7.1 Speaker Set-Up Question.

[Powertrader]

New Member to the Forum. Have enjoyed weeks of lurking now it's time to participate!

I currently have a 5.1 set-up. Want to upgrade to 7.1. I currently have Polk Di-Pole/Bi-Pole surrounds mounted behind my listening position (couch is against wall and no wall on left side of basement). I have a drop ceiling that is only 7.5 feet high (dry wall panels). I visited a local high-end HT store and was given this suggestion:

I should mount my Di-Pole/Bi-Pole surrounds on the ceiling firing forward and backward slightly infront of listening position and put two Paradigm OW-Mini Monitors were my surrounds are currently positioned for the center surrounds.

My question is does this sound reasonable? Has anyone done this before? I am afraid there will not be much seperation and will not be worth the extra effort and $. Speaker stands are out of the question on the sides because of my big dog and space limitations. Also can you use Di-Pole/Bi-Pole speakers as center rears?

Thanks in advance for any responces or comments.

 

[Karp]

If your couch is against the wall, I would not consider going 7.1 If you can move your couch forward several feet it would be do-able

 

[Powertrader]

Speaker Placement

What do you think of the ceiling mount with the di-pole/bi-poles?

 

[sjdgpt]

What do you think of the ceiling mount with the di-pole/bi-poles?

Sounds like too much speaker for too small of room. (too many speakers)

From everything that I have read/been told, it is more important to "do" a 5.1 system well than it is to "do" a 7.1 system poorly. And 7.1 really needs some space to the rear of your seating location to spread the sound, rather than pin pointing the sound (hence the desire for dipole/bipole speakers).

Another way to look at the problem.... the side speakers and rear speakers will be concentrated (rear and side walls). This means the ambience sounds will be concentrated rather than spread over a wide area.

Is mounting the speakers on the ceiling possible? Sure, if you can find some way to mount those heavy guys on the ceiling.

 

[Powertrader]

7.1 set-up

Sounds like too much speaker for too small of room. (too many speakers).

I think you are right. I am going to wait until I have a larger area to work with. Thank you for your comments.