Help with ceiling speakers, please.

Imspun4u

Well, I was planning on fishhooking through the front and back wall's (midplacement not possible) to hook up my new 7.1 amp. Then I got to looking at the polk ceiling speakers. This look's easier to me and I wonder how they're going to sound. The two I looked at: Polk RC60i round 6.5". Then I saw the Polk RC65 which come with two tweeters. (I do love the sound of Planes and rain. Don't we all?) The first pair mentioned are a lot cheaper, but I could swing buying the second one's if they'r really good. My room is a 15X20 with two open doorway's. Price is just price so give me your opinion's and experiences. Where would you locate them in the ceiling for best surround sound quality? John

chuckt62

I just put some RC80i's in, and am very pleased. They put out a lot more sound than I expected. I had some puny surrounds that came with my old TV or DVD player. They were a joke compared to these.

Imspun4u

chuckt62 wrote: »

I just put some RC80i's in, and am very pleased. They put out a lot more sound than I expected. I had some puny surrounds that came with my old TV or DVD player. They were a joke compared to these.

Wow, I had not heard of these. The review's are totally awesome. Price is kinda steep so I will be on the look out for a good deal. I think I'm looking at my new surround speaker's. Thank's for pointing them out. What kind of wire/gauge did you end up going with? -John

chuckt62

Buy.com still has good deals on them.

I had to do 44' runs to get to them, so I used 2 cond. 12 AWG wire. I bought a 100' spool and used the rest for the fronts.

Imspun4u

I bought the RC80i's and I'm not satisfied. First, my installer, a friend, physically located the mid's too forward. Then I noticed some sound's come thru very well but some of the quieter detail's (cricket's chirping for instance) are practically non existant. Turning the volume up may be ok for some people but I don't need to be blasted by my system every night. I'm considering building some boxes to go above the speaker's. Not sure if this will bring out more detail's or not. Oh well, that's one of the fun thing's about this hobby is working thing's out. I possibly recommend these speaker's but advise that they may not be for everyone. Not for me, at least not yet. I ran 14 gauge monster equivalent wireing. Any other opinion's or advise is welcome. John

chuckt62

...I guess I need to find some cricket content to test.

Imspun4u

Sorry if I sounded like I was knocking the 80ci's. They're really clear sounding and good. Like I said, it just seem's they're lacking some of the low ambient sounds. Tonight I tried swapping the SB/Multiroom connections at the amp with the RS and I like this much better. I really couldn't tell a difference in how the surround sound worked but it may show up negatively on some 7.1 movie's. I'll just wait and find out. Before I was not hearing much sound from the rear's and since my mid surround's are a bit forward of my sitting position I was getting kind of disappointed.
At my age it's kind of hard for me to get into all the tech (I've only read half of my Harmon Karden manual) and I guess I just want instant gratification. Before I installed the in ceiling speaker's I was using a couple of diy speaker's in the rear and they really brought out all the detail's. Yet, I'm much happier now that I've got more rear sound.

Topper

Am using ceiling speakers for the surrounds in my home theater setup (LC80i) and they've been excellent . I also have ceiling speakers in my living room for audio and its been pretty good as well (TC80i).

(The living room does sound like the music is coming from the ceiling though but in the home theater since its just surrounds, it sounds perfect and it doesnt even occur to me where they come from)

chuckt62

Imspun4u,

Make sure you have the tweeters pointing at you listening area. They are adjustable and your installer may not have noticed it.

c

Imspun4u

Thank's for the advise Chuck. I've been playing with the tweeter's and I think I have them sounding to my best likeing. I probably have too many experiment's going on at one time now for any decent feedback. I was doing a bit of research last night and ran across this idea. Place an old pillow's on top of each the speaker's in the ceiling. So, having four old pillow's I braved the heat and layed them one by one gently on top. Tonight I watched X-Men 2 and think I heard a bit more midrange. Rear vocals seemed more present. The sound seemed to lose some dynamic impact though.The 80i's are 20khz-35hz which is some pretty low bass. If anyone else try's this I would be interested in their thought's and opinion's. My installer had recommended laying some towel's to keep out some of the nastie's in the attic anyway. I doubt this will be my last time up there playing around but one thing's for sure. Attic's are hot. It get's rid of the toxin's thru the sweat very quickly so becareful not to over heat. John

chuckt62

I bought a roll of R-30 (9" THK) pink insulation for about $13 from HD, then cut a couple pieces off and stuck them up there.

I also set the XO for them to 80Hz but there's still some bass coming through. I'm not used to that much coming from the surrounds because my last ones were very small "satellites". IDK, I guess it's normal and I'm getting used to it.

Imspun4u

Now that's interesting. I didn't realize the X-over's were adjustable on the 80ci's. Is this something I missed (?) or you talking about on the a/v receiver? It is kind of shocking just how clear these speaker's can be on some surround effect's. I like them more and more as time go's by and I thank you for suggesting them to me. John

chuckt62

On the AVR.

Imspun4u

Last night the pillow's came off. I've setteled down to this is the better sound. I guess no sense in second guessing the engineers. The deep thump's and loud crackiing sound's are back. I think this is the better way and make's these surround speaker's special. It's all about the effect's man!

kawizx9r

Surprisingly enough, something that wasn't mentioned is that if you bought them new you'll need to give them a good 100hrs or so to really break them in. Once you do that (and with proper amplification) they should really begin to sing, IMO.

-Freddy

Imspun4u

kawizx9r wrote: »

Surprisingly enough, something that wasn't mentioned is that if you bought them new you'll need to give them a good 100hrs or so to really break them in. Once you do that (and with proper amplification) they should really begin to sing, IMO.

-Freddy

I did buy them new and it's approaching 100 hour's and indeed they are beginning to sing. I can not help messing with thing's (it's in my nature I guess) and I have all my speaker's set to Large. I love bass and want to see if they indeed get down into the 35hz range. So far so good. I love these speaker's. I just wish I could get more effect from the rear's. It seem's I have more sound from the mid area of my room than the back. I have ran the audyssey with microphone to equalize the sound. Perhap's it's just in the dvd's and Blue ray's not being true 7 channel setup? Or, maybe because I spend more time sitting midroom?