Can I Use Regular Speakers as Dolby Atmos Upfiring?

[everettT]

i am stuck, my amp is atmos compatable, but i have 18 foot vault ceiling with a shelf @12 ft up where i could put bookshelf speakers for atmos, now would you lie them down or face the room, or buy atmos speakers and let mcacc set them up.

If your going to follow the ceiling mounted location, then fire them straight down form the mounts

 

[DocSteve]

If your going to follow the ceiling mounted location, then fire them straight down form the mounts

 

[DocSteve]

i cant mount them on ceiling, wife would kill me. i did buy an inexpensive set of dayton audio bookshelves to see what happens, if this doesnt work ill stick them in the garage

 

[DocSteve]

i have vault ceiling, i dont think atmos will work at all. I would like to know if height speaker would be any better, i was thinking od putting them on shelf, I an currently using 7.2 system

 

[MattyB]

I would be interested in the suggestions too as I have a similar front room.

 

[DocSteve]

I did a lot of research on this and at this time it will not work, i have opted to add height speakers and will wait till some new type of speakers that will enable this. I have reached out to Dolby Labs and havent heard anything back, also Harmon Kardon is supposed to be coming out with some new atmos speakers so its a wait and see right now.

 

[MattyB]

In my case I was thinking of putting speakers on brackets on the ceiling firing downward - with my vaulted ceiling I still should have a small gap above to route the speaker cable through, and on the side of the room some of the vertical wall is naturally in front of an attic space, so I’m going to get up there to see if there is a gap that can easily be used to thread the cable via a fish rod. It’s not going to be easy but when it’s done its done! J

 

[DocSteve]

I do not have any space to do that and wife would kill me so thats not an option, I thought about putting speakers in the soffit but not what i want to do so i will wait, then I will have to change my receiver out and go from there

 

[everettT]

i cant mount them on ceiling, wife would kill me. i did buy an inexpensive set of dayton audio bookshelves to see what happens, if this doesnt work ill stick them in the garage

I'd skip the height channels. No room correction will set it right. Dtsx would be more viable as a spec for you, but I'd concentrate on 5./7.2 .

 

[JethroDunn]

Hi.

We have a set of 4 Atlantic 44DA up-firing speakers which we got for free. The room has those foam office ceiling tiles so it's not a great surface for reflecting anything. We're wondering if there's any reason to not just ceiling mount the 44DAs pointing down or would we be better off just ignoring the 44DAs and getting some ceiling mounted speakers to match the rest of the setup?

Thanks,
Jethro.

 

[T-Hawk]

I was reading your report on Dolby Atmos Speakers and it is quite informative. My question is this. Is it really the speakers or is it the Electronics in Dolby Atmos AVR's?

Now let me try and get this clear is what you are saying and like you said it is just your (Opinion).

Question: So what you are saying is just some Ordinary front firing speakers can reproduce Dolby Atmos Signals?

Question wouldn't the speakers have to have speakers that work on the same type of signal that the Atmos AVR is producing or does that really matter?

Now i'm not disputing what you are saying i'm trying to gain better clarity on this controversial subject, because for a long time i have thought what would it be like to be able to actually hear Air planes, and Helicopters flying over my head in my room.

Now you do know that this effect does exist in Movie Theaters or is that just an Illusion and the speakers that are in Theaters should not be Dolby Atmos Type or are they for real?
In your Opinion should they be just some ordinary Front firing aimed down at the Audience?
Hey, is that what they are doing in Theaters Using Non Dolby Atmos Speakers? Like i said i'm not disputing what you are saying, but there has to be something to base this Technology on someone has found that using This type of Tech in speakers that produce the effect work and like you said it's just your Opinion now some say that Dolby Atmos Speakers work for them my question is this what were they hearing that you were not just trying to keep it real here now because i'm seriously contemplating buying a set of Dolby Atmos Speakers And i have done quite a bit of Research on this matter and i have a question for you.

What is your Opinion of the Dolby Atmos by Klipsch, SVS Elevation Speakers? I would really like to know.

Now to another Subject in this same area my question is this:

WILL THE POLK RM95 SPEAKERS WORK WITH DOLBY ATMOS SPEAKERS SINCE THEY FIRE IN TWO DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS?

I'M ASKING THIS BECAUSE I HAVE THEM IN A 7.1 SETUP ALONG WITH A SONY STR-DH820 AVR THAT HAS (HEIGHT) CIRCUITRY THAT'S SUPPOSE TO GIVE YOU THE EFFECT OF SOMETHING HIGH ABOVE YOUR SEATING AREA.

SOMETIMES I CAN HEAR IT BUT IT'S NOT REALLY ALL THAT OK BUT NOT ALL THAT AND THE SPEAKERS HAVE TO BE PLACED ACCORDINGLY LIKE I SAID IT'S OK, BUT NOTHING TO WRITE HOME TO MOM ABOUT, YOU FEEL ME?

