Currently, I'm looking to buy a 5.1 home theater set and I have shortlisted the PSB Image Series because of the budget and also best bang of buck reason. But here is the dilemma, Im not sure is a good choice to have ceiling speakers as the surround, I do not want to sacrifice the aesthetic reason for the performance. The main reason for ceiling speaker is that I do not want to have wires laying on the floor and also does not want to have speaker stand since there are kids around and my wife does not like as well. Anyone can give some ideas of some good ceiling speakers, how about the PSB CW60R ???

The other method is to use a pair of PSB B4 or B5 and mount on the rear top corners of the walls as depicted on the sketch above. But I worry the performance will not be that good since the distance between the sofa and the surround speakers is around 8 feet, would it be too far away and I can't feel the sound effects nicely?

I also heard that if mount on the rear top corner, it will be more flexible as the viewing location can be moved closer or far to/from the TV. And I also thought that I could use the B4/B5 for stereo in case I need to change/upgrade in the future?

This post has been edited by echoesian: Jul 7 2010, 09:28 PM

8' seems a bit far to place those Surround/Rear speakers... wonder what the gurus comments will be...

I'm curious...

Would placing Surround/Rear speakers at the back or at the side facing your ears or maybe angled 45degrees but slightly behind your seating arrangement be better?

You should place the Surr spk by the side walls of the sofa....
the rear is too far, that's for rear surr spk...
ceiling speaker should work fine for surr...

In a 5.1 system the normal recommendation for placement of the rear speakers is 90-110 degrees. See: http://www.dolby.com/consumer/setup/speake...config-5-1.html

Yours will be beyond 110 degrees.

The distance of 8' isn't such a big concern since I think Audyssey can compensate for that.

There are no side walls...

there aren't any walls at these locations?

- above your "half height cabinet' next to 'stairs'
- behind your 'entrance'

This post has been edited by azxel: Jul 9 2010, 04:06 PM

There is no wall on these location, yes there is a wall around the entrance but the seat are located way back and there is also no wall around the stairs.... the only way is to put on stand

if i were you, i'd put the rear speakers on your proposed locations at the rear wall, on a wall mount higher than listening position and pull the cables down from the ceiling and compensate by increasing the surround level by a few dB.

sifus and articles might say it's not the best place to put it there, but i don't really care. with proper calibration, i doubt one could hear the difference. after all, 8 feet ain't that far anyway

I think getting on ceiling surround speakers can be a good idea too. even better, you can consider fixing up TWO left surround and TWO right surrounds to enhance the effect.

Just that the proper in ceiling speakers may not be cheap also.

Otherwise the back surround option would only be on the backwall as suggested. Not much option otherwise.

Paskal, thanks for your comment, what is the recommended height, I plan to mount it to the top corner which is about 6-7' high from ear level, would it be too high? I heard bipole speakers are good for surround use but direct radiating speakers are good for multi-channels music, but with my non-compliant placement, would it really make a difference?

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Added on July 11, 2010, 10:32 amHave you tired out the ceiling speakers? Are they really comparable with external speakers?

This post has been edited by echoesian: Jul 11 2010, 10:32 AM

speaking as a non sifu and doesn't care much for the absolute best placement (opposed to realistic placement as it is in the living room), a few feet from ear level is good enough. if you can't find the space, ear level also sounds fine with me, just don't put the surround facing to each other as those will absolutely cancel each other out.

the recomended placement is a few feet higher than listening position (2-3 feet) facing downwards. but like i said, if 6-7 feet looks nicer, then by all means put it at 6-7 feet.
bipole/dipole are (IMHO) good if you have a large space. but if you sit on the same spot everytime and doesn't care for what other audience next to you hears, then i do think direct radiating surrounds are better. after all, calibration are done to make the centre seat the best place to be.

but if you prefer bipole/dipole, then by all means go with them. it's just that i prefer direct radiating. personal preference.

Normally what I've seen in people's house is that the rear speakers are placed on a stand that mounted on the wall and the speakers are facing straight. The question is that, is there any stand/brackets out there that allows the speakers to be angled a little down to the sofa instead???

yes, there are speaker bracket that allows you to tilt it downwards. I saw it in ACE Hardware. A pair (made of metal, black color & packed in a box) costs about RM38.90. Build quality looks good.

i have a question regarding surround speaker placement at the sidewall, at the recommended angle of 110 degree from the front and at 3 feet higher than listening-ear level. do i still need to tilt the speaker downward?



according to here:


if the speakers are not aiming at the listening position, where is it aiming at? behind your sweet spot as well as above your head ?(since the speaker is 3 feet higher than your ear) does that principle only holds true to direct-radiating speaker? how about dipoles? do you place them on your sides aka 90 degree?

at dts website, if you watch the "designing spaces" show featuring dts, you'll found out that the surround speakers are placed at ear level. is that wrong?

anyone has the dts hd-ma bike racing demo original m2ts video? care to share?


This post has been edited by Skylinestar: Jul 11 2010, 09:41 PM

LoL.. the author must have a huge preference in using bipolar/dipolar speakers for surrounds. some swears that bipolar/dipolar diffused and airy sounds better in creating the surround effect.

like i said, personal preference.
mount the speakers on wall mount and tweak to your heart desire. change the angle, fire it to the walls, to the ceiling, to the floor, to your ears and see which sounds better to YOUR EARS. if you can't make up your mind, then test on stands first. or put the speaker on a ladder.

i prefer direct radiating speaker. sounds more accurate to my ears. smoother transition around the listening space. better ambience (at the listening position) produced than bipolar. so i went with bookshelf for surround. sifus might not like/recomend it. but sifu ain't gonna listen to it everyday. i am.

just wanna share my findings.

according to B&W, there's no need to tilt dipole/bipole surround speaker downward.



This post has been edited by Skylinestar: Jul 12 2010, 06:15 PM

RS and LS have to be not too close to your ears. Else, the surr seems to reach to fast and quite 'apinful' to listen to.

I normally have them abt 1.5' - 2' from my ears and at least 2' - 3' from my LP.

Is the bracket from ACE are those that screw on the back of the speakers? Because the PSB Image B5 doesn't have screw holes at the back, so is there any bracket that support and 'clip' the speaker at the bottom?