minimalist approach to home theater sound...

Our builder, Tom Greico, posted renderings of the living/dining/kitchen area of our new home to facebook and someone asked about the location of our audio and video equipment.  I assume that this question was asked because choosing the proper equipment and speaker location presents a challenge to any modern design.  Whatever the reason, it provided a timely subject for the blog...so if speakers and stuff bores you, you might want to skip this one.

Luckily, new home construction allows for wider options for speaker placement since there aren't any walls and we know exactly where the studs are.  We instructed the low voltage wiring guy where we wanted to have ceiling speakers and there are boxes with wire cut out of the sheetrock so that we will know where they will need to do the cutouts for the speaker holes.  All of the speaker wires will all be run to a central location so that we can plug them into our AV receiver.   

We will have a custom cabinet in the living area that will house the AV equipment.  Somehow all of the wires will feed the speakers and tv which will be to the left of the fireplace.  We chose not to conceal our television.  It will be in a niche to the left of the fireplace.  The tv will be eye level when you are sitting - pretty clever design which we liked. 

Here is a rendering of the living area which the builder posted to his facebook site:

In ceiling/wall speakers for 5.1 sound can be quite expensive, however we found a company, Monoprice, that receives excellent reviews and offers speakers which are at a 15 degree angle.  The advantage of the angle is that we can place the speakers angled toward the sofa area of the living room - creating a sort of sweet spot. 

We purchased 2 pair of surround speakers, a center speaker and an in-wall sub-woofer for less than $300 and that includes shipping.   Now, I know...you cannot even get a good center channel speaker for $300...I know.  I know.  However, after reading the reviews, I thought that it was worth giving these speakers a try.

We already conceded that we cannot get "audiophile" quality sound out of speakers that are aesthetically pleasing.  Read more about the speakers here...

The surround speakers are quite large...ok, they are HUGE!  But, in order to get the angle, the speakers are larger than a normal 8" speaker [photos included are from Monoprice's website].

The angle of the front left/righ and rear left/right speakers does not change the look after installation.

The speakers feel as if they are high quality and are heavy.  Notice that the connections are not cheap.

 And below is a close up of the speaker angle.

Now for the center channel speaker, it will just barely fit between the ceiling joists, but we will still be able to install it horizontally.  Unfortunately it is not angled, but it should provide adequate sound.  We do not have audiophile ears, so based on the reviews I think that these should meet our needs.  Plus, they will look much better than box speakers would look - I think even if they do not sound perfect, the fact that they look so good will outweigh any negatives.

The subwoofer will be mounted on the wall to the right of the stairs.  The location of the sub is perfect.

For the whole house audio speakers we opted for Polk's - plus we got a steal on 4 pairs of speakers from Amazon.  We picked up the volume controls from Monoprice.  

We have an Onkyo AV receiver that is quite nice and is capable of driving 2 amped zones, however we have a Crown amp that will drive the whole house speakers. 

I look forward to installation day of all of the presents that we have purchased for the house because they are starting to really pile up.  We now have 4 boxes of speakers, the two island pendants from Restoration Hardware, the dining room chandelier, the powder room tile and sink.  But, I digress... 

I will provide a review of the speakers after we have properly calibrated them with the Onkyo microphone - this is a pretty awesome feature for those who do not want to spend hours calibrating each speaker.  That is it for now...cannot wait to update you about these speakers because that will mean that we are moved in!!!