Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Help w/ Awkward Layout for 5.1.2?

Hello,
I recently moved to a condo and have to deal with a less than ideal living room for a surround sound setup. I will sell my 7x KEF Q100 bookshelfs and 2x SVS subs in favor of an on-wall configuration. I will use my Denon AVR-X3400H to power 5-7 channels at around 80-100W RMS. I would like to go 5.1.2 for 80% movies and 20% music. An acoustically transparent 100” Screen Innovations Solo Pro 2 screen will drop in front of the LCR speakers.

[img:center]https://ibb.co/17pYLks[/img]

Given this awkward room layout, can I even go 5.1.x using on-wall speakers?

Is 80-100W per channel enough for M5HP (L+R) and a VP160 Mini center?

Leaning towards M2 for front heights and rear surrounds. Would Q4s be better in the rear? In wall or in ceiling speakers require hiring an acoustical engineer and getting HOA approval

I’d love to hear your thoughts, thanks!

Find a new place or just listen to a ghetto blaster.

If it helps, I have seen rooms that were a *lot* less audio-friendly than yours.

Dumb question - which pair of speakers is the heights ? The pair that are very far apart or the pair that are very close together ?

When I first looked at the diagram I was thinking "that's a nice 7.1 setup"

HOA approval for speakers seems excessive, so right in line with modern HOA's I guess. Used to be that you just had to save the bits of drywall you cut out.

Oh, and welcome to the forum.

For your electronics and room, I would suggest M3's - either bookshelf or on-wall. For example - 2 M3's for L/R ... on wall M3's for the surrounds and height ... mini VP-160 center.

Add an EP500 wireless, and you will have a terrific system. The M3's are easier to drive than are the M5's - and the VP-160 is the anchor, anyway.

You may want to go M2s so you can save some money because you'll need it for neck, back and shoulder physio.

I have M2s arriving soon. I can tell you what they sound like vs. M3s.

The projector screen will drop down to about 24-30” from the floor, so viewing will be comfortable. Can I mount the center above the fireplace and the L+R on the sides or would that sound weird? Thanks everyone!

[img:center]https://i.postimg.cc/S45KG4wW/33-C69-ED8-DF59-4-C76-A4-AB-2-AFB5-DB2-FBAB.jpg?dl=1[/img]

It would sound like mono because you'd have three speakers with inadequate separation between them given your listening distance.

It would be a better front stage than a soundbar at least.

Yeah, the idea is to have wide, but even, distances between speakers so that each "channel" can have room to breathe, so to speak. I could see a "reasonable" 5.1 setup here, but as you know, there will be a lot of compromises.

Space out the rear surround speakers (unless those are something else) and you will have a decent setup considering the awkward space you are dealing with.

I too would be more concerned about the sore neck watching anything above the fireplace though. Been there, done that... Never again.

You will also run the risk of warping your screen a little bit if it is exposed to too much heat, even if it was a roll-up/motorized one and not down when the fireplace is on.

Just things to consider as there are no good solutions.

Do not commit the audio evil that men do. There are various forms of audio evil including the purchase of speakers with a dysfunctional family of curves. The worst form of audio evil is purchasing sanctified speakers (those with blessed listening window and sound power amplitude responses) and giving them an impious room configuration to dwell in while living out the rest of one's life believing their response is OhSoHoly. Auditioning sanctified speakers in a pious room causes such sinners' corpus callosums to spontaneously ignite ending the aethereal dream they lived. Therefore it's best to forget committing such a blasphemous act and use the room to just play Scrabble.

One thing we know for certain - Mojo started drinking before 6 PM EST.