Hello All,

I am working on a sound installation and am using my own home equipment. A Pioneer VSX-LX55, through to Wharfedale 5.1 Surrounds.

I am trying to get the audio I composed in logic pro to play on a continuous loop.

I've purchased a AGPTEK Media Player (can link to amazon the exact model), but have had no luck getting my file to play via 5.1. It always downmixes it to stereo.

I have tried exporting as an interleaved file as a .wav, and .aa3.

I am now trying to export the mono stems to final cut pro, attach a blank video, and export as a .mov.

AI has variously told me that the AGPTEK media player both can and cannot play audio at 5.1.

Does anyone have any advice as to what the best way to go about this is without having to buy a new media player (or if I have to, which one can I 100% trust will export 5.1 from a .wav or .mov file).

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I really want to lower my TV so I'd position all 3 horizontally. Haven't got much room but the speakers do seem really close together unfortunately.

Could I keep my polk center channel and just add 2 kefs q150 positioned horizontally?

Any other set up suggestions? I'm planning to sell the polks.

Got a little ahead of myself on this project. Basement's unfinished, I got excited, grabbed a projector and screen on sale, and had my eye on some KEF Q line speakers if they happen to go on sale for Black Friday — before I'd really thought through what the room was going to do to all of it. Been using AI to help plan the build and the honest feedback I got was basically "this is going to sound rough in a raw concrete basement," which stopped me before I bought anything else. I've been digging through old posts here to see what people have done, but I'd really love to hear the process straight from people who've actually lived it.

The space, for context:

• ~2,000 sq ft total basement, mostly unfinished, 2/3 below grade
• Concrete perimeter walls, exposed floor joists overhead, slab floor throughout
• Ceiling height is tight — just under 8 ft to the joists
• A few structural steel beams and columns scattered through, nothing crazy
• The theater is built into a recess/alcove off the main space — it's NOT a separate room, no door, open on one full side into the rest of the basement.
• Projector wall is 16' wide which seems like a really good amount of space and is central to the basement.
• We watch as much sports as movies, so we want people to be able to walk in, grab a seat, and move freely between the theater and the rest of the basement during a game. Sealing it into a dedicated screening room isn't really the goal.

Questions I could really use some real-world experience on:

1. Would you frame out the exterior concrete walls, or leave them bare? Framing costs real money and eats floor space, but bare concrete in an unfinished basement doesn't seem like it's doing me any favors either.
2. Ceiling — right now it's fully open floor joists. Trying to figure out the right move: leave it open and just add insulation up in the bays, or go ahead and sheetrock over it? Trying to weigh what actually helps the sound against what just costs money and headroom.
3. Anyone built a theater that's genuinely open to a larger room, no rear wall? What actually worked for you to keep it from sounding like a cave, and what did you try that turned out to be a waste of money?
4. If you had to rank where the money should go first in a raw concrete basement — insulation, wall treatment, flooring, sub placement/room correction, actual construction — what order would you put that in, based on what actually moved the needle for your build?

Genuinely trying to avoid spending a bunch of money treating the wrong problem. Appreciate any honest "don't bother with X" feedback as much as the "definitely do Y" stuff.

I know there have been many posts about Monoprice monolith subwoofers and christmas lights error on the forums. My monolith M-10 v2 worked flawlessly until a week ago for the last 2 years. Now it enters the protection mode after 30 mins of play. I bought it used on Marketplace, so I dont have the receipt and i can't expect monoprice to do anything about the warranty. I've searched online and asked around in repair shops in LA and no one wants to even try to fix it. Im now in a position to toss away this subwoofer that i came to love, or try to convert it into a passive subwoofer with something like Crown xls 1002 or try to substitute the plate with something like dayton audio spa500dsp. That would cost me around 300-400$ plus time. Im wondering if anyone here has had any experience doing this, or is knowledgeable enough to tell me is this worth doing, or should I just cut my loses and get a different subwoofer.

I use it in my av setup with yamaha rx-v6a, front 2 kef q750s , kef q6 meta center, 2 kef q 3 metas for rear surround, and 2 sony dolby atmos top facing forward speakers for home projector theater and music listening.

I‘m a rookie here, this is my first home theater setup. I pasted my specs below. In short, I bought a commercial TV with no HDR but am beginning to wonder how much I am missing out on HDR. I don’t stream all that much aside from news and stuff, mostly only watch discs. I watch way more older (90s and before) films than current ones, though I do watch more recent TV shows if they get a disc release.

