Reserve Series for Dolby Atmos Theater Room (side and ceiling speakers?)
I'm planning a fairly large dedicated Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 home theater/music listening room. I like what I've seen of the new Reserve series, and I'm thinking of using R700s for front left and right, an R400 center, and R200s for the rear surrounds. What has me "scratching my head" a bit is what to use for the four Atmos ceiling speakers, and the side surrounds.
The R900s seem to be designed for using either on tip of towers or mounted high on the walls "for convenience." However, since I'm building this, I can easily wire and mount speakers in the ideal ceiling locations, which is what I'm going to do. I've found no mention of ceiling mounting R900s, and I'm wondering if they would be a poor choice for this. I could use R100s or R200s, but they are pretty deep and would stick down quite a bit even from a 10' ceiling. Probably a little complicated to mount as well. I don't mind seeing the speakers - no need for flush-mounted speakers.
They could also be used for the side surrounds, but again, they are pretty large for this and would stick out quite far into the room. Also, being rear ported, it wouldn't be ideal to put them right against the wall.
I've considered using the smaller center speakers (R300 or R350) for this, but they probably aren't ideal for this either. It seems like with so many speakers in the new Reserve series, Polk left a significant gap in not including some sort of flatter, wide-dispersion speaker for side and ceiling mounting (maybe even a dipole/bipole - though they seem a little out of favor these days). Am I missing something? Any suggestions? Thanks.
The R900s seem to be designed for using either on tip of towers or mounted high on the walls "for convenience." However, since I'm building this, I can easily wire and mount speakers in the ideal ceiling locations, which is what I'm going to do. I've found no mention of ceiling mounting R900s, and I'm wondering if they would be a poor choice for this. I could use R100s or R200s, but they are pretty deep and would stick down quite a bit even from a 10' ceiling. Probably a little complicated to mount as well. I don't mind seeing the speakers - no need for flush-mounted speakers.
They could also be used for the side surrounds, but again, they are pretty large for this and would stick out quite far into the room. Also, being rear ported, it wouldn't be ideal to put them right against the wall.
I've considered using the smaller center speakers (R300 or R350) for this, but they probably aren't ideal for this either. It seems like with so many speakers in the new Reserve series, Polk left a significant gap in not including some sort of flatter, wide-dispersion speaker for side and ceiling mounting (maybe even a dipole/bipole - though they seem a little out of favor these days). Am I missing something? Any suggestions? Thanks.
Comments
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Great choice going with the new Reserves. Been thoroughly enjoying the R200
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RE: SURROUNDS
Why not just use the same R200 you got planned for the rears for the side surrounds as well? whats your worry?
If your worried about their size and how much they'd stick out, the R350 vertically mounted would be perfect. Here's a pic of the R350 compared to the similar Signature S35 for reference.
You would just need to calibrate accordingly (i'd probably set the filter for the R350 at 100 to 120hz) and let the subs handle the rest. It won't be an issue and the additional drivers actually give it great power handling and mounted vertically will give you good horizontal axis performance for good coverage.
RE: HEIGHTS
I wouldn't hesitate to use the R900 modules mounted high on the front and back walls in proper front height and rear height positions. It makes a big diff that they are angled towards the listening area versus a properly located ceiling speaker that just fires downward resulting in significant off-axis in the actual listening position.
The reason they don't tell you you can use the R900 for the ceiling is that it just uses screw holes and relies on gravity to keep it from falling off the wall. You won't have that when ceiling mounting them which may result in them falling off. (Ofcourse if you have a good ceiling bracket that uses threaded-inserts and can handle the weight of the speaker, you can definitely mount it on the ceiling and mount them in the ideal top front and top rear positions)
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In ceiling speakers are best for Atmos where in ceiling speakers are an option. The Atmos modules are good for systems where in ceiling speakers are not viable or desirable. I have the modules for the Legend line. They’re good and add height to the sound field but in ceiling speakers would be more immersive for a full Atmos system.
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Thank you both for your comments and suggestions. Thanks for sending the photo of the back of an R900 TopperMan - that is helpful. I had forgotten that there was a switch with two settings for the R900s - one for bouncing the sound off the ceiling and one for wall mounting. I'm not sure what the switch does, but it makes me more optimistic that they may sound good when ceiling mounted. I was concerned that a speaker designed to bounce the sound off the ceiling wouldn't have the appropriate dispersion when ceiling mounted.
I do wonder if the reason Polk never mentions the possibility of ceiling mounting these might be a concern about being sued if one falls off and injures someone sitting under it. I'm not worried about being able to mount them securely on the ceiling - I see there is a threaded socket on the back, and even with just the keyhole mount, it would be pretty easy to install a screw-in stop to keep the speaker from sliding out of the keyhole.
It looks liked there are several options for the side surrounds that would be possible. More R200s would be ideal, but if they are too large, then R100s, or the R350 center channels mounted vertically would probably work well.
