5 Reasons Dolby Atmos May Be DOA

Klipschhead302

Klipschhead302

Senior Audioholic
I'm so glad that 2ch stereo is my main goal. I'm running a simple 5.2 with the speakers in the right places. For me that's plenty for the occasional movie we watch. I've not really heard more than that outside of a theater. Not many folks I know are into audio like I am, so I don't really get to listen to other systems.

I wish I had more friends into this hobby. Most of them just think I'm nuts.
I hear ya, we rarely have people over, family is too far away so we go there and friends have no interest at all.

So, I do this for me and my wife thankfully doesn't mind and often times enjoys what surround adds to movies. We've been watching some older movies and hearing effects better and enjoying them all over again.

My 7.1 channel system in our spare bedroom sounds quite good as well, it surprises me how good it sounds at times.

My new Klipsch "The Sixes" are incredible for 2ch so I feel very lucky to have 3 very nice systems.
 
Dan Madden

Dan Madden

Audioholic
I'm so glad that 2ch stereo is my main goal. I'm running a simple 5.2 with the speakers in the right places. For me that's plenty for the occasional movie we watch. I've not really heard more than that outside of a theater. Not many folks I know are into audio like I am, so I don't really get to listen to other systems.

I wish I had more friends into this hobby. Most of them just think I'm nuts.
Pogre.........If I go ANYWHERE in the near or far future, It will be BACK to simple 2ch stereo.......likely using vintage equipment and speakers. I honestly miss those days......
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
Pogre.........If I go ANYWHERE in the near or far future, It will be BACK to simple 2ch stereo.......likely using vintage equipment and speakers. I honestly miss those days......
I don't think I could ever go without a subwoofer though. It's not like wouldn't miss a 5.2 setup, it's great for movies. I wouldn't be that upset though, if I didn't have surround as long as my stereo set up is awesome.
 
Klipschhead302

Klipschhead302

Senior Audioholic
I don't think I could ever go without a subwoofer though. It's not like wouldn't miss a 5.2 setup, it's great for movies. I wouldn't be that upset though, if I didn't have surround as long as my stereo set up is awesome.
I might pick up a smaller sealed subwoofer since this is for music only in the basement, looking at SVS right now.
 
Klipschhead302

Klipschhead302

Senior Audioholic
PB16 Ultra, Pb16 Ultra, subliminal subliminal...
I wish! For the HT hell yes, the wife would kill me. I'm looking at the SB-2000 which is more than adequate for the 2ch system. :D
 
Klipschhead302

Klipschhead302

Senior Audioholic
Pogre.........If I go ANYWHERE in the near or far future, It will be BACK to simple 2ch stereo.......likely using vintage equipment and speakers. I honestly miss those days......
I have a few old late 70's era Marantz receivers and some old Klipsch speakers for 2ch in the basement. Thinking of getting some original Forte's or maybe the Forte III's in the fall.
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
Most people think we're nuts for spending money on sound like we do.
At least we're spending money on what COUNTS.

I know a guy who spends $1,500 total for his ATMOS speakers, sub, and AVR and $5,000 on theater CHAIRS and another $2,000 on theater decor. :eek:
 
panteragstk

panteragstk

Audioholic Warlord
At least we're spending money on what COUNTS.

I know a guy who spends $1,500 total for his ATMOS speakers, sub, and AVR and $5,000 on theater CHAIRS and another $2,000 on theater decor. :eek:
That's what I'm talking about. The decor is more important than the sound. I bet those speakers are super minimal and can barely be seen.

However, I'm looking at all in-walls/in-ceiling for my Atomos setup so I'm not one to talk, but I'm trying not to spend $500 per speaker. It's difficult.

My receiver costs more than my couch...
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
That's what I'm talking about. The decor is more important than the sound. I bet those speakers are super minimal and can barely be seen.

However, I'm looking at all in-walls/in-ceiling for my Atomos setup so I'm not one to talk, but I'm trying not to spend $500 per speaker. It's difficult.

My receiver costs more than my couch...
In-walls & In-ceilings can sound awesome too.
 
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Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
At least we're spending money on what COUNTS.

I know a guy who spends $1,500 total for his ATMOS speakers, sub, and AVR and $5,000 on theater CHAIRS and another $2,000 on theater decor. :eek:
Yeah, you nailed it there. Almost every penny I've spent has been for better sq. It doesn't hurt when something happens to look nice at the same time, but I'd take an ugly great sounding speaker over a beautiful one that sounds ok.
 
BlwnAway

BlwnAway

Audioholic
Yup, the GF really screwed up when she have me free reign in the theater room...
Nothing but giant black boxes everywhere....
 
M

Mechanizmo

Audiophyte
I'm one of the complete nuts,... that's being objective!

