My future setup

[nebulos]

Planning to renovate my basement floor.
Yes, it's rendered (sketchup + v-ray).
75" TV looks small. :/

 

[Zek]

It seems to me that the distance between the speakers is about 4 m, which is quite large - what is the distance to the listening place?

 

[kemmler3D]

Problems I'm noticing:

1) asymmetrical positioning relative to walls
2) as @Zek mentions the distance is possibly too wide

Cool rendering, though.

 

[Timcognito]

With that wide wall and lack of proximity to the side walls, think about in wall speakers. If not up to speed on them read up on the 2pi effect and lack of baffle step issues. A renovation project is ideal for this. Also in basement glare from abundant light is not an issue. Because you want/need the cabinets and large screen a short throw projector, sound transparent screen with speakers behind could be the ticket. No center channel or subwoofers?

 

[kyuu]

With that wide wall and lack of proximity to the side walls, think about in wall speakers. If not up to speed on them read up on the 2pi effect and lack of baffle step issues. A renovation project is ideal for this.

If he's planning to have slats on the rear wall as it appears to have in the rendering, that would pose a problem for in-wall speakers I would think.

 

[nebulos]

Thanks for the comments; I didn’t expect so much feedback. I'm also quite new to home cinemas and speakers. So far, I've been using decent headphones with different amps and DACs.

After watching many speaker and home cinema videos, I made some improvements and added more speakers, and I am now trying to utilize a 5.1.4 setup.

I moved over to Twinmotion (Unreal engine) as it’s free and supports real-time rendering with AMD GPUs. V-Ray doesn’t support AMD; one static image render takes 30 minutes in V-Ray with my CPU. Meanwhile, I get 120 FPS in Twinmotion using real-time rendering with a GPU.

About your comments:

• I tried to make it more symmetrical.
• The distance between speakers is 4 meters. The listening position from the TV is 3 meters.
• Behind the TV is a brick wall. I could bring the whole wall closer and build the speakers inside the walls, but that would make the room a bit smaller and would bring the TV closer. It's doable if there’s a big difference. I will look into that next.
• I could use a laser projector. Light isn’t a problem; it’s like a cave, and it would make the screen bigger as well.
• I could change the wall materials; I can change pretty much everything at the moment. But I chose the acoustic panels, hoping they would help.

Overview of the basement floor plan:

I have made some adjustments in hopes of improving the sound. I’ve always been a fan of good sound.

Once again, this is just a render, it doesn’t exist, yet. I need to replace the floor, and I have already taken down the old wall panels, etc. The furniture in the render is from IKEA.

The room is not a perfect square or a shoebox; I want to keep the kitchen without additional walls.

The ceiling is quite low, 2.1m, so the TV looks so high up.

This is now the new speaker's view:

• Moved the Sofa to the center. The sofa is not leather
• Added center channel
• Widened the acoustic panels to the side walls.
• Added bass traps to the front corners
  
  

Looking at the couch from the TV position:

• Added Left and Right speakers to the back.
• Added ceiling speakers
  
  

Views from the kitchen side:

• In total, four ceiling speakers
• The sofa more in the middle of the room now
• The subwoofer is behind the couch, on the floor.

This is the plan (with the old couch):

I was trying to use this guide: https://www.dolby.com/about/support/guide/speaker-setup-guides/5.1.4-overhead-speaker-setup-guide

But now, looking at it again, I think my left and right front speakers are too wide apart.

Here is my current speaker list, just based on the budget and availability in my area. I can change them all. Or not even go with 5.1.4. It’s just fun to configure different setups in 3D.


Potential devices:

• Left And Right Towers
  • Q Acoustics 3050i or Q Acoustics 5050
• Matching Centre
  • Q Acoustics 5090
• Bookshelves, Left and Right, behind
  • Q Acoustics 3020i
• Subwoofer
  • SVS PB-3000
• Overheads
  • Q Acoustics Qi 65C
• Receiver
  • Denon AVC-X3800H 9.4 (Dirac Live Room Correction)

All the wiring will be hidden.

Oh, one question about the flooring: should I use a carpet instead of wood panels? Will carpet help?

Thanks again for all the feedback and comments

 

[Timcognito]

Thanks for the comments; I didn’t expect so much feedback. I'm also quite new to home cinemas and speakers. So far, I've been using decent headphones with different amps and DACs.

