Hi all,

I’m working on my first Atmos setup and need some advice. I currently have Triton 7s and SuperCenter XL in the front, and SuperSat 3s in the back. I have small Polk Audio speakers on the ceiling as surrounds. Those were installed when I bought the house.

I’m wondering what would be ideal for the Atmos speakers. I can put ceiling speakers in the rear, but probably not in the front, due to duct work in the way.

My rear ceiling height is 7.5’ and my front ceiling height is 8.8’. If I mount SS3Cs on the front wall, they would be 11 feet from main listening position and just a foot in front of the front side speakers.

Existing rear ceiling speakers, previously used before mounting SS3s on the wall, are 9 feet from main listening position. This is where the Atmos rears would go.

If I forced a way to get ceiling speakers for the front, they could be 9 feet away, same distance as rear Atmos.

My questions:
1. Would it be ok to have ceiling speakers for rear Atmos and SuperSat 3c for the fronts? Or should I really try to get ceiling speakers to work for the fronts?

2. How critical is it that all 4 are the same distance from main listening position?

2. Based on the rear positioning above, would HTR 7000s or Invisa 650s be best?

Thanks in advance! Please let me know if I left out helpful details.

hi wesg92

Yup, every room is different and requires some adjusting to configure a setup that will work, and sound great. And I suspect we all have to make some adjustments and accomodations. My ceiling Invisa speakers had to be placed to avoid ceiling joists, HVAC ducts, roof heights too low above ceiling to allow installation. My surrounds are placed a compromise from side surrounds, outboard like side surrounds, but further back like rear surrounds, and you know what, it all sounds amazing, a full, rich, sound envelope!

Yes some choices for speaker type best suited for the compromise positions make sense.Looking at your options, and distances from the listening position, I think Invisa 650's may be a good choice for the rear heights, the HTR 7000's might project closer to ear level than as heights. For the front heights, my inclination would be ceiling 650's at 9' away, though ceiling SS3's at 11' could be made to work also. Front and rear heights don't have to be exactly the same distance away from the listening position. You can adjust gains and distances in the receiver to compensate.

Just my thoughts. Moderator, with lots of setup experience, I'm sure can offer more, thoughts and probably more options.

Happy listening, and go for it!

Rick

Thanks for the input! This is helpful. I also called Goldenear today and talked a bit about my setup, which was very helpful as well.

I’m leaning toward the 650s, but trying to understand exactly where to place them for best performance. On the call today, I was told about 2 feet from the main listening position is best. However, that will put them at 5 degrees below the minimum recommended angle that Dolby suggests. I really like where this would put them in my room, but should I be concerned that they would actually be too close?

The difference between 30 and 45 degrees from MLP is only 2 feet, so I’m trying to gauge just how accurate and important their placement is.

Any additional thoughts on this aspect would be appreciated. Thanks!

If you're talking 650's, 2-3' in front or back is an ideal spot for tops if you can locate them there. My top fronts, HTR 7000's, are about 3' in front, and my top rears, 525's, are 2' in back. That is not too close for either. And with the 650's, you can angle and aim the tweeter some to fine tune for the listening position.

Are you now considering placing the top rears 2' back rather than using the existing speaker holes 9' back? That would be ideal! Though the 9' back position could be made to work, as you can use speaker setup in the receiver to adjust gains and distances.

I realize I should clarify the distance measurement.

The current rear position is 9.5’ away on the diagonal (straight line to speaker) and 5’ back from the main listening position.

If I cut new holes, I can put them about 30” back, which puts them about 7.5’ away on the diagonal.

Front is open so I can do whatever there to match where the rears are.

This would put them at 30 degrees, which is below the minimum 35 degree in the Dolby specs.

Thanks again for your input!

Have fun with your project!

Happy listening, you'll love the full, enveloping sound!

Rick