We have an open family room that is 20 foot long and 15 foot wide with 10 foot ceilings.. We have almost all windows on the right and back side walls so in-wall speakers will not work for the surrounds. The door to the garage is on the left side of the 83" TV so the room is off-centered. The main seating is about 15 foot from the TV. We also like to sit on the floor on cushions between the TV and the couch.

I was thinking of using the HTR 7000 as the right, center and lefts. Would that work? Also, if I had the center channel below the TV would that work with the fronts right and left in the ceiling?

With the main seating area about 5 foot from the rear wall, what in-ceiling speakers would work as the surrounds and rear surrounds?
Lastly, is a 7.1 better or worse than a 5.1.2? I have read that the actual amount of Dolby effects in the movies is very limited. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Hi retired2014, When looking at the front speakers of your home theater system, using three Invisa HTR 7000 would work very well. This model produces a convincing soundstage in front of listeners. Since they play at a 30 degree angle from the ceiling, their soundstage or imaging appears to becoming from the front part of your listening room - and not so much from the ceiling. I wouldn't, however, be inclined to place a center speaker below the television - along with left and right ceiling mounted Invisa HTR 7000s. Given a choice, I'd rather have the front three speakers of your system similar in height to each other. If it's possible, you might consider using three in-wall or on-wall speakers as your front left, right and center speakers. In this case, three Invisa SPS speakers or a set of SuperSat 60s and a SuperSat 60C center speaker would be a great choice.

Next, using four surround speakers is more immersive than using two surround speakers. Depending upon the listening room, this difference may be more on the subtle side, however, using four surround speakers would still be preferred. In your listening room, four Invisa 650s or four Invisa HTR 7000s would work very well. If you went with the Invisa HTR 7000s, you could orient them so they're aimed toward the main listening position, or with the Invisa 650s, you could aim their tweeters directly toward the main listening position. Happy Listening!

I have been reading through the threads on the HTR 7000 use cases and hope I can utilize them in my planned installation. Very similar to this case, I have the below room specifics. My room is 20ft wide and 16.8ft deep with additional ceiling space to the rear into the kitchen. The ceiling height is 10ft. The plan is SPS in walls with SuperCenter Reference in between. Atmos height X 4 Invisa 650's. All good. The final piece is side and rear surrounds using 4 HTR 7000's. My concern for these is sufficient distance considering the 10ft ceiling height. Obviously with 20ft width and a 12 inch offset from the side wall my width limit is only 9ft per side. I should be OK with 12ft available in the rear. Any thoughts about the viability of the side surrounds to get an ear level sound field?

Thanks for the time.

Hi mscarp24, In your application , I would have no concerns using a pair of Invisa HTR7000s as your side surrounds. Considering these side surrounds will be mounted into a 10 ft ceiling - and spaced 18 feet apart (9 feet to the left and 9 feet to right of the main listening position), the 30 degree angle (and fairly wide dispersion pattern) of the Invisa HTR7000s should allow these speakers to aim the sound directly at the main listening position. This should work quite well. Happy Listening!