Minimalist Home Theatre Setups?

[flipstah]

After reading up on the soundbar thread, I'd like to know who has a clean setup with a soundbar and how it's been for you. I'd like to declutter my space and remove big speakers/receiver but I have no idea how to position your peripherals like the Apple TV, PS4, etc.

- Did you put wiring through the wall or feed it somewhere?
- Where did you position the devices where you can still control it relatively easy?
- Would you do it again or revert back to the traditional A/V + big speakers setup?
- What would you have done differently?

[Mitsu3000gt]

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After reading up on the soundbar thread, I'd like to know who has a clean setup with a soundbar and how it's been for you. I'd like to declutter my space and remove big speakers/receiver but I have no idea how to position your peripherals like the Apple TV, PS4, etc.

- Did you put wiring through the wall or feed it somewhere?
- Where did you position the devices where you can still control it relatively easy?
- Would you do it again or revert back to the traditional A/V + big speakers setup?
- What would you have done differently?

1) Conduit in the walls, tucked between carpet and baseboard, tacked under shelving, in the roof, etc.
2) Some devices do not need line of sight, and the ones that do can be easily modified with RF so you never really need line of sight no matter what you have. I use Nvidia Shields everywhere as a source and they do not need line of sight for control. I have some equipment in cupboards and some in the mechanical room.
3) Both - clean setup in the living room where aesthetics take priority, and proper 5.1.4 (10 channel) Atmos setup in the basement. No wires visible in either case. Any decent traditional HT setup will always be night and day better than a sound bar, but typically people aren't expecting a true HT experience from a sound bar and just want to improve the sound of their TV. If I had to pick just one I would pick the proper HT every time. If I was allowed to I would have a proper surround setup in the living room too, but I also understand why most people do not do this.
4) Nothing really

[mr2mike]

Minimalist:
TV on wall.
FireTV stick plugged into the back.
/thread

[rage2]

I didn't like using sound bars because it in itself is clutter sitting on a cabinet/credenza. The newer ones are better (wall mounted) but still a challenge in getting a clean wire free look. I basically made some sacrifices in different rooms. Bedroom I'm using just the TV speakers, AppleTV behind the dresser, and UPS/Xbox beside the dresser out of the way. In the living room I custom built a BESTA unit to house everything: https://www.ikea.com/ca/en/planner/besta-planner/

It's in a 3x3 configuration. The top shelf I made open to house the 3 speakers, middle shelf open for the receiver (heat dissipation), bottom middle as a storage cabinet, left and right 1x2 for XB1, PS4, and UPS. Heat dissipation for the gaming systems is still problematic unfortunately.

You've seen my basement setup, hidden room.

[88CRX]

Main floor:
- TV wall mounted above fireplace
- Using TV speakers
- Cable box zip tied behind the TV
- No conduits or anything but I dont foresee ever having to add any components to this location

Upper floor:
- TV on a stand (will wall mount eventually)
- Cheap Vizio sound bar also sitting on the stand, wireless sub beside the couch.
- TV stand housing cable box, DVD player, etc.
- Have conduit to hide wires but not really needed if TV isn't wall mounted

Not big into home theater stuff so I wouldn't change anything. Main floor we throw the TV on when we're getting dinner ready, if we're going to watch a movie we head upstairs.

[botox]

My setup is in a corner with a tv on a cabinet, receiver/amp in cabinet, big ass speakers and all cabling hidden behind tv and cabinet. Best of both worlds, everything is hidden and you get the pounding bass from the large speakers that you don't from soundbars. I'm not an audiofile and the sound is not muffled or distorted and is perfectly fine for me.

[flipstah]

Thanks for the responses so far. I was thinking of re-arranging my cabinet up front so it looks less cluttered then I started looking at soundbars and man, they're clean installs!

There are extension brackets that attach to the TV wall mount so it has a 'seamless' look and it's promising but based on responses, I'll definitely be sacrificing sound quality for aesthetics.

That hidden setup is still dope @rage2 . How do you change channels if you have to?

[rx7boi]

I'd like a minimalist set up as well but anything that helps with organizing is a boon.

We still connect our laptops to the TV like neanderthals so floating Ikea cabinets could be a cool way to organize too.

[88CRX]

I'm not picky with speakers and sound bar systems be we picked up the peasant $150 Vizio one from Costco and we blast it with movies and its pretty sweet.

