Ceiling speakers on sloping ceiling???

[clrrdr]

Building a new house. Home theater with surround, etc. in a space 12' x 14'.
Open design, total living and dining area is 24' x 14' (open space) with
ceiling that goes from 8' to 15' over the 14' dim.

40" LCD TV on wall next to fireplace. Ceiling height at TV is about 10' but
ceiling is climbing right to left up to 15'. No good place for floor mounted
speakers, wondering if ceiling speakers could be a solution for right and
left stereo speakers and how far apart? Center speaker can go under the TV
and there is shelf space nearby to the right of TV for a sub. Also, can I
consider ceiling speakers for rear speakers as well?

Sketch is attached here. See below.

Thanks for any help here.

[GMichael]

Hi clrrdr,

Welcome to AR. Your house sounds like it will be very nice. It's good to plan your system now and get all the wiring done before the drywall goes up.

I don't think that in ceiling speakers is the way to go. The dispersion is far from optimal. Are you thinking this way so that they are hidden or do you not have the room for tower or bookshelf speakers? What kind of budget are you working with. There are some in-wall speakers that may do the trick for you, but I think that they may be a bit pricy.
Let us know what you are looking for, and there are plenty of people here who will help.

[icarus]

first of all, i gotta give you some props on your drawing, must be the best peice of artwork ive seen in years. Gmicheal has a good point about the dispersion. With the sloped ceiling your options are minimal for optimal sound especially with in wall speakers. have you though of inwall speakers on the actuall wall itself arround the TV instead of the ceiling??

[recoveryone]

Ok, now that I looked over the floor plan :) I would shift the room layout first. Use the 12' section of wall space to hang you TV (if Possible), but more important it gives you more options on speaker placement. The fireplace cuts to much out of user space and puts the whole room off balance for any type of speaker placement no matter what kind you get. By using the 12' section the only choice you would need to make is the placement of the rears. In which using in celing would not be so bad due to the slope of the roof line. My thinking is that you want to create a box type listening area as much as possible. you already have the open area to the kitchen and to the stairs. So you need to give your system a soild base to start with. The 12' section would be best from what I seen from the floor plans, and it will make you 40" look bigger due to the smaller wall size on the end of the roof line.

Also your roof line will help from this direction with the sound carrying through the room. Speakers have a dispersion angle (around 15-30 degs) depending on the size. Now if you went with bookshelf or mini sat, I would mount them on the wall and allow the roof line to help with the dispersion angle (carrying the sound throughout the room). If you went with floor standing, the taller the better. one last note. using the corner (next to fireplace on outside wall) would be good place for sub (corners help Sub s') I added this pic of my bedroom to give you an ideal of how the a slope can help. My speakers are sitting 8' high above my wife's closet on a shelf. The roof line is about 8-10" above that and slopes upward and peaks then slopes back down. Even when I only listening to a stereo source I still get the feeling that the surrounds are working due the the roof is adding the fronts with the dispersion and sending the sound futher throughtout the room.

[clrrdr]

Hi clrrdr,

Welcome to AR. Your house sounds like it will be very nice. It's good to plan your system now and get all the wiring done before the drywall goes up.

I don't think that in ceiling speakers is the way to go. The dispersion is far from optimal. Are you thinking this way so that they are hidden or do you not have the room for tower or bookshelf speakers? What kind of budget are you working with. There are some in-wall speakers that may do the trick for you, but I think that they may be a bit pricy.
Let us know what you are looking for, and there are plenty of people here who will help.

Thanks for the comments. I'm most concerned about space, the wall with TV and Fireplace seem busy already. I could use towers for fronts but then how far from the TV do the fronts need to be to be effective, could I set them on the hearth which comes out about 16" from the wall 12" off the floor. With the TV off center to the left there seems no good place for a left front. I was planning for $2500 +/- for all speakers. I might add that I am not a high end audiophile, probably a 6 or 7 on a 1-10 scale so I'm pretty easy to please.. I'd hope to use the fronts or perhaps the surrounds for stereo music in the room as well.

I'm afraid my room is not too condusive for Home Theater, I may have to do it on the lower level, a more conventional room. However, I want to explore options as we really want to live and use the nicest space in the home!

[clrrdr]

Ok, now that I looked over the floor plan :) I would shift the room layout first. Use the 12' section of wall space to hang you TV (if Possible), but more important it gives you more options on speaker placement. The fireplace cuts to much out of user space and puts the whole room off balance for any type of speaker placement no matter what kind you get. By using the 12' section the only choice you would need to make is the placement of the rears. In which using in celing would not be so bad due to the slope of the roof line. My thinking is that you want to create a box type listening area as much as possible. you already have the open area to the kitchen and to the stairs. So you need to give your system a soild base to start with. The 12' section would be best from what I seen from the floor plans, and it will make you 40" look bigger due to the smaller wall size on the end of the roof line.

Also your roof line will help from this direction with the sound carrying through the room. Speakers have a dispersion angle (around 15-30 degs) depending on the size. Now if you went with bookshelf or mini sat, I would mount them on the wall and allow the roof line to help with the dispersion angle (carrying the sound throughout the room). If you went with floor standing, the taller the better. one last note. using the corner (next to fireplace on outside wall) would be good place for sub (corners help Sub s') I added this pic of my bedroom to give you an ideal of how the a slope can help. My speakers are sitting 8' high above my wife's closet on a shelf. The roof line is about 8-10" above that and slopes upward and peaks then slopes back down. Even when I only listening to a stereo source I still get the feeling that the surrounds are working due the the roof is adding the fronts with the dispersion and sending the sound futher throughtout the room.

Great thoughts, thank you. However, the 12' wall is actually windows starting about 18" from the floor all the way to the 15' ceiling. It looks out over a sloping wooded hill which is actually adjacent to a State Park with deer,etc., it's going to be really pretty neat. I don't think I am going to get the TV on the window wall. I like the idea of "using the slope" in some manner to disperse the sound.

I may have an impossible room for Home Theater.

[recoveryone]

well that only cuts out the wall hanging part. You can still use that side of the room and have the TV on a stand and go with a pair of floor standing speakers:

Aperion Towers
AAD 600 series
Athena Tech F-2

To name a few, You can keep the AVR and other components in that corner (same side of fireplace) and put the sub on the other side of TV. the glass will help refect the sound out through the room also. My have to keep sub low so to cut down on booming from the glass refection. I think this could still work out for you.

[AVMASTER]

take a look at Speakercraft AIM series in-ceiling speakers, these are directional in-ceiling speakers that allow you to "aim" not only the tweeter but the entire driver towards the seating area; even better for your application is the Speakercraft TIME series. Also look at the little Mirage Nanosats, its' unique omnipolar design and corner -wall -mounting shape might work for your room. There's also the Polk Audio Soundbar or Yamahas' digital sound projectors; bottom line--the room itself would need some work b-4 you get any stellar sound in there