help figuring out best setup for my Room (13×10″)

[JR Williams]

That’s 33×25.4 for the rest of the world.

 

It’s a bedroom with a bed, so I don’t have a ton of space.  Here’s a quick drawing I did of the room.  95% of the right wall is mirrored closet doors. And the white thing next to my bed is my computer desk.  I’m thinking 5.1.2, I’m not sure yet but I don’t think 5.1.4 would make much sense in a room this small.

 

 

 

I’m getting a new TV (65 or 75″) and it’ll be on the bottom wall.  My idea’s 1961 monitors and a 1961 center on the wall with articulating mounts. But I’m stuck on what to do for the other speakers, and even what speakers to get. The bed’s basically flush against the wall so I won’t be able to have speakers behind it. If I go 1961 surrounds, how high up should I mount them?  Oh, the ceiling’s 8ft/2.3m.  If I go 5.x.2 would it be better to mount the Atmos speakers in the front or rear of the room?  And would anyone even suggest a 5.1.4 setup in a room this small?

 

And I know the room’s pretty small, but I’ve watched a lot of YT videos and I’m in love with the 1723 1S subwoofer for the app control and just everything about it.

 

I can’t say 100% that it’ll stay like this, but right now I’m 70/30 music/movies.  But, once I have a nice surround/Atmos setup I’m sure I’ll be watching a lot more movies. But it’ll always be a lot of music, for music, I’ll be 2.1 unless it’s a special Apple Music Spatial audio remixed album.

 

I haven’t ordered anything yet, but I’m going back and forth between the Yammy A4A & Onkyo TX-RZ50. I like the Yamaha, but if I go 5.x.4 the RZ50 has 9 channels, and the Yamaha A6A’s way out of my budget here. I want to keep the receiver $1500 or under.

 

Thanks to anyone who might have some suggestions for me here.

[Fsm1th5]

What’s your planned seating position?
You place the speakers accordingly from that position. Depends where you sit you may achieve 5.1.4 or only 5.1.2.

Learn about speaker placements from Dolby themselves. https://www.dolby.com/siteassets/technologies/dolby-atmos/atmos-installation-guidelines-121318_r3.1.pdf

[Palmspar]

I think you will watch movies from the bed.

When it was my room i go for monitors and center in front, and surrounds next to the bed on the back wall tweeters 30cm above ear level.

And the heights speaker mounted to the ceiling above the bed aiming on your head.

When mounted on the wal they fire more to the tv looks so on the drawning.

Go for an adjusteble bed floor, it makes watching movies a lot better and the tv and speakers can mounted lower on the wall.

And of course a 1723 2s sub in every corner of the room lol

[arkmann]

The 1961 monitors are a good choice since you can wall mount them.  I suggest them for front right, left and center.  Can go with the smaller 1961 surrounds for the side walls.  They have a deal now that if you buy a package you get the center free.  Can go with 1961 subwoofers too.  Suggest at least 2.  You can listen and decide if you need one in all 4 corners.  With their trial period you can start with the basics and make changes as needed.  Please Let us know what you decide.

[Kristoffer Svendsen]

Hello JR!

 

I also agree with what the guys have said: The 1961 series looks to be made for rooms like these. If you have floor space, the 1961 towers can work, but if you want to free up that space, wall-mounting the monitors will work like a charm! Getting a subwoofer to handle the low-end will turn this into a really nice setup! For a room of this size, I think the 1961 sub 1s will be more than plenty. If you want some extra output below 40Hz, going with the 1v can also work, but I don’t think it’s necessary. The 1v is also a lot bigger, which makes it more difficult to position correctly.

[Luis Vazquez]

My setup is in a 10’11” x 15′ 7″ dedicated room and I agree, the 1961 line would be perfect in your space.  I have the 1961 towers, center, surrounds, heights and a pair of 1v subs; extremely happy thus far.

