Suggestions for 5.1 or 7.1 setup

[Mischievous]

4 hours ago, circeseye said:

one note if going full on speakers

one thing ive noticed with surround speakers

damn near all are 2 way. which is fine for center, surrounds and atmos.

but 2 ways for front? took me forever to find a good 3 way for my fronts that didnt cost a fortune. to me especially for music 3 ways are the way to go.

i found Yamaha NS-6490 3-Way Bookshelf Speakers 130.00 and was amazed with how good they sound and look for the price. (they are good sized not to small not to big)

 

but all in all starting at a 1000 is a good start

like others said start with a decent receiver thats going to support the amount of speakers you want. a denon 7.2 starts at 599 up to 850 all depends on what wattage you want.

and grab some fronts to start maybe a center if budget permits. then down the road grab you some sides and rears. and a powered sub when ready.

 

you dont need high watt speakers unless your going to have a separate amp for them 80 to 200 watt are fine for just a receiver running them

example my fronts are ran on a 120 watt per channel amp and the rest the receiver runs. 7.1.4 system. supports 11.1 but only supplies power to 9 and fronts are the most important to power since they are the mostly used

I'll get the 3-way one for center. Or at least try to find a 3-way one for the center.

 

By the way, are the Bi Poles are for the "Surround" speakers, not the "Front L and Front R" right? The terminology escapes me a bit. I mean the Bi Poles are the speakers I'll place behind me?

[Exidor]

2 minutes ago, Mischievous said:

I'll get the 3-way one for center. Or at least try to find a 3-way one for the center.

 

By the way, are the Bi Poles are for the "Surround" speakers, not the "Front L and Front R" right? The terminology escapes me a bit. I mean the Bi Poles are the speakers I'll place behind me?

No the Bi Poles is a speaker type 

https://www.audioholics.com/loudspeaker-design/surround-speaker-dipole-vs-bipole

The advantage is they do not have to be pointing at you to get the desired effect. So in your small cramped space will give you an a lot better image.

This is also why I would not use your old speakers as they are not bi pole.

Also they are old a new amp might blow them or just sound terrible...... If they already have issues.

 

 

As for output from PC your second best option is optical out but that only goes up to 5.1 compressed and that is not a great experience.

[Mischievous]

5 minutes ago, Exidor said:

No the Bi Poles is a speaker type 

https://www.audioholics.com/loudspeaker-design/surround-speaker-dipole-vs-bipole

The advantage is they do not have to be pointing at you to get the desired effect. So in your small cramped space will give you an a lot better image.

This is also why I would not use your old speakers as they are not bi pole.

Also they are old a new amp might blow them or just sound terrible...... If they already have issues.

 

 

As for output from PC your second best option is optical out but that only goes up to 5.1 compressed and that is not a great experience.

I see. Well, I'll retire them then.

Do I use Bi-poles for Front and Surround then? Essentially get 4 bi-poles and a 3-way for center?

[Exidor]

Just now, Mischievous said:

I see. Well, I'll retire them then.

Do I use Bi-poles for Front and Surround then? Essentially get 4 bi-poles and a 3-way for center?

No they only make sense for surrounds.

[Mischievous]

Just now, Exidor said:

No they only make sense for surrounds.

Alright, I'll start looking now and get back with what I find based on previous suggestions for speakers and characteristics.

[Exidor]

Depending on how much you are planning to spend you could use your existing speakers for a while...... as either left right or surround.

I would generally recommend to allocate budget like this

AV receiver gets the most look for Atmos and LPCM support for PC use. Think how you want to solve the HDMI 2.1 issues

Subwoofer if you are going to bother with one you will need to spend a lot on this..... It needs to be small fast and go low. Other wise it makes no sense for your set up you will be playing it on relatively low volume. So I would put my money into left and right channels and get speakers that at least have a 10inch woofer for mids and lows and a tweeter. Then see if I even want a subwoofer.

Left and right speaker I would look for as big of a woofer as I can fit. I would wall mount them ear level or a bit higher search for a guide. You want most of your bass to come through these.

Center speaker 3 section one that is built to act as a central speaker. Got with the same brand for center and left and right. You will get a nicer cleaner sound.

Surrounds go bipolar and wall mount them around ear level a bit higher maybe search for a guide.

Atmos up firing ones. Match them with the brand you got for your left and right.

 

 

I would either start out with a 3 speaker setup or even with just the receiver as 1k for a new receiver is not that much if you are buying new.

The Denon AVR-S650H has no Atmos and I personally would recommend against getting one without Atmos.

