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Author Topic: Ceiling speakers and 7.1 sound Richard May Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1057 From: Floral Park, NY USA Registered: Aug 2004 posted 11-11-2014 11:40 AM                     Any recommendations on speakers to use for the ceiling? Also, would the ceiling speakers be split to be used on all 4 surround channels?  |  IP: Logged Lyle Romer Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1400 From: Davie, FL, USA Registered: May 2002 posted 11-11-2014 12:27 PM                     Unless you are installing Atmos or Auro or some kind of undefined 9.1 configuration, there shouldn't be ceiling speakers. They should certainly not be used to playback the normal surround channels of a 5.1 or 7.1 setup.  |  IP: Logged Richard May Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1057 From: Floral Park, NY USA Registered: Aug 2004 posted 11-11-2014 12:35 PM                     I agree but they want them.  |  IP: Logged Carsten Kurz Film God Posts: 4340 From: Cologne, NRW, Germany Registered: Aug 2009 posted 11-11-2014 12:48 PM                     Who, and for what purpose? Is this a commercial business driven cinema, a private screening room, or what? - Carsten  |  IP: Logged Richard May Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1057 From: Floral Park, NY USA Registered: Aug 2004 posted 11-11-2014 01:06 PM                     It's a commercial theater. They just want more surrounds basically. The theaters are tiny. 19' wide by 50' long.  |  IP: Logged Marco Giustini Film God Posts: 2713 From: Reading, UK Registered: Nov 2007 posted 11-11-2014 01:33 PM                     "more"? Are you saying they already have proper surrounds and they want to "upgrade"?  |  IP: Logged Carsten Kurz Film God Posts: 4340 From: Cologne, NRW, Germany Registered: Aug 2009 posted 11-11-2014 01:35 PM                     Well then, source them, build them in, connect them. Then tell them to wait for 9.1 DCPs to show up before they can use them. - Carsten  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-11-2014 01:36 PM                        Install speakers on the ceiling, just don't hook them up. Turn the volume on the regular surrounds up slightly. Listen to people marvel at how much 'better' it sounds.  |  IP: Logged Richard May Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1057 From: Floral Park, NY USA Registered: Aug 2004 posted 11-11-2014 01:41 PM                     The theater is renovating. The surrounds were never placed correctly. I understand that they do not need ceiling surrounds for 7.1 but they want them. Even though it's a waste of money, would you hook them up with all 4 surround channels or just left and right surrounds?  |  IP: Logged Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 11-11-2014 01:44 PM                        Several years ago I had a guy tell me about the time that he installed surround speakers in his auditorium. He hung the speakers on the wall and ran the wires himself. In the week or two after that while he was waiting for the tech to arrive to install the booth equipment and hook them up, he had many compliments on how much better the sound in his theatre was.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-11-2014 02:31 PM                        quote: Richard May would you hook them up with all 4 surround channels or just left and right surrounds? In all seriousness...I would mount those ceiling speakers fairly close to the sides, and hook them up to just the left/right surrounds. If you hook them up to all four channels you would just diminish the directionality of the sound. Maybe you could put a couple more speakers on the back channels to beef that up a bit....? I wonder if the owner here is thinking he'll need to upgrade to Atmos someday and is planning for that? I can't imagine watching a movie in a 19x50 auditorium. Are the screens wall-to-wall I hope?  |  IP: Logged Richard May Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1057 From: Floral Park, NY USA Registered: Aug 2004 posted 11-11-2014 02:48 PM                     Thanks Mike. The screens are wall to wall. I don't think Dolby Atmos would work here for many reasons. One being that they are going to mount the side surrounds in the wall and I think it would be harder to position them correctly. Keeping the ceiling surrounds on the side channels only sounds like a good idea. Since they will be mounting them in the ceiling, I will have to look for some kind of in ceiling speakers.  |  IP: Logged Marco Giustini Film God Posts: 2713 From: Reading, UK Registered: Nov 2007 posted 11-11-2014 04:31 PM                     quote: Richard May I understand that they do not need ceiling surrounds for 7.1 but they want them This escapes me. Did you tell them that installing ceiling surrounds is not going to improve the existing result and that replacing the existing surrounds with real surround speakers is the way to go? I appreciate they want to spend money, but can't they spend money on something they actually need?  |  IP: Logged Marcel Birgelen Film God Posts: 3357 From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands Registered: Feb 2012 posted 11-11-2014 05:33 PM                     We cannot judge your actual situation. Sometimes, people demand stupid things, but it's not like you ALWAYS have to give into those stupid demands. Surround mixes are created with a specific layout in mind. Surround sound in a 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1 mix is NOT supposed to come from the ceiling. If they want to invest now in speakers they might be able to use in the future (Dolby Atmos, Auro 3D or whatever comes next), then good for them. Make sure the layout actually conforms to at least one of those formats. Hooking them up right now to any of the 4 surround channels is just a stupid idea, you're potentially screwing up the sound mixes of many many movies. Furthermore, I fully agree with Marco. If they want to spend money, let them spend it on something that actually improves stuff. If they're out of ideas, be a bit creative .  |  IP: Logged Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 11-11-2014 05:45 PM                        quote: Mike Blakesley I can't imagine watching a movie in a 19x50 auditorium. My auditorium isn't much different than that; it's 25x60. I think it works pretty well, though.  |  IP: Logged

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