Have a new media room - 18’ x 16’. I have the following pre-wired:
- 2x Fronts (about 6’ off floor)
- 2x ceiling
- 2x rear (on back wall)
I am able to pull more cable in the ceiling but not necessarily on the sides (spray-foamed in). I am using Paradigm Studio 100s for the fronts and CC-590 for the center.
Have 2 “locations” in the room - 1 riser on the back wall and the other is 6’ in front of that.
All things being said, I “know” 7.1.4 is ideal, but how much better is it than say, 5.1.4 or even 5.1.2?
I have a 5.1.4 setup and I'm pretty happy with it. However, if you have the space, and it sounds like you do, a 7.1.4 setup would probably be your best option. If you are worried about cabling for the sides, you could run them along the baseboards.
How much better depends on the content. Is 7.1.4 better than 5.1.4? Yes. Is it night and day better? Not necessarily. It does add to the fullness of the sound field in my experience. It's MUCH better than 5.1.2 because 5.1.4 is better than 5.1.2 by an extra dimension, and you're adding to that.
I have found Home Theater Geeks 177 (Acoustics 101) and HTG 178 (Acoustics 102) with Anthony Grimani very helpful. Both can be found on youtube and he provides good descriptions with visuals as well.
Thanx for the diagram. The main point of Atmos is to separate sounds around you versus sounds above you. With your Front speakers 6' off the floor, there isn't going to be much separation between the base layer and height layer, ESPECIALLY for any height speakers placed high up on the front wall. Same problem if your Surround speakers on the back wall are placed similarly high off the floor. In that case, a single pair of heights might be the better option because it will be far way (well separated) from the Front and Surround speakers. If you're going with in-ceiling height speakers, then install them a couple feet forward of the main listening position (our human hearing is better in front of us than directly above).
Thanks for the feedback - sounds like if I wanted to, I COULD install them in the angled roof (would end up 6' higher than base floor).
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