I've read the information on Atmos but I'm still confused on what my best option is. I have the GoldenEar sound bar and sub. I'm adding surrounds and height speaker for a 5.1.2 setup.

My room is rectangular with my screen and seat on the long walls. My couch is along the back wall, with 13 feet to the screen. The long dimension of the room is then to the side of the seating area with an additional 10 feet to each side wall. My ceilings are 8 feet high.

This means I can't have speakers behind me. I could mount them on the rear wall which is only a few inches behind my ears. I could also mount the surrounds on the sides walls, with that 10 foot gap to between the wall and the seat on each side.

What is the best choice of speaker and placement for me? My best guess would be the MPXs in the side walls and 652's as Atmos height speakers in the ceiling.

Is side wall better than rear wall for the surrounds in my room?

Would I give up much by using 525's for both surround and height? I could certainly use that $1000 elsewhere in my system.

Thanks.

Surrounds need to be behind the listening area. Side walls are great, but must still be behind the listening area (and at ear level). Surround speakers in the back corners of the room on the floor pointing toward the center are also good, if that can fit/work in your space. SuperSat 3s on floor stands perhaps. Invisa 525 are fine for height speakers in a 3D Array soundbar-based system.

My room will not support behind the listening area. The best I can do is maybe a foot or two behind where the ears are.

Does that mean this isn't worth doing? My original plan was 5.1 with ceiling surrounds. Should I stick with that?

dginsburg wrote: My room will not support behind the listening area. The best I can do is maybe a foot or two behind where the ears are.

Does that mean this isn't worth doing? My original plan was 5.1 with ceiling surrounds. Should I stick with that?

Without being in the room it is hard to make suggestions, but, Atmos is a worthwhile upgrade so I wouldn't toss it out. Surrounds slightly behind the listening area is perfectly fine ... the key is behind.

Pardon my lack of art skills.

The screen is at the top of the image and the couch at the bottom with the seating positions numbered. The room is 13x25.

The red line at the top is the Soundbar and the other red lines are potential speaker locations.

To be at behind my ears, the surrounds would have to be in the corner if on the side wall. Or they could be on the rear wall, again towards the corners.

As for the Atmos speakers, should they be in line with the L/R sides of the Soundbar or outside the seating area? The Soundbar is the smaller of your two models.

Thanks for your help.

Red blotches in the back look like a good position for the surrounds. Red blotches in the middle of the room look like good locations for your height channels (they should be basically aligned with the left and right edges of the listening area, not the soundbar, as the 3D Array projects left and right channel sounds well past it's edges).