You will be spending upwards of 600 for one maybe even 800

 

https://www.whathifi.com/best-buys/home-cinema/best-home-cinema-amplifiers

The Sony looks nice. But you will kick yourself later down the road if you get a receiver that lacks codecs. And Atmos really adds a lot to the sound stage.

Unless you have a nice at least mid sized square room it ads a lot more than 7 or 9 speaker systems. Positioning those additional side speakers etcetera is a real pain in the ass. But upfiring Atmos speakers can work instantly and pretty well if you have a ceiling that can reflect it.

[Mischievous]

I will look at an atmos.

 

How do I know what distance is good ((and safe)) to put speakers at? I can't easily find the minimum distance for speakers. But I do see possible adverse health effects of wrongly setup speakers. I imagine the center speaker will be under my monitor, So I will be about 45 cm (17 inch) away from it. Is that safe?

[WhitetailAni]

Get a stereo set, a standalone subwoofer, hook it up to the correct jacks, and convince Windows that your 3 speakers are actually 6.

[Exidor]

2 hours ago, Mischievous said:

I will look at an atmos.

 

How do I know what distance is good ((and safe)) to put speakers at? I can't easily find the minimum distance for speakers. But I do see possible adverse health effects of wrongly setup speakers. I imagine the center speaker will be under my monitor, So I will be about 45 cm (17 inch) away from it. Is that safe?

????

Confused

Depends how loud you set them? Not like you are sitting facing a road show 4 story high speaker set that wont fire unless you blow a minimum off 10k+++ W through it.

I mean decent speakers will work ok at low volume.

 

There is a an issue if speakers are too close that the images gets muddy and and all the channels get mixed into a cacophony. But again that depends a lot on how loud you play your speakers. But yes there should be at least a meter or two between left and right channel.

[Psittac]

2 hours ago, Mischievous said:

I will look at an atmos.

 

How do I know what distance is good ((and safe)) to put speakers at? I can't easily find the minimum distance for speakers. But I do see possible adverse health effects of wrongly setup speakers. I imagine the center speaker will be under my monitor, So I will be about 45 cm (17 inch) away from it. Is that safe?

I would ignore Atmos for the corner of a room, before you know it you're surrounded by speakers and getting very little benefit from it, it's designed for entire rooms and movie watching.  Again I would suggest that you get just a good amplifier and a pair of left and right and see if that's good for you.  For most use a 2.0 stereo setup will be far better than a surround setup at the same end game price.  But you never answered to what content you want to take in.  Remember that the vast majority of content is NOT produced with surround sound capability, MOST content is just stereo 2.0  unless you are watching high production value movies and TV shows the rest of your speakers are going to be doing nothing.

[circeseye]

6 hours ago, Mischievous said:

I'll get the 3-way one for center. Or at least try to find a 3-way one for the center.

 

By the way, are the Bi Poles are for the "Surround" speakers, not the "Front L and Front R" right? The terminology escapes me a bit. I mean the Bi Poles are the speakers I'll place behind me?

yea bi-pol's are best as sides and rears. fronts, center, atmos you want normal speaker types

[circeseye]

1 hour ago, Psittac said:

IMOST content is just stereo 2.0  unless you are watching high production value movies and TV shows the rest of your speakers are going to be doing nothing.

all movies have surround unless its old. tv shows are 50/50, a lot of games support surround. just browsers dont play surround except for edge and netflix

[circeseye]

4 hours ago, Mischievous said:

I will look at an atmos.

 

How do I know what distance is good ((and safe)) to put speakers at? I can't easily find the minimum distance for speakers. But I do see possible adverse health effects of wrongly setup speakers. I imagine the center speaker will be under my monitor, So I will be about 45 cm (17 inch) away from it. Is that safe?

hmmm monitor....well you will be adjusting the volume on each channel set to compensate the distance variance

this is a basic guild for set ups

 

[Mischievous]

48 minutes ago, circeseye said:

yea bi-pol's are best as sides and rears. fronts, center, atmos you want normal speaker types

My apologies, I entered this rabbit hole with both legs and I'm missing things left and right, I've started taking notes.

I mainly both play games ((Favorites being stuff like the old school Thief series, modern games like Control and The Outer Worlds)) and develop my own games ((Or more appropriately, Try to, not actually managing to make anything but someday)). And I'd love to have a reasonable immersive sound experience, but also neutral enough so that I can do amateur sound design for my projects too. I waste money on sound banks just because I love sounds in general. I think I've bought out most of Detunized's sound libraries just because.

