and secondly atmos is a strictly luxury item so things are either more expensive or something, though i must say haven't researched too much on this so take what i say here with a grain of salt.

I'd just say invest in a good pair of speakers (like the one i mentioned) and add a sub (the one i mentioned is great) and you'd be happy enough for the most part, you can add the rest as you go along but why not start out like this? you can get a Minidsp UMIK-1 and do some corrections on your pc or something and see if your AVR allows you to put in EQ on speakers, that's it. Get started and continue with stuff later on.

And if your room is going to be too busy im sorry but even 5.1 should be out of the question let alone 7.1. People would be tripping on all the wires and kids would push the speakers and stuff. Maybe someone else can chime in on this but I don't think you should really look at this sort of setup with a busy room. Only with in-wall speakers can busy rooms be tackled easily. Otherwise it's a game of luck and I can't trust kids around my stuff, I love em but I always have to hide my stuff lmao

 

[vsch]

If you're open to buying used, you can often find a full set of five KEF HTS-3001s for around $200–300 — sometimes even seven for about $100 more. Pair those with a quality subwoofer (e.g., SVS SB-1000 or similar, unless the kit HTB2/Kube sub is included) and a Denon AVR with Audyssey XT32. That setup, combined with @OCA ’s excellent free A1 Acoustica room correction software, will give you a surprisingly capable multichannel system at reasonable SPL levels. A1 Acoustica makes a massive difference, and it’s absolutely worth trying -- this extension to Audyssey is much better than the stock version coming with Denon AVRs.

 

[NerroEx]

1500 for a whole setup like that is rough and from what i've researched, 7.1 isn't that massive from 5.1 for movies but only worthwhile for games.

If we just consider that a subwoofer like the RSL Speedwoofer 10e, a 300 dollar sub is "good enough" then you have 1200 for cables and speakers, let's say 1100 for speakers.

7.x.2, that's 9 speakers. 122 dollars per speaker. Only the Edifier MR3 comes to mind, 120 USD per pair.

I'd say you could do an Elac DB63 (500) as mains and then MR3 (120x3= 360 for 6, 1 will be extra) as surrounds setup and you can use one as center if you want. But those edifiers are meant for close, desktop listening, it's crucial to get them completely in line with your ears and not to think of too loud output.

Main issue is atmos/height channel stuff. Firstly idk if your receiver will even play that, i'm not too knowledgeable on receivers, and secondly atmos is a strictly luxury item so things are either more expensive or something, though i must say haven't researched too much on this so take what i say here with a grain of salt.

I'd just say invest in a good pair of speakers (like the one i mentioned) and add a sub (the one i mentioned is great) and you'd be happy enough for the most part, you can add the rest as you go along but why not start out like this? you can get a Minidsp UMIK-1 and do some corrections on your pc or something and see if your AVR allows you to put in EQ on speakers, that's it. Get started and continue with stuff later on.

And if your room is going to be too busy im sorry but even 5.1 should be out of the question let alone 7.1. People would be tripping on all the wires and kids would push the speakers and stuff. Maybe someone else can chime in on this but I don't think you should really look at this sort of setup with a busy room. Only with in-wall speakers can busy rooms be tackled easily. Otherwise it's a game of luck and I can't trust kids around my stuff, I love em but I always have to hide my stuff lmao

I wouldn't mind upping my budget to 2000$ but that would be including everything. My grandmother left me two speakers she had (I think they were decently loud, idk about quality) that I would probably use as the rear surround. I would buy the ELAC Debut Reference B6.2 Bookshelf Speakers (Pair) for the front and then the ELAC Debut 2.0 C6.2 Center Channel Speaker. So would the MR3's suffice as the side surround for a living room? I wouldn't mind getting a new receiver either. I can look into ATMOS ones that don't completely break the bank.

Besides Movies and Netflix, I absolutely am always on Cyberpunk 2077. I 100% want to be completely immersed into the game with surround, and other things like MGS3 remake, FF7R (that would benefit and reallhy immerse me.)

I def don't expect to have kids over haha but I wouldn't mind getting some shielding for running cables on the wall to the ceiling and back around.

I wouldn't mind starting on a 5.1.2, but I think I can muscle out a 7.1.2 since I have 2 already.

 

[NerroEx]

If you're open to buying used, you can often find a full set of five KEF HTS-3001s for around $200–300 — sometimes even seven for about $100 more. Pair those with a quality subwoofer (e.g., SVS SB-1000 or similar, unless the kit HTB2/Kube sub is included) and a Denon AVR with Audyssey XT32. That setup, combined with @OCA ’s excellent free A1 Acoustica room correction software, will give you a surprisingly capable multichannel system at reasonable SPL levels. A1 Acoustica makes a massive difference, and it’s absolutely worth trying -- this extension to Audyssey is much better than the stock version coming with Denon AVRs.

