surround sound height (1 Viewer)

[DerekCV]

I have a 7 foot tall drop ceiling in my basement and I have all the locations of my 7.1 surround sound set up laid out. I'm going to run all the speaker wire up in the ceiling. Floor standing mains on the floor, obliviously, and I was going to mount the center near the top of the ceiling and point it downward at the listening position. The rear surrounds I can mount on an existing shelf about 50" high, but I'm planning to mount them the same height as my side surrounds.... which is where my question is. One side of the "Theater" area is open to the rest of the basement and I have only about 6 or 8 inches down from the top of the ceiling in which to mount my speaker. So essentially the surrounds will be near the top of the ceiling... almost 7 feet high. Is that a problem, or is it livable if I point all the speakers toward the seating? My only other option is to have 1 speaker stand off to the left in the middle of the floor and run speaker wire across the floor or down far from the ceiling, neither of which is going to be pretty.

Also does it affect sound if I lay a surround sound bookshelf speaker on its side?

Thanks!

 

[John Garcia]

It shouldn't be a problem for the surrounds to be that high. Ideally, you wouldn't want any speaker that close to the ceiling because it will reflect off the ceiling, but it should be OK for surround duty. Don't point them directly at the listening position, slightly behind or in front will give you a more diffused effect. For surrounds, bookshelf speakers on their side should be OK.

For the center, I would try to avoid having it mounted right near the ceiling due to reflections. This will likely make it sound unclear.

 

[DerekCV]

the center will need to be right near the floor or right near the ceiling based on the size of the screen that I'm going to have... i'm sure I'll figure something out.

 

[DerekCV]

No other thoughts on this huh?