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View Full Version : Noob thinking about Sierra-1's



Golden Monkey
08-08-2007, 07:15 PM
Hi,
I'm thinking about going with Sierra-1 speakers in a LCR setup with no sub or surrounds. These will be in our bedroom which is 13'-6" x 16'. It will be used for HT and music. If you look at the drawing I have attached you will see our bed (Orange), the 46" LCD TV on the wall (Black) with the Sierra-1 center mounted below it, and the placement for the Sierra-1's (Brown) on the right and left.

I have a few questions. Will the Sierra-1's have enough bass at reasonable volume levels without a sub when watching movies? Does the speaker placement look right or should they be close to the TV? We will be sitting 14'-15' away from the TV. The last question is about the receiver. What would be a good receiver to drive these? I need something with HDMI switching because I want to run my HD cable box and PS3 to the receiver and then one HDMI cable to my TV.

I would appreciate any and all help. ;)

PS- These speakers are sweet looking. My wife really likes the natural ones! :)

TheSloth
08-09-2007, 10:01 AM
Hi,
I'm thinking about going with Sierra-1 speakers in a LCR setup with no sub or surrounds. These will be in our bedroom which is 13'-6" x 16'. It will be used for HT and music. If you look at the drawing I have attached you will see our bed (Orange), the 46" LCD TV on the wall (Black) with the Sierra-1 center mounted below it, and the placement for the Sierra-1's (Brown) on the right and left.

I have a few questions. Will the Sierra-1's have enough bass at reasonable volume levels without a sub when watching movies? Does the speaker placement look right or should they be close to the TV? We will be sitting 14'-15' away from the TV. The last question is about the receiver. What would be a good receiver to drive these? I need something with HDMI switching because I want to run my HD cable box and PS3 to the receiver and then one HDMI cable to my TV.

I would appreciate any and all help. ;)

PS- These speakers are sweet looking. My wife really likes the natural ones! :)

You have them too close to both the rear and side walls in that diagram for an even response. The Sierra's have serious bass extension for their size, making very close wall placements an issue for bass control. As in your case you are not only considering back wall placement, but back corner placement of a rear ported speaker, the bass augmentation will likely be very severe.

You will also get a lot of reflection from your side walls which will interfere with imaging. Unless the speakers have very little bass response (not the case here), I like to get the most 'free space' placement of the speakers possible.

The bottom end HTM-200 is a sealed box loudspeaker, which ought to give you more freedom with regards to placement near to a back wall (and will most likely benefit from the augmentation from the corners as it is quite rolled off in that region). Then you can put a sub into one of the corners to fill out the bass response and still save a lot of money over 3 Sierra's and no sub. You could even wall mount all three HTM-200's for neatness and space saving (important in a bedroom).

Golden Monkey
08-09-2007, 03:07 PM
How far would the speakers need to be from the wall to sound acceptable? I really don't want a sub in the bedroom and I don't want to mount on the wall.

TheSloth
08-09-2007, 03:19 PM
You'll get a lot of opinions on that one. Some will say 1', others a fair bit more.

Unfortunately, it just depends on the acoustic of your room, as well as the construction of the wall. Let's call 1-2' an absolute minimum - it's just a warning that as you dial the sound in within the room, you may find yourself edging them away from the wall bit by bit until you end up with a setup that sounds wonderful, but makes the room congested and difficult to use.

Golden Monkey
08-12-2007, 03:56 PM
I talked it over with the wife and she thinks the HTM-200's in white would be fine on the wall. I think I will go with these. What would be a good sub for less than $500 to match with these? I don't think I would need anything over a 10" sub for the bedroom.

Thanks for the help!

TheSloth
08-12-2007, 05:33 PM
I talked it over with the wife and she thinks the HTM-200's in white would be fine on the wall. I think I will go with these. What would be a good sub for less than $500 to match with these? I don't think I would need anything over a 10" sub for the bedroom.

Thanks for the help!

I'd post your question in the main speakers forum - you'll get more views and replies there...