Basic setup for a novice

[anthdci]

I am in the process of planning a fairly large property renovation, involving moving nearly every wall at the rear of the house. So this is giving me the opportunity to plan in all the wiring I'd need to do something better than using the built in TV speakers or a soundbar that I have always used.

This is what I have in mind, excuse the very basic sketchup, I only opened the application for the first time at the weekend.

I'll start by saying I haven't got the first idea on audio quality, spending thousands on a setup would probably be wasted on me. In fact the priority list is, firstly, as invisible as possible, secondly, ease of use, then audio quality and price equal.

So with that in mind I am thinking front left and right channels either side of the TV built into the wall unit that will house the TV, with some storage and display cabinets with glass wear inside. Some form of control hardware in there too, hidden if possible. Something like this but with the TV lower, actual eye height from a seated position, I hate too high TVs.

With 2 or 4 ceiling speakers for the rears/sides. I have absolutely no idea where to put a sub. I know this isn't the best staging, but I won't have anywhere else to fit rears.

I have a nVidia shield that I use for streaming from my Plex server. We also have a freesat feed for live TV. I am looking to buy a LG C4 65 or 77" depending on how the budget goes after the building work is done.

I know my wife will veto any big speakers on show purely on aesthetics, so the only way I can do this is if they are as hidden as possible. I might be able to get away with some black rectangle ones on the sides of the TV and below it. Rears will had to be angled in ceiling with white covers to blend into the ceiling.

For usability, I want is for the sound to be better than built in speakers, but functionally the same. I have a TV remote, I turn the volume up, it goes up, I turn if we have a party I want to be able to say Alexa play Spotify and it come out of the speakers. Importantly I want it to be so easy to use that my daughter can do it. If it's not I'll get it in the neck.

So where I am looking for advice.

What kind of receiver do it need to be the brains?

Can anyone recommend some good bang for the buck speakers that fit the above?

What sub should I be looking at and any ideas where I can put it?

Will speakers fitted to where I have planned cause vibrations that the glass in the display panel might clink? 

It looks like the receivers have HDMI for devices such as the Shield, but the freesat tuner will be in the TV. Does this mean I need a optical cable to connect back to the amp for sound for that to play through the setup?

[hellowalkman Reporter]

  On 13/02/2025 at 20:00, anthdci said:

What sub should I be looking at and any ideas where I can put it?

 

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Do you have any space in the corners to place a sub? If you can't place a single large subwoofer, maybe try two (or more) smaller ones?

[anthdci]

  On 14/02/2025 at 06:15, hellowalkman said:

Do you have any space in the corners to place a sub? If you can't place a single large subwoofer, maybe try two (or more) smaller ones?

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It’s not so much space. It’s going to be quite a large space. It’s asthetics. A black box in the corner will just look out of place and my wife will hate it. I’m 50/50 about getting away with speakers each side of the TV.

[tsupersonic]

Quite honestly, if you haven't got the first idea of audio quality, ask yourself why do you want to upgrade from your soundbar? What do you want to achieve, and what's your budget? Soundbars will probably get crucified by any AV enthusiast but they definitely have a place in this world. 

[anthdci]

  On 15/02/2025 at 03:16, tsupersonic said:

Quite honestly, if you haven't got the first idea of audio quality, ask yourself why do you want to upgrade from your soundbar? What do you want to achieve, and what's your budget? Soundbars will probably get crucified by any AV enthusiast but they definitely have a place in this world. 

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It's certainly an option. Basically my in laws have done a very similar extension to what we want to do. They have the audio coming out of the TV which is fine, most of the time, but they had a party a few months ago and the boxing was on so we put that on for those who wanted to watch it. You couldn't hear a word of it with the TV on full blast. Obviously built in speakers are rubbish, so this is the extreme. But it got me thinking, and what I want is as much future proofing as possible. My daughter is 4, I want this house to be where her and her friends come as they grow up. So for kids birthday parties when there are 20 kids running round screaming  to 10-15 years when they are all having a few drinks before going out they can have music on and have a good time for example. I want to have thought it out while I can, because once the walls are plastered it becomes a lot harder. 

I am probably overthinking it, I just don't want to kick myself in a few years time for forgetting something. I figure if I am going to put wires in now, it makes sense to get some use out of them. 

[dwd999]

Here's the thing: you're never going to get great surround sound from a room setup like that where one side is open. I have been more fortunate in that my living room is U shaped |__| where I have 3 walls that are approx. 14 feet on the 3 sides and its only open at the back. So I can use a sound bar (Sennheiser Ambeo Max) because it depends on the side walls reflecting the sound from the speaker at each end of the sound bar. Other sound bars can work when they have 2 wireless speakers for the rear channels but you still need side walls to reflect the sound properly. With your room setup it might be best of have the front and back channels coming from ceiling mounted speakers and just have a center channel speaker mounted below the screen. The most important thing is to have electronics where you can adjust the center channel separately from the other channels and raise it to a level where you can clearly hear the voices over and above the other channels with the music and special effects.

[tsupersonic]

  On 17/02/2025 at 15:58, anthdci said:

It's certainly an option. Basically my in laws have done a very similar extension to what we want to do. They have the audio coming out of the TV which is fine, most of the time, but they had a party a few months ago and the boxing was on so we put that on for those who wanted to watch it. You couldn't hear a word of it with the TV on full blast. Obviously built in speakers are rubbish, so this is the extreme. But it got me thinking, and what I want is as much future proofing as possible. My daughter is 4, I want this house to be where her and her friends come as they grow up. So for kids birthday parties when there are 20 kids running round screaming  to 10-15 years when they are all having a few drinks before going out they can have music on and have a good time for example. I want to have thought it out while I can, because once the walls are plastered it becomes a lot harder. 

