I need help wiring a Home Theater

[Eager2Learn]

I am finishing my basement. I want to wire a home theater before the sheet rock goes in. I don't have any equipment yet. That will be my next inquiry. The room is 18' x14'. The TV will be on the 14' wall and the facing couch has a short wall behind it. There is a wall 9' behind that.

I have been getting conflicting opinions on front speaker placement. Some have told me to hang the speakers from the ceiling in the corners. Some have told me to hang them on the wall on either side of the TV at a sitting position level. Which is the best placement?

Just to make sure, I am going to be hanging the rear speakers from the ceiling slightly behind the couch and the center channel will be on the TV. Is this OK?

The TV and Home Theater will be my follow up.

[uncooked]

the rears up on the ceiling like that sound fine.

but i would be a little hesitant about mounting my fronts up high, if you can avoid it definetely try to keep them lower down, i dont know the exact numbers you can look it up at dolby.com i think, but its usually a foot or so above ear level , 5 - 6 feet off the floor, and the average for rears is 6 feet off the floor, but i have some up by the ceiling and it sounds exactly the same. becuase there isnt a heck of a lot of action going on back there, and hardly ever any voices that can get mumble dif there up high.

if i can suggest something when you go out to buy speaker wire get thick gauge for the speakers, and decent quality. "hardware style works great, like rona or home depot wire. you dont need to get into monster and all that" its just that you basement is similar to what i did early last year and i wish i would have used better wire for the rears. "i swapped out the front wire after realizing the wire wasnt the best"

and if its just going behind drywall there is plenty of space and i would buy the thickest stuff you can get, probably 12 gauge, thats what i have seen at home depot and rona and places like that, if there is a 10 gauge thats even better..... its definetely worth the extra 10 cents a foot or so in the long run.

[Geoffcin]

I am finishing my basement. I want to wire a home theater before the sheet rock goes in. I don't have any equipment yet. That will be my next inquiry. The room is 18' x14'. The TV will be on the 14' wall and the facing couch has a short wall behind it. There is a wall 9' behind that.

I have been getting conflicting opinions on front speaker placement. Some have told me to hang the speakers from the ceiling in the corners. Some have told me to hang them on the wall on either side of the TV at a sitting position level. Which is the best placement?

Just to make sure, I am going to be hanging the rear speakers from the ceiling slightly behind the couch and the center channel will be on the TV. Is this OK?

The TV and Home Theater will be my follow up.

I just in wall wired my new HT room.

First, 14 gage is more that you need for this application. I got RCA brand OFC copper speaker wire. Hope Depot has this for $29.95 for 100 ft spool. Definitely get the SPEAKER wire, not zip cord. RCA engineers designed this wire specifically for speaker applications, and it doesn't cost anymore than zip.

At a sitting position you want the axis of the tweeters to be on line with your ears. If you put your speakers up high, you will have to tilt them down to achieve this. My advise is to get them as close to the center axis of you screen as possible.

I was in your position trying to make a choice on where to put my surround rears. The back wall in my installation is 22 feet, but there is a pass through behind my seats, so I have either to mount them on the wall, with the problem of possibly knocking into them, or to move them in wall. I chose the latter, and it was quite a shock when I got to hear them for the first time yesterday.

My new addition was supposed to be finished several weeks ago, but as anyone who has had construction done can tell you, add a month or more to whenever you thought it might be done.

After more than a little delay, I finally got to test the in wall speakers. They are the top-of-the-line Cambridge Soundworks IW300's with dual 4" woofers and a silk soft dome tweeter. These are set in the back wall 39" up from the floor. I have them set about 6' apart.

First impression when hooking them up to the front amps on my receiver was "WTF?!" where's all this sound coming from! These are little in wall speakers, the're not supposed to have bass output, the're not supposed to sound like mains! It was really astonishing. I put on a CD with really powerful bass, the RH Chili Peppers BSSM, and Flea bass sounded hard, fast, and tight. Honest output from these little speakers way into the 30's! My wife started laughing when she saw my face, and said "you can get rid of all your speakers now!". Well, that just ain't going to happen, but I will say that I would now definitely recommend in wall speakers for HT applications, especially where space is at a premium.

The sad part is that these speakers will probably never do more than whisper in my HT application, as they would work excellent as mains. Oh well, at least the're "timber matched" to my system.

[omikey]

the rears up on the ceiling like that sound fine.

but i would be a little hesitant about mounting my fronts up high, if you can avoid it definetely try to keep them lower down, i dont know the exact numbers you can look it up at dolby.com i think, but its usually a foot or so above ear level , 5 - 6 feet off the floor, and the average for rears is 6 feet off the floor, but i have some up by the ceiling and it sounds exactly the same. becuase there isnt a heck of a lot of action going on back there, and hardly ever any voices that can get mumble dif there up high.

if i can suggest something when you go out to buy speaker wire get thick gauge for the speakers, and decent quality. "hardware style works great, like rona or home depot wire. you dont need to get into monster and all that" its just that you basement is similar to what i did early last year and i wish i would have used better wire for the rears. "i swapped out the front wire after realizing the wire wasnt the best"

and if its just going behind drywall there is plenty of space and i would buy the thickest stuff you can get, probably 12 gauge, thats what i have seen at home depot and rona and places like that, if there is a 10 gauge thats even better..... its definetely worth the extra 10 cents a foot or so in the long run.
well I'm inclined to use large gauge wire for my speakers too, but I think that 10 gauge is WAY WAY over the top. Frankly I doubt that you can even get that much wire into your connection post on the speaker...... try it and let me know.

I most cases I would think that 14 gauge is more than enough to carry an audio signal for great distances without any significant loss in signal. Certainly enough for any run in a room of this size.

