5.1 with In-walls for 1-2k?

[Scottessey]

Hey Fellas,

This is my first venture into surround sound. My house is being framed right now. I have about a month or so before the drywall goes up. I'd like to pick up a 5.1 set up with the (3)fronts mounted in the wall, the rears in the ceiling, and a sub hanging out somewhere in the corner. This is for my family/living room.

I've noticed in other posts that people with smaller budgets are advised to build it piece by piece. I'd rather have a complete entry-level system now, then someday far away from now when I have recovered from this renovation, upgrade to higher end stuff. I'm thinking of picking up a 52" LCD, and a Yamaha RX V661 Receiver. Can anyone recommend some speakers that will get me going on a tight budget?

[tonyvdb]

unfortunately to get in-walls/ceiling that are of decent quality and that work well you need to spend a fair bit more ($3000). Most in-wall speakers are far too directional and simply dont have the range that you want.

[Scottessey]

What would you suggest for an entry-level set?

[tonyvdb]

Are you willing to go with some bookshelf sized speakers? SVS has some really sweet ones that not only sound great but look fantastic as well. Make sure that you budget for the subwoofer as well SVS makes some of the best around.

[Scottessey]

Thanks, Tony. I could probably go with bookshelf for the front L&R, and maybe the center, but the rears will have to be in the ceiling.

[tonyvdb]

Scottessey wrote:

but the rears will have to be in the ceiling.

Can you not hang two bookshelf speakers from the location in the rear of the room. In ceiling are the worst choice for placement as your sound is going to come from above rather than behind you making the sound field very poor.

[salvasol]

I completely agree with Tony

Take a look at this small systems Onkyo HT-S5100 , Onkyo HT-S6100 and Onkyo-HT-S9100THX ... they're not the same quality as the SVS, but are better than most HTIB systems including Bose

[Scottessey]

Thanks, David! I could probably do the SVS bookshelves in the front, but I'm wondering about the rear ones. The only place I could really put them would be on the sides of the piano. My screen will be above the fireplace. Does this look like it will work?? Here's my layout



Also...the ceiling in the room is vaulted with the ridge running parallel to the LCD. So technically if the rears were mounted on the ceiling they would be both behind you, and above you. Aiming at your cowlick, so to speak. =D Not sure which is the better option...by the piano(does that seem far away?) or at the cowlick.

[nova]

Is there a wall between your kitchen and family room?

[JCD]

I'm with the rest of the folks -- inwalls/inceilings are going to cost you more (a lot?) for the same performance. I think you'd be fine putting the speakers on the wall by your piano. Elevated so that that they're 2' from the ceiling maybe? Spread out as much as you can. It's not perfect, but audio is typically about making compromises. If you were to buy the speakers from SVS (which I also agree would be a very good route to go), I'd hazard that they could tell you the best place to put the speakers given your room and limitations.

One more thing -- I'm not sure if this is true, but mounting a tv above a fireplace I thought wasn't a good idea, unless you weren't going to be using the fireplace. The heat and smoke will affect the tv's performance. Maybe that's not true, but it's something I've always thought was..

JCD

[jakewash]

There are some good inwall/on wall speakers out there, are they the same as stand alones, no, but close, Axiomaudio with their W series and T series, Sonus has had some good reviews. You could look at Kef or Orb audio for bookshelf speakers as well.