Which surrounds are the best for me and where??

[mflesher]

Hello all,

I've been tossing these questions around for about 3 months now. The question is basically about which Polk speakers would be good replacements for my existing surround speakers and where in the *$$&# do I put 'em??

First, a bit about my system and my room:

This is going in one of my living rooms that is about 30x25.
The system is powered by an Onkyo TXSR505 receiver.

A CS245i center channel (still the best speaker I think I've ever owned) is the center channel, with two newly installed TC65i in-wall speakers that make up my front left and rights. The 7.1 surround speakers are also a pair of newly installed TC65i's. The subwoofer driving the bass is a Velodyne 12" powered sub.

My 5.1 surround speakers, however, have yet to be replaced because I have issues. I would like to replace these speakers with a pair of some kind of in-wall/in-ceiling speakers, but I have a question for the audiophiles.

Currently the speakers are worn out Kenwood speakers that came from an HTIB system. They still sound good, but these new Polk speakers are burying them fast. The RIGHT surround speaker has no definite place - right now it's sitting on a crate behind the couch on a 3' divider wall separating one section/room of the house from another. The left surround speaker is another thing altogether. I can easily imagine and mount another TC65i or LC65i surround speaker in the vaulted ceiling to the left of the couch, which would give EXCELLENT directional sound to the couch and chairs in the room. However, the right surround speaker would have to be installed in the CEILING at a point equidistant from the left surround speaker if I did the in-wall application.

My question to you is - is that going to give me some jacked up sound having one pointed DOWN and the other angled towards the couch and chairs, or would it sound OK?

I was looking at the LSi6 "non-in-wall" speakers and just thought about mounting the left one on the wall, and putting the right surround speaker in the same place, but I was trying to go for a cleaner look that is clear of "speaker." I really want to use some form of IN WALL application everywhere so that the only freestanding speaker I have left is the CS245i center channel speaker (which will probably get replaced eventually by the LCiC). If I buy a pair of speakers that have directional tweeters, would that even out the sound enough to where my ears wouldn't be able to tell that one is in the ceiling with the other in the vaulted ceiling? The distance between these two speakers would roughly be about 25' if I were to utilize the "vaulted ceiling and other in the ceiling ceiling" concept.

Any advice on what would be the best application (and best speaker!) would be greatly appreciated!! This is driving me crazy, and my wife would thank you all very much so that I wouldn't spend so much time on the da** computer researching this stuff!!! :)

[ben62670]

Welcome to Club Polk. I think your LSI idea is a very good one. I am not familiar to the in wall speakers. Stick around a bit if it doesn't cause too much trouble at home. A lot of good advice can be attained here at CP.

Ben

[mflesher]

Well, I see a lot of options including some of the rounded surround speakers, but my main question is whether or not one surround speaker vs. another would sound too awkward with one being at a slanted angle towards the listening target with the other one being straight in the ceiling pointed down to the floor. I know some people on here have more experience with this issue than I would and was hoping that I could get some advice.