[killramos]

I really like my Sonos Beam + Sub for my tv with just my Xbox One X hooked up with Cable TV running through the Xbox.

Sound quality is great, it’s just expensive.

For a real minimalist win I would want to use a Samsung Frame flush mounted to the wall. Those TVs are awesome.

[flipstah]

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I really like my Sonos Beam + Sub for my tv with just my Xbox One X hooked up with Cable TV running through the Xbox.

Sound quality is great, it’s just expensive.

For a real minimalist win I would want to use a Samsung Frame flush mounted to the wall. Those TVs are awesome.

I'm not familiar with the Sonos soundbar, but how did you connect the TV + XBox1 + Soundbar if the soundbar hooks up via HDMI? Or did you use Optical to the TV?

[Mitsu3000gt]

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I'm not familiar with the Sonos soundbar, but how did you connect the TV + XBox1 + Soundbar if the soundbar hooks up via HDMI? Or did you use Optical to the TV?

EDIT: I misunderstood your question, sorry.

You would run one cable from the TV's HDMI ARC port to the Sound bar, and then you would plug in all your other sources to the TV which acts as a hub.

Depending on the sound bar you can also do this kind of in the reverse, by plugging all your sources into the sound bar and running a single HDMI cable back to the TV.

[killramos]

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I'm not familiar with the Sonos soundbar, but how did you connect the TV + XBox1 + Soundbar if the soundbar hooks up via HDMI? Or did you use Optical to the TV?

Just use the ARC out from the TV straight to the sound bar yup.

Sub connects wirelessly, though I find Sonos works better if you can find a way to wire it all into your home network.

I’m actually using my Sonos beam on my media room TV while I think through what my longer term surround sound system looks like.

My Marantz Atmos amp is sitting in a closet haha, just hasn’t been a top priority yet.



This frame + beam setup is along the lines of what I think is an “ideal” minimalist setup. It’s not the best at anything, but probably 85% of the way there and looks great. Hide the wireless sub somewhere in the room if that floats your boat.

[rage2]

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That hidden setup is still dope @rage2 . How do you change channels if you have to?

I use harmony remotes with IR blasters.

[navdeep]

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Just use the ARC out from the TV straight to the sound bar yup.

Sub connects wirelessly, though I find Sonos works better if you can find a way to wire it all into your home network.

I’m actually using my Sonos beam on my media room TV while I think through what my longer term surround sound system looks like.

My Marantz Atmos amp is sitting in a closet haha, just hasn’t been a top priority yet.



This frame + beam setup is along the lines of what I think is an “ideal” minimalist setup. It’s not the best at anything, but probably 85% of the way there and looks great. Hide the wireless sub somewhere in the room if that floats your boat.

That looks so nice and clean , i have the sonos play-bar, you just sold me on my new tv

[flipstah]

Is it safe to assume that if my receiver is hooked up to the TV via HDMI only, and the sound is coming from the speakers via the receiver, that I have ARC on my TV?

Not familiar with the terms as well /noob

[killramos]

Not safe to assume at all, usually only one HDMI point supports ARC and will be labelled as such. If the tv is from the last 5 years it probably has ARC.

If you are using a receiver then you are kind of defeating the purpose of all this, essentially using your receiver as a glorified, expensive, power hungry HDMI switch haha.

[Mitsu3000gt]

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Is it safe to assume that if my receiver is hooked up to the TV via HDMI only, and the sound is coming from the speakers via the receiver, that I have ARC on my TV?

Not familiar with the terms as well /noob

No, if you have a receiver in the mix you don't need ARC at all. All the processing/amplification is happening at the receiver independent of the TV.

[flipstah]

Oh my bad: Just mentioning what I have today, which is a TV + receiver via HDMI + speakers.

I'd like to remove the receiver and clunky speakers out of the equation and replace everything with one soundbar.

I'll just look at my TV rofl.

[Mitsu3000gt]

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Oh my bad: Just mentioning what I have today, which is a TV + receiver via HDMI + speakers.

I'd like to remove the receiver and clunky speakers out of the equation and replace everything with one soundbar.

I'll just look at my TV rofl.

You can buy very slim receivers, if bulk is an issue, and keep your existing setup which is likely better than a soundbar if it's separate speakers. Something like this:




If you also want to get rid of the speakers, then yeah a soundbar probably makes sense for you.