Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Pulling wire for my HT room - questions

Thanks for the replies. For right now, I’m just looking for a “close” location to pull my wires to. I will pull them into 4” deep J-boxes and coil up as much wire in the box as I can, plus shove a few feet into the wall cavity so that I can have at least ten feet to spare. I’m not all that concerned about exposed wires coming down, or across a wall. I’m pretty damn good at hiding things behind trim and building sofets or wall enhancements to hide them if needed. The main issue is to get the wires ran through the overhead so that I can close the lid. The projector location however, needs to be spot on. The surrounds and surround backs can be “close enough”. The fronts and sub are easy. I can tuck wire behind and under molding at the base of the walls.

In regards to the speaker locations, I understand that the surrounds should be close to perpendicular to the seating position. What about the backs? Should they be pointed at the back of my head? At ear level or higher? What about the center speaker? Can it be below the screen, or above, or possibly behind?? For the front of the room, I want to rock in an 8 inch arch over the viewing area that will be about 8 feet wide. On either side of the arch I will build some solid cherry shelves for the equipment and DVD / CD storage. The arch will extend about 24 inches toward the seating position and I will soffet around the perimeter of the room 24 inches to follow the arch lines. I know, hard to visualize because I’m horrible at descriptions. Try to use the right side of your brain to visualize. Hahaha….

Does anyone have a link to some pictures of HT rooms to give me more ideas?

Mike,

Per Dolby Labs and my recommendations, the main QS8 surrounds are best to each side of the listening area, and a bit to the rear (up to 10 or 15 degrees from an imaginary line drawn across the listening area from one side wall to the other) and "well above ear level" if possible--about 2 to 5 feet. Put the rear surrounds at roughly the same height as the side ones, and do not aim them at your head. Separate them by 4 feet or more.

The center can be below or above the screen and aimed up or tilted down towards the listening area. If the screen is really large, you may find an odd dislocation of the dialog from the actors on screen, in which case you may want to try running two centers in parallel, one above and one below. That way, the phantom image will appear in the center of the screen, exactly where you want it. Depending on your installation, one center may be excellent, but again try above or below-screen locations before you drill holes. Listen for the most neutral tonal balance that matches your front mains. The center will never sound identical to the mains, but close enough that dialog or sounds do not sound disembodied or distractingly colored.

Regards,

Again, you really need to take a look over at the AVS Forums. There are unending galleries of people's setups. Also, many of the posters have links to pictures of their theaters in their signatures. Look specifically in the Home Theater Builder section and you're going to find some amazing theater examples.

Good Luck

Thanks Alan and others.

I'll check out this AVS forum you mention. I guess I should get out more often hahaha..... I don't spend much time on forums. This board is it. Too much to do with not enough time to do it. Plus, everyone here is even tempered and freindly.

Well I'm off to the basement to run some wire.

That's true. I have not seen another forum like this one.