Lounge Audio (Cinema/Music)

[jimmybell]

I'm an audio-idiot and wondering if i can get some general advice, i have a typical London Victorian terraced house with lounge in the front room.

My TV sits in the alcove to the right of the fireplace, with Sofas placed in the only place they can be - opposite the TV, and in the bay window.

Currently i have some chunky 80s B&O panel speakers (shown at 1 and 2) wired to a Denon power amp sat in the floating TV cabinet upon which the TV sits.

I have a few problems i'd like to solve:

• Hooking up the lounge with SONOS control as i have a SONOS Play:3 in the kitchen and would like to expand this. I think the options are either use Sonos speakers, or use a Connect in ~whatever system i get.
• Currently sound is sourced from the speakers only in (1) and (2), as tv speakers and amp are out of sync, so cant have both without an echo (and TV is tinny anyway.
• TV remote seems to not control volume to any of the TV's audio outputs (optical/component/3.5mm), and the amp doesn't have a remote.. so you wanna change volume? You have to walk to the tv cabinet.
• The shape of the room makes obvious front/rear locations difficult, as such i currently have neither front, nor rear... just .. sides! This sucks. Any system i install id prefer to have wireless rear/sides to avoid wires running around a wooden floor.

I expect the solution involves buying some sort of amp/pvr device, a sonos connect, and some sort of soundbar/wireless speakers. Based on the price of Sonos kit, i suspect by going for a Sonos Connect and non-sonos speakers i can get much more flexibility and VFM.

Hopefully this pic explains some of it:



any thoughts, comments or suggestions welcomed!

[MrSparks]

The TV remote won't adjust the volume likely because the TV speaker is set to off and it's fed into the AV receiver. So you'll need the AVR remote to adjust the volume. You can get sync correctors for that issue.

For a small awkward shape room and primarily TV watching i'd go sound bar personally.

TV sound from ceiling speakers is a bit strange I find. It's good for home cinema with full set ups, but a stereo pair with TV in I just find odd in a primary TV watching place. I don't think there is a "right" or "wrong" though.

So go Sonos Playbar for TV + music

or go Q Acoustics Sound Bar (£299) and a sonos connect amp + ceiling speakers for music. See Here

Edited by MrSparks on Thursday 6th October 13:45

[mannyo]

Looking at the current room layout sound for both Music and Cinema would be compromised regardless of what you do. I cannot see a way around this without an element of reshuffle.

Your room is a similar shape to mine.

So thinking out of the box for a few minutes,

To get things more organised, but still compromised but to a lesser extent.

I would place the TV where speaker number one is currently located.
Depending on size, place speaker number one next to the TV on the left.
Place speaker number 2 where the TV is currently located.
and the rears could go one behind each sofa.

Doing that would give a reasonable sound stage for music and TV sound regardless of which sofa you sat on. TV audio can sound weird when you are watching a TV in front of you, you see lips moving but the audio is coming from behind or way over to one side.

Remember that even wireless speakers need power cables to each speaker so each would need a plug socket.

[paralla]

I have a setup in a very similar space to you. London terrace.

Centre speaker mounted to the bottom of the TV Wall bracket (so it always points the same way as the screen. Tall thin KEF T 205 speaker system with the sub and Amp and loads of other electronics in the custom TV Cabinet under the TV, speaker cabled all run under the floor boards. Sonos in the whole house, Sonos Connect, um, connected to the big Denon AV Amp. Works a charm.

Smaller rears on the drinks cabinet behind the sofa.

The absolute biggest TV we could fit was 40" so that's what it is. Expensive double scissor wall bracket is fab. Nothing does my head in more than a crazy high telly above the mantle piece.

The tall-thin speakers are the key here.
http://www.richersounds.com/package/speakers/speak...

Couple of pics from the day we moved in.

[VEX]

The two fomats I would consider are both based around the same solution.

Sound bar for front Left, Centre, Right Duties.
Rear Satellites for Rear Left, Right
and a Sub.

Now you could either do this in the traditional format with seperates, there are a few manufactures who offer LCR Bars including Monitor Audio.

Or you could go Sonos PlayBar, Play1's and Sonos Sub - and this will learn your TV remote for volume control.

Either solution will work well and for a good system cost about the same. especaily from you PH friendly dealler

[tankplanker]

How much do you watch the TV? How loud can/do you have the volume?

A left field choice would be a projector with a screen that hides in the ceiling, and in wall (rather than in ceiling) speakers. It would allow a far more central seating position.