Looking for some AV advice please

[JMC180]

I'm busy planning a new home office/watching area in my new home and being a complete AV novice, could do with some advice.

The room is 15ft long x 11ft wide and I would like to incorporate a desk and a comfortable sofa for watching TV.

The intention is that the bulk of the time, I will be on my PC with the TV being on in the background or used as a second screen. I would say, 20% of the use of the TV would be from the couch and 80% from behind the desk.

For this reason, I bought a 65" TV so that from the desk, the viewing distance will be around 12ft and being someone who likes to sit 2ft from a 32" desktop monitor when typing and 3ft when watching TV that would suit me fine. The concern is the sofa, which will only be 8ft or so from the screen, I have seen various debates on forums and online calculators saying this is fine, but has anyone got some practical experience with this? Would I be too close to 65" 4K TV at 8ft or would I love it and get used to it? I think going smaller would annoy me for the 80% of the time I will be watching further away from my desk.

The second question is an audio one, the whole house will have ceiling speakers for music playback but in this room, we will watch the odd film and I would like something a little better.

I was thinking of a 5.1 surround system but my local richersounds demo'd a Dolby Atmos 5.2.2 setup and it was actually quite scary! The question is, for mostly regular TV audio and some music would I be better off with a soundbar like Dali's Kubik (£700) or should I go the full Atmos surround route (£2k) for the occasions I will watch the Atmos encoded content and for a better all round experience? Cabling up now would be an absolute doddle as walls are already channelled.

Thanks in advance

Jacob

Some plans for the study - subject to change, the desk is being moved further back for instance.



or alternative option that I've sketched to scale

[karma mechanic]

For a 65 inch TV in 4K the viewing distance to 'see' the 4K-ness of it is often quoted as 4 feet to 8 feet. Beyond about 8 feet you may not be able to tell it from normal HD.

More info on AV forums, inevitably, such as: https://www.avforums.com/article/tv-full-hd-ultra-...

Short answer - 8 feet should be fine, and closer might be better depending on the content.

[benz0]

I'm no fan of soundbars. I have an amp and some b&w bookshelves under my tv and the sound blows away all soundbars I've heard.

2k would get you a pair of Harbeth P3ESR's and a stereo receiver or av receiver. That's what I'd get

[ladderino]

Atmos is a lot of speakers. I'd go in the middle between the Atmos set up and sounder and get a decent 5.1 system.

We have an Orbitsound M12 sound bar in our lounge/kids playroom - it's fine for showing endless repeats of Frozen and Peppa Pig, but doesn't punch much weight for films.

We've got 5.1 in our snug (revolves around Monitor Audio Radius), which is where we watch most of our TV and films, and love it - fantastic for sport and films, and most of the time quite subtle (scary when I'm home alone and allowed to crank things up).