After watching many speaker and home cinema videos, I made some improvements and added more speakers, and I am now trying to utilize a 5.1.4 setup.

I moved over to Twinmotion (Unreal engine) as it’s free and supports real-time rendering with AMD GPUs. V-Ray doesn’t support AMD; one static image render takes 30 minutes in V-Ray with my CPU. Meanwhile, I get 120 FPS in Twinmotion using real-time rendering with a GPU.

About your comments:

• I tried to make it more symmetrical.
• The distance between speakers is 4 meters. The listening position from the TV is 3 meters.
• Behind the TV is a brick wall. I could bring the whole wall closer and build the speakers inside the walls, but that would make the room a bit smaller and would bring the TV closer. It's doable if there’s a big difference. I will look into that next.
• I could use a laser projector. Light isn’t a problem; it’s like a cave, and it would make the screen bigger as well.
• I could change the wall materials; I can change pretty much everything at the moment. But I chose the acoustic panels, hoping they would help.

Overview of the basement floor plan:
View attachment 387600


I have made some adjustments in hopes of improving the sound. I’ve always been a fan of good sound.

Once again, this is just a render, it doesn’t exist, yet. I need to replace the floor, and I have already taken down the old wall panels, etc. The furniture in the render is from IKEA.

The room is not a perfect square or a shoebox; I want to keep the kitchen without additional walls.

The ceiling is quite low, 2.1m, so the TV looks so high up.

This is now the new speaker's view:
View attachment 387601

• Moved the Sofa to the center. The sofa is not leather
• Added center channel
• Widened the acoustic panels to the side walls.
• Added bass traps to the front corners
  View attachment 387610

Looking at the couch from the TV position:
View attachment 387602

• Added Left and Right speakers to the back.
• Added ceiling speakers
  View attachment 387603

Views from the kitchen side:
View attachment 387604
View attachment 387607

• In total, four ceiling speakers
• The sofa more in the middle of the room now
• The subwoofer is behind the couch, on the floor.

This is the plan (with the old couch):
View attachment 387615
I was trying to use this guide: https://www.dolby.com/about/support/guide/speaker-setup-guides/5.1.4-overhead-speaker-setup-guide

But now, looking at it again, I think my left and right front speakers are too wide apart.

Here is my current speaker list, just based on the budget and availability in my area. I can change them all. Or not even go with 5.1.4. It’s just fun to configure different setups in 3D.


Potential devices:

• Left And Right Towers
  • Q Acoustics 3050i or Q Acoustics 5050
• Matching Centre
  • Q Acoustics 5090
• Bookshelves, Left and Right, behind
  • Q Acoustics 3020i
• Subwoofer
  • SVS PB-3000
• Overheads
  • Q Acoustics Qi 65C
• Receiver
  • Denon AVC-X3800H 9.4 (Dirac Live Room Correction)

All the wiring will be hidden.

Oh, one question about the flooring: should I use a carpet instead of wood panels? Will carpet help?

Thanks again for all the feedback and comments

Cool you on your way with great plan. The speakers need come in those primary wall reflections will create havoc and need a larger screen or move couch in. IMO

 

[kyuu]

Oh, one question about the flooring: should I use a carpet instead of wood panels? Will carpet help?

Carpet helps with attenuating higher frequency vertical reflections. Generally doesn't hurt. You can use a thick rug (or rug with additional padding underneath) rather than carpeting the whole space.

Behind the TV is a brick wall. I could bring the whole wall closer and build the speakers inside the walls, but that would make the room a bit smaller and would bring the TV closer. It's doable if there’s a big difference. I will look into that next.

I am a fan of in-walls. I think they're overlooked in the hi-fi space and have some great benefits -- you're not paying for an expensive box, lack of baffle step and SBIR, among others. However, it's certainly not necessary to get great sound. It sounds like you'd have to build a false wall in front of the concrete wall to install them in, which is a lot of time and expense, negating the whole not paying for a box part. Not to mention losing space in your room. It's up to you if it's worth it. If it were my space, I probably wouldn't.

Oh and thanks for mentioning that Twinmotion software. That's pretty neat. As I'm getting a new home soon, might try that out for planning my own space.

