jkmspartan Posted July 4, 2008 Share Posted July 4, 2008 I'm very much a newbie to this, my last surround sound speakers was the "box o' surround sound" from Best Buy. I'm upgrading everything in my house that is being built. I happen to get a 60% discount on most Klipsch product, so that is why i'm here, but also because from my current research they obviously have a great reputation. I have what is probably a fairly common situation, but need help on the perfect setup, maybe you can help. Please suggest what speakers (and sub) I should get to meet my needs. And thank you in advance for your help! I figured this seems like the kind of thing many of you enjoy getting in on. Budget: ~$1500 - $3000 (before my 60% discount) Room (Biggest Constraint): Downstairs living room (ie, not very high ceilings). 46" LCD over fireplace. There are 4 connections for fronts and rears IN THE CEILING. The back of the room is open to the kitchen, one part of room is open to entry way. Little Kids: NO freestanding speakers (I know this makes it more challenging) Other equipment: Sony STR-DA5300 ES receiver, Sharp 46" SE LCD Need: Primarily for movies and some ambient music listening. I would really like to have a solution that allows me to just mount 4 speakers in/on the ceiling for the fronts and rears, but i'm not sure if this is just a poor choice. Is it just wrong ot have the fronts on the ceiling? The center can go under the TV/over the mantle. It looks what is basically the Cinema 10 parts would do, but i'm not sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougdrake Posted July 4, 2008 Share Posted July 4, 2008 Welcome - glad you stopped by. You don't say how high the ceilings are, so it's hard to guess if ceiling speakers would be an issue. In an ideal situation, you would not use them. Not sure I follow the "little kids ergo no floor standing speakers" line of thinking. Maybe I was just lucky, but I raised kids with floor standers and had no problems whatsoever - they paid no attention to the speakers. You said this house is being built - do you have any control over where the wiring is going? Does the fireplace have to be under the TV? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkmspartan Posted July 4, 2008 Author Share Posted July 4, 2008 Ceilings are 8-10' (or whatever a standard 1st floor, unvaulted ceiling is). The 2 year old already pays an inordinate amount of attention to the current subwoofer and uses it for some climbing, I just don't want to have to think about it. The current wiring is already in place (the house is now basically done), the wiring was already spec'ed to be where it is (in the ceiling) as a 'standard' package before I started thinking real hard about where I would put the speakers. There is really no other place for the rears but the ceiling, so those are actually necessary, but i'm guessing the ideal spot for the fronts would have been next to the TV. If it makes NO sense to have the fronts in the ceiling, than I couldrerun the wiring, but woudl very much like to work with the ceilingoption as it is now.And yes, I want the TV over the fireplace.I very much like the look of it, it makes sense for the room, and it keeps the TV completely away from the kids. Some people don't like the TV up so high, but we very much like it. Thanks for your interest! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougdrake Posted July 4, 2008 Share Posted July 4, 2008 There are brands of ceiling speakers that have tweeters that can be rotated/oriented to focus the sound towards the listening area, versus pointing straight down. Perhaps those are an option for you? I don't recall the brand names, though. I've also seen ceiling mount speakers which are angled in their mounting box so that the whole speaker faces toward the listening position. Hard to describe, but it's sort of like cutting a rectangle into the drywall and mounting the box up to the ceiling joists. The speaker itself is rectangular versus round. Do your ceiling joists run the right direction to support something like that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill H. Posted July 4, 2008 Share Posted July 4, 2008 Here is the Link to Klipsch's in ceiling/Wall speakers.............Great Selection. http://www.klipsch.com/products/in-wall-in-ceiling.aspx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted July 4, 2008 Moderators Share Posted July 4, 2008 There are brands of ceiling speakers that have tweeters that can be rotated/oriented to focus the sound towards the listening area...I don't recall the brand names, though. Klipsch of course! Not sure which models have this feature but the CDT-5800-C does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkmspartan Posted July 4, 2008 Author Share Posted July 4, 2008 Okay, so if I went with 4 CDT-5800-C's (two front, two rear). How would that compar to have having 4 RSX-5 mounted to the ceiling. I mean how would the sound difference be? Which would sound better? (I think one would clearly look better) Has anyone here actualy tried the in-ceiling speakers for surround? happy with it? If I put the fronts and rears in the ceiling where shoudl the center go? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesV Posted July 4, 2008 Share Posted July 4, 2008 Here you go for your front three speakers, http://www.klipsch.com/products/details/kl-7502-thx.aspx. These can be your surround speakers, http://www.klipsch.com/products/details/ks-7502-thx.aspx. I don't know the pricing on these but they had them in a listening room at the Pilgrimage this year, I believe these were the speakers, and the setup was great. James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted July 5, 2008 Moderators Share Posted July 5, 2008 The THX probably do sound great but I bet they go for a pretty penny also. Personally, I am not a fan of in ceiling or in-wall speakers. Most are a compromise when it comes to sound in comparison to a bookshelf, much less comparing to a floorstanding speaker. If at all possible, I would at least go with bookshelves in the front. There is something strange about hearing sound being fired down in front of you instead of coming at you. The rears could get by with in ceiling as they add rear fill and that would be ok for that. I heard a demo room of in ceiling speakers all around in a 5.1 setup. Blah! No sound stage whatsoever. Side note...I have four children (9, 7, 5 and 2) and I have a pair of RF-83's in my living room. Do I cringe every time they run by them to go to the fridge....Yep! I can understand why you wouldn't want to have them with little children but you just have to teach them to respectfully STAY AWAY FROM THEM! LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougdrake Posted July 5, 2008 Share Posted July 5, 2008 $1000 each for those THX speakers, it appears. Even at 60% off, that's still a sizable investment in ceiling speakers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted July 5, 2008 Moderators Share Posted July 5, 2008 I figured they might be pretty expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Islander Posted July 5, 2008 Share Posted July 5, 2008 Most new-style floor-standing speakers are tall and narrow, so tipping over is a valid concern. If you have the room, a pair of La Scalas might be ideal, since they're two feet wide and two feet deep and very resistant to tipping over, as well as sounding excellent. Among the young party-hearty crowd, one of the selling points of the La Scalas is that drunken college girls can dance on them without danger (without danger to the speakers, at least). La Scalas also have no vulnerable exposed speaker cones and kids can't climb inside the cabinets. Finally, they're called Heritage speakers for a reason. They may satisfy you for a lifetime and your kids will grow up around them, enjoying great sound for all the years they spend under your roof. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkmspartan Posted July 5, 2008 Author Share Posted July 5, 2008 Yeah, that would be tough to do. I could deal with the price, but knowing that I would most likely be compelled to leave them in the house when I moved (guessing 5-6 years) would be tough to do. I could deal with the CDT-5800-C, but am very curious to know how they sound compared to more 'standard' surround speakers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted July 5, 2008 Share Posted July 5, 2008 Okay, so if I went with 4 CDT-5800-C's (two front, two rear). How would that compar to have having 4 RSX-5 mounted to the ceiling. The four RSX-5's are going to sound better if you can get them properly aimed at the listening position. Are in-walls a possibility too? I think the R-5650's sound better than the RSX (when properly implemented of course). You might also look into the XL-23, which is a wall mount speaker (intended to match with flat planel TV's). The RVX-42 is the same idea, but slightly cheaper. Both are going to be better than any in-ceiling speaker or the RSX-5's. I really would avoid in-ceiling speakers at all costs. While Klipsch has some cool offerings, you're simply going to find way better performance with a speaker that you can actually aim directly at the listening position. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkmspartan Posted July 6, 2008 Author Share Posted July 6, 2008 Okay, thanks for all the advice to date. I've been doing plenty of research and read some other forums and basically you just can't win with in ceiling speakers (well, at least for fronts). So my alternative is to wall mount speakers next to the LCD. I can bring the L/R speakers through the conduit to the entertainment centers and leave the current spots in the ceiling blank. I'm not sure how, or if, i'll conceal the wires bridging the divide from the back of the LCD to the speakers, but i'll figure it out. It's too late at this point to run new cable dedicated to those spots on the wall. So how would this sound. RT-12d Sub (2) RVX-42 for Left and Right Fronts RC-62 for Center Either (2) RSX-5 or (2) CDT-5650-C for Rears Does this setup make sense (am I missing something)? Would you go with the in-ceilings or the RSX-5s for the rears? http://www.klipsch.com/products/details/rt-12d.aspx http://www.klipsch.com/products/details/rvx-42.aspx http://www.klipsch.com/products/details/rc-62.aspx http://www.klipsch.com/products/details/cdt-5650-c.aspx http://www.klipsch.com/products/details/rsx-5.aspx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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