I've been in the hobby since 14 and am now 39. I buy mostly used equipment but from reliable sellers, and befriended the owner and craftsman of PBN Montana, a high end company based on the west coast, the best move I've ever made. Since his company relies on word of mouth and consumer electronic shows for advertising, with only a few dealers worldwide, he virtually cuts out the middleman, and uses little to no advertising. Therefore he can offer his gear for far less $$$ than the competition. Pick up a Hifi magazine and scan all the pages.....how many PBN advertisements do you see?,...how many for B&W, Paradigm ,Focal, Kef, and Rotel,? to name a few

I recently acquired PBN's, now retired, XPS Signature front towers. I paid roughly 1/6th the original retail cost, otherwise forget it.....but to make a long story short,
I'd rather run my system in a 2.0 DTS-HD configuration with these monolith, than use my less expensive 5.1 channel rig.....that's the difference speakers can make, some people deny it, others live it....

Amps and electronics make a difference, but as long as they function well enough, focus on the drivers......they can last you a lifetime. Receivers and players will always need upgrading....speakers won't if chosen wisely. Stereo sound and Vinyl will be around for quite some time....ATMOS will not improve that....and lead to its unpopularity amongst even those deep into the hobby.

Quality trumps quantity in my experience, but everyone has had their own journey. My post here is meant for older guys who are looking to get to the next level....and to those just starting out as well. If your just starting out go with a new receiver, player, and 2 high quality used speakers.....then throw in a sub to handle the lfe when you can afford a capable, one which can remain in your rig. Build over time and don't listen to friends unless they are in the business and have extensive experience within this hobby, otherwise your just listening to what someone heard from another one's mouth. Be patient, the biggest mistake is to buy without listening first, get it right the first time and you'll end up with great sounding equipment in a much smaller swath of time.

....I had thought the law of diminishing returns had a much lower starting point, but when it comes to getting speakers, the sky is the limit. Go with used, the least marketed, yet highly respected brands and negotiate.....I found a hidden gem with PBN, it took awhile, but was well worth it. If I can do it, anyone can. Enjoy guys! Just sharing my experiences....love to hear others'....
 
Dan Madden

Dan Madden

Audioholic
I'm one of the complete nuts,... that's being objective!

I've been in the hobby since 14 and am now 39. I buy mostly used equipment but from reliable sellers, and befriended the owner and craftsman of PBN Montana, a high end company based on the west coast, the best move I've ever made. Since his company relies on word of mouth and consumer electronic shows for advertising, with only a few dealers worldwide, he virtually cuts out the middleman, and uses little to no advertising. Therefore he can offer his gear for far less $$$ than the competition. Pick up a Hifi magazine and scan all the pages.....how many PBN advertisements do you see?,...how many for B&W, Paradigm ,Focal, Kef, and Rotel,? to name a few

I recently acquired PBN's, now retired, XPS Signature front towers. I paid roughly 1/6th the original retail cost, otherwise forget it.....but to make a long story short,
I'd rather run my system in a 2.0 DTS-HD configuration with these monolith, than use my less expensive 5.1 channel rig.....that's the difference speakers can make, some people deny it, others live it....

Amps and electronics make a difference, but as long as they function well enough, focus on the drivers......they can last you a lifetime. Receivers and players will always need upgrading....speakers won't if chosen wisely. Stereo sound and Vinyl will be around for quite some time....ATMOS will not improve that....and lead to its unpopularity amongst even those deep into the hobby.

Quality trumps quantity in my experience, but everyone has had their own journey. My post here is meant for older guys who are looking to get to the next level....and to those just starting out as well. If your just starting out go with a new receiver, player, and 2 high quality used speakers.....then throw in a sub to handle the lfe when you can afford a capable, one which can remain in your rig. Build over time and don't listen to friends unless they are in the business and have extensive experience within this hobby, otherwise your just listening to what someone heard from another one's mouth. Be patient, the biggest mistake is to buy without listening first, get it right the first time and you'll end up with great sounding equipment in a much smaller swath of time.

....I had thought the law of diminishing returns had a much lower starting point, but when it comes to getting speakers, the sky is the limit. Go with used, the least marketed, yet highly respected brands and negotiate.....I found a hidden gem with PBN, it took awhile, but was well worth it. If I can do it, anyone can. Enjoy guys! Just sharing my experiences....love to hear others'....
Sounds like you've got your head screwed on right buddy!
 
Y

yepimonfire

Audioholic Samurai
Yeah, you nailed it there. Almost every penny I've spent has been for better sq. It doesn't hurt when something happens to look nice at the same time, but I'd take an ugly great sounding speaker over a beautiful one that sounds ok.
I totally agree. I've got a pair of full size klipsch bookshelves mounted to my ceiling with 14 ga wire running up the wall and ceiling, not willing to compromise with in ceiling speakers, atmos enabled, or wimpy satellites. No grills on anything that measures flatter with them off, a giant ugly 15" subwoofer placed where it sounds good, not where it's out of sight, and I am using clamping studio monitors stands because they are adjustable height and can be angled and rotated 360 degrees. Looks ugly as hell but sounds fantastic.

