Atmos Placement

[Drunkpenguin]

How much wiggle room do I have on in-ceiling speaker placement for a 7.2.4 setup? My ceiling is 10' tall so the dolby guidelines of 45 degrees are not in my favor. This angle would put the rears about a foot away from the rear wall. It also puts my fronts right where a recessed light already lives lol. Due to the light and the roof truss above I would need the fronts to be about 2 feet closer to the listening position. The rears I don't think I want them at the back wall do i?

Im building this for the front row, the back row is never used so it can be a compromise back there. I drew a quick paint schematic of the room. What would you guys suggest?

Also, anyone know a website that I can punch some measurements into to figure out what degree I would end up with? I can figure out 45 easy, but I cant figure out any other ones.

 

[Drunkpenguin]

Ok I think I have this figured out after reading all day. I see now that the 45 degree angle is the most important aspect to this so I'll put them where they need to be for that. This dolby image is what kept throwing me off because they make it look like you want the atmos to be closer to the MLP than the rear surrounds, but I believe this not to be the case.

So in my diagram my orange locations would be preferred spot since they make a 45 degree angle to the MLP. Is this correct?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

How much wiggle room do I have on in-ceiling speaker placement for a 7.2.4 setup? My ceiling is 10' tall so the dolby guidelines of 45 degrees are not in my favor. This angle would put the rears about a foot away from the rear wall. It also puts my fronts right where a recessed light already lives lol. Due to the light and the roof truss above I would need the fronts to be about 2 feet closer to the listening position. The rears I don't think I want them at the back wall do i?

Im building this for the front row, the back row is never used so it can be a compromise back there. I drew a quick paint schematic of the room. What would you guys suggest?

Also, anyone know a website that I can punch some measurements into to figure out what degree I would end up with? I can figure out 45 easy, but I cant figure out any other ones.
View attachment 25495

I would go with the green placements.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Basically the side diagram is a simple representation just to give an idea. As far as placement, I would use the green spots. It’s hard to get atmos wrong as long as your not going totally willy nilly. Not sure if you’ve read through this, but it’s pretty comprehensive.
https://www.dolby.com/us/en/technologies/dolby-atmos/dolby-atmos-home-theater-installation-guidelines.pdf

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Yeah, ATMOS is very flexible and deviations are perfectly fine.

There is no “exact” or “carved in stone” when it comes to placements.

Heck, Dolby is even perfectly okay with people using little reflective ATMOS add-on modules atop their floor speakers bouncing up the ceilings like billiards.

So a few feet “deviation” in the ceiling is perfectly fine.

Basically put the ceiling speakers a few feet in front of you and a few feet behind you. Atmos will do the rest.

 

[DigitalDawn]

You could also go with the InCeiling Silver/9 RotaSats from Triad. These speakers are designed for difficult seating placement. They even have a built-in laser to help with aiming the speakers for an optimal Atmos experience.

https://www.triadspeakers.com/products/subwoofwer/in-ceiling-rotating-silver-9-sat/

 

[Dmantis10]

The closer you can get to perfection is ideal but I wouldn't sweat it. Close is good enough as Auto Calibration can make up for the placement as long as it's not way out of line.
So with that being said your Green locations will work and it will sound great.

Atmos is the best overall audio format that has come out in a very long time. I think it's even better then when we went from Dolby Pro Logic to Dolby Digital.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Atmos is the best overall audio format that has come out in a very long time. I think it's even better than when we went from Dolby Pro Logic to Dolby Digital.

I'm sure you realize that's a very debatable statement.

I think Atmos is very cool for 3D surround sound, but I think it's nothing compared to going from Pro Logic matrix sound to fully Discrete 5.1 DD/DTS/TrueHD/DTS-HD MA.

The Salient speaker is that Discrete Center Dialogue Channel, follow by the Discrete Main Front L/R Channels, follow by the Discrete LFE/Subwoofer Channel, follow by all the surround channels.

Atmos surround speakers are not the salient speakers.

 

[Dmantis10]

I'm sure you realize that's a very debatable statement.

I think Atmos is very cool for 3D surround sound, but I think it's nothing compared to going from Pro Logic matrix sound to fully Discrete 5.1 DD/DTS/TrueHD/DTS-HD MA.

The Salient speaker is that Discrete Center Dialogue Channel, follow by the Discrete Main Front L/R Channels, follow by the Discrete LFE/Subwoofer Channel, follow by all the surround channels.

Atmos surround speakers are not the salient speakers.