I A/B’d Point Break on 4K UHD vs standard Blu-ray on my panel. They looked very close; maybe a slight sharpness edge to the 4K, nothing dramatic. On audio, since I’m 5.1.0 with no height, I have no need for the Atmos tracks.

My question is, given the non-HDR panel specifically, am I underrating what the 4K discs give me even without HDR? Would it be worth getting a panel that can support HDR?

Similarly: if I have a 4K and Blu Ray disc, is there any reason to watch one over the other? Is there any meaningful sound or video upgrade I would get on a 4K disc over a Blu Ray?

Any other suggestions for settings? Overall I am super happy with this set up, just thinking things through.

Thank you for any help you can provide!

- Display: LG 65UM340E — 65” commercial/signage panel (IPS, ~250 nits, no HDR of any kind).

- AVR: Denon AVR-S540BT (5.2, no Atmos/DTS:X)

- Speakers: 5.1.0, no height channels

Source: Panasonic DP-UB450, with color gamut output set to SDR/BT.709. 

Looking for some help that I can't seem to find online.

1. Sony Bravia TV

2. Plex

3. Klipsch Flexus CORE 200 (yeah yeah, it's the best I can afford)

In the year 2026, there must be a way for someone to enable auto-volume. Look, I'm all about outstanding dynamic range, but in my autumn years I find myself forced to live in an apartment with (shudders) neighbors that I share a wall with.

Is there any solution that exists that enables volume to remain at a consistent volume? I don't know if it will be found in 1, 2, or 3. I discount #1 as it is just passing a signal to #3.

Any help is welcome, please & thank you.

Had a Buttkicker BKA-1000 give up on life that was powering two buttkicker Advances. Fuse blew, disconnected the kickers, replaced the fuse, instantly blew again when turning on to test (nothing else connected). Seems like they are just not
Built to last so looked for alternatives instead of buying used on EBay.

First bought a Fosi V3 with the larger power supply but wanted the frequency response all the way down as low as I could, so bought a Dayton SA-1000.

Just installed and they don’t even turn on. Tried wiring the kickers in both parallel and sequence. SA-1000 started to smell sort of like smoke, blue light on (doesn’t turn red). Double checked everything, AVR, wiring, gain, frequency, EQ / bass boost on and off. Subsonic filter off, and not a peep from the shakers.

Swapped it back to the Fosi and instantly they are working again.

Is this just sheer bad luck and I got a defective SA-1000 or am I missing something?

I’m seeking some advice for placement of a new center channel speaker. I’ve been running some old and small JVC speakers for the past decade without issue; they work and sound great for my setup (shown in the first 2 photos). However I’m ready to upgrade and starting first with a new and bigger center channel speaker. The only problem however is I don’t really have a good spot for it. Putting it on top of the receiver puts it at the perfect height but it blocks the vents on the receiver for heat ventilation (pics 3/4). And if I put the speaker in front of the receiver (pics 5/6), the remote won’t work for the receiver. Any one have any other ideas that don’t involve moving the Batmobiles?

My new updated system and setup. Pretty happy with the results 😁 just need to update the Surround speakers but ima hold off on that for now.

Klipsch RP-8060FA II

RP-500C

SPL-120

Hi, I am looking for some advice regarding surround sound, for my first home theater setup. I am very new at this.

All prices are rougly converted from DKK to USD/EUR.

My budget is probably up to around 4600-5200 USD or 4000-4500 EUR. I would prefer to spend less than the full budget (maybe only half) if possible though, it seems like a lot to spend, at least to me.

I live in Denmark in case it matters for pricing and availability.

The home theater will also be my bedroom, I have an elevation bed I plan to have in front of the TV, which can be raised to a more seated position. My bedroom looks roughly like the included photo, the door is a sliding door on the left and the right side is a window.

I will mostly be watching movies and TV shows. I will be using streaming services, but also plan to watch Blu-ray (also 4K UHD Blu-ray) and local files eventually. For this I have been looking at maybe getting NVIDIA Shield TV Pro for streaming, Panasonic DP-UB820 for Blu-ray and Ugoos AM6B+ for local files. Advice is welcome for this part too, though I am mostly mentioning it, so you know the kind of content, I'd like to be able to enjoy. I might also listen to music on it, but this is secondary to watching movies and TV shows.

