Not Sure Where to Begin (1 Viewer)

[Scott Merryfield]

I use banana plugs for all my speaker connections - - both at the receiver and speaker ends. They do not provide any type of sound improvement, but they are very convenient for connecting to your equipment and making sure you are not crossing your polarity (positive and negative posts). They are especially useful on the receiver side, where the binding posts can be pretty tightly spaced and make it difficult to connect bare wire.

 

[Todd Erwin]

Make sure the builder uses CL2 wire. They probably won’t want to, since it’s probably not required for code, but the insulation on regular speaker wire will break down in time. The cost difference is minimal.

And you might as well go 12ga. You can get it from monoprice.com

CL2 wire is also usually color coded, so it will be easier to connect positive to positive and negative to negative.

 

[JSHeacock]

Make sure the builder uses CL2 wire. They probably won’t want to, since it’s probably not required for code, but the insulation on regular speaker wire will break down in time. The cost difference is minimal.

And you might as well go 12ga. You can get it from monoprice.com

Will do. In fact, I'll buy it. A recommendation for the gauge was my next question so you got that covered as well.

 

[JSHeacock]

Thanks Scott. I appreciate the response.

I use banana plugs for all my speaker connections - - both at the receiver and speaker ends. They do not provide any type of sound improvement, but they are very convenient for connecting to your equipment and making sure you are not crossing your polarity (positive and negative posts). They are especially useful on the receiver side, where the binding posts can be pretty tightly spaced and make it difficult to connect bare wire.

 

[JSHeacock]

I use banana plugs for all my speaker connections - - both at the receiver and speaker ends. They do not provide any type of sound improvement, but they are very convenient for connecting to your equipment and making sure you are not crossing your polarity (positive and negative posts). They are especially useful on the receiver side, where the binding posts can be pretty tightly spaced and make it difficult to connect bare wire.

I hadn't really thought about the proximity between posts but you're right. Although it's been a while since I connected speakers, binding posts have always seemed to be closely positioned. That makes a lot of sense.

 

[JSHeacock]

So just about every valuable question regarding the speakers has been answered but the answers have spawned one more and it involves the in-ceiling speakers.

I've seen in-ceiling speakers with adjustable drivers to fire towards the viewing area. Are these worthwhile or in a room with 9' ceilings is that more gimmick than necessity?

For the bookshelf speakers that will be mounted on the wall on either side of the viewing area, I've seen flat-front speakers and then there are speakers that are somewhat triangular and emit sound at angles. Is one of those type speakers better than another? Or do the triangular-shaped speakers allow for moving the two bookshelf speakers forward of the viewing area? I wasn't clear on the purpose of them over just a regular speaker in the HT arrangement.

 

[Mark McSherry]

Just my own opinion, but I replaced my surround (side and rear) speakers and added four atmos ceiling speakers using SVS's Prime Elevation speakers. That's eight speakers @ $200 apiece. And I am more than happy with their performance.

 

[JohnRice]

So just about every valuable question regarding the speakers has been answered but the answers have spawned one more and it involves the in-ceiling speakers.

I've seen in-ceiling speakers with adjustable drivers to fire towards the viewing area. Are these worthwhile or in a room with 9' ceilings is that more gimmick than necessity?

For the bookshelf speakers that will be mounted on the wall on either side of the viewing area, I've seen flat-front speakers and then there are speakers that are somewhat triangular and emit sound at angles. Is one of those type speakers better than another? Or do the triangular-shaped speakers allow for moving the two bookshelf speakers forward of the viewing area? I wasn't clear on the purpose of them over just a regular speaker in the HT arrangement.

Regarding your first question, that's an arguing point. With 9' ceilings and the size of the room, I suspect you're good with just downward firing speakers. It seems that Atmos speakers ideally have extremely wide dispersion and aim down, to spread sound around the room.

As far as the surround speakers, for a long time the "triangle" models, which have two tweeters directed at an angle were preferred. That's what I have. In recent years I've noticed that the surround elements in soundtracks have gone from vague sound around you to more distinct, and the dual tweeter speakers don't perform as well with those soundtracks. In fact, I'm in the process of moving to front radiating bookshelf speakers. To make things more complicated, the dual tweeter models still might have some benefits in rooms that aren't very wide. Mine is 25' wide, so the surround speakers are at a pretty decent distance from the viewing area. So, there's no simple answer. I can't really say which would work best in a relatively narrow room.

A comment regarding the SVS Elevation. Those are a decent option in rooms where it's not possible to install in-ceiling speakers, but they're definitely not nearly as effective as overhead, in-ceiling speakers.

 

[JSHeacock]

Regarding your first question, that's an arguing point. With 9' ceilings and the size of the room, I suspect you're good with just downward firing speakers. It seems that Atmos speakers ideally have extremely wide dispersion and aim down, to spread sound around the room.

As far as the surround speakers, for a long time the "triangle" models, which have two tweeters directed at an angle were preferred. That's what I have. In recent years I've noticed that the surround elements in soundtracks have gone from vague sound around you to more distinct, and the dual tweeter speakers don't perform as well with those soundtracks. In fact, I'm in the process of moving to front radiating bookshelf speakers. To make things more complicated, the dual tweeter models still might have some benefits in rooms that aren't very wide. Mine is 25' wide, so the surround speakers are at a pretty decent distance from the viewing area. So, there's no simple answer. I can't really say which would work best in a relatively narrow room.

A comment regarding the SVS Elevation. Those are a decent option in rooms where it's not possible to install in-ceiling speakers, but they're definitely not nearly as effective as overhead, in-ceiling speakers.

Good deal! Thanks a million, John. I'll go with forward-firing surround speakers and normal in-ceiling speakers.