Atmos Top Rear dipole experiments

[Gravy4547]

I have been experimenting with this idea of using a bipole/dipole speaker as a top rear in an atmos set-up. With my idea, the main face of the speak points down, and the adjacent face points towards the back wall. The goal being, I want my top rears to double as a rear surround an a traditional 7.1 system. Like so:

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For this job I have been using the Polk RM8. These are pseudo dipole, and have the quality of multiple facing speaker design. Plus they easily mount to my ceiling without much fuss.

I got this idea when from how my receiver handles a sound panning across the rear field. I noticed that my receiver seemed to treat my top rears as rear surrounds. When a sound pans across the rear field, it passes from Surround Right to Top Rear Right to Top Rear Left to Surround Left. The sound kind of has a rollercoaster or hump effect. I theorized that if I could use a multiple faced speaker to be both a point source and a reflective sound, I could get the best of both worlds.

Results: Early results are positive. It does sound like the top rear is spread from the top point source to a delocalized sound coming from both top and behind. Which in my opinion is desirable when running a non-rear 5.1.4 set-up (as pictured.) The reflective sound covers the gap directly behind you, the sound comes from the top but is also "smeared" on the back wall as well, giving a more complete bubble of sound.