I am probably overthinking it, I just don't want to kick myself in a few years time for forgetting something. I figure if I am going to put wires in now, it makes sense to get some use out of them. 

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Sounds like you just want louder speakers than standard TV spakers, which soundbars are better than standard TV speakers. Maybe you're trying to justify getting an expensive surround sound setup, which is fine if you want it/have budget for it. But for your usecase (simplicity + cost sake) would be fine with a good soundbar (with 2 rear wireless speakers + sub). Hell I have an open floor plan with huge ceilings where my TV is, and the soundbar is just fine for everyday use. It's way louder than I need, I didn't have to drill anything into walls/ceilings, and it just works. 

[dwd999]

BTW what is that area behind the sofa; your diagram just shows an empty 3 sided area. If that is usable space, depending on its size, I would consider reversing the setup and having the TV on the end wall of that space with the sofa facing that direction which might provide better viewing and sound.

[hellowalkman Reporter]

  On 18/02/2025 at 18:06, dwd999 said:

I would consider reversing the setup and having the TV on the end wall of that space

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I agree with this take. Having the surround sound setup there should potentially be a lot better.

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

That room does not in any way lend itself to great surround sound quality.  It's achievable, but only at a lot of cost and compromise. However, from what you've suggested, you value "decent quality" and "volume" over "wow, this sounds astonishing"?

I have an audiophile mindset when needs be - my father's businesses stemmed from hand-crafted speaker cabinets - I know my stuff.  But I also know when to not care so much - same as people who rant about how MP3 is a crap format, then listen to their music using an iPhone... Nobody is impressed - it's more valuable to be subjective!

If you're open to rotating the room and putting the TV on the opposite wall, that will help more than anything else.  Like, seriously - A LOT!  But can understand that you may not wish to alter the plans and that's understandable.

PERSONALLY if that were my room and it was a fixed layout that I 100% could not change - I'd still stick with a good soundbar under the TV, pop the subwoofer anywhere you can hide it (inside a cabinet is actually fine too).  And then if you care, a pair of wireless surround speakers ticked into the corner of the wall opposite - they'll need power, but that can be run in coving.   Its not going to impress anyone but it will sure sound good enough to me.  Now if you took ALL that and reversed it so the TV is on the opposite wall, I genuinely feel you'd get maybe a 50% improvement in sound quality.

[anthdci]

lots to reply to so please bare with me if i miss something

  On 18/02/2025 at 18:06, dwd999 said:

BTW what is that area behind the sofa; your diagram just shows an empty 3 sided area. If that is usable space, depending on its size, I would consider reversing the setup and having the TV on the end wall of that space with the sofa facing that direction which might provide better viewing and sound.

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It will be a kids play area, toys, guinea pig cage etc while my daughter is young, and then turn into a dining table area when she is older. We have picked this location for the TV because it means when we have more people round they can sit at the kitchen island stools (i know not pictured). If the TV was on the other end that would be far more separated. This is a living space primarily, not a cinema room.

 

  On 19/02/2025 at 05:42, hellowalkman said:

I agree with this take. Having the surround sound setup there should potentially be a lot better.

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see above

 

  On 19/02/2025 at 16:24, Dick Montage said:

That room does not in any way lend itself to great surround sound quality.  It's achievable, but only at a lot of cost and compromise. However, from what you've suggested, you value "decent quality" and "volume" over "wow, this sounds astonishing"?

I have an audiophile mindset when needs be - my father's businesses stemmed from hand-crafted speaker cabinets - I know my stuff.  But I also know when to not care so much - same as people who rant about how MP3 is a crap format, then listen to their music using an iPhone... Nobody is impressed - it's more valuable to be subjective!

If you're open to rotating the room and putting the TV on the opposite wall, that will help more than anything else.  Like, seriously - A LOT!  But can understand that you may not wish to alter the plans and that's understandable.

PERSONALLY if that were my room and it was a fixed layout that I 100% could not change - I'd still stick with a good soundbar under the TV, pop the subwoofer anywhere you can hide it (inside a cabinet is actually fine too).  And then if you care, a pair of wireless surround speakers ticked into the corner of the wall opposite - they'll need power, but that can be run in coving.   Its not going to impress anyone but it will sure sound good enough to me.  Now if you took ALL that and reversed it so the TV is on the opposite wall, I genuinely feel you'd get maybe a 50% improvement in sound quality.

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thanks, all makes sense. I am wondering if it would be better to have some kind of corner mount speakers put in the opposite corner, vs putting some in the ceiling, or if its worth doing that too. Not perfect but certainly worth considering. Planning on running cables right across the room to the rear speakers is not difficult at this stage, as the walls don't exist more than lines on a piece of paper.

[hellowalkman Reporter]

  On 20/02/2025 at 19:46, anthdci said:

This is a living space primarily, not a cinema room.

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Then you are probably just better off with something like a good soundbar (stereo) and not bother with surround sound IMO.

[dwd999]

Perhaps you could mount something like these on the back wall or even the front wall since they are designed for hanging:

https://www.klipsch.com/products/rp-502s-ii-surround-sound-speakers

 

[anthdci]

  On 20/02/2025 at 23:43, hellowalkman said:

Then you are probably just better off with something like a good soundbar (stereo) and not bother with surround sound IMO.

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Think I am leaning towards a decent soundbar from the many youtube video reviews I've watched in the last few days. Maybe something like the Sonos Arc. I can put some wire in while the ceiling is off to some ceiling speakers then I can decide if I want to add them later I can, maybe with the Sonos amp.