Call me confused.

Moderator Dude, help me out.

In the thread above, you have stated that the HTR 7000's are a good choice for surround, if positioned "as far away from the listening area as possible to take advantage of the geometry of the sound-field. Properly implemented, the 7000's will produce an ear-level image, as opposed to above your head." You also say,(referring to the HTR 7000's) "make sure you can position the L/R Surrounds far enough away from the listening position for the geometry to work and give you a surround image at ear level."

Then, you say elsewhere, "for the height channels.....You could use HTR 7000s ...... but they would need to be positioned a bit further to the left and right of the room, pointed toward the center." and "might also consider the 7000's for the two Atmos height channels, positioned just to the left and right of the listening area, pointing toward the center seat and slightly forward."

So I guess you are saying that the HTR 7000 is pretty versatile and can be used for both surrounds and heights when placed appropriately on the ceiling. I'm NOT trying to be critical, believe me I'd love this solution, but HUH?!

Can you provide more specifics regarding what is involved in "Proper Implementation" what distance is "far enough away from the LP for the geometry to work" for an ear level surround image. Also, what are the proper placement attributes necessary, with respect to placement, orientation of the tweeter (angle and direction) that would provide a proper Atmos height sound image.

Right now I have Triton 2's, a SCXL and a pair of SS3's for the rears. The bottom end is covered by a pair of Rythmik 15" subs. I want to add another pair of SS3's for the surrounds. I'm trying to come to terms with how (and if) the 7000"s will work as the heights given the geometry of my room. (See attached pics) I could mount them under the soffits or vertically on the face of the soffits.

Do the placement angles with respect to the MLP for the 7000's differ from the DOLBY guidelines in a significant way? Is the placement really all that critical? I want to get this right as this the last upgrade I'll be likely be doing for a long time. Placement of in wall speakers needs to be right because the cost to repair is not insignificant.

How do I go about this?

Brad

Hi Blues,

In non-atmos setup, the 650s for surround are ideal. Or any other speaker really, if properly positioned.

In atmos-setup, ideally surround speakers should be at ear height (or slightly above) (you can use pretty much any type of speaker in this position) , and the height speakers should be coming from the ceiling (should use in-ceiling speakers ideally).

In atmos, if your ceiling is lower than 8-9 feet, you should not use the 650s because of "hotspotting issue" (they would be down-firing straight down too close above your head, becoming too obvious). In such case you should use the 7000s - because the 7000s have a fixed angle of 30 degrees, this means you would have to position them further away from you/closer to the front speakers so that they point towards your head - this will eliminate hotspotting issue. You can use this triangle calculator (by inputting only the angle and the distance between your head and the ceilings) to determine how far back to place them: www.cleavebooks.co.uk/scol/calrtri.htm . If your ceiling is higher than 9 feet, then the 650s are ideal for atmos heights.

For me, my personal issue is that my surrounds and my heights had to be in-ceiling, which is not ideal. So moderator dude recommended I use 7000s for surrounds because they sound more like they are at ear-level than other speakers. And since my ceiling is very high, he recommended 650s as heights.

Thanks for the excellent clarification twinturbo11.

Blues, does that make sense/answer your concerns? You can also call the office and ask for help, you might get Sandy!

Moderator wrote: Thanks for the excellent clarification twinturbo11.

Blues, does that make sense/answer your concerns? You can also call the office and ask for help, you might get Sandy!

I learned from the best

Yes, what TwinTurbo11 said made sense. I got that from earlier threads where his placement and equipment options were discussed.

I’m trying to get a bit more specific guidance on proper speaker selection and placement with respect to my room configuration. The 650’s for heights won’t work due to the slanted 14’ high cathedral ceiling in the room. Therefore I was thinking that the 7000’s would do the trick. Your statements describing the design goals of those speakers, to project an image from above to appear to be at ear level, is at odds with wanting a height speaker producing a sound image coming from above.

You made further statements saying that the 7000’s have been used with good results if placed and oriented properly.

I’m trying to get specific guidelines regarding what that orientation needs to be. Also, should I place them on the horizontal surface on the bottom of the soffits running the perimeter of the room or would they be better on the vertical faces of the soffits, pointing into the room? Does it make a difference? Also to be taken into consideration is that they would be positioned outside the mains, by as much as 30” on the right hand side, instead of aligned with the mains as recommended by DOLBY. You have made statements that this would actually be preferred for the 7000’s. Again, do you have more specific guidelines for how much outside, how high (min and max), and where to aim for best height performance?

Please look at the pictures posted above to get a better idea of the room constraints.

I’ve got a fall back plan in which I would suspend SS3’s, but I rather use a speaker capable of going below 80hz so that I’m not right at the bottom of the crossover range. Since the surrounds and rears are already SS3’s I shouldn’t even be worrying about that.

Sorry to belabor the point. I appreciate your help and comments. Thank you for providing a forum to come to for this type of discussion.

Blues

BluesSailor wrote: The 650’s for heights won’t work due to the slanted 14’ high cathedral ceiling in the room. Therefore I was thinking that the 7000’s would do the trick. Your statements describing the design goals of those speakers, to project an image from above to appear to be at ear level, is at odds with wanting a height speaker producing a sound image coming from above.

The statements about the HTR 7000 apply to their use on a flat ceiling with appropriate height and listening distance for use as mains and/or surround rears. Using them as Atmos height channels does not employ this feature, but instead this feature allows their use in the typical ceiling height room where direct radiating speakers overhead would create small hot-spots instead of a large height-channels soundfield. Correct placement requires they be slightly outside (to left and right) of the listening area, pointed towards the center of the room. This has all been reviewed and discussed in multiple places, including all of the press and discussion regarding the use of the HTR 7000s as Atmos height channels in GoldenEar's CEDIA demo. There is absolutely nothing more to be said for your particular installation, the best approach would be to have your dealer come look at your room, in person, and suggest the best setup. Specific guidelines FOR YOUR ROOM need to be handled in person, in your space.