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I am sorry if this is a long question.
Please check my system as posted. I want to add video but I do not want to compromise my rather good (IMO) stereo system.
I am not overmuch interested in movies but would watch broadcast TV (I'm in the UK so PAL) and would want to play music videos (mainly operas).
My room is not too large and my speakers are across the short wall. However I have to walk between the speakers to access the open plan staircase at the left hand side of the room. This means that although I have space between the speakers (which are about 5 feet from the front wall) it's not too much. The speakers are just under 6 feet apart (cabinet inner side to inner side).
I guess that means placing a screen between and behind the speakers.
Firstly, am I going to screw up the stereo sound just by having a large screen in that position?
Secondly, can I do this without a centre channel? The matching ATC centre for my 50s is way beyond my pocket these days.
Thirdly what size screen would I need (viewing from 11/12 ft away)? BTW I have found most flat screens very disappointing on broadcast input.
How do I wire up the sound (I assume I need some kind of decoder??). My pre-amp has no unity gain AV input but does have a couple of tape loops.
What about rear channels (if anything)? It is an L shaped room with the narrow part to the rear. There are two doorways en route to the rear wall so running cables past them is a problem.
You can tell from this that I know nothing at all about A/V so any help will be truly appreciated.
Follow Ups:
"My room is not too large and my speakers are across the short wall. However I have to walk between the speakers to access the open plan staircase at the left hand side of the room. This means that although I have space between the speakers (which are about 5 feet from the front wall) it's not too much. "
So you have a wall 5' behind the speakers and a stairway to the left side. To access the stairway you need to walk between the speakers. I assume there is an unbroken wall behind the speakers. Did I get that right? Is there anything on the wall or are there windows there?
Yes you can get reflections from a screen but the big question is what sort of screen are you considering. Are you considering a flat screen such as an LCD or plasma, a front projection screen, a rear projection screen or a CRT? If you want the maximum space for access to the stairway you limit yourself to the LCD, plasma, or front projection options. The CRT and rear projection displays can be quite deep which will eat into your access space.
Normal recommendations for viewing distance from a high definition screen suggest that the screen to viewer distance should be between 1.5 to 2.5 times the screen diagonal depending on who you rely on for this ratio. I sit at 2.5 times the screen diagonal. Applying those guides to your 11'5" viewing distance (let's round it to 12') you're talking about a screen diagonal of 8' if you sit 1.5 times that away down to 58" or so if you sit 2.5 times that distance away. That also eliminates the CRT simply due to size. I'd suggest a plasma or LCD. Plasma would be cheaper and has advantages in picture quality provided you darken the room when viewing, If you do a lot of viewing with ambient light in the room, then I'd suggest an LCD. Front projection also requires low ambient light levels.
Assuming a plasma or LCD there will be some reflection off the screen but there's already reflection off the wall if you haven't got it acoustically treated. The glass screen will be quite reflective at high frequencies, more than a normal wall but similarly reflective to glass windows or framed pictures under glass so it may or may not be more reflective than your existing room depending on what's in/on the wall at present. You can always put a heavy draw curtain or sound absorbing panel in front of the screen when not viewing but simply listening to music. When viewing you don't have that option but you can use tone or other controls in order to tame any brightness in sound from those reflections.
If you want surround sound, the side surrounds of a 5.1 system can go to the sides level with or slightly behind the listening/viewing position. If you can't manage that, there's in-ceiling speakers in a similar positioning. If none of those placement options works in your room, forget surround but a centre channel down the track would probably help. It can be added later but it should tonally match your L and R front speakers so if there is a matching centre speaker available now and you're going to add a centre you should do so before the current line gets discontinued. That places a time restriction on the purchase which may not work out well for you. You can certainly run with a stereo setup quite happily, especially if your viewing tends to be TV and music video fare rather than movies. Even with movies a good stereo setup can be quite successful and enjoyable but surround is certainly fun if you like action movies which it sounds as if you don't. With an L shaped room and an asymmetrical area behind you I'd forget 6.1 or 7.1 surround systems.
