In Ceiling speaker setup

You’ve got a tricky situation there.

It’s almost like builders and home floorplan designers don’t give a fig for stereo and HT setups in modern homes. Since the 90s it’s all “open floorplan” – like that’s a good thing. (I've read we’re finally trending away from that thankfully). I guess it depends on your perspective. Myself, I love the big houses of the past – 80’s and earlier, where we had real delineation between rooms – and things like walls and doors and corners. (I get to complain because I live in one of those “open space” modern homes).

You’ve got a real pickle there, but you have to give some credit to the previous tenant or the owner, whomever designed the existing setup. Esp. if those rears are bi/di-pole. (Although he took a pretty mercenary approach).

I don’t see many good options for you short of nixing the ceiling speakers and starting over with a new set of L/C/R and surrounds. (But even then, the open area to the left of the new sitting position isn’t ideal).

But this ceiling setup, if the speakers are high-quality and directional, as you believe, is not a bad design, given the constraints of the room. Yeah, it’s seriously specific – and geared toward an exceptionally narrow and off-kilter main listening area. But someone appears to have made the best of a difficult problem. (Maybe he was a bachelor or just a shamelessly selfish dude). Ha!

That room leaves a bit to be desired for a good setup. The wall where the TV sits, what’s that, 6ft wide? Looks pretty short in the pic.

I don’t see any easy answers. If you go with the ceiling speakers and your new sitting position (opened up for more participants) those speakers will have to be moved accordingly. Or it’s going to sound just plain funky.

I don’t have a lot of experience listening to ceiling speakers. But if they are directional and well designed - and most importantly, sound nice - if it were me… I’d see if I could get permission to shift everything over on axis – line up the L/C/R with the TV wall and the surrounds with the back wall (if bi/di-pole, in line with MLP, else behind you). Depending on how the wire was run, it shouldn’t be too difficult for a DIY job, even if you have to pull some new wire through – if you have some decent drywall patching skills. Matching ceiling paint is usually not difficult.

Good luck man! Gary