Opinion on placing HT rack on the side of the room - from acoustic point of view

[rdksrk2013]

I am planning to place the HT rack comprising of the AVR & media player on the side besides the seating area.

Following are the reasons:

1. Spent lot of time thinking of how to route the HDMI cable from the wall hung pj towards the screen if the HT rack is placed below the screen. Teh HDMi cable distance will be less.

2. Placing near beside the seating area will make it convenient to operate.

3. Can route the speaker cables to the speakers without interfering with the power cabling?

4. Disadvantage is that I need to run the sub cable for a longer distance.


But the question is that will the HT rack equipment will be effected (particulalry the AVR) from the vibrations of the woofer which is in the opposite side?

Will it effect the acoustics of the room since I cannot make a wall receding HT rack and will be placed on regular stand.

Room dimesions are 9 ft H x 15 ft length x 11 ft wide

Please share your opinion and experience. I need to order the cables accordingly I mean the lengths.

 

[raghumailbox]

If the sub is infront of rack, the audio from the sub would not be as smooth and punchy. And the main issue will be with the remote operation - many time we tend to position the remote towards the screen.

 

[rdksrk2013]

If the sub is infront of rack, the audio from the sub would not be as smooth and punchy. And the main issue will be with the remote operation - many time we tend to position the remote towards the screen.

Correct. If I move the sub away from the rack will it still create problem?

The other advantage of moving the rack away from the screen - you will get more space for playing around with the position of the speaker placements which would not have possible otherwise.

 

[neo9999]

Hi rdksrk,

There are couple of thing you need to note while designing home theatre room.

1. Ease of usage of devices
2. Placement of a/v devices

Most of the times, you would need to use remote to use your dvd/media player and aVR. You cant expect to everytime get up and point the remote to the side and operate.

It is better to invest in a longer hdmi cable and route it in two ways -
1. through the wall up ceiling and back to the projector
2. through floor carpet and up the wall where you are seated and then back to the projector
3. You can also route it through side walls.

If you dont intend to chisel the wall, then i would suggest go for option 2.

As someone suggested, placing the sub next to seating on the side will not provide optimal sound. You could have placed it behind the seating area if required.

But all in all, I would suggest to keep rack + sub in front of you where the screen resides..

Neo

 

[sdurani]

Disadvantage is that I need to run the sub cable for a longer distance.

Place the subwoofer right behind your sofa, at the midpoint of room width.

With nearfield placement you'll hear more of your sub and less of the room, which will result in tight/clean bass with no boominess.

Plus, you won't need to run the sub cable for a long distance.

 

[rdksrk2013]

Place the subwoofer right behind your sofa, at the midpoint of room width.

With nearfield placement you'll hear more of your sub and less of the room, which will result in tight/clean bass with no boominess.

Plus, you won't need to run the sub cable for a long distance.

Thanks for the suggestion. Keeping it behind the sofa !!! will it not resound back reflecting from the sofa back?

 

[sdurani]

Keeping it behind the sofa !!! will it not resound back reflecting from the sofa back?

Point the driver away from the back of the sofa; aim it at the back wall. Just make sure the sub is at the middle of room width.

Here is what the frequency response looks like with a sub placed in the front of the room:

Red line is middle seat of sofa, grey lines are left and right seats of sofa. Ignore the blue line.

Here is what the frequency response looks like with a sub directly behind the sofa:

Not only is the frequency response smoother at the main seat (red line) but there is greater seat-to-seat consistency across the entire sofa (grey lines).

 

[rdksrk2013]

Excellent analysis. Thanks a lot for the effort. I appreciate.

Today I had a detailed thinking and decided to place the HT rack towards the screen.

I will try to implement/experiment with your suggestion of placing the sub behind the seating.

i have one query - My room is 14 ft in length. SO my seating place will be at 13ft. Backside is a big glass window.

Will this work in my case?

 

[sdurani]

If your sofa is one foot away from the back wall, then you should point the driver to the left or right (so that it is not pressed up against the back of the sofa or pressed up against the back wall of your room).

Also consider moving your sofa a couple feet forward to get a smoother response (fewer peaks & dips).

BTW, is your room 14 feet long or 15 feet long (as per the 1st post)?

 

[rdksrk2013]

If your sofa is one foot away from the back wall, then you should point the driver to the left or right (so that it is not pressed up against the back of the sofa or pressed up against the back wall of your room).

Also consider moving your sofa a couple feet forward to get a smoother response (fewer peaks & dips).

BTW, is your room 14 feet long or 15 feet long (as per the 1st post)?

Yes you are correct. My room is 14 ft(approx) after the builder has completed and the skirting of the marble floor has eaten up some inches.

Another query - Does it matter if the sub is front firing or downfiring type? Mine is a front firing sub

Again as suggested by you - moving the seating a couple of feet might make the projected picture too close incase I project a 720 p video.

FYI - I am going for a 120" screen projected from 13 ft with TW 8100

Thanks in advance

 

[sdurani]

Does it matter if the sub is front firing or downfiring type?

Doesn't matter.

Again as suggested by you - moving the seating a couple of feet might make the projected picture too close incase I project a 720 p video.

FYI - I am going for a 120" screen projected from 13 ft with TW 8100

Even when projecting 720p source material, it will be scaled up to 1080p by the projector, so you won't see pixels by moving your seating closer.

Besides, at 13' away, your viewing angle will be around 37 degrees. From 11 feet away it will be a more immersive 43 degrees.

 

[rdksrk2013]

Doesn't matter. Even when projecting 720p source material, it will be scaled up to 1080p by the projector, so you won't see pixels by moving your seating closer.

Besides, at 13' away, your viewing angle will be around 37 degrees. From 11 feet away it will be a more immersive 43 degrees.

Thank you. Will try out this placement once my HT room is ready.

I thought the 720 p will be upscaled to 1080p by the AVR or the BDP !!

 

[sdurani]

Will try out this placement once my HT room is ready.

Pushing your sofa 2 feet forward is worth trying, since it doesn't cost anything AND isn't permanent (if you don't like it, you can always slide the sofa back).

I thought the 720 p will be upscaled to 1080p by the AVR or the BDP !!

Upscaling is probably the most redundant feature in consumer electronics these days. Even though I have an outboard video processor, I can perform upscaling in my disc player OR my pre-pro OR my display.

If you have some time and feel like experimenting, play a 480 or 720 source and turn off upscaling in a couple of your devices to see how well the other device performs upscaling. For example, if you turn off upscaling in your AVR, you can see how well your player upscales. If you turn it off in the player, you can see how well your AVR does it. If you turn off upscaling in your player and AVR, then you can see how well your projector upscales.

Once you have tested upscaling quality, pick the one that looks best to you.

 

[rdksrk2013]

Good suggestions. I appreciate your advice. Will try and update but this may take 1-2 months after HT room is ready