dom

Looking to put in a home theater but can't run wires for rear speakers. Can I have home theater with 2 fronts a center and a sub? Or only 2 fronts (towers) I know there are the 1 speaker systems (YSP) but I was was wondering if there was an equivalent in 2 towers?

gatrhumpy

iTrader: (1)

I'm probably way off base here, but I think those speakers work by bouncing the sound off the walls. If you have no walls that the sound can bounce off of, then you might be SOL for surround sound.

Is there a reason why you can't run wires? What does the room look like? What about under the carpet?

dom

Its a finished room with no carpeting. So running wire would involve ripping out trim or drywall which I have no plans on doing. I can always get wireless rears just wondering if there was an alternative.

Don't care much about great sound, I'd just like something better than the TV alone.

Derk's K24

IIRC the rear speakers only work for small back ground noises(like in movies) and dont produce any sound majority of the time.

spdy0001

Yes you can run surround sound without hooking up the rears. Very little sound actually gets generated to the rears anyway. You won't have "surround" sound, but you will have much better sounding stereo sound. I have a 5.1 system, but my rears aren't currently hooked up. I never got around to running the wires when I moved in last year. I hope to get them run with in the next few weeks, but it sounds just fine without them.

dom

Sounds like there's hope.

Thanks guys.

Derk's K24

Yeah I barely even notice when mine do produce sound depending on the movie and how loud I've got it turned up.

Whiskers

Get the Bose 321

doopstr

I run my stuff with 2 fronts, a center, and a sub. I don't have rears because I don't want my kids f'ing with them. I did wire the room though My son likes to unhook the wires.

spdy0001

Lay some live AC wires near and he will learn his lesson

chill_dog

Wireless speakers?

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

I'm only running 2 tower fronts right now Just pull the quarter round along the base boards and put the wire behind. it shouldn't take much effort.

dom

There are entrances in the way, can't do it.

dom

Just looked at those over lunch at Future Shop. Not bad. Sounded ok to me. But pricey. One was $999 the other $1799.

I'm thinking I'll just get an amp, put two towers and a center.

Whiskers

I have the older one and its fine. You can probably get one cheap off ebay.

dom

Thanks, ebay here I come.

AMGala

iTrader: (4)

Samsung has a line of surround sound systems with wireless rear speakers:

HT-Z510T
HT-TZ512T
HT-TZ515T

Doom878

No offense to any Bose owners, but the general consensus is that Bose is extremely overpriced. I think a sound bar setup as posted in another thread is a much better bang for the buck. Plus you just got a BD player and the Bose players don't process the HD audio tracks, DTS-HD and TrueHD.

dom

Looked at those but I don't need a DVD player. Especially a 5 disc.

dom

Viking

May want to give these a try. Best Buy link: http://www.bestbuy.com/olspage.jsp?i...&type=category

Jonesi

My suggestion.. Put up crown molding and run the wires through there.. Perfect and easy way to run surround sound..

The wife won't argue you're putting up crown molding and you get surround sound..





edit: http://www.lifehacker.com.au/tips/20...molding-2.html

dom

Already has crown molding up.

But I was thinking about putting a new one.

Jonesi

Did the same thing at my dads.. Already had crown molding up but we were able to fish speaker wire through.. The crown molding should be at a angle and there should be plenty of room to run the wire.. I would have to say that's your easy solution. And since crown molding is already up, your cheapest solution.

jlukja

The surround channels are really used for "ambience" so you can certainly do without them. That being said, if you have a nice TV (which you do) and a nice system them the rear channel do envelop you more in the movie. Also, I think more and more movies are using the rear channels for more than just the "echo" effect. Now you get sounds like distant thunder or front-to-rear pans, or crowd noise that are specifically encoded for the rear or surround channels. If you have a decent receiver then the reciever should downconvert the signal to whatever channels you are using as long as you set up the receiver to know what channels you do and don't have. I have my old Dennon (1906) set up with only a pair of bookshelf speakers and a TV, just a 2.0 system. The Denon will take a 5.1 signal and downconvert it to 2.0 so that none of the essential sound information is missing.

Whiskers

It sounds pretty good. Maybe this one is better? http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1217633559576

Fibonacci

Have you thought about in-ceiling speakers? It's not that difficult for a pro to install, you might be surprised at how reasonable the cost is.

Installers will put a speaker jack in the wall near your receiver and as mentioned, rear surrounds don't need to be super duper powerful. We have 8" two-way speakers in our family room and the sound awesome.

phipark

Can you go underneath the floor, aka basement?

dom

I'd still have to remove a piece somewhere as the wire needs to get behind somehow. I'm planning on putting up bigger molding over top of the existing so that's probably my best chance.

dom

If they don't need to be that powerful than wireless should be enough.....you would think.

dom

Finished basement with drywall on the ceiling. I'll never put drywall on a basement ceiling again.

jlukja

wireless is fine IMHO.

dom

And I'm no audiophile.....

Scrib

IMHO, rears are needed. Movies that are encoded in 5.1 or higher utilize those speakers for "stuf". While they're not the ones needed to pump out all the sound, they certainly play a vital roll in the overall experience.

However, sounds like you're in a bit of a bind given your setup. How do your ceiling joists run? Any chance you can fish speaker wire should the run parallel with the room layout?

dom

Room is 18x12. Ceiling joists run horizontally so that's a no go. A wired set up would have to involve the crown molding.

Jonesi

We actually drilled a hole in the crown molding where the speaker was going and then used a Flat Wire Snake and ran it all along the room behind the crown molding until it showed up in the crown molding behind/above the tv.. If that makes any sense.. I can get a MSPaint drawing up if needed but I don't know if it'll help..



edit:

dom

FU Jonsei I'm not a carpenter.

But that makes sense. It can be done.

Jonesi

The flat snake wire is what's key it'll run along the corners and angles.. No carpentry required.. Just some patience.. A little putty and paint.

dom

What about the wire going up to the molding, won't that be exposed until it gets in?


Come to think of it I have a 5.1 surround system upstairs that isn't being used. I'll just get a new receiver with HDMI and off I go. Only thing I don't like is that the speakers are silver.

Jonesi

I'll take a picture when I'm at his house next. I told him to use white speaker wire but of course he grabbed all the speaker wire I had since he's impatient like me. But there is a small bit exposed. But we also kept the speakers up higher. I'll get a pic when I get a chance. or are you talking about from the tv/receiver to the molding?