Will you be using a media console for under your TV? If so, I think the freestanding speakers look good next to the console.

You seem to show 5.1 surround system using freestanding speakers. Freestanding surrounds behind the listeners ears at roughly ear level is best.

If you think it's too cluttered, go ahead and position the surrounds up in the ceiling.

Looks like you'll make it 7.1 with the extra ceiling surrounds.

Will the two speakers in the rec room just be used for stereo? I wouldn't hook those up to your home theater system.

If you don't have a media/TV console, I would probably put all the speakers in the ceiling.

P.S. I recommend speakers from Rogers Sound Labs. Awesome quality at a great price. They have good in-ceiling speaker options.

Yes, I have 4 tower speakers and I have to purchase the extra ceiling speakers.

Hi Prime Ohio,

One idea:

If your speakers cost a good amount (why you want to keep them) I would suggest building a cabinet/soffit enclosure. This will give the theater look without taking up space. They can also be dual purpose as cabinet space. Make the front an acoustic perforated fabric. See attached picture for general concept this was for a client that had a nice pair of bookshelf speakers that wanted them in the kitchen but out of sight.

If the cost of building out an enclosure far exceeds the price of the speakers, I would highly recommend getting new speakers. Not sure your budget but here is what I would put in. We just installed this same setup on a recent job and had nothing but praise.

Fronts Left and Right: James Loud Speaker Model# 806BE 3 Way LCR

Center: James Loud Speaker Model # Qx5Cs

Rears and Surround Backs: James Loud Speaker Model # 53SA7

Subwoofer: James Loud Speaker Model # EMB12DF (plus sub amp)

Hope this gives you some ideas.

Mike

After a number of years I hooked up my speakers and old amp, wow the sound stage was phenomenal for stereo. Those towers have to stay in the new home. I finally remembered why I went for those big speakers.

I have to build a cabinet and hide it. None of the in wall speakers could match the sound quality, unless I am prepared to spend a lot of money.

The James speakers recommended are amazing speakers and have the price tag to match. The most important speakers will be the front 3. You can back off a little for the rears & front highs (atmos). Will be hard to hide those speakers. You could 1 - decrease the size of the room and "recess" the speakers in built out dry wall. Or you could have cabinetry built on either side that can enclose the speakers - put acoustical fabric on the mill work to hide the speakers

I agree with Steve. Don't hide them, enjoy them!

If you're looking for a way to conceal large theater speakers so they don't dominate the room, consider putting them behind an AT (acoustically transparent) screen. That way you get (most of) the sound from a free-standing speaker without having them take up space in the room, or be seen as "clutter".

We had a similar requirement that our basement theater still be able to serve multiple purposes, rather than having the room be completely dedicated to theater.

So I went with the AT screen route, and concealed the AV gear within a cabinet:

Full details of the build:

http://havingfunalongtheway.com/basement-home-theater-screen/

Go in wall or in ceiling. If you look on Audiogon, eBay or even Amazon there are so many speaker bundles that they are fairly cheap. It just gives such a cleaner custom look.

Be careful of surround speaker height. If in wall facing forward they need to be quite some distance behind you to be effective. You can mount them low in wall or ceiling bouncing off the rear wall. Look for ones with an amiable tweeter.

Look around audio equipment is marked up so much you will be surprised what you find for 75% off retail that will work. In a second bedroom we did a set of Jamo from Amazon that were $125new and sold for approx$800 when current. They are decent and have a cool look being ball shaped. Point is look audio equipment dates quick and have steep discounts. Subwoofers are also a concern regarding placement as loading a corner can get boomy fast.

I know audiophiles hate Bose but a marked down or almost new set up is one button use family friendly and in a large room they sound decent. Sometimes the family just wants to watch a movie not play with mismatched components.

Pwlong, i like the at screens. That said, how do those floor standers sound inside there. Seems to me that the tweeters are optimized when roughly at the mid-point of your screen. Also, the center channel and tweeters of the towers are so far away from eachother.

In wall or ceiling will not sound as good as a full tower, or should not anyways. And sorry, Bose is garbage compared to a quality speakers. The Jamos (made by Klipsch) are decent speakers. And a properly configured and placed quality subwoofer will not be boomy.

I've really not noticed any significant sound quality difference between how these BI-PL980s sound with the screen in place, or removed. The Seymour screen material (I went with Center Stage XD) really does a great job at passing sounds through, and while I was a bit of a skeptic before setting things up, I'm a fan of the AT setup now.

In terms of spacing for the L-C-R, my goal was to follow the Dolby spacing guide for a 9.1.2 setup (below). I'd planned to have set the towers even further apart, but the cabinets on either side prevented it. Now that it's done, I love the sound and wouldn't change the setup.

For proper sound staging, you cannot enclose floor standing speakers, they need to have room all around them.

We had an audio company come over and install (their suggestion, not mine) James loud speakers in our screen wall, and the sound staging disappeared. We had them remove them within a week.

For casual listening ceiling speakers are totally fine, but not for movies and critical listening.

My best sound staged/recorded music is by Robby robinson (from The Band) called The Red (Ensemble(?) something or other), it fills up the whole front of the room, left to right and top to bottom.

Enjoy your home.