I just posted this on AVS Forum as well (forgive the double-post) but wanted to cover my bases.  Had a great visit to the demo room today (may need to go back based on my confusion below)...here's the question:

Help! Looking for some expert advice from you folks here on this forum. Building my home theater from scratch (addition to the house) and need some advice. First of all, the basics:

- 17x16 room
- Plans are with the city now for permits...haven't broken ground yet
- 7.1 set-up that will (probably) be driven by an Onkyo 807
- Usage: 40% PS3 gaming, 40% HDTV, 20% movies. Probably little to no music.
- Promised the wife the room would be multi-purpose (treadmill in there, kids can have friends over, she can have girls night)...so it can't feel like a pure theater...so I'm trying to not go too overkill on the speakers.

I was originally thinking all in-walls to save some space (room is not that big) and aesthetics. Went over to Aperion today (live a few miles away) to test out the demo room. One thing became abundantly clear...I'm now doing 5T towers in the front and the 5C center. Forget the in-walls ;-) And I think I've settled on the sub: 8D

Now I'm left with my side and rear surrounds. This is where I start to get confused. They are used so little I was thinking to go with the 6-IW in-walls. In the demo room I heard the 5DB and it sounded GOOD. But I just kept thinking that my room was going to be about 5 feet shorter than that room and my sides and rears will be a lot closer together...so is the 5DB overkill? The way I see it, here are my options for my sides and rears:

- (4) 6-IW in-walls sides and rears
- (2) 5DB sides, (2) 6-IW rears
- (2) 5DB sides, (2) 4BP rears
- (4) 4BP for sides and rears
- (2) 4BP sides, (2) 6-IW rears

I keep thinking that with a room that is only 16 x 17 I'm not going to need a TON of side/rear power. Seating will probably be at about the 12 foot mark so you'd have sides at about 12 feet and rears about 5 feet back.

So, looking for suggestions to pair with the 5Ts...the last consideration I have is that the ONLY wall I'm worried about in-walls on is the rear wall since it shares a wall with our kitchen. The other walls share with either outside or the garage so not worried about in-walls for the sides. Perhaps I consider something like the 4BP for the rear to avoid sound seeping into the kitchen?

AHHHH!!!! Maddness!!!

Before a few hours ago (the demo room) I thought in-walls were the way to go. Now I'm lost...but those 5Ts...mmmmm.... Suggestions from anyone to help clear my brain is welcome!

Thanks!

Personally I would forget the rears and not use in wall speakers, but that is just me.

 

Cheers 

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Russ

Joined you!

I'd go with the second option you laid out above (pair of 5DBs for side surround and pair of 6-IWs for rear surround).  My rationale is, it's possible you'll move the couch slightly forward or back over time (for example, if you get a larger/smaller treadmill) and you don't want to be stuck with permanent in-wall side surrounds.  I also think placement of the side surrounds is more critical than the rear surrounds (especially considering the lack of true 7.1 sources- more often than not, to hear anything from your rears you'll be using Pro Logic IIx).  Your rear wall will stay your rear wall no matter what, so I think the in-walls for that purpose will be fine.  My 2 cents.

-Nick

Thanks guys.

 

I'm actually starting to like the idea of maybe skipping the rear surrounds to start.  No matter what I choose the room will be wired for 7.1.  But I'm thinking I may start with a pair of 5DBs on the sides and skip the rears.  My gut is telling me that given the room only being 16x17 I'm not going to get much benefit from the rears if I have the 5DBs on the sides.  But...since it's pre-wired, I can always add some 6-IWs later.  The other thing this solves is my concern about the rear wall being shared with the kitchen.  By NOT installing rear in-walls, it will mean no speakers are mounted on walls that are shared with the house...the wife may appreciate that.

So I'd be looking at:

5C Center

5T Left and Rights

5DB Side Surrounds

8D Sub

I'm starting to like the feel of that.  Any other thoughts?

Acoustic treatments.  Square rooms can be rough to tame.

Jason,

Curious if you, as the resident Aperion expert, have any feedback on my proposed set up in a 16x17 room.   Do you feel I'm picking the right combination by going with the 5c, (2) 5T, (2) 5DB, and the 8D sub?  Do you think an extra pair of inwall rear surrounds would be lost in a room 16x17 with all that firepower already there?

Thanks!

How far are the in walls going to be behind you?

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Jason Hicks
Aperion Audio Guru

We're still finalizing the plans/seating, but I'm assuming the seating will be in the 10-12 foot range from the front wall which gives us 7-5 feet space behind the seating before the rear wall. 

Sounds like ideal placement to me, when you are listening to a true 7.1 soundtrack you shouldn't have any trouble picking them out.

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Jason Hicks
Aperion Audio Guru

While the rear in-walls may be a nice addition, do you agree that the 5Ts in the front, 5C in center, 8D sub, along with the 5DBs on the side would fill a 16x17 room quite nicely?  One of the way I'm justifying the extra cost of the 5DBs (in lieu of in-wall sides) is that the expanded sound field would help reduce the need for rears. 

MiddKid:

While the rear in-walls may be a nice addition, do you agree that the 5Ts in the front, 5C in center, 8D sub, along with the 5DBs on the side would fill a 16x17 room quite nicely?  One of the way I'm justifying the extra cost of the 5DBs (in lieu of in-wall sides) is that the expanded sound field would help reduce the need for rears. 

 

For little to no music in room of that size it sounds like a great system to me.

The 8D should fill the space but the 10D will go 5 Hz deeper so that's the only possible upgrade that I could think to recommend and I still don't necessarily think you'll need it.  If you heard what the 8D could do here and that's all you need then there you go.   

The 5DBs do indeed give you a great surround effect, so you should be good with them for the time being.  However once there are more 7.1 sources out there you might want to add the rears later.  

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Jason Hicks
Aperion Audio Guru

Jason,

 Thank you so much for taking the time tor reply.  This forum is a great resource to get information straight from the source!  Thanks!  Look forward to my upcoming purchase!

My pleasure, thanks in advance for the order!

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Jason Hicks
Aperion Audio Guru

It's been a few weeks but I'm back with an update. 

My room has been roofed and framed and pre-wired...now they are doing insulation tomorrow and drywall next week.  Final dimensions are approx 17 feet long x 16 feet wide.  Seating position is at about the 10-11 foot mark.  I've got an Onkyo TX-SR707 in the box ready to go and I'll be placing my order for my 5Ts, 5C, 10D, and 5DBs in the next week or so.  I thought I was content.

But now I'm looking at the back wall wondering if I should just pull the trigger and go 7.1 right off the bat instead of adding later.  That back wall looks so empty!

I'm here looking for a little advice.  If you were to tack two rears onto that system, any suggestions?  I've decided against in-walls since the back wall shares a wall with my kitchen and I don't want the extra noise in the kitchen wall.  I was thinking 4BPs.  Is that overkill with my size room and the speakers I already have picked out?  Should I just go 4B?  Any expert advice would be appreciated!

I would ditch 7.1 and put some money into room treatments to tame that square room.  Some acoustic panels/bass traps would do well to make that back wall pretty.