Inspiration / advice for mounting surround sound speakers?

[gareth h]

Chaps, as mentioned in a previous thread we are moving house and I’m struggling to work out how / where to mount speakers.
This is the existing set up with cables buried in the wall (there are also rear speakers.) I can bury cables under the carpet, but don’t want to see them running up the wall, and don’t really want to start hacking at the plaster.
Any ideas?
Ta
G



This is the new room with TV in the corner

[JEA1K]

Sell the kit and go for a sound bar + Sub. Trying to give yourself a 'surround sound' set up will not be worth the pain and there will be too many compromises. Cables under carpets, potentially chasing out mortar and replacing. It would also look a total pig.

[gareth h]

What’s the music sound quality like from a sound bar?

[matjk]

I’ve got a small sound bar and sub and it sound pretty decent , I went for a wireless set up for the rears, which is a bit of a lie as you still need wires but only mains power so you can use speaker stands and find a plug ,

[VEX]

A nice hybrid would be to use a passive sound bar hanging from the same bracket as the TV.

Gives you the benefit of the sound moving and you position the tv, but not limiting yourself to mediocre active things.

Totem do a nice range and I can help out if you like the idea.

[NorthDave]

matjk said:

I’ve got a small sound bar and sub and it sound pretty decent , I went for a wireless set up for the rears, which is a bit of a lie as you still need wires but only mains power so you can use speaker stands and find a plug ,

I'd probably go for a Sonos soundbar mounted under the TV in that scenario too. Without doing some fairly serious renovation you will struggle to incorporate everything.

I'm pretty sure you can listen to some kit at Richer Sounds if you wanted to.

[gareth h]

Had a long chat with a very helpful bloke at Richer sounds today, one of the other issues I have is that the KEFs don’t handle music very well, he suggested these for front and centre, which I can get cable to fairly easily.

https://www.richersounds.com/q-acoustics-q3020i-bl...
https://www.richersounds.com/q-acoustics-q3090ci-b...

Using my existing Sub, and these for the rear, which I quite like as I could move them around the house / garden to listen to music

https://www.richersounds.com/yamaha-wx010-black.ht...

[NorthDave]

gareth h said:

Had a long chat with a very helpful bloke at Richer sounds today, one of the other issues I have is that the KEFs don’t handle music very well, he suggested these for front and centre, which I can get cable to fairly easily.

https://www.richersounds.com/q-acoustics-q3020i-bl...
https://www.richersounds.com/q-acoustics-q3090ci-b...

Using my existing Sub, and these for the rear, which I quite like as I could move them around the house / garden to listen to music

https://www.richersounds.com/yamaha-wx010-black.ht...

Its an option but I wouldn't bother to be honest. A Sonos soundbar will give you "good" tv audio without the hassle of speakers and amps. I'd concentrate on a good stand and brackets to get the aesthetics spot on. If you want better sound then I think you need a different shape and style of room i.e. you aren't going to get a cinema experience in that room!

I mean that in the best possible way as someone who does this stuff professionally :-)

[JEA1K]

NorthDave said:

Its an option but I wouldn't bother to be honest. A Sonos soundbar will give you "good" tv audio without the hassle of speakers and amps. I'd concentrate on a good stand and brackets to get the aesthetics spot on. If you want better sound then I think you need a different shape and style of room i.e. you aren't going to get a cinema experience in that room!

I mean that in the best possible way as someone who does this stuff professionally :-)

Snap. Thats 3 of us who do this for a living that have offered the same, free, advice.

There are few times where rooms are 'perfect' ... there is usually one or more compromises down the line. Whilst I am always keen to sell kit to customers, I have a professional and moral responsibility on the way products look when installed. I have flatly told customers they're not having X installed because it looks garbage ... whilst they might not like being told but after all, they're paying for our experience & advice.

No disrespect to Richer Sounds, but this room just doesn't suit surround sound with separate speakers.

Sonos is the 'go to' and does a decent job but also take a look at the B&W Formation Bar. It also has a matching sub so you can create a 3.1 system with zero cables (well apart from optical between TV and Sound Bar).

[gareth h]

JEA1K said:

Snap. Thats 3 of us who do this for a living that have offered the same, free, advice.

There are few times where rooms are 'perfect' ... there is usually one or more compromises down the line. Whilst I am always keen to sell kit to customers, I have a professional and moral responsibility on the way products look when installed. I have flatly told customers they're not having X installed because it looks garbage ... whilst they might not like being told but after all, they're paying for our experience & advice.

No disrespect to Richer Sounds, but this room just doesn't suit surround sound with separate speakers.

Sonos is the 'go to' and does a decent job but also take a look at the B&W Formation Bar. It also has a matching sub so you can create a 3.1 system with zero cables (well apart from optical between TV and Sound Bar).

In fairness the bloke from Richer hasn’t seen the room, but thanks I’ll take a look at the sound bar, and maybe consider something different for music, would a Yamaha RX V4 surround sound amp drive decent Hifi speakers?