Layout for 9.1.4 (Include front wide or height?)

[ncampbel]

Hi,

I'm working on setting up a theater from scratch. I'd like to have the speaker layout as future proof as possible since I'll be punching holes everywhere and refinishing the room so I was planning on doing 9.1.4 (with 2 subs).

The concern I'm running into is whether to install a front wide or front height set of speakers. It appears that dolby atmos supports 9.1.4 with front wide speakers according to their home theater setup guide. However it mentions that front wide speakers aren't used in an upmix, only with dolby atmos native content. Auro 3d doesn't use front wide speakers but requires a front height speaker set. I'm not too worried about building in direct compatibility for auro 3d since there is very little native content and competition from DTS/Dolby is soon going to drown it out.

Issue I'm running into is whether or not DTS-X will take advantage of having front wide speakers or not. I've hunted around quite a bit and haven't found any information other than "it's adaptable" but from what I understand that's only true up to what configuration the manufacturer of the processor supports.

Does anybody have a 9.1.4 system with front wide speakers? How much do they assist the sound stage? Do they only work with native Dolby Atmos content? Do you feel they're a worthwhile addition? Are they utilized by DTS-X (native/upmix).

Cubic volume of the room is ~3,000 ft^3 with an 8'4" ceiling.

Thanks,

Nathan

 

[Latent]

If you did front height speakers instead of front wide it would make it a 7.1.6 layout and not 9.1.4

Atmos amd dts:X both support both of these layouts technically but the problem is the AVR maker has to add explicit support for each layout. All consumer models today support up to 11 channels at a time right now and may be able to do certain combinations of 9.1.2 or 7.1.4

The speaker terminals and preouts are often double or triple assigned so that you can pick one speaker type to assign to them. Front height for example often uses the same output terminals as top front and top middle. Read the manual of the avr to find what it can do.

If you have top front ceiling speakers then there is no need for front height as they are very close spec wise and have much overlap.

 

[ncampbel]

If you did front height speakers instead of front wide it would make it a 7.1.6 layout and not 9.1.4

Atmos amd dts:X both support both of these layouts technically but the problem is the AVR maker has to add explicit support for each layout. All consumer models today support up to 11 channels at a time right now and may be able to do certain combinations of 9.1.2 or 7.1.4

The speaker terminals and preouts are often double or triple assigned so that you can pick one speaker type to assign to them. Front height for example often uses the same output terminals as top front and top middle. Read the manual of the avr to find what it can do.

If you have top front ceiling speakers then there is no need for front height as they are very close spec wise and have much overlap.

Thanks for your insight, with futher research I've been looking at getting the Marantz AV8802A which supports 9.1.4 with front-wide. Is it your understanding that DTS-X supports using the front-wide speakers with native DTS-X content? How about neural-X upmixes?

 

[Latent]

Dts:x and Dolby Atmos both will support scaling native object based audio formats to all 9.1.4 speakers just fine. And when applying their up mixers to a 2/5.1/7.1 source it would in theory scale to all 9.1.4 speakers as well. How much you get from the wide speakers in practice I don't know. Adding more speakers do not always help much.

 

[KG3]

Hi, i will be setting up a home theater at home and seek valuable inputs! dimensions of the room is
37FT in length, 10 FT in width & 13 FT in ceiling height. purchased a 9.1.4 speaker system and planning to set it up asap. speaker system consists of 2x floor standing, 1x center, 1x SW, 6x book shelf & 4x Dolby Atmos speakers. my initial idea was to have a couple of front presence, center, 2 floor standing & 2 x dolby atmos in front. 2 x sourround, 2 x rear presence & 2 x Dolby Atmos. can someone guide me with a lay out plan and guidence in getting the best out of Dolby Atmos & DTS:X
Thanks,
KG3

 

[Mitchibo]

Depends on your AVR. I assume the TV/AVR will be aligned on the 10 ft wall? That's a mighty long room to fill. If you have an AVR that supports this setup it will no doubt have a set up map in it.

 

[KG3]

Hi, many thanks ! I will be using a 3d projector on the 10 FT wall. mine is a Yamaha AVR model # RX-A3070 comprising of 2 x Q950 floor standing, Q650C center, 2xQ350 front presence, R400 SW, 2xQ350 surround, 2 xQ350 rear presence, 4 x R50 Dolby atoms (front & rear) KEF Brand speakers. any further
advice is greatly appreciated!
KG3

 

[Latent]

Yamaha front presence speakers are really height speakers and work with atmos as an alternative to in ceiling speakers. They are called front/rear height in dolby atmos terminology. Yamaha avr's can use presence speakers either for adding their dsp sound modes or for Atmos height depending on source and sound mode. For each front and rear height channel you need to chose between presence or in ceiling option as you can't run both. You can do things like run front presence/height and for the rear do in ceiling.
The speaker positions you choose depends a lot on your room and where you can place speakers. But you can't go above 7.1.4 speakers in all affordable home avr's at the moment.

You can mount both types of height speakers and change between them when needed but it is not a quick easy or automatic thing to change.