Hi all, I'm new to the GE family and I'm hoping for some advice regarding surrond speaker options. Currently my 5.2.4 system is on the left side of a wide basement and as I'm planning to upgrade to 7.2.4 I'm struggling with where to place a right surround speaker.

The left surround is easy - it will be about 11 feet away on the wall just above ear height. However, the right side is a problem. The right side wall is about 24 feet away which is twice as far as any other speaker. Since I'm running an Atmos setup I'd like as much seperation from the in-ceiling speakers as i can get. Therefore i see my options as the following:

1. mount a SS3 or SS50 on the right wall 24' away and hope it sounds decent after calibration.
2. hang a SS3 from the ceiling and angle it down towards the main listening position. I think i can hang it about 18" down without causing a hazard.
3. use HTR-7000s in ceiling for both the left and right surrounds. The left could be a maximum of 11 feet away while the right could be farther. Is 11 feet far enough away for the speakers to do thier magic and sound like they're ear level?

Note: Using a tower or a speaker on a stand on the right is not really an option given the traffic pattern of the room

Which option would you reccomend?

For reference the rest of my system is:
Triton 2 mains
SuperCenter XXL
2x SS50's for surrounds (currently in the back corners)
4x Speakercraft in-ceiling speakers for Atmos (will be replacing with 4 HTR-7000s soon)
2 large subs

Thanks

Hi bmartin5150, welcome to the GE family!!!!!
That is a great room, literally!!!!
I see your problem and wish you good success with it.
I think dropping down a speaker or putting an in-ceiling speaker would sound the best.
Probably in-ceiling would look the tidiest. How high is your ceiling?
It doesn't look too high for in-ceiling speakers.
I would definitely try to keep the distances balanced the same IF possible, as you can tweak volumes a little bit with your processor, but ears are amazing things, and will pick up reflections anyway, and locate the odd speaker location if you are not very careful.
Have fun with it, I am certain with the GEt speakers you have, it is gonna sound awesome!!!!
God Bless,
Wayne

Based on your room layout I would suggest sticking with the 5.1.4 setup you have now (Dolby would probably agree as they admit to very little benefit from going from 5 to 7). Of your options, the only one that would work is the HTR 7000 for surrounds. You would likely overdrive the speaker that's 24' away trying to match levels with the closer ones (not to mention how annoying it would be for anyone close to it) and you can't hang the SuperSat speakers in mid air, they need a wall behind them.

Thanks for the feedback. The more I've thought about my situation using the HTR-7000s is really my only good option.

If I were to go that route how far away from the main listening position should the HTR-7000s be for them to sound ear level? On the left I'm limited to about 11' while the right could go much farther. Also, if I go past 11' on the right the celing hieght drops from 8 feet to 7'2" so that will change the angles a bit.

With an 8 foot ceiling we suggest around 12' min so you're right there. The lower the ceiling the less distance-from required. We would suggest an equal distance location for both for best results.