1 Attachment(s)
3 Horizons or maybe towers close to side walls in this dual purpose room?
Hi, I have Sierra towers with ribbons and a Horizon with ribbon in our great room and they've been great for 3.1. I also have Sierra 2 ribbons in another room.
Now the challenge is with a 13x16 new room with 11' ceilings, carpet & drywall construction. It will be a Home Theater with a projector system but I want great audio also.
The biggest challenge is that there will be a 110” screen that is 8’ wide and will be 32 to 36” off the floor on the front wall. That means that the center channel will be below the screen height, probably on a 24” stand. However, the L/R speakers either need to be below 36” to the top, or else to the side of the screen where there’s only 3’ between the screen and the wall.
I've tried the Sierra 2's in the room, by the way, and they just don't seem to cut it at loudish volumes for music- think Van Morrison/Joni Mitchell material. I may use those for rears in a 5.1 configuration.
So, if I go Ascend in this room, for optimal 2.1 listening, would I be better off with 3 Horizons, which could be away from the walls but under the screen? Or with a Horizon and two towers close to the side walls? I do plan to eventually get to 2 x 15" Rhythmic sealed subs.
I do have the flexibility to put the speakers anywhere in the room including way out from the walls, and can do room treatments as well - WAF has been abdicated for this room ;-)
Appreciate thoughts on this one!
-Dick L.
Attachment 1585
Re: 3 Horizons or maybe towers close to side walls in this dual purpose room?
Another option is to get an acoustically transparent screen, so that the placement isn't compromised. The tweeter can be at ear level with the speakers spaced how they will sound best, rather than trying to place them in the spots left to avoid the screen.
Re: 3 Horizons or maybe towers close to side walls in this dual purpose room?
Thanks... The main vendor I'm working with is really discouraging that approach saying
that the sound/screen/budget would be compromised... But I don't know I've not done a lot of research into projection systems.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
N Boros
Another option is to get an acoustically transparent screen, so that the placement isn't compromised. The tweeter can be at ear level with the speakers spaced how they will sound best, rather than trying to place them in the spots left to avoid the screen.
Re: 3 Horizons or maybe towers close to side walls in this dual purpose room?
Seymour AV has one of the better screens with the least amount of color shift and only attenuate the sound by around 1 to 2 dB at some frequencies. Their centerstage UF if if you have a 8 to 10 foot viewing distance. The centerstage XD is for 10 to 11 feet or more of a viewing distance. It looks like a fixed screen would run you around $1500, in the size you were looking at.
Elite screens has a retractable acoustically transparent screen for a little bit less money, but it is a little less accurate. Amazon has a silver ticket acoustically transparent screen for even less money, though I don’t think these have been measured by a third party for accuracy.
It doesn’t sound like your fronts would be so close to the wall, or the floor that it would be considered bad placement. But, I like the idea of having flexibility of placement, without really loosing all that much. With a good acoustically transparent screen, like from Seymour, the only think that you really lose is a little bit as far as screen gain. The UF is about 0.8 gain and the XD is about 0.94 gain. So you lose a little bit of light output. Other than that, if the price is okay, you don’t really lose much else. But, like I said having the flexibility to get the tweeter at earlevel and to position them to the left and right whereever you need can be a big gain.
Re: 3 Horizons or maybe towers close to side walls in this dual purpose room?
Thanks I really appreciate the detailed information.
If I did get a transparent screen then I'd be potentially be putting speakers partially behind the screen and partially in view if I go with towers and want to move them in from the corners. I'd guess most people that go with transparent screens go with in-wall???
At the moment I'm thinking of towers just outside the 8' screen which should be good for about an 8' to 10' listening distance... Just worried about being closer to side walls than I'd want though I can pull them out of the corner as needed.
-Dick L.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
N Boros
Seymour AV has one of the better screens with the least amount of color shift and only attenuate the sound by around 1 to 2 dB at some frequencies. Their centerstage UF if if you have a 8 to 10 foot viewing distance. The centerstage XD is for 10 to 11 feet or more of a viewing distance. It looks like a fixed screen would run you around $1500, in the size you were looking at.
Elite screens has a retractable acoustically transparent screen for a little bit less money, but it is a little less accurate. Amazon has a silver ticket acoustically transparent screen for even less money, though I don’t think these have been measured by a third party for accuracy.
It doesn’t sound like your fronts would be so close to the wall, or the floor that it would be considered bad placement. But, I like the idea of having flexibility of placement, without really loosing all that much. With a good acoustically transparent screen, like from Seymour, the only think that you really lose is a little bit as far as screen gain. The UF is about 0.8 gain and the XD is about 0.94 gain. So you lose a little bit of light output. Other than that, if the price is okay, you don’t really lose much else. But, like I said having the flexibility to get the tweeter at earlevel and to position them to the left and right whereever you need can be a big gain.
Re: 3 Horizons or maybe towers close to side walls in this dual purpose room?
Many people build a false wall to hold up the screen, basically just a crude frame to mount it to. From there you could fill any of the remaining open visual space with speaker grill cloth so that it look like your front wall. This allows for space to put speakers and possibly even subwoofers behind the screen and/or wall so that they are out of the way or concealed. Some people go all out and build a stage around their screen, so that it looks like some of the classic movie theaters.
You could also do in wall speakers, if you want a truly clutter free installation. But, it is expensive to go with in wall speakers that are as good as their freestanding counterparts. I don't even know what to recommend that would be as good as the Raal towers as an in wall speaker that would be as good.
Re: 3 Horizons or maybe towers close to side walls in this dual purpose room?
Since you already have the speakers, I would just set them up and listen to them. Try tweeting them to get the sound ideal. If the speakers are located where they would be outside of the screen, then maybe a traditional screen would be fine. If it sounds drastically better locating them where some or all need to be behind an acoustically transparent screen, then you can decide if it is worth the extra expense, compared to how much better they sound.
