Have RX-V685 and new home has many in-wall speakers. Need options?

[bmninada]

Hi,
I have a working RX-V675 and a 5.1 existing Paradigm speaker setup. 2 front, 2 surround, 1 center and woofer. After moving into my new home inherited some good in-wall speakers - front 2 near ceiling and back 2 - near ceiling. In total now I have 9 speakers and 1 woofer.
My current AV I think works best if I disconnect the rear speakers and use the in-wall 2 as presence speakers. If I connect all, AV is defaulting to making the front 2 presence speakers as Zone 2 ; something I don't really need.
Is there a way I could use all the speakers with my existing receiver?
OR
Do I need maybe an amplifier to power either the inherited rear 2 or front 2?
OR
My only option is to upgrade and as my budget is tight what are my options?

 

[bmninada]

Hi. Anything you can help with? Apologies in advance for pushing.

 

[Pogre]

You have inherited 4 ceiling speakers with your new living room and want to add them to your existing 5.1 setup? Where are they located in the ceiling? Immediately my mind goes to atmos if those speakers are in the right places. I'm not sure if your current avr will do that. I might have looked it up first but you seem impatient so I replied for ya...

 

[lovinthehd]

Without looking things up, nor knowing what your in-wall speakers are, but I just had the V685 product page up and peeked at the manual....it seems limited to processing for 5.1.2 at a glance.

 

[bmninada]

You have inherited 4 ceiling speakers with your new living room and want to add them to your existing 5.1 setup? Where are they located in the ceiling? Immediately my mind goes to atmos if those speakers are in the right places. I'm not sure if your current avr will do that. I might have looked it up first but you seem impatient so I replied for ya...

Sorry man. My son is in his teens and loves good music. At his age they are surprisingly impatient. LOL
Okay so these seem to be generic wall speakers. If i am to venture a guess they seem to be Monoprice 2 drivers. They are almost at ceiling level. Just 5 in below. Hope this helps and apologies for not mentioning it as its really tough to take it out. They sound however really good, ie bright.

are any of the 3 possibilities i mentioned feasible?
Yes: it seems mine is 7.2 with 2 presence speaker option.

 

[bmninada]

Had a typo. Have RX-V675.

RX-V675 - Overview - Yamaha USA

Highly capable and versatile 7.2-channel Network AV Receiver with many high-end features including multi-zone compatibility, 4K upscaling, MHL support and AirPlay, plus exclusive Yamaha innovations such as Dialogue Lift, Dialogue Level Adjustment and YPAO R.S.C.

usa.yamaha.com

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Since it’s an older PLII receiver, I would run with 5.1 plus front presence(PLIIZ). Save up for an Atmos receiver and configure for 5.1.4, since it sounds like the IW speakers are in “height” locations(vs tops in ceiling). Then add another sub(or upgrade to two new ones) and done.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Also, you said about 5” below the ceiling. WhT is the height of the ceiling?

 

[bmninada]

9 feet

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

9 feet

Then yeah, personally I’d still do what I recommended for you.

 

[bmninada]

@William Lemmerhirt : thanks. Got it and will do. Can you suggest any reasonable AV meeting the specs?

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I’m not quite equipped atm(not home) to look but off hand, I think the denon x3600 and Marantz 6012/6013 or 6014 would do. Any remember off hand what Yamaha has.
If your ok with a refurb, a4L https://www.accessories4less.com/
Has a few. I bought a 6012 from them for my 7.3.4 system, and know many others that have had good experiences as well.

 

[bmninada]

@William Lemmerhirt this is great. I started checking and I think your option 5.1.4 / 5.2.4 is great but also see 7.1.2 / 7.2.2. Ignoring the sub-woofer capabilities i am torn between going with 7 and 2 front presence or 5 with 4 front and rear presence. Yes, if purchasing definitely will opt for Atmos.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

@William Lemmerhirt this is great. I started checking and I think your option 5.1.4 / 5.2.4 is great but also see 7.1.2 / 7.2.2. Ignoring the sub-woofer capabilities i am torn between going with 7 and 2 front presence or 5 with 4 front and rear presence. Yes, if purchasing definitely will opt for Atmos.

I can see the appeal in adding rear surrounds. But ime, having four heights/tops is better than two plus rear surround. In short, 5.1.4 will be more immersive than 7.1.2. BUT!!! If you want to spend a little more, you can add an amp to the 9ch AVR’s and have 7.1.4. This also depends on how much room you’ll have behind the LP. IMO, 5-6’ is a good range to begin. It sounds like that would be the case here. Maybe?

 

[bmninada]

BUT!!! If you want to spend a little more, you can add an amp to the 9ch AVR’s and have 7.1.4.

I did not understand this part. Please explain.

I have always trusted advise here so will "stick" to 5.1.4 instead of 7.2

I have my sofa around 1 foot sticking out from the rear wall and then on the rear wall are the 2 wall speakers. However each speaker is approx. 2 feet horizontally spread out from left/right edge of sofa but of course high up on rear wall.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I did not understand this part. Please explain.

I have always trusted advise here so will "stick" to 5.1.4 instead of 7.2

I have my sofa around 1 foot sticking out from the rear wall and then on the rear wall are the 2 wall speakers. However each speaker is approx. 2 feet horizontally spread out from left/right edge of sofa but of course high up on rear wall.

Sure! Basically, a 9ch AVR has 9 amps inside, but can process 11(7.1.4). Meaning that with the 3600/6014 you can do 5.1.4(5+4) without any external amplification. But since they’ll process 7.1.4, if you add a 2ch amp you can have 7.1.4, but not with a simple AVR.

How long is the room? If you can get the couch forward some more, you’ll be able to improve the immersion. If you stay up against the wall, this will likely make bass harder to deal with(but better than if you were dead center), and Ime having surround or height speakers close to the same vertical plane as the back of the couch makes them call attention to themselves rather than disappear. Oh yeah, what’s the width too? And is it closed off or open to other rooms?

 

[bmninada]

Dummy q: cant I do the same with my current AV? i.e. add a 2 channel Amp to power the 2 rear speakers? While my current Amp still covers 5.1.2 (2 front presence). I think it may not be possible but asking.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Dummy q: cant I do the same with my current AV? i.e. add a 2 channel Amp to power the 2 rear speakers? While my current Amp still covers 5.1.2 (2 front presence). I think it may not be possible but asking.

No, because Pro logic processing isn’t the same as Atmos. And Ime, the PLII processors won’t run rear surrounds and front heights simultaneously.
Good question.

 

[bmninada]

I checked. My length is 15’ with sofa at 0’ to TV and front+center. Either sides are just 6’ away but middle of room left folds into a big room: dining area. So i have 2 front/left, center, 2 surrounds ear level either side of sofa making it a 5.1 setup. Woofer: somewhere. I now will have the top wall 2 presence speakers making it 5.1.2. With the new AV receiver i think the best will be 5.1.4. The +2 coming from the 2 high mounted rears. That should do it.

any AV supporting natively this type of setup ie 5.1.4 or 5.2.4 is really expensive starting at +900$. Oh boy! All current 5.1/5.2 or 7.1/7.2 are decently priced but cant find any which can cover the 2 rears. I think that is why you mentioned getting a 2nd AV to power the 2 rears while using any of the decently priced 5.1/7.1 AV?

 

[bmninada]

On that thought maybe i can reuse my current AV purely as an amplifier like use its Zone 2 and keep it in Zone 2 and connect the 2 rears to it?