 

1 hour ago, Psittac said:

I would ignore Atmos for the corner of a room, before you know it you're surrounded by speakers and getting very little benefit from it, it's designed for entire rooms and movie watching.  Again I would suggest that you get just a good amplifier and a pair of left and right and see if that's good for you.  For most use a 2.0 stereo setup will be far better than a surround setup at the same end game price.  But you never answered to what content you want to take in.  Remember that the vast majority of content is NOT produced with surround sound capability, MOST content is just stereo 2.0  unless you are watching high production value movies and TV shows the rest of your speakers are going to be doing nothing.

I am going to move everything around, this corner just won't do. I thought it will but it's obvious it won't. Plus I've decided to get a receiver that I won't have to upgrade later on.

 

33 minutes ago, circeseye said:

hmmm monitor....well you will be adjusting the volume on each channel set to compensate the distance variance

this is a basic guild for set ups

 

Yeah clearly my corner won't do   There's more room left but it's taken up by other stuff. But... Screw it. If I'm going to do something I might as well do it to the best of my capabilities.

[Mischievous]

2 hours ago, Exidor said:

????

Confused

Depends how loud you set them? Not like you are sitting facing a road show 4 story high speaker set that wont fire unless you blow a minimum off 10k+++ W through it.

I mean decent speakers will work ok at low volume.

 

There is a an issue if speakers are too close that the images gets muddy and and all the channels get mixed into a cacophony. But again that depends a lot on how loud you play your speakers. But yes there should be at least a meter or two between left and right channel.

Duly noted.

 

Again in general I am immensely thankful to you all for helping me enter this realm and showing such patience with my questions I could easily google, and I do, but I never seem to understand something unless I waste someone's time to have them explain it to me like a child. Again I thank you all.

[Mischievous]

Okay so I think I want to do this;

 

For reciever;

Get the Sony STR-DN1080

 

As for speakers, I can't decide anymore. I'll either do something like this;

 

For center speaker I'll get a 3-way as Circeseye suggested.*

Sony SSCS8 2-Way 3-Driver Center Channel Speaker

OR

Yamaha NS-6490 3-Way Bookshelf Speakers

OR

Klipsch R-52C Powerful Detailed Center Channel Home Speaker

 

For front speakers;

Sony Core Series 5" 3-Way Bookshelf Speakers (Pair) - Black

OR

Klipsch Model  R-41M Bookshelf Speakers

 

For surround bi-poles;

Fluance SXBP2 Home Theater Bipolar Surround Sound Speakers

 

For a subwoofer

Klipsch R-100SW 10" Subwoofer

 

Atmos I'll figure out later.

 

OR just get a sound bar as was suggested earlier;

Samsung HW-Q950T?

 

I know I am not supposed to mix brands but almost every speaker I look for is missing or not available or available on backorder or unknown, that at this point I'll get whatever I can

 

I am open to suggestions for other speaker combinations. Preferably something I can find in Europe without having to use Amazon. ((Amazon has very poor chances of a successful delivery to my country, Bulgaria.))

 

*By the way, I am confused.

"Sony SSCS8 2-Way 3-Driver Center Channel Speaker"

 What does 2-way 3-driver mean in this case. I can only find google articles about 2-way vs 3-way but I can't find what 2-way 3-driver is supposed to mean. Does that mean that it's not actually a 3-way speaker? But that it's a 2-way speaker that just has 3 sound emitting elements? But I thought 3-way had 3 sound emitters too.

[Derkoli]

12 minutes ago, Mischievous said:

Okay so I think I want to do this;

 

For reciever;

Get the Sony STR-DN1080

 

For center speaker I'll get a 3-way as Circeseye suggested.*

Sony SSCS8 2-Way 3-Driver Center Channel Speaker

OR

Yamaha NS-6490 3-Way Bookshelf Speakers

 

For front speakers;

Sony Core Series 5" 3-Way Bookshelf Speakers (Pair) - Black

 

Someone said I shouldn't mix brands but I can't find every type of speaker that's of the same brand that's also available.

 

And then later down the road, get in bi-poles for surround, then later later figure out a sub woofer and finally later later later figure out atmos speakers. I won't bother figuring out models now, later means at least 5-6 months and by that time whatever I find now probably won't be available.

 

I am open to suggestions for other speaker combinations. Preferably something I can find in Europe without having to use Amazon. ((Amazon has very poor chances of a successful delivery to my country, Bulgaria.))

 

*By the way, I am confused.

"Sony SSCS8 2-Way 3-Driver Center Channel Speaker"

 What does 2-way 3-driver mean in this case. I can only find google articles about 2-way vs 3-way but I can't find what 2-way 3-driver is supposed to mean. Does that mean that it's not actually a 3-way speaker? But that it's a 2-way speaker that just has 3 sound emitting elements? But I thought 3-way had 3 sound emitters too.

