7.1 Rear Speaker Placement

[Marbury021]

I am in the process of setting up a theatre room with a 7.1 surround sound system. I will be using Paradigm speakers throughout, but am having a problem with the rears.

Behind where I sit is a closet, which prevents me from mounting the two rears on the wall (and at the same height as the other two surrounds). I had the idea to place these two in the ceiling, firing down.

First, how much will doing this affect the overall sound? I am slightly concerned about doing it this way, as these are the only two speakers that will be in the ceiling.

Second, will it make much of a difference that the two rears are different speakers than the other two surrounds (in ceiling as opposed to the di-poles)?

I appreciate your comments and feedback in advance.

 

[Johnd]

A lot. I would suggest placing them on stands if you cannot wall mount them. Cheers.

 

[AVRat]

I OTOH have no problem with using in-ceilings. Manufactures design their product lines to work with each other. While important, the surrounds don't need to be totally in sync since they are not continually in use. This is a very subjective issue.

 

[Phantomguy]

In wall/Ceiling Placement for 7.1 for multi-row/suround & rears

I have problems deciding where to place surrounds & rears for multi row seating. I have 13' wide x 22' long x 8' high room with 3 rows of seating (2 rows of 2 seat/wedge units and 1 back row of 3 seater - hard against back/brick wall). Will be using Yamaha RX-V2600 7.1 with Presence option and System A will be all in-wall/ceiling Jensen EHT 6ohm speakers, as follows for Zone 1ÒNLY -

FL and FR = 1 pr EHT8 (8" x 2way x 130w, swivel tweeters) - WALL Mount
Centre = I pr EHT6 (6.5 x 2 way x 110w, swivel tweeters) - needing impedence compensation device I think (???) - WALL Mount
Presence L and R = 1 pr EHT4 (6.5" x 2 way x 110w, angled Woofer, swivel tweeters) - WALL mounted
Surround L and R = 1 or 2pr or 3pr (not sure???) EHT4 (6.5" x 2 way x 110w, angled Woofer, swivel tweeters) WALL or CEILING mount (not sure???)
Rear L + R = 1pr or 2pr (not sure????) EHT4 (6.5" x 2 way x 110w, angled Woofer, swivel tweeters) WALL or CEILING mount (not sure???)

(System B is my old pr of Sansui SP2500 (circa 1970) for stereo listening and which I am presently reworking crossovers etc basd on modern day techo info )

OK ...so when 7.1 is source I want each seating to benefit for 7 channels .. ditto for 5.1.

So my Questitons -
1. To achieve 90 -110 degree angle of surrounds could I use 2 or 3 pr parallel EHT4s (with suitable Imp Comp Device back to 6ohm) alligned with Row 1 and 2 (and maybe 3)? Would I be best to ceiling mount or wall (about 7' ht) bearing in mind the woofers are made 30 degree angled and tweeters swivel)?

2. For Rear Surronds, given that they should be roughly in line with FL and FR but at same height as (side) Surrounds, and as there is no space behind Row
should I mount them in the ceiling OR rear back wall?

3. And should I use 2pr in parallel again - 1 pr radiating towards the 3rd row (straight down) and the other pr radiating towards the 1st and 2nd rows? If two pr would be best, should I ceiling mount both - 1 pr EHT2 (straight woofer) above Row3 and 1 pr as EHT4 (angled woofer) immediately in front of EHT2s but their angles firing towards the backs of Row 1 and 2?

4. If 2pr and ceiling mounting (as I asked in Q3) would I best best just to have 2pr (not 3pr) of (side) Surrounds at 90-110 degrees to Rows 1 and 2, so that from the Row 3 perspective, there would still be about 40 -50 degrees separation between the Row 2 (side) surrounds (nearest ones) and the (ovehead) Rear Surrounds?

Any help here please? Ddoes anyone have expeience or know where I can get reliable info on where to place surrounds and rear surrounds in my situation. Surely I cant have been the first to encounter this 7.1/3 rows/hard-back-to-wall-row3 problem?
Thx