Absolutely it is. This is just my take. Actually I'm a bit mad at myself for not doing it earlier. I had a placement issue I had to work out in my head before I decided to jump into it. And to to mention I was not all that impressed with Atmos at first.
So basically I'm old school. I started home theater back in the 80's with just dolby surround. Then I moved to Pro logic , Digital then True HD. When Atmos hit the market I went to a training on it and found it to be very cool but the speaker placement wasn't working for me as I have 14 foot ceilings in my family room and a slate ceiling on the left side where one of the Atmos speakers would need to go so I decided to bail on the upgrade.
Once I upgraded to 4k Dolby Vision and HDR I decided to use a In ceiling speaker on that left side called a POINT. This is a angled driver designed for a front array that gives you a nice angle to fire the speaker towards the listener. I decided that that angle would work to point the left side Atmos speaker downwards and it works awesome. The flat ceiling side I put a standard model Direct firing downward speaker which is the same exact speaker as the point.
I was floored how good Atmos sounded in my room and I felt that difference was much greater then when I went from Dolby Pro logic back in the day to Dolby Digital.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Absolutely it is. This is just my take. Actually I'm a bit mad at myself for not doing it earlier. I had a placement issue I had to work out in my head before I decided to jump into it. And to to mention I was not all that impressed with Atmos at first.
So basically I'm old school. I started home theater back in the 80's with just dolby surround. Then I moved to Pro logic , Digital then True HD. When Atmos hit the market I went to a training on it and found it to be very cool but the speaker placement wasn't working for me as I have 14 foot ceilings in my family room and a slate ceiling on the left side where one of the Atmos speakers would need to go so I decided to bail on the upgrade.
Once I upgraded to 4k Dolby Vision and HDR I decided to use a In ceiling speaker on that left side called a POINT. This is a angled driver designed for a front array that gives you a nice angle to fire the speaker towards the listener. I decided that that angle would work to point the left side Atmos speaker downwards and it works awesome. The flat ceiling side I put a standard model Direct firing downward speaker which is the same exact speaker as the point.
I was floored how good Atmos sounded in my room and I felt that difference was much greater then when I went from Dolby Pro logic back in the day to Dolby Digital.

Very nice story.

I think Home Theater Atmos can sound better than the big commercial Atmos theaters I've seen (LA, Dallas, OKC).

But even today when I use Dolby Surround or Pro-Logic II to up-mix 2-Channel sources, going from this matrix surround sound 2-Ch source to Discrete TrueHD and DTS-HD MA 7.1-Channel is an astonishing demonstration.

But everyone has a different experience.

 

[2channel lover]

Absolutely it is. This is just my take. Actually I'm a bit mad at myself for not doing it earlier. I had a placement issue I had to work out in my head before I decided to jump into it. And to to mention I was not all that impressed with Atmos at first.
So basically I'm old school. I started home theater back in the 80's with just dolby surround. Then I moved to Pro logic , Digital then True HD. When Atmos hit the market I went to a training on it and found it to be very cool but the speaker placement wasn't working for me as I have 14 foot ceilings in my family room and a slate ceiling on the left side where one of the Atmos speakers would need to go so I decided to bail on the upgrade.
Once I upgraded to 4k Dolby Vision and HDR I decided to use a In ceiling speaker on that left side called a POINT. This is a angled driver designed for a front array that gives you a nice angle to fire the speaker towards the listener. I decided that that angle would work to point the left side Atmos speaker downwards and it works awesome. The flat ceiling side I put a standard model Direct firing downward speaker which is the same exact speaker as the point.
I was floored how good Atmos sounded in my room and I felt that difference was much greater then when I went from Dolby Pro logic back in the day to Dolby Digital.

You did say your take or experience.

For me, I would say discrete channels has had a bigger impact to date because the content is much farther reaching. I've had some Atmos enabled movies to sound great, very realistic. Based on a very small sample size, yes, I like it better than dolby digital alone, but that's kinda the issue in terms of overall impact on HT...the sample size is so small.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Very nice story.

I think Home Theater Atmos can sound better than the big commercial Atmos theaters I've seen (LA, Dallas, OKC).

But even today when I use Dolby Surround or Pro-Logic II to up-mix 2-Channel sources, going from this matrix surround sound 2-Ch source to Discrete TrueHD and DTS-HD MA 7.1-Channel is an astonishing demonstration.

But everyone has a different experience.

PLIIx has mostly been lame. For ME. Turns the rear sound field into a blob, and in fact “my” system performs much better with native 5.1 over PLIIx. Everyone else obviously has their own systems/experiences, but dsu is much better as an “upsampler”.

 

[Drunkpenguin]

Speakers are mounted and ready to go! Ive got strep throat so took the day off to make sure im not contageous when i go back. What better way to recover than installing in cieling speakers? I went with a bit of a hybrid on my 2 options and split the difference. I think they are in great spots now. Fronts at 45 and rears close to that. Now if i can just get the receiver to show up.

Tried to take pics but my flash wouldnt work. Will try again later.

 

[Drunkpenguin]

Got my phone to work. I was gonna paint them black to make them disappear but I kinda like the white ring around em and I may keep them that way. I went with the Polk MC80's since I have some elsewhere and like them. I ran some tests and they seem like they'll get along with my other surrounds.

 

[snakeeyes]

You could also go with the InCeiling Silver/9 RotaSats from Triad. These speakers are designed for difficult seating placement. They even have a built-in laser to help with aiming the speakers for an optimal Atmos experience.

https://www.triadspeakers.com/products/subwoofwer/in-ceiling-rotating-silver-9-sat/

I like the idea of lasers! My cats would love a laser show.

These triad speakers look nice. I like the box is on the back of the speaker. Do these have some good midrange?

 

[snakeeyes]

Got my phone to work. I was gonna paint them black to make them disappear but I kinda like the white ring around em and I may keep them that way. I went with the Polk MC80's since I have some elsewhere and like them. I ran some tests and they seem like they'll get along with my other surrounds.

View attachment 25505View attachment 25506

Beautiful theater room! Very nice.

 

[DigitalDawn]

I like the idea of lasers! My cats would love a laser show.

These triad speakers look nice. I like the box is on the back of the speaker. Do these have some good midrange?

Yes they do!