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Using in ceiling surround, shall I upgrade?

I have an ANTHEM MRX-300 with Simaudio Titan 5 channel, running a 7.1 setup with 4 x ATLANTIC TECHNOLOGY in-ceiling 6" speakers, I have been using these surround for 4 years since I moved in this new house. It is a open room with living room and dinning room adjacent to each other, I gave up my dipole speakers to in-ceiling to make the room look more tidy which pleased my family members.

Now after 4 years, day in day out I always wonder about how much SQ I actually surrendered so far, can anyone comment if there is big difference in enjoyment if I change all these 4 to drop down surround dipole speakers, are in-ceiling surround so bad when compare with any drop down ones? Thanks.
grandetech
kbuzz
214 posts
 
Internetmin

Thanks for the post. I did not want to hijack the thread which was why i did not post more specific info. My situation is rather unique but in brief, i moved recently and bought a pair of ohm microwalsh talls on a whim to use in my small family room as a stereo pair. I liked them so much i plan to order an OHM center.

This family came with a set of in walls already in installed, and i wanted to keep the rear in ceiling surrounds (or replacements) as wifey is objecting to on walls. OHM does not make in walls Hence the post.
grandetech OP
73 posts
 
Internetmin

My front speakers are Thiel CS3.7

If for timbre matching, besides Thiel surround speakers (it doesn't convince me that it will be a big step upgrade based on the look of the built, unless someone can tell me otherwise), is there any particular suggestion for brands of in-ceiling or bipole speakers?

To tell more my comment on the issue, it is like the surround speakers are not as dynamic and powerful enough for some big action scene, even if I turn up the level for surround and rears, it doesn't help much. Hence this post.
internetmin
258 posts
 
Grandtech,

Your comment about the dynamics, looking up the theil model and my own experience with the Atlantics tell me that your surrounds are overmatched by a 12k pair of fronts. My suggestion is to go with a highly dynamic pair of in ceiling. Triad, Revel, B&W come to mind immediately. Your Atlantic tech are also likely only able to go down to 80hz, as most of their stuff crosses over at that point. You may be having some room response issues as a consequence. The only way to know is to do a room response graph for those speakers via the anthem. See where they are getting crossed over. It may be that they are getting crossed over at 120hz or higher and the sub may only be going up to 80. Thus, you might have a frequency gap. But look at the anthem post correction graph to see what's what. In fact, take the next step and post the graph on the AVS forum for the anthem AVM50/D2 forum and see what other opinions you get. While I certainly do think that it is a speaker matching issue, it may also be another issue related to the room. Again, I'm assuming you have property run ARC.
internetmin
258 posts
 
And are the in ceiling dipole or monopole/direct firing?
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