Advice with selecting speakers for first timer

[Lou-the-dog]

Checkers,

You are going to have a very nice room. Much more ideal dimension-wise than mine. To give you something to think about when building your cabinet, for a 12-14' seating distance from your speakers you will probably want between 8-10' separation between speakers.

As Curtis said, the sub in an enclosure would not be a good idea.

Randy

[Checkers]

Curtis,
Where would you suggest I put the subwoofer? As I said it would be inside the cabinet on the floor. Bascially, I would have a false door at the bottom of my cabinet that would house the subwoofer. Isin't that where I should put a subwoofer? As for 'talk to the experts', thats why I am here trying to get as much helpful advice as possible....

Thanks again

[curtis]

That's a loaded question. Put where it sounds best. My sub is in the front left corner. Every room is different.

Seriously, I think when placed in a cabinet, the cabinet would resonate a lot!

The "experts" would be Ascend and Hsu.

[BGHD]

The Hsu setup guide has in-cabinet placement recommendations, mainly stating to give it couple inches clearance and to expect lots of rattling/shaking. IMO, you're really limiting your chances of getting the best possible sound out of the sub by placing it in-cabinet. In my room, sub placement made a noticeable difference in sound quality.

[Checkers]

OK, thank you both for the feedback. I'll have to figure out something different then for my subwooofer. Maybe bring the cabinet in 2 feet on either side so I can place the subwoofer in the corner next to the unit...assuming the HSU is about 2' in width.

Looks like what I am going to go with based on all your helpful advice is the following:

CBM-170SE for my 2 front speakers (place as far apart as possible on bookshelves within TV unit)

HTM-200s for the 2 rear speakers (wall mounted about 3 feet behind my couch)

CMT-340SE for my front center speaker (placed again on shelf above TV)

HSU-STF-2 subwoofer (placed on floor next to TV cabinet)

Now its time to give the wife the total bill

[bikeman]

OK, thank you both for the feedback. I'll have to figure out something different then for my subwooofer. Maybe bring the cabinet in 2 feet on either side so I can place the subwoofer in the corner next to the unit...assuming the HSU is about 2' in width.

I thought the same thing when I first got a sub. It turned out not to be the best location. When you get a sub, it's very helpful to experiment with location (if possible). You can always EQ a sub and hope for the best in a particular location but it's better (sometimes much better) to find the optimal location and go from there.
I think you're on your way to audio nirvana with just a few tweaks.

David

[Lou-the-dog]

Subwoofer placement is a tough issue. It is very tough to call where the ideal placement will be in your room. Go to the Hsu site and there is a place where you can plot out your room and submit for a placement recomendation. Even consider calling Hsu and you can do this over the phone too. There is a good chance that you will speak to Dr. Hsu himself. This will be a good starting point and might aid you in decisions on your cabinet design.

Randy