# 7.1 surround questions



## Master Brian (Apr 24, 2009)

Working on finishing out my basement and I'm wanting to add 7.1 surround off my Harman Kardon AVR 247 receiver if possible. 

I have some older bose speaker components and a 15" Cerwin Vega Self Powered Sub as well. The room section for the TV portion is about 15x15, but the entire area is about 30x15. 

Is there any reason I can't/shouldn't stick the rear two speakers in the ceiling and the two side and two front side speakers on some built in bookshelves? I can get those speakers at any height. 

It's been awhile since I messed with this stuff, so I need some refreshing. Part of the bose I have are a pair of bookshelf speakers and I have a few of there single cube speakers. Can I use the cubes for the rear side and the bookshelf up front side? Then install a set of 5" ceiling speakers....was looking at some bose to keep everything in the same family and hopefully same sound quality. Not sure if I should rethink that or what. Not even sure if the cubes are enough for the rear sides if I go this route. I'll also have to invest in a decent center speaker, as all I had before was a single cube and that won't be enough I'm sure.

Any pointers are appreciated.


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## Mystriss (Dec 26, 2018)

Bose speakers generally can't handle output from a AVR, only from their Bose subwoofer as far as I'm aware. I blew my acoustimas satellites many years ago trying to do the same thing :/


Without getting into compass degrees for optimal setups and what not, all your satellite speakers (front's, center, right/left, surround's, surround 1's, wide's, rear surround's, etc.) should be at ear height. 

The other's (height or presence typically) can certainly be put in the ceiling, else you want them as close to the ceiling as you can get em. 

A single subwoofer they recommend in the front to the right or left of the screen. Second subwoofer they recommend putting closer to the seating area.

If your AVR can put out the juice you can supplement (daisy chain) on any channel (say right/left or surround or surround 1 or rear surround or height 1, height 2, etc.) to fill up any dead air spots. Else you can get an amp to put out more wattage and daisy chain more speakers through that.


I think you're mistaken on the center speaker, I mean yeah you're probs going to need to invest in one cause you have Bose satellites, but it's not so much the shape of the speaker, as the tweet & woofer inside it and power. Like all of my satellites are 4x4 Boston Acoustic cubes it's perfectly fine to do them as center.


If you're going to have to buy, you might want to look at Polk's 5.1 Blackstone TL1600 for $279 on Amazon. Polk's are my favorite for movies (BA's are just my go-to because I like them more for my kinda music - aka higher freq. opera and stuff.) I believe Polk's in-wall (ceiling)'s run like $78 each and they have a ... I believe it's TL1 speaker that matches (or is at least close enough) the TL1600's for somewhere around $50. If you start out with the 5.1 or 5.2 in your case since you have a sub, you might even find you don't need to buy the other speakers to fill yer space adequately


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## u2slow (Feb 9, 2012)

You might be overthinking it. Get some speaker wire and do some trial speaker mock-up placement. Then you know what it will sound like before you commit.


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## Master Brian (Apr 24, 2009)

Back on this....

Not trying to over think, I'm just trying to button up a basement finish and before I finish up my drywall, I want to run wires for the speakers. 

I looked at the polk and those seem like a doable option, I'll read some more reviews, but I know they make good speakers.... wish there were more places to go listen like there used to be, but.... I'm also sure 5.1 would probably suffice in this space, but the avr is setup for 7.1, so figured might as well take advantage of it. 

Correct me if wrong, if I place two polk ceiling speakers in ceiling for left and right rear, then buy 4 of the TL1s and use for left and right surround and left and right front, then find a matching center, place the sub up front and u should be good? 

I do somewhat worry my 15" Vega might be too much, but I'm not sure the amp isn't blown, so it might be replaced as well. 

Thanks for the update on the bose satellites, you are correct, they need to run through their sub, which I do have.


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## Mystriss (Dec 26, 2018)

Yeah I'd put in what your amp can handle for sure (I ran 13.2 in wall and I'm planning to add the .4 ceiling at some point.)

