# Flatiron room setup. I'm baffled!



## Dinuka (Jun 19, 2012)

Hello everyone,

My wife and I just bought a new apartment in New York City in an unusual building. The building itself is in a similar shape to the famous Flatiron Building, and our living room in the nose of the building. And while we are completely in love with the new apartment, I am at a loss as to how best to set up the room for our home theater.

I am attaching a picture of the floor plan. The room to the right side with the curved wall is our living room. The circle with six nubs around it is the dining table, and immediately south west of that is the living area, with the couch on the west side against the wall with a coffee table, and two additional seats to the east. To the north west of the dining table is the kitchen. The room to the west of the kitchen is our baby's room.

I am completely baffled as to where best to put a good TV and how to possibly set up the speakers. My wife wants to put the TV on an arm off the wall just behind the chair on the lower right side of the living area. I am thinking a drop down screen would be the best, with a ceiling mounted projector. However, given all the windows in the apartment, I am worried that the light would overpower a projector. 

If anyone has some good ideas on this, please let me know! And the furniture set up is not fixed yet, so feel free to suggest other layouts. (There is a wall behind the couch. However, given the layout of the apartment, we prefer to have the main seating area looking out towards the curved wall and the windows.)

Thanks for your help!

D


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## Dinuka (Jun 19, 2012)

Oh, the previous owner put in ceiling mounted speakers. I have no experience with these, though I'd imagine they do not give good stereo imaging and I am dubious about the sound quality.


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## wgmontgomery (Jun 9, 2011)

Welcome to HTS!! Where are the ceiling speakers located? You _may_ be able to use them for rear/surround speakers. 

"However, given all the windows in the apartment, I am worried that the light would overpower a projector..."

Also, you are correct about the light and projector.


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

I agree with Gary - that would be a lot of light for a projector / screen set-up. You could use black-out curtains to control most of that light but that might tip the WAF scale. I used shades in our kids' rooms when they were babies that controlled the light well - these would probably be more WAF acceptable as they can be had in a few different colors.


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## hjones4841 (Jan 21, 2009)

Welcome to HTS! Lots of folks here with lots of good info to help you.

I agree on the projector idea. A 70" LED HDTV would be a good choice. Plasma may not have enough brightness to contend with the ambient light.

I suggest that you post your floor plan in the Room Acoustics forum. bpape may have some good ideas on arrangement. Are you open to adding acoustic treatments?

Will you be adding subwoofers? With that open space it may take more than one to get sufficient volume.


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## Dinuka (Jun 19, 2012)

A 70 in LED would be awesome! Though, perhaps not so WAF. (As a noob I had to google what that meant.)

What sort of audio treatments did you have in mind? Since it is NYC and we are crammed like sardines, I don't think two subwoofers would be a good idea. With a sleeping baby too!


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

Harry, please correct me if I am wrong, but I think the audio treatments he is suggesting help to deal with reflection points and peaks / nulls in your room's response - an example is something like this.

I think Gary's question about placement of those ceiling speakers would help to determine if the room can be configured to use them as surrounds - where are they located?


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## Dinuka (Jun 19, 2012)

I am fairly certain my wife would not approve of the audio treatments. I believe that I will have to wait a few years until I can get my own man cave for the full treatment with double subwoofers and tower speakers.

As for the location of the ceiling speakers, I will be able to check tomorrow. Our closing is still in a couple of weeks, but I will be going into the apartment tomorrow with the decorators so I will be able to report back then. Any good ideas on where a tv might be able to go?

Thanks for all the replies!


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

I think knowing where those in-ceiling speakers are will help us to determine a location the TV can go while potentially using the speakers as well.

Let us know when you find out and we can definitely try to make some suggestions then - and congrats on what looks like a great apartment!


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## fitzwaddle (Aug 25, 2010)

Best place that I see would be the wall right behind the couch - of course that would require change to furniture layout.


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## hjones4841 (Jan 21, 2009)

Dinuka said:


> I am fairly certain my wife would not approve of the audio treatments.


Room treatment panels are now available from our friends at GIK that look like art:

http://www.gikacoustics.com/gik_artpanel_acoustic_panels.html

Maybe these would be suitable?


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## Dinuka (Jun 19, 2012)

We went into the apartment, and I've added little black dots to show about where the in ceiling speakers are currently located. It seems they are set up to have the rear surrounds above where the couch is situated, and the L, C, and R speakers for almost facing (though it may be slightly off center) the couch. I am not convinced that the front speaker set would be effective from the ceiling. 

(Thank for the reply about the possibility of the TV on the wall above where the couch is. We decided against that possibility, since we wanted to have the main seating arrangement for the apartment facing out towards the curved facade. Keeping a couch facing that wall at appropriate tv watching distance would bisect the room and we felt it would make the living room feel too small.)

D


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## hjones4841 (Jan 21, 2009)

I don't remember the brands, but better ceiling speakers are available from HT speaker companies. But, take a listen to what you have when you get in there. They could be better than we are thinking.


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