You can hook the video connection straight from the player to display and a separate audio connection from the player to your existing pre-amp/amp while you're running stereo. You can take an audio out connection from the display to an unused input on the pre-amp/amp. If you want surround sound I'd suggest using an AV receiver or pre-processor with HDMI connections carrying both audio and video from player to receiver/processor and HDMI from there to the display for video. You would still run audio from the TV to the receiver/processor in that setup.
You can buy players which decode video soundtracks and do the digital to analog conversion so you don't need to buy a separate decoding unit as well as a player if you continue in stereo. If you go surround the wiring connections are drastically simplified with HDMI provided you use an AV receiver or pre/processor with all of the decoding and D/A conversion options you need.
If you run stereo with your current pre-amp/amp you may run into lip/sync problems. There's a thread below about that. Some people are more sensitive to this than others. AV receivers/processors can correct for lip/sync and many have room equalisation features that can help with room acoustic problems such as overly bright reflections from a plasma or LCD screen but there are also add on solutions to these issues which you could use with your current setup. There's a thread on lip/sync issues below you may wish to skim.
That's the basics and it should give you enough info to think about. You'll probably have more questions if you decide to go ahead but I'd start by looking at things like the prices of 60-80 inch screens and working out just how far I wanted to go with this idea first since the display is going to be the most expensive part of the process if you start out with your existing stereo setup. If you can't afford a 60" screen as a minimum, then I'd start looking at smaller screens and seeing just how I felt about the picture at a 12' viewing distance because if you use too small a screen you are unlikely to be happy with the results.
David Aiken
...for taking the time to give me such a pertinent and well reasoned reply. Well, all of your postings are of that nature I guess.
Yes I do have a huge window as most of the wall behind the speakers. This is covered with thick curtains for serious listening and they would have to be drawn for TV viewing too. I really don't think that I would have room for the rear speakers for multi channel so stereo would have to be the way to go for me - O.K as you rightly guess I am not at all interested in action films.
Centre channel? I understand your advice about getting one to match the front speakers whilst I can but ATC have been making the 50s for getting on for 30 years so I think I am safe ( they also do custom build if they do fall out of the catalogue). But the price is big for this active speaker.
I hadn't even considered the lipsynch problem so thanks for bringing this to my attention.
Overall my decision maker has to be the size of an appropriate screen and the cost thereof. When I visualise how it would be I can see that smaller one will be inadequate. I will therefore have to put this thought of mine on to the back burner unfortunately - a 60" Koru is the equivalent of about $10,000 in the UK.
I run separate 2 channel audio and 6.1 HT systems. In many ways it wasn't a deliberate decision to do that. The TV was always in a different room and we never had a DVD player but after my wife died I added a DVD player and the HT system simply started growing from there. It isn't in an ideal room or layout for the best surround sound but the room with the audio system would be worse given it's L-shape and smaller size. I've acoustically treated that room in ways I can't treat the room with the HT system and I can't fit the HT system comfortably into the audio system's room so they stay separate.
What I can say is that if you're prepared to go with a smaller screen in a different room, adding a couple of reasonable speakers and a sub, along with a DVD or, preferably these days, a BD player to it can give you a surprisingly good experience. I sit 2 metres from an 80 cm screen and I enjoy that system immensely. I could certainly argue that bigger is better, especially for screen size, but for 1 or 2 people what is really a quite modest HT system as far as screen size goes gives a lot of pleasure. Just make sure you pick a screen with good picture quality and that the speakers and amp are reasonable. It won't sound as good as your audio system but with the picture taking a lot of your attention you won't really notice the difference in sound quality to your stereo setup most of the time. About the only time I notice the difference in sound quality is when I use the tuner in the receiver to listen to radio or try a CD in that system for comparison.
There's certainly a place for good quality modest scale video setups and they can be a lot more enjoyable than many people who have been 'wowed' by much bigger screens think. Just sit a lot closer so the screen takes up the same viewing angle as a bigger screen does at its appropriate viewing distance and it's quite easy to be 'wowed' by a good to high quality smaller screen.
David Aiken
Well ...thanks again.
Unfortunately another room is not available (those stairs lead to my bedroom and bathroom and that's basically it).
All I can think of now is replacing my old Sony situated at the side of the same room in which my audio is. But the space is very limited and means I can only fit in a 27" or at best 32" screen and use its built in sound system (which I expect to be relatively poor). Still, better than nothing.
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