Speaker recommendations please

myke

Hello all,

Moving in a couple weeks into a home that has the living room pre-wired for surround on the cieling corners, for 2 rears and 2 fronts.

1. How difficult would it be to remove the plates and receptacle elec box attached to the joist, and then put in wall speakers?

2. Any suggestions for using elbows (or whatever there is) to attach speakers to the ceiling or near by wall (but i would like to hide or minimize wire from being seen)?

3. Any suggestions for a center speaker setup? The fireplace is in the middle and the TV will go above it making a center difficult to place.

Any suggestions in addition to the questions above will be appreciated.

Thanks

Kex

You could use a ceiling speaker for the center. Properly installed and calibrated, it should work very well. A "phantom" center is also an option, if properly calibrated.

ravaneli

I have the A7s and A6 too. Quite frankly I am getting more and more convinced I like the sound better without center. Perhaps because the tweeters of the towers are right at my ear level and A6 is a bit lower. I still cant quite figure why, and I keep turning the center on and off..

myke

Ravaneli -

I too tried the phantom approach too but the size of my current room lends itself to a center, the new home has a bonus which the RTi' A's are going into (with hopefully a projector soon......(wife permitting) or one of those upcoming larger plasma's (still reviewing)). I was thinking about getting some polk in wall speakers for the living room, nothing too fancy though.

Has anyone used polk in wall speakers on the ceiling? I'm also worried about how the sound will come across with 4 speaker coming from the ceiling?

Kex

myke wrote: »

... Has anyone used polk in wall speakers on the ceiling? ...

I don't understand why anyone would want to, rather than using ceiling speakers designed for the purpose.

myke

That's what I meant, I was being too general. For the 4 pre-wired speaker receptacles I am considering 4 ceiling speakers. They are placed in the corners of the room therefore I don't have a center pre-wired and was hoping for some ideas that people have tried, or does 4 ceiling speakers not need a 5th (center)?

I am also curious if anyone has tried ceiling speakers in this fashion and what their thoughts were regarding the sound quality, and what about the bass, is a sub still needed?

gp4jesus

myke wrote: »

I am also curious if anyone has tried ceiling speakers in this fashion and what their thoughts were regarding the sound quality, and what about the bass, is a sub still needed?

You'll likely need a sub. My brother-in-law has his LCR in-wall, sides & rears in the ceilin - w/a sub. It sounded quite good overall. I gave it 4 stars because it had what I call "immersion." His insufficient sub kept the fifth star from him.

Shalom, Tony

mantis

The Best idea for your pre wired speakers would be to prewire a center channel in the ceiling directly above your TV which you said will be mount above the fireplace.
If you can't do it yourself , hire a AV contractor in your area ( tell me where you live and I could suggest someone) . Purchase 5 exact In ceiling speakers with amiable tweeters. I suggest inspecting the area where they are prewired to and make sure they didn't do you wrong by putting the wires in bays with pipes or a lot of electrical wires. Also check the spacing from beam to beam , some ceilings have close together beams due to structure reasons. Again not a bad idea to get a professional involved at least for Speaker install , inspection and fishing the center channel. They will have to make a work hole or 2 to get the wires there but drywall is easy to fix and most AV guys will put the drywall back in but you will be required to spackle and paint. You can get someone to do this as well.

This is all worth the money spent so your project goes smooth. Nothing worse then making a disaster out of a project due to wrong tools , knowledge etc.

Kex

Yes, Dan (mantis) is right in my opinion: add a center channel above the TV, and aim all your tweeters appropriately.

If possible, I would even use five identical speakers, but you do have the option to use a lesser model from the same range (meaning same tweeter, please!) for the two rear speakers.