New house, looking to upgrade

[Warpz]

I hope this is the best place to ask for some speaker advice. I recently moved and have some room to upgrade.

My existing setup is almost 6 years old now, but, it is still sounding good. However, I am looking at adding 2 speakers to go to 7.1. Here is what I have now:

2 RF-82II Towers
1 RC-62 II Center
2 RS-52II Surrounds (side/rear surrounds, mounted on wall)
1 SW-310 Subwoofer
Sony STR 1080

This is setup in my new house now, in the basement. It is a large den area with an open floor plan. So, there is no back wall in the TV area.

To plan for this, I had the electrician wire 2 on-ceiling plates where my new rear surrounds would go. The idea was to ceiling mount 2 speakers behind my couch and angle them toward the seating area. Planning more ahead, I also had him run 4 in-ceiling wires for a future atmos expansion (mounted in-ceiling).

So, my first question is.. did I make a misktake and should I have in-ceiling mounted my rear surrounds? Or are there some good on-ceiling rear surround speaker recommendations? It looks like a pair of rp-240d would fit nicely.. not sure if they compliment the rest though. Budget wise, I was trying to stay under $700 for the pair.

2nd, what are your recommendations for 4 in-ceiling atmos speakers in this setup? I know I will need to upgrade my receiver and/or add an amp.

3rd, only 1 sub right now. Worth adding a 2nd or upgrading my current one?

Open to all feedback.

Thanks!

 

[shadyJ]

For Atmos, you just want to stay as close to the speaker placement guidelines outlined in the Dolby Home Atmos Installation Guide as possible. For the model speaker, you might as well just go with a Klipsch in-ceiling speaker, there are many to choose from. As for the subwoofer, your existing sub is pretty meh, I would replace it with something better.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

If your going for atmos, don’t put any bed layer speakers in the ceiling. Atmos works by using the height difference between the bed layer and height/top layer. I would recommend you do 5.x.4 over 7.x.2.(not sure what your AVR supports) Since there are basically 6 pairs of wires in the ceiling, use the ones that are closest to the 45° fore and aft of the LP. That’s easy to calculate. Measure the height from your ears to the ceiling, and install the top speakers at that length in front of and behind the LP.
I used RSL c34e’s and they’re 125 dollars each, but you can definitely use less, or more expensive ones.
And absolutely upgrade the sub. Look at HSU, Rythmik, SVS, and monolith to start.
Btw, what are the actual dimensions? HxWxL.

 

[Warpz]

If your going for atmos, don’t put any bed layer speakers in the ceiling. Atmos works by using the height difference between the bed layer and height/top layer. I would recommend you do 5.x.4 over 7.x.2.(not sure what your AVR supports) Since there are basically 6 pairs of wires in the ceiling, use the ones that are closest to the 45° fore and aft of the LP. That’s easy to calculate. Measure the height from your ears to the ceiling, and install the top speakers at that length in front of and behind the LP.
I used RSL c34e’s and they’re 125 dollars each, but you can definitely use less, or more expensive ones.
And absolutely upgrade the sub. Look at HSU, Rythmik, SVS, and monolith to start.
Btw, what are the actual dimensions? HxWxL.

Thanks for the quick replies already.

The space is 18ft x 18ft with 9ft ceilings. Right now, I have my main LP at about 15ft or so. From there I mounted the 2 side surrounds near ear level on the wall.

For new speakers, I have 2 ceiling mounted connections each with a gang box and plate. Those 2 are behind the LP. I then have 4 wires routed to form a rectangle around the LP to use as atmos. These sit inside the rear/side surrounds. I tried to use one of the Dolby layout guides.

I would like to find an on-ceiling speaker for the 2 rear, so I dont have to re-do those spots and rip out the boxes.. unless I absolutely need to.

Anyways, hope that helps with feedback.

Thanks!

 

[2channel lover]

Thanks for the quick replies already.

The space is 18ft x 18ft with 9ft ceilings. Right now, I have my main LP at about 15ft or so. From there I mounted the 2 side surrounds near ear level on the wall.

