5.1, 7.1 or 5.1.2 with in ceiling LR surrounds

[goughy]

Now, I know in the end, whatever I'm happy with (actually, whatever my wife is happy with!!!) is the best answer.

Anyway, I ran a 3.1 system for quite a while because my wife hates having speakers on stands in the room. Eventually convinced her to let me put in ceilings up for the LR surrounds. Now after 5ish years with that we have a new avr, the Yammy V6A, and a new set of speakers, Yammy nsf160 fronts, nsp160 centre and surrounds and nssw300 sub. Very happy with the sound, but I'm not using the 2 surrounds, you know, because of "permission" issues .....

I really would like to use the extra 2 surrounds speakers in some way. Just seeing them in the cupboard seems a waste. I have quickly tried them as upfiring Atmos enabled speakers by placing them on my FLR with a wedge under to get them to about 20° and ran some Atmos demos files (with those speakers turned on and offl and I felt the sound was fuller with them on. But couldn't do that for looking as I had to get Santa and the error back on top of the FLR before "someone" woke up!
My other option is to place those two extra surrounds speakers on a shelf behind us and run a 7.1 system. I have provisionally got approval, but don't have speaker wire yet to test that.

Currently my MLP is 330cm from my CTR and FLR. My SLR are 80cm behind MLP and 250cm apart (they also have moveable tweeters). None of this will be able to change. Our ceiling is flat and 240cm high. I don't know if moving the tweeters to firing down, or away from MLP will do anything to help things.
If I go for a 7.1 system I can place the rear surrounds on a shelf 250cm behind the MLP, approx 100cm apart from each other and 150cm high.
If I go for a 5.1.2 system, I can place the surrounds on top of my FLR, set as Dolby Enabled speakers, and use a wedge to create the required angle. Currently have the wedge set to angle them at 20°, but I can adjust that easy enough.
Otherwise, I just leave well enough alone and stick with the 5.1. this is the solution my wife would be happiest with! It's a balancing act; she hated the look of speakers and would be happy just listening to the tv sound, yet wants the biggest tv we can afford! Me, I like a balance between the two.

So just wondering what you guys might think?

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I would either do 7.1 or just keep it how it is. Using the speakers on top of your mains as upfiring modules MIGHT add some fullness. But that type of speaker actually has a specific notch in the FR to help create the illusion of sound above. Pointing a plain old BS speaker in that way won’t do what you want. A front height placement might work but sounds like WAF would win there. Plus having surrounds in the ceiling does not work for Atmos either. Tough spot!
WAF sucks imo and most of us have to deal with that at some point. I have to remind my wife someday that I pay the mortgage too so she does NOT get veto power.
I would consider a new subwoofer though.

 

[goughy]

Thanks for that! Didn't realise about the fr with the speakers, bit I guess that makes sense since Dolby Virtualisation is about trucking you with frequencies. I'll give 7.1 a go and see, and just shelve the idea of Atmos.
I'm actually pretty happy with the sub, but my last set of speakers were home made, or for a while I was using some of htib speakers as they kept my wife happy. But even she admits these new ones are vastly superior to what we had! We're a low income family and I came across the speaker package at ⅓ off. In Australia, these speakers still hold reasonable prices.
Thanks for the advice!