I've been working on putting a media room together in the lower level of our home over the past few months. The room is outfit with a 7.2.4 speaker layout with the following GoldenEar speakers.

• Front L/R: Triton 1s
• Center: SuperCenter XXL
• Surrounds: SuperSat 3s
• Rear Surrounds: Triton 5s
• Ceiling: Invisa HTR 7000s

I'm using the Marantz 8802a as my processor with an Outlaw Audio 7700 powering the 7 ear level channels and an Emotiva Gen 3 powering the 4 HTR 7000s.

Overall, I'm incredibly happy with the sound quality I'm getting out of the GoldenEar speakers. Although I'm using a quite a few different GoldenEar speaker models, sounds pan seamlessly throughout the room. I had hoped to use Invisa MPX for my surrounds but due to a lack of room in the walls (1 of the outside walls was framed with 2x2's) I went with the SuperSat 3's. I needed something with a low profile so that people wouldn't bump into them when walking to the couch. They hold their own well with the Triton towers flanking them and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them as surrounds.

The HTR 7000 speakers surprised me the most. As ceiling speakers in an Atmos set up they don't get used as frequently as the front sound stage (L/C/R) and when they are being used it's typically not by themselves. This makes it hard to gauge exactly how good their sound is. While setting the room up and fine tuning their toe in I hooked them up as main L/R channels and played some high-res audio off a blu-ray. HOLY WOW! They have a big soundstage and image beautifully, I was pretty floored. When functioning as Atmos speakers I have one minor "complaint" in that due to their design, they have a very diffuse sound and as such create a less dramatic "coming from above" effect than what I imagine standard down firing speakers provide. While listening to them in stereo I they sounded further down (and forward) than what I had imagined they would sound. The HTR 7000s do offset this downside by virtually eliminating hotspots which is nice for anyone not sitting front and center. Sandy recommends toeing the speakers in towards the main listening position and I found doing this moved the sound down into the room lower than I liked, I found that decreasing how far they are toed in helped move the sound up a hair. Sandy also recommends they be placed 2' in front and behind the MLP for Atmos, I have mine a little closer to 3' (due to ceiling joists). I had the speaker grills painted by an auto body repair shop the same color as my ceiling so they blend in nicely.

I would like to try out some downfiring Invisa speakers like the 650s, however they are smaller than the 7000s so I would have to augment the existing holes a bit. Anyone have experience with the 7000s and 650s as Atmos speakers? If so I'd love to hear your thoughts comparing the two.

Due to a lack of furniture the room was a big echo chamber so I installed acoustic panels and bass traps to treat the room. I'm not a sound engineer and I do not have any before or after measurements I can share. What I can say is that, short of my initial upgrade to GoldenEar speakers, nothing I've done comes close to improving the overall sound quality more than what treating the room did. It's a real world improvement that you can hear instantly. Imaging and sound clarity were improved dramatically. I went with Acoustical Solutions Alpha Absorb 5' x 4' 2" for my panels, they have a lot of fabric choices available and the panels are a cinch to install (rotofast anchors). The bass traps come in a box of 8 2' traps (or 4 4' traps). I was able to treat the front two corners floor to ceiling however I only had enough to do 4' on one back corner (other back corner is open to a stairwell). The bass traps are installed with heavy duty velcro (Acoustic Solutions recommends water based panel glue but I wanted to be able to remove these). The front panels were installed to treat first reflections for all three front speakers. The rear panels were installed in the only place they could be with a 5th panel on the back wall.

There's still work to be done. I plan to install an LED light strip behind the crown molding that will be controlled with an Amazon Echo. Our futon couch needs a major upgrade, perhaps a row of 4 power reclining theatre seats? I may also look at replacing my Marantz processor. Audyssey does not play nicely with my set up (I have to use -12db attenuated XLR cables just to get useable trim levels) and the Triton 1 bass isn't as tight as I'd like it. I've heard what the Triton 1's can do at my dealer (hooked up to an Anthem AVR) and my T1s are a bit too "rumbly" for my tastes. I may give the Anthem AVM 60 a try so I can see what Anthem ARC can do vs Audyssey.

Some pics of the room...

Some more pictures...

Hi, jcbudny

First, that's a gorgeous set-up you have created! Great gear and great arrangement!

Regarding HTR 7000's as height speakers (I also agree with your "HOLY WOW" comment on how they sound), I have HTR 7000's as top fronts, Invisa 525's as top rears (long story on how that came to be). Both my top fronts and top rears are 2' in front or back of the PLP. I have the 7000's more outboard, similar to how your's look in the pic's. I do NOT get any sense of the sound being too low from the 7000's. Maybe that extra foot makes some difference? When I stand well to the side, 5' outside the normal listening zone, then the 7000's sound can seem more ear level, but not in any of the listening positions. I agree with you that for folks sitting to the right or left, 7000's minimize hot spots.I have the 7000's toed in exactly at the PLP.

RE 7000's vs. 650's as height speakers, I can only speak to 7000's vs. 525's. While I love my 525's, the 525's and 650's don't have as sophisticated crossovers as the 7000's. I just love hearing speakers with the newer crossover technologies (T1, SCXXL, 7000's) in front of me. The 7000's as top fronts just seem to perfectly "join with" the T1's sound stage and bring it further into the room. I used an SPL meter to adjust SL's from each channel, then used my ears to make further adjustments so that I could sense the effect from each channel, including the heights. If you haven's done that yet, it may be worth spending some time adjusting height channel gain up some to see if that improves the "coming from above" effect you're looking for. I just re listened to "Everest" in ATMOS after all the adjustments. The storm was EVERYWHERE around me. IF at some point you decide to install 650's instead, there isn't a bad speaker in the whole GEt catalog! But I'd recommend some time invested playing around with height channel gain, and speaker toe-in first. As you already know, those 7000's are HOLY WOW good!