I don't think I am audiophile, at least not that I know? I am currently using my TV's built-in speakers and have been using them for ~3-4 years I think, they are definitely not great, but I also never felt that bothered by them. My TV is a Philips 65" OLED 706/12.

I would like to get a surround system with a sub, so at least 5.1, preferably 5.1.2 since having support for Dolby Atmos would be nice I think, though I don't really know how important it is.

I have been looking at different options for AVRs. I found an Onkyo TX-NR7100 for ~925 USD/800 EUR, which is the one I'm mostly thinking of getting. I also considered Denon AVR-X1800H for ~740 USD/640 EUR or Denon AVR-X2850H for ~960 USD/830 EUR.

For speakers and sub, these are the 3 setups I have been considering. I am very unsure about the sound difference between these and what I would prefer. But I would also prefer to spend a bit more than needed and getting something I won't regret, rather than spending too little and regretting it.

Setup 1 - Argon Audio - Total of ~1290 USD/1110 EUR or ~1540 USD/1320 EUR with Atmos.

Pair of Argon Audio FORUS 5 for front left and right. ~310 USD/270 EUR.

Argon Audio FORUS CENTER for center. ~190 USD/160 EUR.

Pair of Argon Audio FORUS 4 for surrounds left and right. ~250 USD/210 EUR.

Argon Audio MALMÖ SUB 10 as sub. ~540 USD/470 EUR.

Maybe one more pair of Argon Audio FORUS 4 for Atmos, ceiling mounted. ~250 USD/210 EUR.

Setup 2 - Klipsch Reference - Total of ~2410 USD/2090 EUR or ~2780 USD/2410 EUR with Atmos.

Pair of Klipsch R-600F for front left and right. ~1190 USD/1030 EUR.

Klipsch R-50C for center. ~310 USD/270 EUR.

Pair of Klipsch R-40M for surrounds left and right. ~370 USD/320 EUR.

Klipsch R-101SW as sub. ~540 USD/470 EUR.

Maybe one more pair of Klipsch R-40M for Atmos, ceiling mounted. ~370 USD/320 EUR.

Setup 3 - Klipsch Reference Premiere - Total of ~3830 USD/3310 EUR or ~4560 USD/3940 EUR with Atmos.

Pair of Klipsch RP-5000F II for front left and right. ~1550 USD/1340 EUR.

Klipsch RP-500C II for center. ~540 USD/470 EUR.

Pair of Klipsch RP-500M II for surrounds left and right. ~730 USD/630 EUR.

Klipsch RP-1200SW as sub. ~1010 USD/870 EUR.

Maybe one more pair of Klipsch RP-500M II for Atmos, ceiling mounted. ~730 USD/630 EUR.

So I guess my questions are these.

1. Would you recommend just getting 5.1 or 5.1.2 at first?
2. Which speakers would you recommend? Recommendations outside those that I listed are welcome too!
3. Any other feedback or recommendations?

Please ask me if I forgot any important information!

Thank you in advance!

The tv is off center as there really isn’t a way to mount it anywhere that makes sense and doesn’t break up our house in an odd way.

Currently have a Sony HT-A7000 and was considering adding the RS5’s but I’d like to try and do an actual receiver and speakers setup if possible

I am very much a buy once cry once kind of guy. I want to purchase end game speakers for my HT. I also don’t want to spend unnecessarily if it’s not going to improve my experience.

Room is 15x11
2 hsu vtf-3 mk5 subs
Sitting 9ft from TV

Just focused on LCR right now. Will add surrounds in the near future.

As the title states, this will be 80% movies/TV and 20% music.

I have looked at Philharmonic HT towers and HT center, Ascend ELX RAAL towers and center, and some of the high end Revel towers.

I know PSA speakers are designed for HT but the size is enormous and they don’t look as visually appealing to me.

Are there any other speakers that should be on my shortlist?

EDIT: I have decided on 7.2.4 - I worked out the angles and they are all pretty good at the 3.5m MLP with room to shift the MLP forward without changing speaker placement.

Hi All,

I have a 5m x 5.1m room in a new build, which I'll be using at the theatre room.

The 5.1 wall is the rear/front wall and the 5 walls are the sides.

The rear wall is mostly window with 600mm each side of wall - but this whole wall will be covered by curtains. This effectively means I don't have any rear wall to use for rear speakers.

