[cursor2000]

My wife and I have purchased a home that was built in 1972 and was NOT designed for home theater use! Go figure....


However, our family room will be a great setup for my home theater. The inside walls are all plaster construction and the house is concrete block. The sound insulation should be great. My concern is the location of my rear and side speakers. I would like to mount them in the ceiling if at all possible to preserve the look of the family room, but I do not want to sacrifice TOO much quality. It will be difficult to mount the speakers on the side walls because of the limited space between the plaster wall and the concrete block wall (maybe 1-1/2 inches). If I place them ON the wall, running cables will also be close to impossible because of the limited attic space in the corners. The room is approximately 20 ft long by 13 ft wide. The RPTV will be placed along the shorter wall and the main listening position will be approximately 15 ft from the RPTV.


I currently do not have a 7.1 system, but will soon graduate to a 7.1 system and would like to have the room wired for it. I was looking into the B&W CDS6 in-wall dipole speakers for the side speakers (which I will use for my future 7.1 channel system) and the B&W CWM Cinema (not dipole) for the rear surround speakers (for use with my existing 5.1 channel system). All speakers will be in the ceiling above the listening area. The ceiling is 8' high. The side dipole speakers will be place closer to the edges of the walls, about 1 ft from the side walls, about 3/4 of distance to the main listening position. The rear speakers will be about 1 ft behind the main listening position and about 3 ft from the side walls.


Does this setup appear to be adequate? Should I consider going with non-dipole speakers if I place them in the ceiling? I understand that the dipole speakers will stick out from the ceiling about 2-3 inches, but that doesn't bother me as much as assuring myself that it will sound adequate. What should I change in this setup to possibly improve the sound or improve the imaging?


Thanks in advance.


Alex

 

[Morbius]

Alex,


From your description, it sounds like you want to put the B&W CDS6 speakers on the ceiling with the woofer firing

downward, and the other drivers firing forward and backward - as opposed to putting them on the sides with the woofer

firing sideways and the other drivers again firing forward and backwards.


I see no reason why that setup can't be made to work - in fact - I believe I've seen similar setups in the pages of

home theater magazines like Audio Video Interiors.


When a speaker, like a surround, is supposed to give you a diffuse sound field instead of pin-point imaging - the

orientation of the speaker should have a minor effect.


Dr. Gregory Greenman

Physicist

 

[JonDeutsch]

I have dipoles on my ceiling. I was instructed by the manufacturer to place them directly above the seating area, so that the dispersion was bi-directional around my head.


Well, after drilling holes in ceilings and getting everything setup, I realized that I didn't like them there. So, I moved them back about 8" behind the couch, and I much prefer them there!


Ceiling-based dipoles are GREAT for movies, and only "OK" with DVD-A 5.1 stereo. I would prefer to have the speakers all at the same altitude for 5.1 music, but all in all I'm still very pleased with my setup for both 5.1 music and movies.


Actually, one more thing -- for 5.1 DVD-As that send strictly ambience to the rears (like a classical recording) the ceiling dipoles do a credible job. It's when a DVD-A sends back actually instruments to the rears that it's suboptimal.