Happy listening!

Rick

rjohn79395 wrote: Hi, jcbudny

First, that's a gorgeous set-up you have created! Great gear and great arrangement!

Regarding HTR 7000's as height speakers (I also agree with your "HOLY WOW" comment on how they sound), I have HTR 7000's as top fronts, Invisa 525's as top rears (long story on how that came to be). Both my top fronts and top rears are 2' in front or back of the PLP. I have the 7000's more outboard, similar to how your's look in the pic's. I do NOT get any sense of the sound being too low from the 7000's. Maybe that extra foot makes some difference? When I stand well to the side, 5' outside the normal listening zone, then the 7000's sound can seem more ear level, but not in any of the listening positions. I agree with you that for folks sitting to the right or left, 7000's minimize hot spots.I have the 7000's toed in exactly at the PLP.

RE 7000's vs. 650's as height speakers, I can only speak to 7000's vs. 525's. While I love my 525's, the 525's and 650's don't have as sophisticated crossovers as the 7000's. I just love hearing speakers with the newer crossover technologies (T1, SCXXL, 7000's) in front of me. The 7000's as top fronts just seem to perfectly "join with" the T1's sound stage and bring it further into the room. I used an SPL meter to adjust SL's from each channel, then used my ears to make further adjustments so that I could sense the effect from each channel, including the heights. If you haven's done that yet, it may be worth spending some time adjusting height channel gain up some to see if that improves the "coming from above" effect you're looking for. I just re listened to "Everest" in ATMOS after all the adjustments. The storm was EVERYWHERE around me. IF at some point you decide to install 650's instead, there isn't a bad speaker in the whole GEt catalog! But I'd recommend some time invested playing around with height channel gain, and speaker toe-in first. As you already know, those 7000's are HOLY WOW good!

Happy listening!

Rick

Rick,

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I think you hit the nail on the head and I need to spend more time with the room getting it dialed in. Don't get me wrong, the room sounds AMAZING, I am just chasing that last 5% so to speak.

I just finished things up about a week ago with the acoustic panels. I do have an SPL meter but no disc with test tones for the ceiling channels. I'd like to set their levels outside of the AVR test tones so that Audyssey is accounted for in the levels (the 8802a test tones don't account for anything that Audyssey filters might be doing). I believe the latest Atmos demo disc has test tones so perhaps I'll see if I can find one of those somewhere. I was told the demo disc also has a helicopter demo that does a great job of showcasing the ceiling channels so having something like that to listen to when making changes would also help immensely. I was using Batman vs Superman while making changes and there's often so much sound going on in all 11 channels it's hard to tell if changes are making much of a difference.

I appreciate your insight!
Cheers,
John

jcbudny, I consider this thread somewhat of a continuation of your New Triton Ones!!! thread, but opted to post a reply here as opposed to that one.

One thing that has always puzzled me with acoustic panels and/or "room treatments" is how to definitively know if an "improvement" is truly realized as opposed to merely a "perceived change". As you mention there was an echo, that could be obvious; it's there or not. But given that you're also stating you're not a sound engineer (nor am I mind you), I've often wondered how to objectively know whether other perceived sound changes should or should not be welcomed. If subjective, fine. I'm looking for an objective way. I understand metering could be used, but I believe reliable and accurate ones are rather expensive.

Opinions welcome as I know there are others on this forum that have room treatments, and as I mentioned in your other post this is something on my radar. In my case I have a good ear and have listened to many configurations (other peoples systems) so I use that as baseline.

Jcbudny,

That is a beautiful setup! I assume your gear is behind the door by your stairwell? Great job on the installation! I can definitely see GET posting this one on their Facebook page. Great choice on demo discs. The Dave Mathews and Tim Reynolds Live at Radio City Music Hall is fantastic.

I think a comfortable couch and some blue LEDs is the crown molding will really polish things off. That screen is really awesome! I went with the whole blue and black theme to cut down on ambient light and match my gear. Do you have any issues with light levels in your room?

I can't really add much on the Atmos discussion. I haven't gotten that far yet with my theater. That may be next now that I have my 2-channel setup finely tuned. I'm also craving a new sub for even lower and more powerful LFE. I can say that the Anthem AVM 60 is a great surround processor. I REALLY like the ARC 2 software!!! It is great to be able to see the graphs of room response before and after making any changes. ARC shows you exactly what it is doing and how well it is able to correct things. You also have a fair amount of user control on the process. The resulting sound, IMO, is also much better than with Audessey. I had XT32 on my Integrated AVR prior to the Anthem and I always left Audessey off after upgrading to my GET speakers.

I see from your profile that you are a fellow cheese head. Where are you located? University Audio in Madison has the AVM60 in house with a GET surround system that you could demo to hear the results. By now, they may even have ARC hooked up so you could play with it a bit. Steve and Ben are great to work with and are very patient! I can't say enough about their customer service!

Thanks for sharing your pictures. Your room is way ahead of my work in progress but we share some similarities. I'll post my acoustic treatment arrangement back on the other thread this weekend. It's good to have another positive testimony on the HTR 7000s and Atmos in general. Hopefully you'll post some new pics when the LEDs and new couch are in place.

Cheers,

T Cobe