So, I'm about to have a new house built, and I get the bonus room upstairs all for my Media Room
It looks to be time to look into getting a proper sound system. I will have a relatively smallish (perfect for my tv and optimal couch distance), square space so I'm excited to have good conditions to set up a nice sound field.
I'm looking for Ideas for good, affordable systems as well as Ideas for wiring the room as I want to run wires in the walls while I'm having it built. I don't think I will build the speakers in wall as I want them to be adjustable.
Good wire? future proofing?
What should I keep in mind while putting this together?
I break ground in a couple weeks!
IMO, you cant go wrong with in walls if you have a small space. There are some adjustable models, but I dont think the ability to adjust is something you'll miss. Most likely you wont even notice. Especially for the fronts and center. You can look back at page 1 of this thread for a pic of mine.
For the rears, you can go with wall mounted, or even on stands so that they can be pointed towards the listening area.
Dont forget about the A/V equipment. If you have a small space, you may want to consider placing the equipment in a closet or another room. I use this to transmit the IR signal:
Amazon product
You can use CAT-5 Cable to run the signal greater distances.
I have an HDMI port built into the wall below my tv so I can plug in an xbox,dvd player or anything else that I dont use very often so it doesnt take up space in my A/V closet.
For the rear speakers you can put wall plates in near the speaker locations for easy hook up.The wires can go in wall and in floor to the wall plates.
If you go with in walls, you may want to talk to the contractor about stud placement on that wall. You dont want a stud direct center where the TV will be because then a stud will be right where the center channel will have to go. Also, you dont want a nice cavity in a perfect spot left or right of the TV, then stud placement doesn't have the cavity in the same spot on the other side of the TV. Also, with in walls, you can research the proper cubic footage for the speaker box and have cross pieces put in to make that.
Dont forget about HDMI cables to run from the A/V closet to the TV. Run at least 4 to future proof your system and also to have a spare or two in case one happens to go bad. Just put wall plates behind the TV. Monoprice has good deals on cables.
Make sure there is an outlet behind the TV also...
On all wires and cables try to make sure there are no binding points so that they can be easily pulled back through if there is a problem wire. If you have a bad wire you can use that wire to pull through another one easily.