I know the purists won't agree with this, but I've found that you can train your ear to accept just about anything. Optimum placement aside, you can learn to love your set-up even if it's not perfect. Hey we all have variables to work around, not everybody has a room and budget so flexible that anything's possible. But that doesn't mean you have to scrap your dreams of owning your very own hi-fi home theater system.
Take me for example, when I put together my last HT I had nowhere to place the center channel speaker besides bolting it right to the ceiling. Well I did so and never thought too much about it, it sounded fine to me... well, at least if it didn't sound fine in the beginning I can't remember it. And it couldn't have not sounded very good for very long because all I have are fond memories of watching movies in that HT.
In fact I was so happy with it that when I put together my current HT the plan from the very beginning was to anchor the VP150 right to my ceiling. That was it, I never even considered putting it anywhere else. This is because I was already so used to it being up there, and also because I was not really aware that it's 'proper' placement was under the screen. So up on the ceiling it went, and I've been stupidly happy with it.
From everything I've read on here it should sound terrible up there, but my ears are so used to it, it sounds incredibly natural to me. So it seems to me that with a little coaxing, and perhaps a dash of ignorance, you can accept just about anything.
Of course the 'know it alls' will whine that you're destroying the sound field, killing the experience, and just plain old doing it 'wrong'. But if there's one thing I've learned from watching the 'Matrix' it's this..... ignorance is bliss!