I'm going to make note of this and look into it as a secondary option in case my first goes terribly awry. Going to look into this today.

 

[Jiraya369]

I wouldn't mind upping my budget to 2000$ but that would be including everything. My grandmother left me two speakers she had (I think they were decently loud, idk about quality) that I would probably use as the rear surround. I would buy the ELAC Debut Reference B6.2 Bookshelf Speakers (Pair) for the front and then the ELAC Debut 2.0 C6.2 Center Channel Speaker. So would the MR3's suffice as the side surround for a living room? I wouldn't mind getting a new receiver either. I can look into ATMOS ones that don't completely break the bank.

Besides Movies and Netflix, I absolutely am always on Cyberpunk 2077. I 100% want to be completely immersed into the game with surround, and other things like MGS3 remake, FF7R (that would benefit and reallhy immerse me.)

I def don't expect to have kids over haha but I wouldn't mind getting some shielding for running cables on the wall to the ceiling and back around.

I wouldn't mind starting on a 5.1.2, but I think I can muscle out a 7.1.2 since I have 2 already.

there are a few factors at play here

1.) budget
2.) quality
3.) SPL/loudness

You have to understand that speakers that are high quality don't usually get too loud, some others that do get loud aren't usually that high quality in terms of tonality/directivity and if they have both, they end up being mighty expensive. You haven't given your room dimensions nor how far you intend to listen, so i just assumed that you won't listen too loud and gave you a good quality setup.

I personally haven't looked around much for home theater systems as they either get expensive real fast or real convoluted.

Cheapest way to get what you want is a soundbar. Another way is used. For getting new stuff you really need to spend quite a bit for a decent setup.

There's a few choices for your main speakers, it depends on what you want/like, really. But the Elac one i mentioned is safe and easy. There's also the KEF Q1/Q3 Meta which allow you to move up and down and also have really good imaging, everything will be precise and easy to pinpoint. But the Elac has a better tonality and can get loud. Easy pick for me.

The center, i don't really know about. I think you can just use any good center speaker and just use EQ. The main thing is that different speakers have different dispersion (how wide/narrow the speaker is at different frequencies), distortion, compression and tonality characteristics. But the easiest to hear is tonality so you have to spend time EQ'ing and if you just sit in the middle, the distortion ought to not matter too much. This one seems really nice to me.

As for surrounds, well, since hopefully you won't be needing too much power and you won't be sitting too far, they should be alright. The problem with using the 2 speakers you already have is that they're going to be different. I think you should group up your speakers like this :
Center, main (left and right), surrounds, atmos and subwoofer.

I think you can mix and match these but using different surrounds would not be the best idea imo. You have a solid 3.1 system for most stuff rn. The sub I mentioned and the speakers I mentioned should give you an excellent experience, granted you don't listen too loud/expect them to be absolutely perfect.

For 5.1, i'd go with Polk XT20 as surrounds. For 7.1, if the Polks get too expensive then the Neumi BS5 are there but i'd suggest you to at least get the Neumi Silk 4.

Add cabling and a UMIK-1 to properly be able to EQ stuff and you're going up to the 2K mark. If you find out your AVR isn't up to the task then you'd need to get a new one. Just look for a Denon or Onkyo (preferably Denon if possible) 7.2 receiver.

I'd suggest you to forget about atmos for now. You'd need a beefier amp to be able to power the ceiling/atmos speakers and then you'd need to buy more cables and also be able to purchase those speakers. You're asking for a luxury item at normal prices. Not possible/not recommended by me at least. To put into perspective, the KEF Q1 Meta is 650 USD, Q3 Meta is 840 USD and the KEF Q8 Meta is 780 USD where I live. KEF Q1 and Q3 are big and small versions of main speakers from KEF. The Q8 is their atmos speaker.

If you want you can check out some old Audioholics guides i found :

1
2

There's a reddit guide
absolutely perfect videos from Erin's Audio Corner to help you understand and learn more about speakers.

With a budget like yours I'd have just gotten a pair of F6B, a wiim amp pro and paired em with an rsl speedwoofer 10e. For more channels an AVR like the Denon 1700H or 1800H would've been used and i know they have more power but im just not ready to pay that much more to get just a receiver. Then there's cabling, surrounds and only after that would i get to think about atmos.

The 7.2 setup i talked about should do you really good. You'd be extremely happy with it I think. Let's hope your AVR works lol. If you want atmos you'd need at least a 9.2 AVR or 11.2 if possible. Then you can do 7.1.2 (7 surround + 2 atmos + 1 subwoofer = 9.1) or 7.1.4 (7 surround + 4 atmos + 1 subwoofer = 11.1)