Small room but I'm doing it anyway.
I am moving and I will be in a much smaller room than I am now, down to 12' x 7.5' x 8'. I current have (all Polk) two pairs of ES15s. One pair of ES60s. An ES35, three pairs of OMW3s and an HTS 12. Those were fantastic in my previous house. 12' length, not ideal but workable, the 7.5' wide wall, thats the struggle.
I decided it would be best to drop to 5.1.4 this time around, but is this even feasible? My love seat would be pulled out 2' from the wall, but I think the best I can do is having the side surrounds only 1' or so out from each side of the love seat. I figured it would be best to use a set of the ES15s as my front LR, keep the S35 center, use 1 pair of the OMW3s as side surrounds and the other two pairs as on ceiling height channels. I would prefer to get two HTS10s instead of the 12, but that would be quite expensive to change those out. Unfortunately, I will end up having to sell the rest.
Any thoughts before I move in? Can I skip the side surrounds and just have back surrounds? I'm thinking no, but I wouldn't have speakers a 1' from my ears. Will atmos even work? My biggest concern is that I will just end up with a jumbled mess of sound.
I decided it would be best to drop to 5.1.4 this time around, but is this even feasible? My love seat would be pulled out 2' from the wall, but I think the best I can do is having the side surrounds only 1' or so out from each side of the love seat. I figured it would be best to use a set of the ES15s as my front LR, keep the S35 center, use 1 pair of the OMW3s as side surrounds and the other two pairs as on ceiling height channels. I would prefer to get two HTS10s instead of the 12, but that would be quite expensive to change those out. Unfortunately, I will end up having to sell the rest.
Any thoughts before I move in? Can I skip the side surrounds and just have back surrounds? I'm thinking no, but I wouldn't have speakers a 1' from my ears. Will atmos even work? My biggest concern is that I will just end up with a jumbled mess of sound.
Answers
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Skip the side surrounds and it should be fine with rear and height speakers to supplement the fronts. Got to make do with the space available.
Once you have it set up that way turn the surrounds off and then the height effects speakers off and see how it sounds with those configurations. -
Just to be sure on my end, go for option 2? The audio advice calculator I used listed option 1 as main surrounds and indicated the rear surrounds were the extra surrounds (7.1). My original setup had a 7.1.4 setup so that wasn't an issue to consider. I just want to be clear. The fewer holes in my walls the happier my wife is. -
Under no circumstances you ever have rear surrounds without side surrounds.
I saw a person on another forum that had only rear surrounds and then added sides and was shocked at the difference.
Sides/surrounds always for 5.1
7.1 is rear surrounds and side surrounds
https://avgadgets.com/best-place-for-seats-in-a-home-theater/
https://acousticfrontiers.com/blogs/articles/home-theater-seating-layout-5-key-design-and-placement-tips
https://ibb.co/wMrDCMV
Post edited by sm1th5 on -
There are no hard rules with speaker setup for home theater. The main Dolby Atmos guide for a 5.1 system shows surround speakers in the rear corners aligned with the front speakers and aimed at the main listening area. That's how I have mine setup in a large room. I found side surrounds to be distracting in a 7.2.2 configuration so removed them. The Polk L800s as front speakers provide a type of surround effect for home theater too it turns out which may have contributed to the issue. But, YMMV.
Having the only set of surround speakers at the sides of the listening area may be fine too if there is room for them. In this case the room is very narrow so having side speakers will be difficult. The auto setup system in a receiver will set time alignment and distances from the speakers to the listening area regardless of where the surround speakers are placed. -
Thank you everyone for your replies. It looks like my best bet is going to be the sides, but further back and angled to the MLP like in the Dolby setup and not how it looks in the AudioAdvice calculator visual. I might have to pull the couch a bit further from the wall and closer to the TV, but that will definitely be a play by ear due to size of TV.
Setting everything up today. It might take a few days, but I will try different configurations to see if I can get a sweet spot. I know the room is small, especially narrow, but I will make the best of it, starting with everyone's suggestions. -
Definitely get some acoustic panels in there and some bass traps in the corners. . It made a world of difference in my last home with a smallish HT set up.
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Unfortunately the move is taking significantly longer than expected... though taking longer than expected should be expected... anyway, the project still has not been completed. Wires have been run and we are getting close to mounting the speakers and finishing setup, but until then it is still a quiet room.
