[cwilson]

I'm in the process of building my dedicated home theater. I know it will be a while before there's any support for 10.2, but I wonder if anyone knows where the "height" speakers should go in relation to fronts, sides, and rears, so that I can run cables there for future use.


Craig

 

[Buzz Goddard]

There isn't a single standard for this. It is rumoured to be forthcoming for film sound (likely right above you). Some music engineers are proposing one a bit forward of the listening position.

And all the 10.2 demos I have seen have had them forward, mounted high, but not in the ceiling. That may well have been an artifact of the temporary installation though (those fussy hotels frown on people mounting speakers in the ceiling)...

 

[JonFo]

From earlier research (mid-1999) when I was building my HT, it looks like for movies it’s directly overhead and maybe slightly towards the front.


My ceiling is pre-wired (including AC) for a location right over the front row. I will be mounting a Martin Logan CLS (yes, a big speaker) up there, tilted slightly to cover both rows of seating.


Some of the arrangements for music are specified as high fronts, but with mains that are already six feet tall, putting another speaker up there seems like it would hardly make a difference. Other arrangements use high mounted sides.


Based on the UHJ Ambisonic spec, the z-axis should be center top, so that’s what I’m deploying.

 

[John Kotches]

There are a few formats out there for "height" speakers....


I cover this in our upcoming feature article on DVD-Audio, but don't ask me the publication date, because I don't know for sure ;-) Soon is the best I can come up with.


Brian "Graphics King" Florian drew diagrams and with any luck, my words match his killer pictures.


Telarc, Chesky and a German label (MDG I think) are using variations on 6 channel surround (not 5.1 channel).


The ICBM-1 can handle this by the way with no problem at all ;-)


Regards,

 

[cwilson]

I know that things are far from decided regarding height speakers, but if anyone would care to speculate ....


How important is matching speakers for the height channels to the other speakers?


Are height speakers to be direct or indirect radiating? I suspect direct, since there will be no nearby walls. On the other hand, I doubt that you would want them to be easily localizable.


In-wall speakers would be ideal, but most manufacturers would obviously not offer those, so if timbre matching is at all important, I guess they would be surface mounted, which would not be especially obtrusive if you have a CRT projector already mounted in the general area, but less than ideal if you have a digital projector mounted in the back.


Craig

 

[benthx]

Not too shure how many of the forum followers. Subscribe to the widescreen reveiws ideas re speaker placement and general set up.


I thought it might be a mention that the origional thread starter perhaps and all subsequent respondents check out Widescreen Reveiws HOLOSONIC HOME THEATRE.


They have built a uncomprimised home theatre. Using a height speaker. Check out especially voume 10 number 7 issue 51 August 2001.