I am currently wiring up my living room, tv in front, av gear in the back. The wiring is up through the wall, across the attic and down the wall into the closet in the back of the room. I'm using 16 gauge wire and am very confident that this will not be a problem with audio quality. If there is any problems I'm sure it will not be due to the size of the wire.

Look at your clothes dryer, or your oven, see that gauge wire ..... usaually about a 10 or 12 gauge wire to carry all that power and electricty .. .... certainly not what you need for an audio signal ... just MHO

[AVMASTER]

if you were my client we would have decided what we're wiring for and where to- i.e. equipment placement, wiring not only for speakers but video, control, multi-room, future-upgrades, etc..
If you're completely undecided for front placement, run your lines from equip. to a few inchs from floor ( same height as AC ), nail a single gang box to stud then run your line through it with a little extra slack then continue line up the wall ( between studs ), continue line in the ceiling 2' from wall -cut line with extra few feet- note on floor plan exactly where line starts and ends
this will allow you to come back later and place speakers in ceiling, in/on wall, or floorstanding with minimal effort.
16 or 14 gage is fine just make sure the wire is UL rated for in-wall use and when running it keep it away from electrical wiring
place ceiling mounted rears more towards the sides of seating area and ONLY use speakers that can be aimed towards seating area

[Eager2Learn]

It sounds like I'm getting similar feedback, go high or on either side of the TV.

Maybe I should add that I have two 18 month old boys starting to walk and getting into whatever they can. Does that make a difference on speaker placement? The last thing I want to do is come home and see a speaker dangling off the wall b/c one of my little ones decided daddy's speaker was a pinata.

In reply to AVMASTER, I am only focusing on speakers. I'm not running controls or piping into other rooms. My budget is limited to probably $1000 or less for the home theater, speakers and components. The TV is a different story. While we're on the topic, any recommendations for a complete home theater system for that budget? I know a HTIB is not popular among you guys but I admit I'm not aware of my options.

Like an AA meeting, Hi, I'm Eager2Learn and I'm a newbie.

Thanks ahead for the help.

[AVMASTER]

running speaker wire is relatively cheap so while the walls are open it would be a wise idea to run wiring for additional channels i.e. 6.1---7.1, perhaps twin subs, etc.. if equipment is located anywhere other than at TV , i'd highly recommend running video source cabling also; this applies to control as well
i don't know of any HTIB that comes with in-ceiling speakers so your best option would be on-wall speakers for front channels and purchase separate in-ceiling ( Speakercraft AIM series or Niles DS). Check out Kenwood HTB706DV if your need a dvd player too or HTB306 if not

[Eager2Learn]

running speaker wire is relatively cheap so while the walls are open it would be a wise idea to run wiring for additional channels i.e. 6.1---7.1, perhaps twin subs, etc.. if equipment is located anywhere other than at TV , i'd highly recommend running video source cabling also; this applies to control as well
i don't know of any HTIB that comes with in-ceiling speakers so your best option would be on-wall speakers for front channels and purchase separate in-ceiling ( Speakercraft AIM series or Niles DS). Check out Kenwood HTB706DV if your need a dvd player too or HTB306 if not

I apologize for the misunderstanding. I did not mean the speakers would be set into the ceiling. I meant mounting a bracket either on the wall or the ceiling to hang the speakers.

Does that clear up my question? I want to have 2 rear speakers hanging off the wall slightly behind a couch. Then, I want to wire 2 speakers to hang off the wall for the front. Do I hang them in the upper corners of the room pointing in or on either side of the TV?

Then to follow that up, what kind of home theater can I get for about a $1000? It will be for primarily movies and watching TV, listening to music would be rare.

[AVMASTER]

actually please accept my apology, i'm afraid i did not read your original post correctly.
Your speaker placement is fine, however i'd place my rears on the sides towards the seating area.
The Kenwood system ( with dvd changer ) would be within your budget; the thing you want to look for in a HTIB is separate components. Alot of them are combined receiver and dvd player with proprietary cabling or the subwoofer carries the amp for all channels and requires a special control cable. These kinds of HTIBs are not upgradable or they can limit placement of equip. due to cabling. Sound-wise, most HTIBs have poor bass respone, lack midrange, and poor center channel performance; musically i would even consider a HTIB at all but in your case ,since this not a concern, I'd keep my search within known name brands.

The best way to go is to run wiring now and piece your system together as budget be comes available

[Eager2Learn]

actually please accept my apology, i'm afraid i did not read your original post correctly.
Your speaker placement is fine, however i'd place my rears on the sides towards the seating area.
The Kenwood system ( with dvd changer ) would be within your budget; the thing you want to look for in a HTIB is separate components. Alot of them are combined receiver and dvd player with proprietary cabling or the subwoofer carries the amp for all channels and requires a special control cable. These kinds of HTIBs are not upgradable or they can limit placement of equip. due to cabling. Sound-wise, most HTIBs have poor bass respone, lack midrange, and poor center channel performance; musically i would even consider a HTIB at all but in your case ,since this not a concern, I'd keep my search within known name brands.

The best way to go is to run wiring now and piece your system together as budget be comes available

AVMASTER,
You mentioned that my placement was fine but I still don't know where I should put the front speakers, on the side of the TV or in the upper corners pointing in?

Thank you for the tip on the seperate components.

[AVMASTER]

AVMASTER,
You mentioned that my placement was fine but I still don't know where I should put the front speakers, on the side of the TV or in the upper corners pointing in?

Thank you for the tip on the seperate components.

upper corners, 12" from ceiling, 12" from side walls.
without knowing type and size of speakers, this placement is safest way to go; also display type and size could determine placement, i.e. alot of plasma display panels that we've installed will have the speakers mounted directly along the sides