For new speakers, I have 2 ceiling mounted connections each with a gang box and plate. Those 2 are behind the LP. I then have 4 wires routed to form a rectangle around the LP to use as atmos. These sit inside the rear/side surrounds. I tried to use one of the Dolby layout guides.

I would like to find an on-ceiling speaker for the 2 rear, so I dont have to re-do those spots and rip out the boxes.. unless I absolutely need to.

Anyways, hope that helps with feedback.

Thanks!

Congrats on the new place.

Being in the basement now, this sounds almost like a dedicated HT space. I guess the seating worked out better to have the main LP 15' from the TV wall. Are the side surrounds even with the main LP or are they slightly behind?

From your description, it sounds like you only have 3' behind the LP....if so, I don't know if you will benefit much from rear surrounds. Secondly...if you're a disc guy, there are 7.1 titles out there if you're willing to look for them. If you plan on streaming most of your movie content, be aware that most content available via Netflix and Amazon Prime streaming is 5.1....maybe someone is streaming 7.1 content but from my experience it's not much.

Having watched my good friend go through a very similar thing (ironically he has Klipsch speakers too) he had plenty of room for rear surrounds so we put them in, but they stream most of their movie content. I advised him to scrap the rear surrounds and focus on upgrading his sub. He chose the 7.1 and I think he said they have bought maybe four or five 7.1 movies.

Since you have the wiring run for all surrounds, I would table the rear surround purchase until I got the subs upgraded. With Klipsch having multiple in ceiling options you can stay with them for your Atmos, but the basic 8" should be fine. My in ceiling Atmos are bottom rung Polks and they're more than sufficient.

 

[Warpz]

Congrats on the new place.

Being in the basement now, this sounds almost like a dedicated HT space. I guess the seating worked out better to have the main LP 15' from the TV wall. Are the side surrounds even with the main LP or are they slightly behind?

From your description, it sounds like you only have 3' behind the LP....if so, I don't know if you will benefit much from rear surrounds. Secondly...if you're a disc guy, there are 7.1 titles out there if you're willing to look for them. If you plan on streaming most of your movie content, be aware that most content available via Netflix and Amazon Prime streaming is 5.1....maybe someone is streaming 7.1 content but from my experience it's not much.

Having watched my good friend go through a very similar thing (ironically he has Klipsch speakers too) he had plenty of room for rear surrounds so we put them in, but they stream most of their movie content. I advised him to scrap the rear surrounds and focus on upgrading his sub. He chose the 7.1 and I think he said they have bought maybe four or five 7.1 movies.

Since you have the wiring run for all surrounds, I would table the rear surround purchase until I got the subs upgraded. With Klipsch having multiple in ceiling options you can stay with them for your Atmos, but the basic 8" should be fine. My in ceiling Atmos are bottom rung Polks and they're more than sufficient.

Great advice, this helps.

We stream everything, so the 5.1 limitation is good to know. I also enjoy gaming in this area when I find time. I use both a ps4 pro and xbox one x. I was thinking the 7.1 would benefit games, maybe that is not the case.

Regardless, it sounds like subs should be my priority.

Thanks.

 

[2channel lover]

Great advice, this helps.

We stream everything, so the 5.1 limitation is good to know. I also enjoy gaming in this area when I find time. I use both a ps4 pro and xbox one x. I was thinking the 7.1 would benefit games, maybe that is not the case.

Regardless, it sounds like subs should be my priority.

Thanks.

I don't know much about gaming or gaming audio, but my son is a gamer and he upgraded his computer audio system for a better gaming experience, but not sure whether his games can take advantage of 7.1 surround.

I'm facing very much the same situation in my space...I only have 5' from the back wall to the main LP...with my side surrounds slightly behind I didn't have enough room to justify rear surrounds. After getting the system all set up I was eager to try some Atmos movies so I bought a few, but we stream pretty most of the TV content as well so I'm kinda glad that I stopped short of 7.1...I'm mostly a music guy anyway.