Stephen was concerned about how he had set up his rear sats on ceiling mounts - a good question !
Stephen wrote :
"Hi Matt
I have read alot of your posts and you seem to be very knowledgable. I respect your opinion. May you can help me. When i bought my HTIB i got free speaker stands with it (24 inch sanus). I am using them for my front left and right speakers. ok - i mounted my surround speakers with ceiling mounts(left,right,center). the reason why i did this was because behind my couch i have a big window and there is no good place to put my center surround speaker. Is this not a good idea? should i have mounted all my speakers(including front left and right) with ceiling mounts or have mounted all with speaker stands? i have to say even with this setup it sounds really good. but i want it to be so close to perfect. I have 8ft. ceilings when i hear something that is suppose to be whizzing past my ear( a bullet) it just seems like it is whizzing above the right or left part of my head - i know this is because the speakers are so high. it there any way to point the speakers in a different way so that it trick my ears? or is going with all speaker stands the answer? By doing that - maybe there will be no displacemment. Matt - can you help me with my dilemma?
Thanks Steve"
And our reply :
Hi Steve
Thanks for the nice words. I appreciate that !
Ok - first things first. You say your system sounds "really good" the way you have set it up. So, you know, you have already answered your question for the most part. You like it, it fits into the geometry constraints of your room - window,ceilings etc - so you have done a good job.
Second - Sanus stands are pretty good freebies - especially if they have the spikes - and if they don't - that's another complex question - and don't sweat it - ok :-)
Ideally and you know this already - all speakers should be positioned on the same acoustic plane. But - and this is pretty important - the rear sats carry little significant information - they are ambience enhancing. They carry just enough information to create a pseudo-360 degree listening arena.
For wall/ceiling mounts - it is best to have mounts with swivelling mounts - that way you can make minor adjustments to your listening envelope. So, if you bought fixed mounts - then investigate swivelling platforms. But please remember this - if the rear sound effects are "whizzing" by or above your ears - a) Is that so bad ? b) Maybe that's where the effects were meant to occur in the sonic envelope ! You don't know this and your 'acoustical' brain doesn't care. Get my drift ? If it works for you - it works !!
And lastly I want to say this to you and to all new HT purchasers - you will hear so many ill-informed opinions about your system or proposed system that it can spook you.
"You placed your rear speakers where Stephen ? - dude - get real"; "You aren't using Monster sub-woofer interconnects ? Are you serious clone ?"; "Your sub-woofer is how big ?" etc etc etc.
Forget this "noise". Listen for yourself - forget your neighbours - and if you want - you can check in with me. I'll always be honest and tell you exactly where I am coming from - sonically. And then you can agree with me by using your own test material or not. That's the way it needs to be done.