Ok to elevate surround if they can pivot to fire toward LP?

[NorCalRP]

Title pretty much says it all. Parts express has some Sonance Mariners @ $100/pr. I've heard them A LOT- I worked in a restaurant in the same town as their corporate headquarters and we did events for them so much that they completely dialed the place to show their dealers during dinners (also, the CEO's house is insane- with an unlimited budget he set it up as a showcase for their complete product line).

Anyhoo... I broke up my 5.3.2 system when I moved into my new place to get a 5.2 and a 2.1 out of it. My HT space now is a dedicated room, and I'd like to take it to 7.3.2- I don't think it's quite deep enough at 16' to justify 4 Atmos channels. My surrounds are currently at 5ft, and I'd ideally like to get them higher- like 6.5ft. the ceiling is vaulted, so the Atmos speakers would be over 8'. Is this doable, or completely inadvisable?

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Title pretty much says it all. Parts express has some Sonance Mariners @ $100/pr. I've heard them A LOT- I worked in a restaurant in the same town as their corporate headquarters and we did events for them so much that they completely dialed the place to show their dealers during dinners (also, the CEO's house is insane- with an unlimited budget he set it up as a showcase for their complete product line).

Anyhoo... I broke up my 5.3.2 system when I moved into my new place to get a 5.2 and a 2.1 out of it. My HT space now is a dedicated room, and I'd like to take it to 7.3.2- I don't think it's quite deep enough at 16' to justify 4 Atmos channels. My surrounds are currently at 5ft, and I'd ideally like to get them higher- like 6.5ft. the ceiling is vaulted, so the Atmos speakers would be over 8'. Is this doable, or completely inadvisable?

If you’re going for Atmos I would not move my surrounds to 6-1/2’. If the heights are around 8’ that means you’d only have 1-1/2’. Between the bed layer and height layer. That’s not really enough separation. Also, IMO 5.3.4 is better than 7.3.2.

 

[ryanosaur]

Title pretty much says it all. Parts express has some Sonance Mariners @ $100/pr. I've heard them A LOT- I worked in a restaurant in the same town as their corporate headquarters and we did events for them so much that they completely dialed the place to show their dealers during dinners (also, the CEO's house is insane- with an unlimited budget he set it up as a showcase for their complete product line).

Anyhoo... I broke up my 5.3.2 system when I moved into my new place to get a 5.2 and a 2.1 out of it. My HT space now is a dedicated room, and I'd like to take it to 7.3.2- I don't think it's quite deep enough at 16' to justify 4 Atmos channels. My surrounds are currently at 5ft, and I'd ideally like to get them higher- like 6.5ft. the ceiling is vaulted, so the Atmos speakers would be over 8'. Is this doable, or completely inadvisable?

NorCal!!! Hope you're livin' well, friend. Or, at least as well as we all can, considering...

I have my rears up above a close door... so yes, you can. But you said surrounds: Side Surrounds, just to be clear?

If you are setting up Atmos, the big thing is getting separation between the bed layer and the Atmos. What were you planning? Placement and Distances?

Cheers!

 

[NorCalRP]

Hey guys, thanks for the quick replies. I'll snap pics and measure distances after my daughter goes to bed. Before that, though, how much separation between the bed and height layers should there be?

 

[NorCalRP]

NorCal!!! Hope you're livin' well, friend. Or, at least as well as we all can, considering...

I have my rears up above a close door... so yes, you can. But you said surrounds: Side Surrounds, just to be clear?

If you are setting up Atmos, the big thing is getting separation between the bed layer and the Atmos. What were you planning? Placement and Distances?

Cheers!

Doing decently well my man. My work was slow for one week, but has been full time since. I feel VERY grateful for that- I'm constantly mindful of how fortunate I am. I also get out into sunshine and fresh air all day.

I'm ok with the side surrounds being where they are at 5 ft, but I'd definitely want the rear surrounds higher than that. I'm interested in @William Lemmerhirt reasoning for going 5.3.4 instead of 7.3.2. I kind on need to make a decision and stick with it so as to not punch any unnecessary holes in the ceiling

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Hey guys, thanks for the quick replies. I'll snap pics and measure distances after my daughter goes to bed. Before that, though, how much separation between the bed and height layers should there be?

Well it depends a little bit. If using this part of the guide, it says H3(height speaker) should be between H2 times 2 or 3. So if surrounds are 4-1/2’ then heights would be between 9’ and 13-1/2’. Obviously this is a “guide” so just do whatchucando.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Doing decently well my man. My work was slow for one week, but has been full time since. I feel VERY grateful for that- I'm constantly mindful of how fortunate I am. I also get out into sunshine and fresh air all day.

I'm ok with the side surrounds being where they are at 5 ft, but I'd definitely want the rear surrounds higher than that. I'm interested in @William Lemmerhirt reasoning for going 5.3.4 instead of 7.3.2. I kind on need to make a decision and stick with it so as to not punch any unnecessary holes in the ceiling

Well I currently have 7.3.4 and have heard about every version. Having only .2 tops Ime leaves a hole above and behind the listener with much material. The rear surrounds don’t really add that much over a well set up 5ch bed so the even height layer together with the bed layer makes the “Atmosphere” whole.
It’s possible to do like you suggest and keep the rear surrounds a little higher, but I don’t think it will be as good.
I would never go back to 5ch since I don’t have any reason to, but looking back, if I HAD to choose a direction, it would be 5.x.4 over 7.x.2.

 

[NorCalRP]

Ok, first with the acknowledgements: needs room treatments, darker paint, blackout curtains, take down the framed art, thoughtful sub placement (not sure if the PC-2000's can move, but the third sub can be placed using the Geddes method- time will tell on that one), etc. The paint is going to stay the same- I pretty much never watch movies during the day. When I have time I'll build acoustic panels. Blackout curtains will be the first thing.

The room dimensions are: 11.5'w x 16'd (not including the recess in the front), and the ceiling vaults from 8' to 9.5', with the left, center & right portions covering the same distance laterally. The mains are 8" off of their adjacent walls, and are spaced to form a near equilateral triangle with the mlp (they have 3" rear ports- I know the placement isn't ideal in relation to the walls, but it satisfies the minimum distance from port to wall that Gene has mentioned). The surrounds are right at about 12' back, placed about 2' behind the seats, at 5' high.

I will eventually move the seats up closer and build a riser to get a second row couch. The second row will be a bit behind where the seats are at the moment- basically perpendicular to the surrounds. Assuming an 8"-10" riser, and an average listener's ear height of 36", the side surrounds are just about as low as they can possible be to maintain some elevation for what will be the middle seated position in the back row.

That's what I'm looking at right now. I am liking what @William Lemmerhirt is saying about 5.3.4 vs 7.3.2 as it might be better overall with an additional down of seating. What "concerns" me is that setting the front and rear heights equally from front to back would have the front firing directly above the front row and the back firing directly above the back row. I'm not sure if this is a bad thing.

Thoughts?

P.s.- I know I could probably find plenty of this info doing research, but my room layout us unique to me, AND I like dialoguing with you guys!

 

[NorCalRP]

So I ended up getting two pairs of Sonance Mariner 52s. They’re outdoor speakers but have good specs and can be surface mounted just about any way imaginable. At $100/pr from Parts Express, I’m basically astounded by the quality. The bracket will be very easy to mount on the vaulted portion of the ceiling and the speakers will pivot to fire directly downward. The elevation difference between the bed layer and height layer will be a little over 3’. I’ll throw up a pic once their up. At that price I could definitely take them out down the road in favor of good in ceilings and put them out in my back yard.