Placing surround speakers up in a vaulted ceiling?

[taj]

While my preference would be to attach wall mounted speakers to the beam going across the living room (approx 12 feet height) directed at the desired locations, I’m balancing the ‘happy wife, happy life’ WAF reality that I live in…

So what could I expect, and recommendations, from placing speakers in the vaulted ceiling (peak going down the center of the room, guessing 20 feet at peak)? Currently I’m looking at coaxials with tilting tweeters to somewhat offset the ceiling angle, but my concern is impact of the sound from that height- or hopefully? since the surrounds are more ‘back fill’ and will be adjusted timing wise with the a/v unit this location will be ok?

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

I have a friend with in-ceiling surrounds in a vaulted ceiling, and they work well. However, in his situation the ceiling construction angles them down to the seating, and they are only about 9 ft. high.

In your situation, any back speakers will be better than nothing but I expect at that height there won’t be any meaningful separation in instances of rear-channel pans.

Regards,
Wayne

 

[Grayson Dere]

Surround speakers placed up in the vaulted ceiling could provide some interesting surround fill due to the reflections up there. Honestly, I think it might be a good thing!