Looking for advice on purchase and set up of electronic equipment in
new home.
Have pre-wired the house for everything I could think of; now ready to
buy the equipment.
We have a family room that will be used as our theater room as well.
Want to use the same speakers for surround sound and music enjoyment.
Can use either in-wall or surface mounted speakers for the front.
The rear surround speakers present more of a challenge, since this is a
very open floor plan, and there is not much of a back wall. Must mount
these in the ceiling. My thoughts there were to have small surface
mount speakers suspended on a short hangar.
People selling in-wall speakers tell me they sound better than surface
mount, but I have heard otherwise, so I would like suggesstions from
the group.
Also, when using same speakers for surround as stereo, how does one set
this up?

Thanks.
Rick

Rick wrote:
Looking for advice on purchase and set up of electronic equipment in
new home.
Have pre-wired the house for everything I could think of; now ready to
buy the equipment.
We have a family room that will be used as our theater room as well.
Want to use the same speakers for surround sound and music enjoyment.
Can use either in-wall or surface mounted speakers for the front.
The rear surround speakers present more of a challenge, since this is a
very open floor plan, and there is not much of a back wall. Must mount
these in the ceiling. My thoughts there were to have small surface
mount speakers suspended on a short hangar.

Budget?

People selling in-wall speakers tell me they sound better than surface
mount, but I have heard otherwise, so I would like suggesstions from
the group.

Sorry, I don't have any experience with inwall speakers, although I
like the idea. Saves a lot of space in the room and gives a more
finished look. I do know there are a lot of fine brands that now offer
inwall speakers.

Also, when using same speakers for surround as stereo, how does one set
this up?

This won't be a problem. I'm assuming you'll be using a Dolby home
receiver that will power all your speakers. Whether you play a CD or
DVD, your receiver will power the speakers and everything will be fine.

Thanks.
Rick

I suggest you go to your large local newsstand and look at magazines
such as Sound & Vision (a US magazine). Look through that magazine and
similar magazines for ideas. You can also look at back issues (assuming
your library has those) and at: www.soundandvisionmag.com

There are probably some good books out there. Try looking at amazon.com
and also at local book stores.

There's a lot of arguing in rec.audio.opinion among the regulars and I
don't know if you'll get much advice there. So I'm also posting my
comments in the following newsgroups, where you may get some more
comments:

alt.home-theater

alt.home-theater.misc

If you search Google.com and/or other search engines, you should find
some helpful web sites also.

I'll conclude by suggesting that you only shop for speakers locally.
Different brands and models can sound quite different from each other
and the best way to shop by far is to try before you buy. Smaller local
specialty hifi and home theater stores often have fine speakers and
experienced sales staff who can help you find gear that works well for
your needs. Stores like this may also have installers who can help put
the gear into your home so it looks good and works well.

Rick wrote:
Looking for advice on purchase and set up of electronic equipment in
new home.
Have pre-wired the house for everything I could think of; now ready to
buy the equipment.
We have a family room that will be used as our theater room as well.
Want to use the same speakers for surround sound and music enjoyment.
Can use either in-wall or surface mounted speakers for the front.

Neither can approach the quality of performance of free-standing
speakers for music unless you have a big budget.

The rear surround speakers present more of a challenge, since this is a
very open floor plan, and there is not much of a back wall. Must mount
these in the ceiling. My thoughts there were to have small surface
mount speakers suspended on a short hangar.

If you are considering 'only' 5.1, the surround speakers should be on
the side walls anyway.

People selling in-wall speakers tell me they sound better than surface
mount, but I have heard otherwise, so I would like suggesstions from
the group.

In walls can be bigger without looking so.

Also, when using same speakers for surround as stereo, how does one set
this up?

It is inherent in most A/V systems. The front 2 L/R speakers are your
stereo speakers.

Kal

Rick,
Surface mount speakers do, indeed, show the most potential of all the
options you mention. While it is true that there are very capable
in-wall models; you would need to pay substantially more to acheive the
defined low frequencies of a competing on-wall model. There is a lot of
focus on the on-walls right now, what with plasma TVs being all the
rage right now. This means that advances in technology are quick in
coming. There's also some basic room equalization built in to current
mid-priced receiver models. Every little bit helps.

P.S.: Your idea for ceiling mounted surrounds is perfectly acceptable
for watching movies.

[Carver1200]

Originally Posted by Rick

Looking for advice on purchase and set up of electronic equipment in
new home.
Have pre-wired the house for everything I could think of; now ready to
buy the equipment.
We have a family room that will be used as our theater room as well.
Want to use the same speakers for surround sound and music enjoyment.
Can use either in-wall or surface mounted speakers for the front.
The rear surround speakers present more of a challenge, since this is a
very open floor plan, and there is not much of a back wall. Must mount
these in the ceiling. My thoughts there were to have small surface
mount speakers suspended on a short hangar.
People selling in-wall speakers tell me they sound better than surface
mount, but I have heard otherwise, so I would like suggesstions from
the group.
Also, when using same speakers for surround as stereo, how does one set
this up?

Thanks.
Rick

Rick: It really depends on how accurately you want the system for music reproduction. Surface and in wall speakers don't do very well here. For home theater, probably still stick with stand alone front speakers, with ceiling mounted surface or in walls working well for the surrounds. A powered sub woofer is a must with home theater, but I don't like them for music. My home theater system is as described and works very well for that purpose. It's really just a bad cousin to my dedicated music system with lots of power and large VMPS speakers.