It was definitely a commitment- especially with the tongue and groove ceiling but thankfully it worked out just great. I just demoed my HT last night for a good friend of mine who had been telling me for the last two months that his Yamaha and Klipsch combo would blow my Outlaw/Sherwood/Polk HT away. Well.... at the end of the night he told me that he would not even let me hear his HT anymore. He is in the market now to upgrade to Outlaw, etc.

As far as the db level , the rears are set to about 4db higher than the surrounds (calibrated with an SPL meter) but I am not sure if that would have been any different with the enclosures. Just make sure that you have the spacing and distance right. You may just want to experiment with bookshelves (I did) first to get an idea. It won't be exact but it will help you to know how far back and apart you ike the back two for your room. Also try to get them timbre matched for your other speakers. Whatever you do, 7.1 is awesome and I highly recommend it.

Well wingnut, 7.1 is coming soon as I placed my order for a 990 last night.

My biggest struggle will be placing the sides and rears for sure. Both sets of speakers that I will use are Def. Tech bi-polars: BP-10s and BPX. The problem is, that I have windows on both sides of the room where hanging the sides (BPX's) would be optimal. I've struggled with placing my rears to the sides previously and got tired of drilling and filling holes in the drywall -only to find that the sound wasn't right.

That's why I am contemplating in-wall/in-ceiling placement as an option. Although, cutting an 8" hole may be more of a repair than filling a couple of screw holes? :rolleyes:

My left surround is hanging right in front of a window and you are right , it is not optimal but you can still acheive great sound. I think that the blinds actually help to act as a sort of diffuser- maybe a little-

Maybe you can wire them up and have someone hold them (or a couple of people) to give you an idea of where they would sound best? Or, depending upon how heavy or fragile the speakers are, temporarily attach them to the ceiling and experiment with placement. Once you cut those holes it's set in stone..well kind of. You can always fix it but what a job. :p

Let me know how you like the 990. I have never heard it but if it sounds anything like it's Uncle Sherwood you will be thrilled.

How are those bipolar speakers? Do you have a lot of room for the fronts? I have read that the placement on those is tricky. When I was hooking up my HT just as a dry run I had a Polk FX30 bipole/dipole speaker placed as my center (just checking the connections) and I actually really liked the effect. It sounded pretty neat.

Wingnut...

placement can be tricky on the bipoles, especially those with the built-in subs, but when you find the right spots they sound fantastic. It's definitely a different sound than a direct-radiating speaker, but they give a fantastic sense of space in both music and HT.

Wingnut, I am not able to see the picture. Can you please put it up again?