Ceiling Speakers for 5.1 Setup

[SeanyD]

After some advice from PH home cinema lovers

Our front room is no longer to be considered a Dolby Laboratory, therefore having a luxury full size Denon 5.1 speaker setup is not an option, I therefore have to make a compromise with speaker setup, and am considering moving it all into the ceiling.

Has anyone installed a 5.1 setup using ceiling speakers? I'm considering installing the centre speaker directly above the television, the front L & R about 4 feet either side, and the rear L & R about 10 feet back, just behind our main sofa. I also have a decent sub which will remain hidden behind the sofa.

I appreciate the dedicated audiophiles will probably loose sleep over this, as its not the ideal setup, but needs must.

Has anyone done similar, and are the results an adequate compromise for practicality.

Any advice much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[rex]

I have just installed a ceiling speaker set up using triad bronze in ceiling speakers. They sit flush in the ceiling but the drive units angle 45 deg towards the listener so they sound as if coming from the screen. Works very well but had to up the centre speaker by 3db compared to the left and right to really fix the dialogue to the screen.

I also put some high/wide fronts in the wall as high as possible and they do sound slightly higher than the ceiling speakers so overall I could recommend the triads. Wonderful warm but accurate sound. Purchased them off eBay over the past year or 2 as they don't come up very often.

[anonymous-user]

Just having this fitted in my house as we speak. I'll let you know in a couple of weeks how it is.

[Trustmeimadoctor]

you could always do in wall speakers

[SeanyD]

In wall speakers would be difficult due to room/window layout and wall materials, so ceiling is preferred.

[oola]

Not a problem using this configuration with all 5 channels in ceiling. Of course its a slight compromise but sometimes you're limited in terms of positioning/lighting etc so its still a viable option.

Just check which way your joists run first!

[SeanyD]

Thanks for the advice so far, the main niggle/concern I have is about the centre, is it going to sound, well, odd, being ceiling mounted, or would joe-bloggs (the none audiophile) notice any difference?

[BenM77]

Have you considered a sound bar?

My brothers Yamaha one is very good, a clever solution if you can't have speakers everywhere.

Ben

[Driller]

OP have you thought about on-wall speakers? More bang for your buck than in-wall/in-ceilings and very good sound. I have B&W FPM5s with an ASW610 sub and Monitor Audio in-ceilng surrounds and am extremely happy with the sound.



(Must give a little nudge to the left and right brackets )

[oola]

SeanyD said:

Thanks for the advice so far, the main niggle/concern I have is about the centre, is it going to sound, well, odd, being ceiling mounted, or would joe-bloggs (the none audiophile) notice any difference?

I wouldn't worry about the centre speaker either. The amp will do all the calibration for each speaker when you go through the set up process. Many leading home cinema speaker manufacturers such as Triad provide 'in ceiling' versions of their speakers. PS, I'm talking from a professional installers point of view!

[SeanyD]

Slight change of plan, having looked into this further, I failed to appreciate the scale of upheaval. It looks like its near impossible to do this without lifting upstairs floorboards. Given upstairs in our house is currently immaculate having recently been updated, means I dont get approval from MrsD to get the go-ahead. Looks like plan B is more regular wall mounted 'cube' speakers, mounted high on the wall with speaker cable in the wall.

Bugger. Thanks anyway for peoples suggestions.