# Ideas for Speaker Placement for a Newbie?



## plokij (Jul 11, 2012)

Hi everyone!

I've scoured the web for advice, tutorials, and guides on wiring my house and this forum has been the best so far! I was lurking for a while but I finally had to register because I have the rare opportunity to wire my house with most of the framing exposed and would love to hear some of this community's opinions on what I can do.

For the time being, my wife and I can probably only afford to do some DIY cable installation ourselves. For the most part, we are comfortable doing this ourselves, but my only fear is that I don't do enough to future proof our house.

So I guess without further ado, our floor plan is attached and listed in the link at the end of the post (note the circles shown are lights). Ideally, there are really two goals in mind:
1) a surround sound setup in the living room area
2) a setup to listen to music (not critically) in the bedrooms, dining room, and kitchen.

Here's what I was thinking for each room based on my reading:

Living room: 5.1 surround sound - In wall L/R/C speakers on that tiny left wall, 2 surround speakers in the ceiling behind the couch

Dining room & bedrooms: 2 in ceiling speakers at the corners. Volume control in the bedrooms maybe

Kitchen: A single in ceiling stereo speaking towards to upper part of the kitchen

I'm just trying to get a rough idea of speaker placement, # of speakers, etc to achieve the goals stated above. Any advice or opinions are welcome and appreciated. Thank you so much in advance!

Paul

Floor Plan
hxxp://i.imgur.com/1LokC.jpg


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## toddriffic (Feb 7, 2011)

plokij said:


> Hi everyone!
> 
> I've scoured the web for advice, tutorials, and guides on wiring my house and this forum has been the best so far! I was lurking for a while but I finally had to register because I have the rare opportunity to wire my house with most of the framing exposed and would love to hear some of this community's opinions on what I can do.
> 
> ...


Hi Paul,

I'm in the same boat and have a new place being pre-wired also. 

focusing on your HT, I marked up what i believe you are planing in red and a alternative 7.1 in blue. The alternative assumes in wall speakers high enough to clear windows ect to achieve a symetrical layout with the room. Mind you this is just a alternative. You didn't mention pre-wiring for subwoofers, I would wire for multiple locations so you have freedom to move the sub to where it sounds best or use multiple subs. 

I would also wire cat5e/cat6 ethernet cable throughout the house while you are at it. I would also consider running smurf tubes and high outlets if you want to wall mount tv's. 

Also it' cheap and easy to run extra wires for things like width, height or overhead surround speakers and simply leave the wire behind the drywall just in case you decide you want them some day. 

Hope this helps,
Todd


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## plokij (Jul 11, 2012)

Thanks for the feedback, Todd.

The 5.1 surround is more feasible since the 7 channel speakers you show are on windows or walls that don't exist.

I have attached what I had in mind where the blue represents another alternative setup. I also drew in volume control points in every room. I am especially interested in speaker placement for the other rooms because I would like to be able to listen to music in them casually. I based the speaker placement on the opposite corners based on a Crutchfield article I read.

With regard to other low voltage wiring, I'm going to put a distribution box in the closet below the bathroom and plan to run cat6 (data/voice) and coax most of the rooms.

http://i.imgur.com/yAUBL.jpg


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## toddriffic (Feb 7, 2011)

plokij said:


> Thanks for the feedback, Todd.
> 
> The 5.1 surround is more feasible since the 7 channel speakers you show are on windows or walls that don't exist.
> 
> ...


Hi Paul,

Wouldn't you rather do in-walls in the bedroom to either side of the tv?


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

toddriffic said:


> Hi Paul,
> 
> Wouldn't you rather do in-walls in the bedroom to either side of the tv?


I like this idea as well - to me, it would give a more immersive feel.

Also, I second the wiring of multiple sub locations. Not only does it make relocating easier, but, should you ever decide to add an additional sub, you have connections for it already.


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## plokij (Jul 11, 2012)

Yes, you're absolutely right about the in walls in Bedroom #1. The reason why I hadn't thought about it was because:

1) I originally was working off of a floor plan that didn't have the cable drop drawn in
2) I have never put a TV in my bedroom so I had totally forgot about it!

Thanks for suggestions. Do you have any suggestions on where I should run the rg6 wire for the subs (e.g. possible subwoofer locations)?


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

plokij said:


> Yes, you're absolutely right about the in walls in Bedroom #1. The reason why I hadn't thought about it was because:
> 
> 1) I originally was working off of a floor plan that didn't have the cable drop drawn in
> 2) I have never put a TV in my bedroom so I had totally forgot about it!
> ...


I set my room up for 4 wiring connection points - pretty much in the four corners of the room. It is really hard to say where the "best" position is until you do a sub-crawl, but if you put a connection point in each corner, you would have just a short run of cable no matter where it ends up.

No matter where you locate one sub, you are going to have some room modes (peaks and nulls) in certain areas of your room. The best way to combat this is to add multiple subs which helps give a flatter, smoother response.


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