SO WHEN THE DOLBY ATMOS TECH CAME OUT IT PINGED MY CURIOSITY.
ANYWAY, I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE IT IF YOU COULD HELP ME TO GET UP OFF OF THE POT AND MAKE A MOVE ABOUT THIS MATTER, AND IF IT DOESN'T WORK I WON'T BLAME YOU FOR IT.

 

[Antony Bristow]

hi my friends...let me try and help you here if you have up firing speakers.THEY DO WORK!!!!.
THE SECRET IS THE ANGLE THAT THEY ARE SET.
let me try and explain.in my opinion the fixed angle that DOLBY LABS have set out is total and utter bullshit.everyones seating position and room sizes are different.for these speakers to work at the DOLBY LABS set up firing angle you would practically have to be sitting right in front of the tv if you have your speakers at each side as i have for the sound to bounce back to you.it dosn't matter then what size room you have because you would always have to be seated in the same position.
i have set my up firing speakers at about a foot higher than my ear level and angled them myself so as the sound is hitting the ceiling about halfway between the tv and my seating position.because the speakers are well above ear height the sound from them is not localised.
honestly this really works.sound appears to be coming far beyond the limited space of my room and there is a drastic change in sounds seemingly above my head.the more you angle the cones towards you the more accurate the bounced sound to you will be...ive done it...it really works.
remember atmos speakers are not only designed to send sound above your head...thats down to the studio sound engineers...their also there to give the impression of space around you which i can honestly say they do now that I've experimented with the angles of them.
try it and let me know if I'm right...you will hear the difference.

 

[KenM10759]

I have every intention of trying the KEF R50 "Atmos Enabled" speakers on top of my R500's. When I'm lying on my sofa watching TV the tops of those speakers are about a foot above my ear level, at 42" tall. My ceiling is a low 7'4" and with the angle of the R50 being about 22-1/2º and my distance from them, it all adds up to near perfect triangulation. I just have to wait until March or April to add the AM230 "MDC module" to my NAD T758 to have full Atmos on that. I've got the 4K Atmos BluRay player and will pick up a couple movies between now and "go time."

I'm anticipating a pretty good, effective implementation of the system.

 

[Antony Bristow]

I have every intention of trying the KEF R50 "Atmos Enabled" speakers on top of my R500's. When I'm lying on my sofa watching TV the tops of those speakers are about a foot above my ear level, at 42" tall. My ceiling is a low 7'4" and with the angle of the R50 being about 22-1/2º and my distance from them, it all adds up to near perfect triangulation. I just have to wait until March or April to add the AM230 "MDC module" to my NAD T758 to have full Atmos on that. I've got the 4K Atmos BluRay player and will pick up a couple movies between now and "go time."

I'm anticipating a pretty good, effective implementation of the system.

once you have got your up firing atmos speakers take time with the angle...once it is in the right place i promise you that the sound will just 'pop'and it will sound fantastic.
its a case of trial and error until you get it just so but remember...ANGLE,ANGLE,ANGLE.

 

[KenM10759]

I'm a machinist by trade. Trigonometry is in my bones.

 

[gene]

hi my friends...let me try and help you here if you have up firing speakers.THEY DO WORK!!!!.
THE SECRET IS THE ANGLE THAT THEY ARE SET.
let me try and explain.in my opinion the fixed angle that DOLBY LABS have set out is total and utter bullshit.everyones seating position and room sizes are different.for these speakers to work at the DOLBY LABS set up firing angle you would practically have to be sitting right in front of the tv if you have your speakers at each side as i have for the sound to bounce back to you.it dosn't matter then what size room you have because you would always have to be seated in the same position.
i have set my up firing speakers at about a foot higher than my ear level and angled them myself so as the sound is hitting the ceiling about halfway between the tv and my seating position.because the speakers are well above ear height the sound from them is not localised.
honestly this really works.sound appears to be coming far beyond the limited space of my room and there is a drastic change in sounds seemingly above my head.the more you angle the cones towards you the more accurate the bounced sound to you will be...ive done it...it really works.
remember atmos speakers are not only designed to send sound above your head...thats down to the studio sound engineers...their also there to give the impression of space around you which i can honestly say they do now that I've experimented with the angles of them.
try it and let me know if I'm right...you will hear the difference.

Yes simply placing an Atmos speaker on top of an ear level companion speaker has a lot of problems in both localization and in a poor ability to reflect the sound without it scattering too much prior and/or blurring the sound of the companion speaker. Getting it above ear level will help, but there comes a point as to why bother if you can just install discrete in-ceiling speakers and get much better results? I supose if there is NO way for routing cables in your ceiling, than this is a viable alternative if you do what you suggest.

 

[KenM10759]

In my case, the ceiling was installed just 6 months before I upgraded my system to much of what I have now, and I'd never heard of Atmos at that time so never considered that I might want to run wires. I'm not cutting into that pricey piece of work now, at least not without giving the R50 speakers a shot. I'm buying them used, so if they don't work out I'll probably get my money back.