Hello,

Been a while! It's been a whirlwind of a year, but in short, I unexpectedly found myself upgrading houses, and the new house is allowing me a nicer home theater. We're in the midst of renovating it, and I wanted to run my floorplan by some folks to check for any red flags.

Will use existing equipment from my current beloved home theater (Dolby Atmos 7.3.4):

Front: 2x GoldenEar Triton Reference towers
Center: GoldenEar SuperCenter XXL (Reference now, I guess)
Surround Side/Rear: 4x GoldenEar Invisa MPX (in-wall)
Subwoofer: GoldenEar SuperSub XXL
Ceiling (height): 4x GoldenEar Invisa HTR7000 (in-ceiling)

So, I've last-minute added a 12.5"H riser for a second row of seats. Which has kind of thrown my speaker placements in disarray.

The Invisa MPX, when used as side/rear surrounds in an 7.1 configuration is recommended to be "as high as possible" - but Dolby says listener ear level. I've made them higher (sides: 59-1/8", rears: 61.5") to accommodate the second row, but should I really go up near the ceiling? Is there a keep-out zone (like the HTR7000 should be at least 12" out from any wall, and the Triton towers 8") from the ceiling, or can I go right up there?

The HTR7000 are for ATMOS, and beause of their 30 degree angle, they're really close to the MLP (at little farther out than the math would call for, since I have to avoid joists). Is this placement okay?

Are the acoustics for the second row going to be terrible? Both the side surrounds and the rear ATMOS speakers are in front of the second row.

Note: the "sofas" indicates are actually three-seat (front row) and four-seat (back row) theater seats. The image is showing them fully reclined.

Any feedback is welcome.

TIA!

Hi auz, First, this looks like an awesome home theater system. Next, when setting up the Invisa MPXs as your side and rear surrounds, I would recommend placing them 5-6 feet above the riser for the second row of seats. You've mentioned you're considering placing the rears at 59 1/8" and the sides at 61.5" above the riser, - and this would be quite acceptable. If you want to place them a bit higher (up to 72"), that would be okay as well. Some customers like to place their surrounds up even higher yet, and that's okay. The main goal of placing them even higher is to create a sense of spaciousness around the listeners, however, since the Invisa MPXs already have angled drivers, you'll hear a sense of spaciousness from them - even when they're placed a bit lower. It's not necessary to place them "up against the ceiling" in order to hear a great sense of spaciousness from them.
Next, giving a choice, I would recommend placing the in-ceiling Invisa HTR7000s a bit further away from the main listening position. Placing them 33 1/4" away from the listening position should be okay, but since they're angled at 30 degrees (from the floor), they normally work well when placed a bit further away than we might initially think. If you could place them an addition 12"-18" away from the listening position, that would be great. If not, what you've proposed would be acceptable. Happy Listening!