You can mix speaker brands, but not for the front Left, Center and Right. Keep those 3 the same brand. The rest may be different brands.

 

A 2 way, 3 driver speaker has 2 drivers doing the same job, then the other driver doing another job. That Sony has two "Woofers" playing the same frequencies, then 1 "Tweeter" playing the high frequencies.

[Exidor]

1 hour ago, Mischievous said:

Okay so I think I want to do this;

 

For reciever;

Get the Sony STR-DN1080

 

As for speakers, I can't decide anymore. I'll either do something like this;

 

For center speaker I'll get a 3-way as Circeseye suggested.*

Sony SSCS8 2-Way 3-Driver Center Channel Speaker

OR

Yamaha NS-6490 3-Way Bookshelf Speakers

OR

Klipsch R-52C Powerful Detailed Center Channel Home Speaker

 

For front speakers;

Sony Core Series 5" 3-Way Bookshelf Speakers (Pair) - Black

OR

Klipsch Model  R-41M Bookshelf Speakers

 

For surround bi-poles;

Fluance SXBP2 Home Theater Bipolar Surround Sound Speakers

 

For a subwoofer

Klipsch R-100SW 10" Subwoofer

 

Atmos I'll figure out later.

 

OR just get a sound bar as was suggested earlier;

Samsung HW-Q950T?

 

I know I am not supposed to mix brands but almost every speaker I look for is missing or not available or available on backorder or unknown, that at this point I'll get whatever I can

 

I am open to suggestions for other speaker combinations. Preferably something I can find in Europe without having to use Amazon. ((Amazon has very poor chances of a successful delivery to my country, Bulgaria.))

 

*By the way, I am confused.

"Sony SSCS8 2-Way 3-Driver Center Channel Speaker"

 What does 2-way 3-driver mean in this case. I can only find google articles about 2-way vs 3-way but I can't find what 2-way 3-driver is supposed to mean. Does that mean that it's not actually a 3-way speaker? But that it's a 2-way speaker that just has 3 sound emitting elements? But I thought 3-way had 3 sound emitters too.

All that fits in a 1k budget? Impressive.

 

But I agree with what everybody said and I have said previously get the center right left same brand same range.

I would go for the Klipsch for center and left right 2x r41m + 1x r52c

I never heard of Fluance SXBP2 so no clue about that but mostly BiPolar speakers for surrounds is good. Looks like an OK speaker probably?

 

Only thing I find is kind of crap is the subwoofer. As I said I would skip subwoofer for now.

In such a small space you care less about W and more about responsiveness and how low can it go in frequency. 

 

 

For such a small space I would also recommend a downfiring subwoofer like maybe the Paradigm Cinema Sub easier to place it in a room

You want a tight fast sub and those tend to be expensive especially if you have size constraints.

If you have cash then I would also look at the PIEGA PS 1 Subwoofer probably one of the best small subwoofers ever. I have one and MAN that things goes I have a smallish room (25m2 with kitchen) and floor standing towers that carry the mid range and low range well but I live in an apartment so I wanted a sub that still carries the bass without me having to murder my neighbors in self deference...... I placed the thing behind my sofa and it really gives you the UMPF..... 

Thing is you dont want the bass to drown out everything but you want it to go low and respond fast..... If you get a big bass you will just end up turning it down to something like 5-10% and it will sound meh.....

 

 

 

But yea for my "gaming" office desk setup I said fuck it and settled for the Samsung q950t 

[Mischievous]

33 minutes ago, Exidor said:

All that fits in a 1k budget? Impressive.

 

But I agree with what everybody said and I have said previously get the center right left same brand same range.

I would go for the Klipsch for center and left right 2x r41m + 1x r52c

I never heard of Fluance SXBP2 so no clue about that but mostly BiPolar speakers for surrounds is good. Looks like an OK speaker probably?

 

Only thing I find is a kind of crap is the subwoofer. As I said I would skip subwoofer for now.

In such a small space you care less about W and more about responsiveness and how low can ti go in frequency. 

 

 

For such a small space I would also recommend a downfiring subwoofer like maybe the Paradigm Cinema Sub easier to place it in a room

You want a tight fast sub and those tend to be expensive especially if you have size constraints.

If you have cash then I would also look at the PIEGA PS 1 Subwoofer probably one of the best small subwoofers ever. I have one and MAN that things goes I have a smallish room (25m2 with kitchen) and floor standing towers but I live in an apartment so I wanted a sub that still carries the bass without me having to murder my neighbors in self deference...... I placed the thing behind my sofa and it really gives you the UMPF..... 

