Hello,

I'm looking for some advice on speaker equipment and location for a home theater in a new home. As you can see from the attached files, I have an oddly shaped room in a walkout basement that i'll be setting up a home theater in. I had the builder pre-wire the room to run a projector and run the speaker wire to setup two Atmos and two surround speakers and the locations in the drawing are where the builder marked the position in the ceiling. While my preference was to have the surround on the floor, the layout of the room prevented this. So for my questions-

1) Are the dimensions of the speakers suitable? It seems to me that the surround speakers are "too close" to the future seating position. I might be forced to turn this into a 5.1.4 system and run speaker wire to some surrounds?
2) Is using the 650's for the Atmos, and the 7000's for the surround a suitable choice?
3) Should the 7000's be focused towards the listener, or point them to the back wall and reflect the surround from there?
4) For the main speakers, I was thinking about the Triton 3 or 2's (i.e. no sub). As this will be for a movie setup, is this a good choice? Or would a Triton 5/7 with sub(s) be a better fit. The total volume of the room is about 2800 ft3.

Thanks in advance!

It’s not totally clear from your diagrams where in the ceiling the speakers are placed - you may want to color them differently so they stand out. That said, if your building a new system I’d start here:

www.goldenear.com/support/atmos-systems

For home theater, I’d recommend adding at least a single sub regardless of whether you go T5/T2’s/T1’s

Hello,

I've cleaned up the 1st picture to show the speakers a bit more clearly. They are marked "SP" in the diagram and are around the couch.

Thanks

Hi

Timecop addressed your questions re main speakers (not sure what your plans are for a center channel speaker, another mainstay in a HT set up). The fronts are usually the best speakers. I'd be tempted to go for T2+'s at least.

Re your ceiling speaker layout. The 5.1.2 top middle locations are more inboard than ideal, but Invisa 650's would work in that location. Do you have any latitude in ceiling speaker location, or are they now hard wired? HTR 7000's as surrounds would not present at ear level that close to the listening positions, as an Atmos setup would normally require. Several options:
IF the speaker positions are now hard wired and not movable, I would recommend re-configuring to a 5.1.4 set up and running speaker wire to floor surrounds, with 650's or 7000's as top rears instead, in the your currently diagrammed location for surrounds, and repurposing the top middles of a 5.1.2 to top fronts in a 5.1.4..
IF you still have some latitude in ceiling speaker location, then I'd recommend moving the 5.1.2 top middles more outboard and the surround speaker locations back 8' or so (don't know your ceiling height), and using HTR 7000's as surrounds, aimed at the prime listening position, as you proposed.

No worries. We all have to deal with and plan around room realities and limitations. It's worth it! You'll love the result.

Have fun with your project!

Rick

Hey Rick,

Yes, I was thinking about getting the Supercenter XXL but wasn't sure if that was "too much" speaker considering i'm looking at the Triton 2+'s. My ceiling height in the basement is 9'.

Unfortunately, the wiring for the ceiling speakers are set. There is some extra wire, but i'd have to drill through multiple joists to get them moved to the back of the room ( and basically tear out most of the ceiling to do that). In hindsight, I should have just had them also wire to the back of the room too which i'm kicking myself. That said, I could always run some speaker wire through to conduit placed for the projector and then just run it another few feet along the ceiling to the back wall. Probably just as easy to run the speaker wire under the baseboards to the back wall.

After some more reading it seems like the more bass hungry of us always puts in additional subs on top of the T2/T1's. I guess as a start I could just go with the speakers, and then add an additional sub down the road too.

Thanks Rick

Hi again

Re center speakers, any of the the SuperCenters would be a good match with T2+'s if that's the route you take. The XXL wouldn't be "too much" with them, IMHO. With it's balanced crossover similar to the new T2+'s and the two extra bass drivers, it would be a great match for maximum clarity, and give some some added bass heft. Just my opinion. I've heard all the SuperCenter series.Great speakers.

Sounds like you have several good options to run additional speaker wire to surrounds. I think you'll really love a 5.1.4 set-up!

And as you say, you can start with the speakers you are thinking about and make a decision later if you want to add more bass via a sub.

Have fun!

Rick