[JR Williams]

Thank you to everyone who replied.  I did look at the Atmos placement guide, but I didn’t see a room layout similar to mine.  I was thinking maybe 1961 surrounds for the back, but Arendal says ideally you should have 38% of your listening space behind you. I’ll be about 1.5ft from the wall, I know rear speakers should be a decent amount behind you regardless of the type you get. With only a little over a foot where I’ll be laying, would there be any reason to go with the surrounds over a 2nd pair of bookshelves or monitors?  I also plan to get heights, not sure if I’ll put them in the front or rear of the room. I think both front and rear in this room would be overkill.

 

Since the front speakers will be around 2.5m from where we’ll be I was planning to get 1961 Monitors and Solid Steel stands.  I was considering towers for the front, but with the bed being as high as it is off the ground, the bottom 2 speakers, maybe 3 speakers on them would be blocked by the bed and mattress. While I’m just assuming here, it doesn’t seem like that would be ideal for helping the sound quality.  I do really like the towers, but I think this is the wrong room for them.  If anyone has any advice to offer about the towers in my room, I’m all ears.

 

I know Arendal has a 60 day no questions asked demo period for anything, but I’m not trying play a guessing game here. My plan’s to ask a lot of questions and try and not send anything back to get something else. And as of right now, the 1723 1S sub’s the only thing I know I want for sure (want app control) I do know I want 1961 stuff besides that but I’m still trying to figure out what’s best for the rear and what speakers to put in the front.

 

If anyone has thoughts here, I’m still about a month and a half out from ordering anything so I have plenty of time to listen to people who own Arendal stuff and can give me some guidance here.

 

[Fsm1th5]

Focus on 5.1.2 as you’re way too close to the rear wall. If you’re like 4 feet away then it can work with 4 atmos.

And they would be literally directly above you. Not too wide and not too close together aim for like 8 feet or so.

https://www.dolby.com/siteassets/about/support/guide/setup-guides/5.1.2-overhead-speaker-placement/5_1_2_overhead_speakers_setup.pdf

All the information is written In the Dolby specs.

 

I actually prefer regular bookshelves rather than the bipole dipole etc as it gives me the sound that I can actually pinpoint. And the others just make it sound like it’s impossible to know where it’s coming from.

Try out both styles and return the ones you don’t like.

 

The whole point of layout is a rectangle based area.

If you got that and you sitting away from walls. You are good to go. Those that sit ridiculously close to walls often have issues and then force themselves into inappropriate decions. Don’t be one of those.

 

What’s with people and their overkill mentality?

It’s not overkill as long as you sit in the proper placements and position the speakers correctly.

Best regards!

[JR Williams]

Thanks for the reply, I can’t sit away from the wall unless I sit in the middle of the bed. So as best I can figure, I could have rear speakers on stands turned 90 degrees facing directly to my ears.  And I know that wouldn’t give a good behind me surround effect.  I was thinking I could wall mount bookshelves on articulating ones and toe them towards me, but with the wall being so close to where I’ll be sitting I don’t know if that would be even any better than my parallel on mounts idea. But I’ve read surround speakers should be 20-40cm above your ear level. So maybe mounting on the walls would be the best idea here.

 

So wall mounted bookshelves about 30cm above my ears toed in and the heights on the front wall flush where it meets the ceiling? No matter what I do I won’t be able to have rear speakers at the angle the Atmos diagrams recommend. They’ll either have to be almost sideways, or mount them flush on the wall and have them shooting directly straight into the room.  I don’t think that would sound good.

I know this room layout’s really poor for what I’m trying to accomplish. I’m even thinking maybe 3.1 and not even having rear speakers.

[Palmspar]

No did you read my post above? 5.1.2 works perfect in this room.

Mount the heights on the ceiling above the bed they fire direct on your head then.

Surrounds on the back side are perfect not all movies have atmos, and they work also fine with them.

And one 1961 S1 subwoofer in a corner will do the job

Front monitors and center, if you use subwoofers there is no need for towers.

Only for music in pure direct mode is a tower better.

I have the same setup in a small room, it sounds amazing.