Thing is you dont want the bass to drown out everything but you want it to go low and respond fast..... If you get a big bass you will just end up turning it down to something like 5-10% and it will sound meh.....

 

 

 

But yea for my "gaming" office desk setup I said fuck it and settled for the Samsung q950t 

Well that was my long term plan, It's clear that this will be a setup I'll spend ages assembling if I do it. Right now I'll stretch it, and maybe get the receiver and left and right speakers. I will remember what you said about the subwoofer. Which I might skip all together yeah, this was just my ideal plan now. In a few years when I get to buying subwoofers, well by that time I might have larger issues than what subwoofer to get. Anyhow think I'll go with the Klipsch for center left and right as you suggested.

Thanks a lot everyone!

This was an amazing first foot set into the ocean of sound. I know I don't know a lot. That will probably never change, but at least I have some basic understanding of what I am doing now.

 

Unless;

 

When you said "But yea for my "gaming" office desk setup I said fuck it and settled for the Samsung q950t" how far away from your gaming computer do you sit? When I looked at the Samsung q950t it looked like the ideal distance to be from it is like 3-4 meters.

 

[Exidor]

It is like drinking, smoking cigars or dry aged meat....... If you stop at the gas station to get a "cigar" and a drink and you are good for the night. Then just take some ethanol mix it with juice and be done with it.... No point in buying those pretentious brown bottles of overpriced swill.....

You develop a taste through consumption. No amount of forum trolling and pretending will develop a taste for the finer things in life.

 

 

Do let us know how it sounds.....

Oh and happy suffering setting up PC to HDMI that will be a gigantic pain in the ass.

[Mischievous]

4 minutes ago, Exidor said:

It is like drinking, smoking cigars or dry aged meat....... If you stop at the gas station to get a "cigar" and a drink and you are good for the night. Then just take some ethanol mix it with juice and be done with it.... No point in buying those pretentious brown bottles of overpriced swill.....

You develop a taste through consumption. No matter of forum trolling and pretending will develop a taste for the finer things in life.

 

 

Do let us know how it sounds.....

Oh and happy suffering setting up PC to HDMI that will be a gigantic pain in the ass.

Most honest thing I've heard.

I'll sleep on it.

Chances are, I'll say fuckit and get the Samsung q950t too rather anti-climatically to this whole thread.

[circeseye]

my suggestion was left and right 3-ways

if you skip sub for now those Yamaha NS-6490 3-Way Bookshelf Speakers do pretty good base on their own. not deep rumbling like a sub, but good. they have 8" woofers in them
if you want a matching center... Yamaha NS-C210BL Center Channel Speaker..its not a 3-way but sounds good. and works well with the ns-6490..center doesnt need to be 3-way

 

 

[circeseye]

33 minutes ago, Exidor said:

It is like drinking, smoking cigars or dry aged meat....... If you stop at the gas station to get a "cigar" and a drink and you are good for the night. Then just take some ethanol mix it with juice and be done with it.... No point in buying those pretentious brown bottles of overpriced swill.....

You develop a taste through consumption. No amount of forum trolling and pretending will develop a taste for the finer things in life.

 

 

Do let us know how it sounds.....

Oh and happy suffering setting up PC to HDMI that will be a gigantic pain in the ass.

whats so hard going pc to hdmi? ive used a receiver for my comp for years with hdmi. its easy

[Exidor]

4 minutes ago, circeseye said:

whats so hard going pc to hdmi? ive used a receiver for my comp for years with hdmi. its easy

Yea until you meet the clusterfuck that is HDMI 2.1.....

Or if you dont want to use a HDMI screen and have to either use ghost screens and HDMI plugs or some sort of HDMI to DP adapters that also do not work as they are supposed to.

Mostly it is HDMI 2.1..... Everything HDMI 2.1 is broken. Not even the cables work as specified..... Most of them can not pass 40 gigs far cry from the specified 48 gigs.

[circeseye]

Just now, Exidor said:

Yea until you meet the clusterfuck that is HDMI 2.1.....

Or if you dont want to use a HDMI screen and have to either use ghost screens and HDMI plugs or some sort of HDMI to DP adapters that also do not work as they supposed to.

Mostly it is HDMI 2.1..... Everything HDMI 2.1 is broken.

ah depends....the receiver he picked is hdmi 2.0, not 2.1
and yes hdmi 2.1 is funky on some set ups...im running a denon avr-x3700h with a amd gpu and lg nano90 tv and only had to reboot the receiver after hooking it up the first time after setting up the settings and 4k 120hz goodness after that