Home Theater Audio - Using Towers with In-Wall Surround

[Texox]

I have a quick and most likely simple question for audiophiles.  I have a dedicated home theater in my new house.  I have been researching projectors, screens, speakers and amplifiers extensively over the last few weeks and am looking forward to getting it all set up.  I have decided that, for the purposes of the room and to have a clean look, I intend to buy and run a 7.1 system consisting of the RP-280F towers for the front left and right, the RP-450c center, and the R-115SW sub.  However, for the sides and rear I am going to run in-wall speakers, paint them to match the color of the walls and avoid bulky speakers to have a clean look around the sides and back of the theater room.  I am looking at the R-5650-S II and the R-5650-W II for the in-wall speakers.

 

My questions: should I run four (4) of the R-5650-S IIs for the sides and rear?  Or would it make sense to run the R-5650-W IIs in the rear left and right, and then the R-5650-S IIs on the sides?  What would be the difference in the sound? Or do you recommend other in-wall speakers with the towers, center and sub? 

 

Related question: suggested best amp for this setup?  I am thinking onkyo TX-RZ900 right now, but would be curious to know if anyone suggest another.  I intend to run a blu-ray player and direct tv, but that's it. Will be used for watching movies and sports. 

 

Thank you for all of the help! 

Edited November 29, 2016 by Texox

[Texox]

Anybody?  :-/ 

[derrickdj1]

Just get four of the same speaker.  I run some in-wall Klipsch speakers as SB and another brand for side surround.  The side surround are 6 1/2 in. woofer, 1 in. tweeter, 150 watts and the SB are 5 1/2 in woofer , 1 in tweeter, 50/200 watts and no real difference is loudness or SQ.

[Paducah Home Theater]

On 11/29/2016 at 2:09 PM, Texox said:

My questions: should I run four (4) of the R-5650-S IIs for the sides and rear?  Or would it make sense to run the R-5650-W IIs in the rear left and right, and then the R-5650-S IIs on the sides?  What would be the difference in the sound? Or do you recommend other in-wall speakers with the towers, center and sub? 

 

Technically and theoretically you're supposed to have direct firing surrounds in the rear.  However lots of people run the diffused type (dipole / bipole / wdst) and will argue that it's perfect.  I've found that it can potentially give you some strange results if you are near the back wall though if you're paying attention.  

 

 

http://www.thx.com/consumer/home-entertainment/home-theater/surround-sound-speaker-set-up/

 

"The SBL & SBR speakers should be the direct firing type"

[Texox]

So, if I understand what you (Metropolis) are saying correctly, it would be more advisable to run the 5650-W IIs for the rear left and right, and the S IIs on the sides.  Correct?  The link above for the 7.1 is exactly how I have my theater room pre-wired.  I may end up going 7.2, but, of course, the only difference will be an extra sub in the front. 

Edited December 6, 2016 by Texox

[johnjon619]

Metro is right imo.That's pretty close to how I have my set-up. rs-35's on the sides are slightly behind the back of the couch, ( actually firing directly across the back of it ) and about 15 inches down from the ceiling, rb-61ii's in the back as shown in the link posted at ear level, against the back wall and about 3 feet away from the back of the couch and around a foot apart, sub is actually behind the couch due to not being broken in yet , ( planning on another sub by Christmas and configuration will go to the diagram posted in the link for 7.2 ) the rc-35 center is 11'07" inches from the listening position at ear level and the left and right r-26f's are 11'05" from the listening position at the 45 degree angle as shown at ear level. I did a lot of different configurations and ended up back in this set-up position as it definitely seamed to work the best. ( but I have 3 different types of reference series speakers so its an odd set-up to begin with ) If you google 7.1 or 2 surround sound speaker placement , there are a lot of helpful tips on there as far as pics. and diagrams as well. But the veterans here are very knowledgeable and know what they are talking about and haven't steered me wrong yet.   

[Paducah Home Theater]

2 hours ago, Texox said:

So, if I understand what you (Metropolis) are saying correctly, it would be more advisable to run the 5650-W IIs for the rear left and right, and the S IIs on the sides.  Correct?  The link above for the 7.1 is exactly how I have my theater room pre-wired.  I may end up going 7.2, but, of course, the only difference will be an extra sub in the front. 

 

Yes technically that is the correct way to do it.  There are plenty of people who put surrounds everywhere though.  

 

What I ran in to is if you are sitting in front of and below one rear speaker with tweets that are firing off to the sides, yet you are in the direct firing line of a tweet from the opposite side, some sound effects made it sound like things were coming from that opposite side rather than simply behind you, also had some cancellation from the side surrounds.  I'm sure every room is different, but still, rear direct firing is the THX recommendation.  

[derrickdj1]

I have used both direct and wide dispersion in the back.  The room setup makes a difference.  Metro is telling you to follow the THX recommendation which is a good place to start until you are more familiar with the room and speakers.