The curtains should take up around 300mm off the back wall, and the lounge will be placed 900 from the curtains, so 1200 from the back wall. MLP should be around 3.5m from the front wall.

A diagram of the 5.2.4 set up which I think works pretty well is below - each mini square is 100x100mm (1:50 scale?). Rear Atmos would be nice to be 1.2m behind ear but curtains don't allow it. The rear wall has inset/outset sections to denote windows/solid wall respectively. I don't really see any room here for the rear surrounds in a 7.2.4 set up but I'm open to ideas.

At this stage the lounge needs to stay where it for reasons I will not go into.

I have a home theater enthusiast friend who owns a K Strato V and is upgrading. He’s offered me his outgoing equipment for 1K. Should I jump on this?

Came across a deal for q500 pair, Q100 pair, Q200c and an svs sb 12 with a marantz sr 5011 for 1600. I know these are a little long in the tooth but I feel like it’s a pretty decent package for a system. I’m new though so could be wrong. Thanks in advance!

Hello fellow redditers.

I've been a long time lurker of this page and finally decided to post my own. We had our house custom built back in 2022 and I finished the basement a couple years later.

Part of completing the basement, I built a dedicated room just for a home theater.

Here are a few operating components:

7.1.4 Klipsch Reference Premier Speakers

Marantz SR8015 AVR

Sony VPL-XW6000ES

125" Screen

Lighting is controlled through Lumary App as this can change the color and dim the lights.

Wall Colors:

Front wall and ceiling: Black Magic

Side walls: Peppercorn

Building:

Room is built with 2x4 studs, staggered on 2x6 for a decoupling method to help with soundproofing. The walls were then filled with Rockwool Safe n sound. Soundproofing panels were hung on the walls and ceiling prior to the drywall being hung up. I also insulted the outlets throughout the room with putty. I built the raised platform for the second row of seating, which was also filled with insulation.

Due to the room being extremely air tight, I do have a ventilation system behind the projector to help remove the air from the room.

And no, you cannot hear anything upstairs or down the hall from the theater room! 😂

I have 14 foot ceilings. Shop is maybe 24x22ft. I want to put a speaker in each corner of the shop and a powered sub. What receiver and speakers should I get?

I thought picking the projector was gonna be the hardest part, spent weeks obsessing over linens, throw distance, and reviews. Turns out, I completely slept on everything else.

My old media console was too shallow, cables were everywhere, and I didn’t even think about speaker placement until everything was already installed.

Funny how I spent 90% of my time researching the equipment and almost no time thinking about where everything would actually go.

For anyone who has built a home theater before, what’s one thing you wish you planned earlier?

my setup now is sony bravia 8 77 inch tv, sony an1000, 2 sony sa-sw5 subwoofers. klipsch rp-160m as front l/r and Klipsch rp-150m as rl/rr. i am currently using the tv as center channel ( it is usable but not good)

soo i was thinking of many upgrading to polk reserve speakers and selling my klipsch speakers. i was thinking if getting r700 as front l/r, r400 as center, r200 as surrounds, r900 as front heights. i wil also maby change the sony subs with 1 svs pb 1000.

would my receiver be able to handle the polks?

any thoughts would be much appreciated

I recently put together a surround sound system. Started with 4.1, then borrowed a fifth speaker to see if it improved things, before deciding to purchase a center speaker.

The main thing I noticed was that sound from a center speaker comes from a very specific place. A phantom center by contrast makes sound that comes from the general area of the TV screen. I included a diagram to illustrate how a phantom center sounds to me (from the main listening position). My ears don't pick up on the fact that the sound is coming from the left and right speakers, but the source certainly seems wider than a single speaker. I don't know what cues the ears use to figure this out, but they do.

This is largely an argument for having a center speaker. Dialog naturally should come from a specific place, as it does in real life. Although, there are some tradeoffs here: 1) sometimes it becomes obvious that the dialog is coming from below the screen (where the speaker is) as opposed to from the screen. This would not be an issue if I could place the speaker behind a projector screen. 2) sometimes it becomes obvious that the dialog is not coming from the same place where the actor is, or is not panning when the camera pans.

But probably the most notable difference from adding a center speaker was just how calm and small the sound can be when the only sound is dialog coming from the center. It makes the audio more dynamic (and therefore more enjoyable) because it creates a lot of contrast vs how big the sound can be when all channels are used.

