5.1 or 5.1.2 or all In-ceiling speakers (1 Viewer)

[AndrewJames13]

Hi everyone,

I am in the process of building my house and I want to put together my home theater system. I would like to know what is my best option for my home theater. Having a 5.1.2 with Dobly Atmos? or a 5.1? or all in-ceiling speakers?? Also if the speakers locations are good. I have attached a picture of my LV plan for my future house. In the first picture (5.1.2) you can see that I added: 2 L/R front speakers, 1 center speaker, 2 surround L/R in-ceiling speakers, 2 Top middle in-ceiling speakers for Atmos. In the second picture (5.1) I added: 2 L/R front speakers, 1 center speaker and 2 surround L/R in-ceiling speakers. I have the Sony STR-DN1080 receiver so I believe this can work. My ceiling height is 9 ft. My surrounds are going to be on the c eiling due to the space and we didn't want to see any speakers hanging on the walls. I know it is not ideal but this can be the best approach for us. Someone told me that going with Atmos was not a good option for me due to the my room having a lot of open areas, I will like to hear a second opinion about that. Thank you!

 

[JohnRice]

Whatever you decide, do NOT put all the speakers in the ceiling. Is your TV in the ceiling? Probably not.

 

[Type A]

I dont know, from my view your room seems ideal for 5.1.4. Is there a reason you are only going .2? While dolby recommends surround channels be behind, not adjacent to the listener, as long as you move the rear atmos forward of the seating area to maintain separation I think .4 is possible, not ideal but beneficial and possible.

A couple of thoughts; can the couch be moved in away from the side wall? If it can you can get better spread on both front l and r and surround l and r and i think make the room a bit more acoustically balanced. Can it be moved forward into the room and maintain a comfortable seating distance? If so that will put your surrounds more behind you, any bit will help. Also I would relocate your sub out of the corner, other side of the tv is fine you just dont want it jammed in a corner.

As for your open room not lending to atmos, i disagree. Remember atmos channels are directly above the listening area pointing at the listeners, as long as you dont have vaulted ceilings screwing with your install height youre golden. Im in the same boat as you, my surrounds, while wall mounted, are just slightly rear of seating and my recent atmos upgrade was a very large envelopment improvement. Take a look at this Dolby guide and the picture of recommended speaker angles.

 

[Type A]

Btw heres a shot of my .4 atmos. Sadly my surrounds are just out of frame but they are barely behind the seating area. Notice that the atmos speakers are over the seating. Yours will be slightly forward of the seating to maintain seperation with the surrounds but, again, i still think you will benefit. I do highly recommend you move the couch forward and wall mount your surrounds...

 

[blacam00]

As mentioned, do not do all in-ceiling speakers unless your only intention is playing music.

Dolby atmos will be fine, especially if you are utilizing ceiling speakers. Can you put the rear surrounds in-wall since you don't want to hang them?