Rear speaker placement (again?)

[givita_burl]

Finally getting to the stage of planning the layout for a new home theatre. It's not a dedicated room, so there are compromises.

 

I can go 5.1.4 and keep to most of the guidelines. The surround speakers will be slightly in front of the listening position but they can be installed at correct ear height (and I am OK with that if need be). What I am considering is adding two rear speakers but the drawback is that they will need to be mounted at near ceiling height. Will this impair the surround envelop as side and rear speakers will be at different heights? And, will having rears so high impair the layering required for ATMOS?

[Quark]

4 hours ago, givita_burl said:

Finally getting to the stage of planning the layout for a new home theatre. It's not a dedicated room, so there are compromises.

 

I can go 5.1.4 and keep to most of the guidelines. The surround speakers will be slightly in front of the listening position but they can be installed at correct ear height (and I am OK with that if need be). What I am considering is adding two rear speakers but the drawback is that they will need to be mounted at near ceiling height. Will this impair the surround envelop as side and rear speakers will be at different heights? And, will having rears so high impair the layering required for ATMOS?

It will be OK if you're able to keep the two rear overhead Atmos speakers well forward of your rear surround speakers.

[Guest niterida]

16 hours ago, givita_burl said:

Finally getting to the stage of planning the layout for a new home theatre. It's not a dedicated room, so there are compromises.

 

I can go 5.1.4 and keep to most of the guidelines. The surround speakers will be slightly in front of the listening position but they can be installed at correct ear height (and I am OK with that if need be). What I am considering is adding two rear speakers but the drawback is that they will need to be mounted at near ceiling height. Will this impair the surround envelop as side and rear speakers will be at different heights? And, will having rears so high impair the layering required for ATMOS?

Surrounds need to be behind you in a 5.1 layout. If they must go in front then you really need Rear Surrounds otherwise you (obviously) won't have any sounds coming from behind you.

In an Atmos setup your rear surrounds need to be at (or slightly above) ear level. If your only option for rear surrounds is to mount them at or near ceiling height then they will affect your Atmos effects.

If you cannot mount rear surrounds any lower and you cannot mount surrounds any further back then you will have a very compromised setup so you have to decide which compromises you can live with.

Personally I would set it up initially as a 5.1.4 setup with the surrounds as far back as possible. Your rear Atmos heights may be enough to fill your rear soundfield to your satisfaction. 

[givita_burl]

22 hours ago, Quark said:

It will be OK if you're able to keep the two rear overhead Atmos speakers well forward of your rear surround speakers.

Ah, that's the trick. The placement of overhead speakers should be OK according to Dolby guidance but the room is not large and the rear surrounds would only be 1.5m, maybe 2m if lucky, further back from the rear overheads.

[givita_burl]

10 hours ago, niterida said:

Surrounds need to be behind you in a 5.1 layout. If they must go in front then you really need Rear Surrounds otherwise you (obviously) won't have any sounds coming from behind you.

In an Atmos setup your rear surrounds need to be at (or slightly above) ear level. If your only option for rear surrounds is to mount them at or near ceiling height then they will affect your Atmos effects.

If you cannot mount rear surrounds any lower and you cannot mount surrounds any further back then you will have a very compromised setup so you have to decide which compromises you can live with.

Personally I would set it up initially as a 5.1.4 setup with the surrounds as far back as possible. Your rear Atmos heights may be enough to fill your rear soundfield to your satisfaction. 

The surrounds are only just in front, maybe at 85 degrees or even slightly closer to 90 degrees, hence I am reasonably comfortable this would work. It would be better with rear surrounds, but that may not be an achievable compromise.

I could start with 5.1.4, though I am looking at in-walls for the surrounds so trying to make an educated guess if they will work, as some wiring will be needed. Of course I could pre-wire and not proceed if I end up satisfied with 5.1.4, but there is wasted time and expense.

[betty boop]

1 hour ago, givita_burl said:

The surrounds are only just in front, maybe at 85 degrees or even slightly closer to 90 degrees, hence I am reasonably comfortable this would work. It would be better with rear surrounds, but that may not be an achievable compromise.

85-90 degrees is really the side surround location for a 7.1 setup....

 

1 hour ago, givita_burl said:

I could start with 5.1.4, though I am looking at in-walls for the surrounds so trying to make an educated guess if they will work, as some wiring will be needed. Of course I could pre-wire and not proceed if I end up satisfied with 5.1.4, but there is wasted time and expense.

if can end up with the rears in wall and the right height that would work great ! and definitely go with the in ceilings as thinking for a 7.1.4

 

if can't get some some differential between rears and rear heights probably;y going to compromise things. not seeing photos or plans hard to say .... 

[givita_burl]

6 minutes ago, betty boop said:

85-90 degrees is really the side surround location for a 7.1 setup....

 

if can end up with the rears in wall and the right height that would work great ! and definitely go with the in ceilings as thinking for a 7.1.4

 

if can't get some some differential between rears and rear heights probably;y going to compromise things. not seeing photos or plans hard to say .... 

I'll see if I can draw something up.

The limiting factor is that the rear wall has to accommodate wall units that are 1.9m and 2.05m tall and a doorway, leaving no wall space other than above them. If that places the IW speakers so high that they interfere with Atmos layering too much, and having the rear overhead speaker only 1.5m in front of them does not allow enough differential to compensate, then 5.1.4 becomes the fallback. If that won't work because the surrounds can only be at 85-90 degrees, a least desirable compromise can perhaps be put into play, which is to use bookshelf speakers. This would have domestic challenges.