Bookshelf speakers are an economic choice, not an aesthetic one. Ideally in the future all bed channels will be replaced with large towers, including the center channel. If I could figure out a way to safely mount something like a klipsch rb-81 to the ceiling I'd totally do it. 5.1.2 is also simply an economic choice, if I had the funds for that new 13.2 marantz receiver I would have no problem placing 9 bed channels, 4 subs, and 4 height channels into my medium 20'x14' living room. I'm the crazy guy who had a 7.1 Prologic IIz setup in a 12x 11 bedroom.

So long as it's not a tripping hazard sound quality comes first.

Sent from my SM-G360T1 using Tapatalk
 
Y

yepimonfire

Audioholic Samurai
I found it to be a huge improvement. A lot of people chalk it up to an overhead sound gimmick but it's more than that. If you've got something like a 5.1.2 setup, download the atmos 9.1.4 test tones file, all of those extra speakers that are missing from the setup are phantomed.

Atmos is all about 3 dimensional sound, regardless of your speaker configuration, atmos can figure out where to place the object in order for it to come from the appropriate place in space. Think of it like polygon meshes in video games, the more the denser the mesh (aka the more polygons), the more realistic and smooth the shape looks. Likewise, the more physical speakers you have in atmos, the more precisely the imaging is portrayed.

In a traditional 5.1 setup, dolby recommends placing the surrounds directly to the left and right sides at ~90 degrees, atmos recommends approximately 120 degrees for 5.1.X. If a sound in a 7.1 mix passes from the surrounds to the rear, played back on a 5.1 system it would simply just collapse into the surrounds with no panning. Mixed as and object in atmos, this sound would pass as a phantom image between the front and surrounds and finally end up as a phantom image between the surrounds, with the appropriate phase delay. Naturally, 3D sound requires overhead speakers, but atmos is not just about adding height channels, if they really wanted to do that they could have just added discrete channels to the audio mix, it's not like we're limited to DVDs space constraints anymore.

Sent from my SM-G360T1 using Tapatalk
 
S

sterling shoote

Audioholic Field Marshall
Talk earlier here about 2 channel being the main goal, made me think how much I do appreciate stereo; and, It also made me think my attempts to get multi-channel ambiance from stereo to be nauseous. However, I'm really satisfied with stereo music amped by my 5.1 equipment. And, of course, this arrangement allows for the integration of a sub without fuss. My only wish at this point is finding a mint pair of JBL L300's to replace my L100t3's. I like the L100t3's, I've enjoyed them for about 30 years; but, after hearing the L300's effortless performance at realistic levels, I've had the desire to upgrade. Thing is, after all these years I still can't afford them.
 
William Lemmerhirt

William Lemmerhirt

Audioholic Overlord
I found it to be a huge improvement. A lot of people chalk it up to an overhead sound gimmick but it's more than that. If you've got something like a 5.1.2 setup, download the atmos 9.1.4 test tones file, all of those extra speakers that are missing from the setup are phantomed.

Atmos is all about 3 dimensional sound, regardless of your speaker configuration, atmos can figure out where to place the object in order for it to come from the appropriate place in space. Think of it like polygon meshes in video games, the more the denser the mesh (aka the more polygons), the more realistic and smooth the shape looks. Likewise, the more physical speakers you have in atmos, the more precisely the imaging is portrayed.

In a traditional 5.1 setup, dolby recommends placing the surrounds directly to the left and right sides at ~90 degrees, atmos recommends approximately 120 degrees for 5.1.X. If a sound in a 7.1 mix passes from the surrounds to the rear, played back on a 5.1 system it would simply just collapse into the surrounds with no panning. Mixed as and object in atmos, this sound would pass as a phantom image between the front and surrounds and finally end up as a phantom image between the surrounds, with the appropriate phase delay. Naturally, 3D sound requires overhead speakers, but atmos is not just about adding height channels, if they really wanted to do that they could have just added discrete channels to the audio mix, it's not like we're limited to DVDs space constraints anymore.

Sent from my SM-G360T1 using Tapatalk
I agree with some of this, but 5.1 recommendations are for surrounds at 110deg and 7.1 is for sides at 90 and rears between 135 and 150.
 
M

mikey d

Junior Audioholic
I'm running g a 5.1.4 using volt 6 and 10 on wall for heights. I find the difference oftentimes seems barely noticeable. Soon as you turn off the heights it's very apparent how large an improvement you get.
 
Y

yepimonfire

Audioholic Samurai
I'm running g a 5.1.4 using volt 6 and 10 on wall for heights. I find the difference oftentimes seems barely noticeable. Soon as you turn off the heights it's very apparent how large an improvement you get.
Exactly. It's more than just having plane flyovers, it's about the sound stage having depth, something that traditional 7.1 lacks.
 

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