 

[Keith_W]

Do not do this. The listening room needs to be as symmetric as possible. If you have a wall on the left and an open area on the right, the reflections will arrive early from the left, and delayed on the right. It will throw stereo imaging off. Either reorient the listening area, or insert a partition between the kitchen/meals area.

 

[kyuu]

OP specifically stated he does not want to introduce a wall between the "listening room" and the kitchen area. I suppose it's possible he could change the TV/speaker placement to the west/left wall. I would presume there is some reason that particular orientation was chosen though.

 

[nebulos]

View attachment 387685

Do not do this. The listening room needs to be as symmetric as possible. If you have a wall on the left and an open area on the right, the reflections will arrive early from the left, and delayed on the right. It will throw stereo imaging off. Either reorient the listening area, or insert a partition between the kitchen/meals area.

Can we counterbalance that asymmetry with some acoustic panels on the left wall?
I could move the TV to the left, but there's a door in the middle. I would need to rethink that door as well. I guess it doesn't have to be in the middle. And would it help significantly?

 

[Keith_W]

Can we counterbalance that asymmetry with some acoustic panels on the left wall?

That won't work. Acoustic panels on the left wall = attenuated early reflections. Open space on the right wall = delayed reflections. Asymmetric room layouts are for those who don't have a choice. If you have a choice, you should avoid it if possible. There is nothing that will compensate for it.

I could move the TV to the left, but there's a door in the middle. I would need to rethink that door as well. I guess it doesn't have to be in the middle. And would it help significantly?

As long as the speakers are equidistant to both walls, and the room remains symmetric all the way down, it will be OK. I don't like that washroom you have in the corner either FWIW. It makes your room L-shaped. I am pretty sure that if you asked anyone on ASR to come up with the listening room of their dreams, they would come up with a rectangular room. Or if it is not rectangular, they would make sure it is symmetrical left to right. Some people don't even like windows on one side with no windows on the other.

I suggest something like this. Reposition the kitchenette and hide it behind some doors. My Sketchup skills aren't as good as yours. Not sure if it would work in the space that you have?

 

[Madlop26]

View attachment 386864

Planning to renovate my basement floor.
Yes, it's rendered (sketchup + v-ray).
75" TV looks small. :/

The space quite similar as mine, I changed 65" TV to a TLC 98", it was huge difference (not figuratively, lol) , later added a motorized rising 120" screen with a short-throw projector, even better! now TV for videogames and 120 screen for movies, 3D if available.

 

[nebulos]

Just a random idea. What if I add some IKEA sliding doors there? or something similar
Those could fit right where that red line was.

 

[OldHvyMec]

• Subwoofer
  • SVS PB-3000

You sure have a nice space. I have a question, are you going to listen to music, movies, or both? I see you want an HT setup but
is music playback important?

One thing I would do for music is bring the speakers further out into the room and move them about 10-12 feet apart.
The further apart you put your main speakers (the directional portion) the more toe-in you'll need.

You'll have to put your head in a vice to stay in the sweet spot.

The single sub will be difficult to place and get a flatter room response without a lot of moving.
The chances of finding a good combination with one sub for one person is possible if you don't move.

The other people in the room (I'm assuming that is what the couch is for) will hear everything but zero imaging
or soundstage. The sub could sound bloated to one person and not be heard at all by another. A lot of times
people turn a single sub UP to hear, when multi-subs will let you FEEL the correct sub response. It's a SUB, it's
supposed to disappear in the room, just like the rest of the speakers.

2 or 3 smaller subs at different distances from the walls and different distances from the corners.
BTW Bass traps seldom work as well as irregular placement. "Duke" has a pretty good grip on bass management.

If you want immersive sound, stick with more speakers. If you want better music playback stick with better mains
and the DBA concept.

The one way that lets you mitigate the odd shape is to set up, kitty-corner. It requires the least room treatment,
room correction from EQ or software.

It looks like a good room to get up and dance in. I'm all for that. Throw the old hat on the floor and away you go.

Have fun, Ay!

Regards

 

[Keith_W]

Just a random idea. What if I add some IKEA sliding doors there? or something similar
Those could fit right where that red line was.
View attachment 387859View attachment 387858

That could work, provided you have some way of stopping the doors from rattling.