Surrounds: In wall or in ceiling? (1 Viewer)

[Brett_A]

My parents are setting up a 6.1 HT and when I went to check out the progress this weekend I noticed the company installed the rear surrounds and rear center in the ceiling. I don't have the model number but the speakers are MK inwall speakers. I know the correct placement per Dolby is parallel witht he listening point and slightly above.

Simple question is how much do you sacrifice with this positioning for asthetic reasons?

One good thing though they didn't let me build them a Sono but they did buy a SVS so that was a plus.

 

[Brett_A]

Anyone?

 

[Dan Hitchman]

I haven't heard any good reproduction from ceiling speakers. They place the sounds in an awkward position.

You could add wall mount surround side and surround back speakers from the same company as the fronts (timbre matched, of course) and use the in-ceiling speakers for the eventual "voice of God" height channel that will probably be added later.

Dan

 

[Lew Crippen]

Aside from quality, ceiling mounted speakers do not work well from a placement (of the sound) perspective. That is, most listeners don’t really want the surround sound coming from above.

You might check out something like the Rocket 300s or other wall mounted speakers.

 

[Chris Tsutsui]

Ceiling can be ok. When a plane flys overhead it sounds nice, and rainfall can sound cool.

It just has a different style than floor standing surrounds but I'm sure you'll get used to it as long as they're timbre matched.

 

[Brett_A]

I will take a listen this weekend and see...I am still skeptical that they can sound anywhere near what they should.

FWIW the front 3 and rear 3 are all MK matched speakers so the timbre should be no problem.

 

[Warren_Sc]

I don't care what the pundits say. I labored over this issue a while ago and have my surround in the ceiling. They sound just fine. I claim that most ambient, surround effects DO come from above. Just calibrate your speakers so they blend in.

I have some 8"B&Ks with aimable tweeters. They are aimed to bounce off the wall for wider dispersion. If I was to do it again I might have used the NHT 6" tri-pole speaker. My worry was that it would be too diffuse for DPLII music, but I don't just sit and listen to music.

In answer to your question, the trade-off is minimal to all but perfectionists.

My $0.02