Get a TL1600 - https://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-B...ild=1&keywords=polk+tl1&qid=1593057459&sr=8-4

Then supplement with a couple TL1's:

Wall mount or bookcase: https://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-T...ild=1&keywords=polk+tl1&qid=1593057459&sr=8-5

Alternative center speaker if you prefer the look: https://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-T...ild=1&keywords=polk+tl1&qid=1593057459&sr=8-2

Alternative thinner bookcase speakers (best matching IMO): https://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-W...ild=1&keywords=polk+tl1&qid=1593057459&sr=8-3


As for ceiling's and in-wall's I don't like the polks look. I went with these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07XVRRNLN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and they sound good enough for surrounds (on the sides/ceiling) I wouldn't put them on the front right/left or center personally, not that they sound bad or anything, but they don't sound "great" either. 

I'd point you toward boston acoustics as they're a bit cheaper, but they haven't had any stock for a long time due to CV19.


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## ktkelly (Apr 7, 2007)

Here you go. From Dolby Labs:


https://www.pinterest.com/pin/794744665466379212/


My company sold Wharfedale, Definitive Technologies, Atlantic Technologies, BGRadia, Kef, etc, etc.



My preference (what I sold the most of) is KEF, but you likely won't like the prices, although this was my more budget friendly option. Huge difference between Polk and KEF besides just the price though.


If your pocket can stand it, the BG Radia is seriously great speakers, but that HK will never have enough power to push them.


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## Master Brian (Apr 24, 2009)

Thanks for the suggestions on speakers, I'm still debating this. I've been trying to get the wires run, maybe I can somewhat mock things up and hook this receiver up to see if it's still going to work well based upon modern tech. Haven't used it much in 12 years due to the house I'm in, not having a convenient place to place it and speakers, hence the need to finally wrap the basement up. 

Not trying to beat any dead horses here. My current bose bookshelves are 201 series IV. They're rated at 60w per channel, but can be used in up to 120w receivers per the sticker. The HK is rated at 7 x 50w, so about perfect it seems. I'm still trying to figure out where I put the other set of satellite speakers I had from bose, but they might need to be paired with the bose subwoofer as mentioned earlier, these weren't cubes. I do have cubes though and I still have that sub and a few cubes somewhere. 

With that said, I don't mind buying some speakers and realize it might eventually be smart to upgrade everything, just trying not to buy more than necessary until the rest is done. 


I'm also still a bit confused about the rear back surround speaker placement. The sectional will be pretty much against back wall. Can those be in the ceiling above the sectional? The surround L&R will be placed somewhere between 36" up to ceiling height... think I'm reading rear height is best for those. 

Thanks once again


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## ktkelly (Apr 7, 2007)

Old school speaker placement.


Front left and right should be at or near ear level, aimed at the center seating. Same with the center speaker.


Side R&L should be about one foot below ceiling height with a 8 foot ceiling, with tweeters aimed directly at each other (if you use other than dipoles).


Rear R&L should be on wall at a similar height.


Sub should be off to the right or left roughly 2 foot away from any wall.


You MAY want to lay in some wire for infill speakers, in the ceiling pretty much in line with front and rear R&L for future use..






Confused enough? :vs_laugh:


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## Mystriss (Dec 26, 2018)

Scroll down a bit here for different setups: https://www.dolby.com/about/support/guide/speaker-setup-guides/


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## squared80 (Feb 18, 2021)

Updates here? Pictures?


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## GrayHair (Apr 9, 2015)

squared80 said:


> Updates here? Pictures?


If the haven't in the ensuing year, they probably won't.


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## Master Brian (Apr 24, 2009)

GrayHair said:


> If the haven't in the ensuing year, they probably won't.


I actually haven't installed any ceiling speakers or purchased any other satellites. I still have the wire coming out of ceiling, but it's tucked up and barely noticeable. Bought a center channel speaker for TV and it has surround satellites, so there hasn't been much reason at this point. I'll likely do at some point, just hasn't been high on the priority scale!


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## Deja-vue (Mar 24, 2013)

*No Highs, no Lows, must be:*


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