After some help/suggestions for first home theatre - 7.2.2

Let's see if I can at least try and answer some of your questions? 1. The layout looks reasonable. As for sounding good, that will all depend on your room and the type of room calibration you use. The AVR should be able to sort out most of that for you. 2. I'd probably look at a 2x2 seating setup, if at all possible. Having one long row of seating, is probably going to make setting up your side surrounds a bit difficult. 3. Having rear channel speakers in the ceiling is not really recommended. They'll most likely interfere with the front ATMOS speakers (very confusing to your ears). I realise you said it would be difficult to wall mount them and have them angled down enough towards the main listening position, but you may have to compromise a bit there. I have the same situation with my setup; we all don't have the perfect home theatre room, so compromise is sometimes the only choice there is. 4. As for speakers, that really is a personal choice, but you may as well go for the Aussie ones, as you'll probably get a better deal, as you won't be paying overseas shipping costs and import duties, etc. As for overkill, not on this web site. There is no such thing as overkill around here. 5. You may want to have a think about setting up a 7.2.4 system. I realise that it's additional cost, but having four ATMOS overheads will certainly put a bigger smile on your face. My room isn't much bigger than yours and I run a 9.2.6 setup. Have a look in my signature block. I run 15 identical 300 watt speakers, driven by 400 watt power amplifiers, plus a couple of 800 watt subwoofers. Now if that's not overkill, what is? I'm sure others will be able to give you some advice as well. Good luck.

@mxlmxl 2. Yes. They will lose a lot of impact when watching the big movies. To those people sitting there, they will be getting, (how can I put this?), lopsided audio and some strange surround and ATMOS/DTS:X effects. 3/4. I'm really no expert on different speaker brands and which is better than the other. I know a lot of people around here recommend the Klipsch brand of speakers, but as this is a North American web site, many owners have never heard of Krix speakers. Again, as I said, it really comes down to personal choice and what your ears are telling you, when you listen to them. 5. As for the AVR, it may be worth saving a bit more money and going for the 11.2 model. As, by the time you add an additional 2 channel power amp to the 9.2 AVR, you will be spending the same, if not more, than if had you purchased an 11.2 channel AVR. As for, would 5.2.4 be better than 7.2.2, I'd have to personally say, yes. Having just 2 ATMOS/DTS:X overheads (height speakers), really doesn't give you the overall impact/effects that you are looking for. Plus, you may find yourself looking to add an additional 2 overhead speakers in the very near future, as you may find that you are not getting what you really wanted. Just remember that most blu-ray discs that offer Dolby ATMOS and DTS:X, are 7.1 channel encoded, whereas, if you are streaming content, than their Dolby ATMOS content is mostly 5.1 channel encoded. It all depends on how you watch movies and how future resistant (not future proof), you want to make your system. Good luck.