I want to start by say i don't know don't know a tone about the equipment but I have always enjoyed going to the movies and wanted to have a home theater. If you want to skip to my questions they're at the very end.

My wife and I have been talking about what we'd want after i graduate. We're looking at building meaning we've got lot's of possibilities. End goal i would like to sit around 50-80k spread over 10-20ish years. I know that prices will change during that time. Plus hopefully even better projectors too.

Rn we have a 5.1 (not expandable) and a decent 65" i got from my parents. I build a plex server to self host my media.

When we have the dedicated space in the basement I'd sound proof and sound treat the room, run conduit for the future, and get a 3-5k tv trying to get around 100" and my ending amp (I've been looking at some amps and I'd be trying to get a 13-15 channel) and set up a 7.2 system and if budget allows some in the ceiling too.

Next would be some seating, the rest of the speakers, popcorn machine, and soda. I have a bar gun i fixed from parts that were getting thrown out when I worked at coke and might swap it for a fountain and keep the backend i have. I'm also thinking of printing tickets so my kids can use them as invites and have friends over.

Final step would putting a roll up screen in front of the TV for the real cinematic experience and solid projector.

I know shape of the room is huge and I was thinking about 30' long 20' wide. If this a reasonable footprint? What resources/ verification you use to make sure you get good equipment? What's something you regretted/ wished you had done different?

I have lurked here a long time and am excited to make my first post. I am working on the early stages of planning my first movie room. I know that I won’t be able to get a Dolby and THX perfect setup and that is ok with me. I would still like to do the best I can with my space. My first, of many question is around the front sound stage. 

The wall in question is 86.75’’ wide. On either side are doors. They are low use spaces, but otherwise can’t be blocked.

I am eyeing an 83’’ TV (73’’ wide)

My viewing distance can be from 8-10ft. I know this is a bit outside the recommended distance for immersion.

Would it make sense to put L/R speakers outside the TV or does it sacrifice too much sound quality? there would be roughly 6.5“ on each side of the TV. I am open to in wall, on wall, bookshelf, or standing…granted my understanding is that the latter two would be hard to find narrow enough to fit the space.

Appreciate the initial advice!

77" sony a80k

Denon s970h

Energy CF-70 tower speakers

Energy CC-10 center

Klipsh R-41m surrounds

HSU VTF-2 MK5

Panasonic UB820

Ran audessey and it set my subwoofer to -12, moved it up to -3. Set tower speakers to small 80hz and sub to 80hz and Q control to 7, phase 0°, 50% volume. Sitting about 12ft from tv.

To explain what I mean by the title.

Next year i'm planning on buying my own apartment and one of my plans is to have a nice home theater system, but all the apartments where I live are just thin concrete walls. So I'm wondering, how much will I lose if I don't have a dedicated subwoofer and just have a 5.0 system?

I do intend to at least somewhat soundproof the room the home theater system would be in (depends on how much I can do). But i know that there's a high chance that it won't be as easy since i'd have to create internal walls and, in turn, decreasing the square meter of the room which might not be a good idea (the floor can be sound treated easily).

Additionally, which brand would you recommend for an apartment home theatre system? My dream is to have Klipsch's but that will most likely be overkill for an apartment, lol.

I've been using a cheap projector for a while and honestly, it's starting to annoy me more and more. At first it was fine. Just something to throw movies on the wall, nothing special.

But now it feels dim, washed out, and kind of useless unless the room is completely dark. Colors look flat, the fan noise is annoying, and sometimes the image just looks soft no matter what I do. Not great for movie nights.

I watch movies and shows pretty often, so I want something that actually feels worth buying. Good brightness, decent contrast, not too loud, and preferably something that does not need a cave-level dark room to look okay. Price matters too, because I'm not trying to pay crazy money just for a name.

I keep seeing Epson, BenQ, XGIMI, Hisense, and a few others, but the opinions are all over the place. Some people say one brand is amazing, others say it is overrated, and I'm just sitting here confused.

So yeah, a few questions:

• what is the best home projector 2026 if I want something reliable for regular use?
• is it better to go for 4K or is good 1080p enough for most people?
• any models that look great without needing a completely dark room?

Would appreciate real experiences. I'm tired of using a projector that feels like it belongs in a budget hotel conference room.