Open plan living/dining/kitchen advice

droyden

droyden

droyden

Associate
Joined
4 Oct 2009
Posts
1,007
We are currently having building work done and I am (hopefully) looking to refresh my AV kit.

Currently I have:

Harman Kardon AVR255
KEF KHT2005.3
LG 55EG910V (55" 1080p, ARC only no EARC).

Source content is currently:

streaming - netflix, prime, disney
local - virginmedia, xbmc (bluray)

We have a render of the completed build, electric fire/tv/unit not chosen / to scale:

COv7y6N.jpg

My "issue" would be I have no floor locations for speakers, so if I am to get them I would need to get ceiling ones.

I am considering a Sonos ARC + Sub + 2x ONE SL bundle:

https://www.richersounds.com/sonos-one-sl-x2-black-arc-sub-gen-3-white.html

With suitable wall mounts. I am looking for a decent setup, but not expecting / wanting a full dedicated cinema. Films / Series with better than normal TV sound :)

Can anyone offer advice/thoughts on the above?

Thanks,
 
droyden said:
Thanks, very helpful.
Click to expand...

im not being funny or anything but your eyes when facing forwards to the tv with head straight should be pointing near enough to the middle of the tv:

best-tv-viewing-height.png


if its high up as in your render then its gonna be odd/uncomfortable for longer view time.
 
It's a render bud, positioning of the TV and fire are for illustration purposes only.

It was the sonos setup that I was interested in
 
render looks nice but you can do a lot more with that space with some careful planning. potentially you can create something extraordinary. you have plenty of space... and plenty of options

I'd carefully think for yourself on the placement of peripherals.

I personally hate most architects renders. They lack personality and proper planning for usages beyond making spaces looking open and lean. Personally not even a fan of the fake chimney breast he has put in the render. Why not just a flat wall? I see the artistic/architectural fetish for wanting a fake cheminey breast to centre room and include a fire place, but at the end of the day, its a fake fire place/electric. no need to paint the impression there is a chimney breast there when its painfully obvious it isn't. that fake breast (if it is fake) really messes with placement for TV, and speakers. It also means the space is now centred around it and leaves you no means of reorganising furniture if you want. It also ties you to a maximum TV size. it actually restricts your interior design options rather than increasing them.

TV above fireplace isn't smart but its not terrible. You just need a better fireplace which isn't so gigantic.


Other alternative is an ALR projector screen which is ceiling recessed and comes down and over the fireplace. This is much much slicker and given you have a massive space, would make much more sense. The fact you are also doing this setup from scratch means you can obviously do it pretty easily during construction. Maybe even get some inwall speakers installed too.


Personally interior design wise, I think tVs are absolutely tacky and disgusting. They force a room and seating to be designed around them, give off a very modern vibe which can never be replaced and generally are more of an eye sore for otherwise beautiful open spaces. If you can fit in an ALR projector screen and mount the PJ in a smart area, you'd have a really genius setup most people will only dream of cos they wouldn't get the chance to do this from scratch.


If you are serious about home cinema and audio... i would pay careful attention to these plans and start buying equipment and planning accordingly. u have a once in a lifetime oppurtunity to really produce something unique whilst the rest of us have to shoe-horn our gear into a room and make it work.


(sorry for long rant.. i have architect currently drawing up my plans lol....; the days of old school architects with beautiful traditional english features is gone)
 
Lovely looking room! I’ve got KEF eggs wall mounted in our open plan living space and they work very well! The problem with this sort of layout is that sound and visuals are always going to be compromised. The fact that I like the look of the eggs (and my other half doesn’t mind them!) means that we’ve got away with larger satellite speakers and I think a better sound.

Perhaps keep the eggs as front and surrounds and invest in a sound bar as well?
 
Personally I'd just get a really good soundbar and have it flush mounted into the wall under the TV. The extra sub etc isn't worth the hassle imo. I've seen a lot of fireplaces that are a lot more landscape than the render and flush fit into the wall (I realise this is just a placeholder), it leaves space to fit the tv and soundbar lower.

 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom