JBL Studio 530 and My Grand Atmos Experiment

[ryanosaur]

Courtesy of yet another crazy sale on JBL Studios... I picked up 2 pair of the 530s to use for Atmos Speakers.

First, there really isn't too much to say about these Speakers that isn't already out there in the various Fora and YT-iverse. I did a personal audition in Pure Direct just to make certain I didn't hate them. So my usual stress test of things that will separate the Golden Berries from the chaff was in effect.
I just happened to start with some very revealing Female Vocals over Piano with a few cuts from Tori Amos and Fiona Apple. The Vocals sounded great.I was immediately taken back to some of my first Audio auditions being amazed at what I could hear... Everything I wanted, expected, needed... The emotion, Breath and Life, a woman singing her Siren Song to woo the hapless sailor to his doom.
And I took a breath and listened beyond that. To me, Piano is one of those instruments that is supremely demanding of a Speaker. Anybody that has played a Piano, or played with a Piano knows what it sounds like.
Well... I knocked that off my list early. While the Voices sounded great, the piano revealed the flaw to me. Somewher in the mids, perhaps around the cross (I am uncertain), the resonance and sustain that I know from my days as a musician was a bit flat. Constrained, more than anything else. This likely only stood out because I chose these tracks for their stripped down minimal instrumentation.
I moved on... to Male Vocal and Piano. Yup, another toughy right out of the gate. Surprisingly, Nick Cave’s voice sounded just as good as Tori's and Fiona's. I didn't get that "chesty" quality... but that piano came back again.
I pushed through maybe about 30 minutes of torture testing these Speakers and in Male Vocals, I think the only time I caught that "contrained" quality was from a Cake track I happened to play as I was passing it by in my Library. Hip Hop and Jazz sounded just fine...
On the second session , I just wanted to test the other pair to make certain nothing was amiss and I plopped in for some straight up dirty Rock'n'Roll. Distortion, Dead animal skins, Sex and Drugs, 11.
Fun.

Well, since these are for Atmos experimentation, and at a Buck-Twenty per Speaker courtesy of the generous Harman Sale. I wasn’t going to reject these because stripped down Piano sounded a little tight to me. Unless anybody else out there can find a $120 Speaker that sounds as good or better!

Of course, lets talk about the Elephant in the room... and the Rhino, Hippo, and Gorilla (Those are their names! (Ha. No. JK)). But these are big cabinets. 17# and almost 19" High. These are almost as large, but half the weight of the BMR Monitors.

And I'm gonna hang them up in the air!

All because 3 years ago I set a goal to try out Atmos come hell or high water. So her I come baby.

I got two pair of Speakers, four wall mount brackets, a drill, and I pick up Wall Anchors, Threaded Inserts, and other hardware tomorrow.

Stay tuned.

I will either destroy my walls, the speakers, both, or one will fall on my head...



Good times to come.

 

[Danzilla31]

Courtesy of yet another crazy sale on JBL Studios... I picked up 2 pair of the 530s to use for Atmos Speakers.

First, there really isn't too much to say about these Speakers that isn't already out there in the various Fora and YT-iverse. I did a personal audition in Pure Direct just to make certain I didn't hate them. So my usual stress test of things that will separate the Golden Berries from the chaff was in effect.
I just happened to start with some very revealing Female Vocals over Piano with a few cuts from Tori Amos and Fiona Apple. The Vocals sounded great.I was immediately taken back to some of my first Audio auditions being amazed at what I could hear... Everything I wanted, expected, needed... The emotion, Breath and Life, a woman singing her Siren Song to woo the hapless sailor to his doom.
And I took a breath and listened beyond that. To me, Piano is one of those instruments that is supremely demanding of a Speaker. Anybody that has played a Piano, or played with a Piano knows what it sounds like.
Well... I knocked that off my list early. While the Voices sounded great, the piano revealed the flaw to me. Somewher in the mids, perhaps around the cross (I am uncertain), the resonance and sustain that I know from my days as a musician was a bit flat. Constrained, more than anything else. This likely only stood out because I chose these tracks for their stripped down minimal instrumentation.
I moved on... to Male Vocal and Piano. Yup, another toughy right out of the gate. Surprisingly, Nick Cave’s voice sounded just as good as Tori's and Fiona's. I didn't get that "chesty" quality... but that piano came back again.
I pushed through maybe about 30 minutes of torture testing these Speakers and in Male Vocals, I think the only time I caught that "contrained" quality was from a Cake track I happened to play as I was passing it by in my Library. Hip Hop and Jazz sounded just fine...
On the second session , I just wanted to test the other pair to make certain nothing was amiss and I plopped in for some straight up dirty Rock'n'Roll. Distortion, Dead animal skins, Sex and Drugs, 11.
Fun.

Well, since these are for Atmos experimentation, and at a Buck-Twenty per Speaker courtesy of the generous Harman Sale. I wasn’t going to reject these because stripped down Piano sounded a little tight to me. Unless anybody else out there can find a $120 Speaker that sounds as good or better!

Of course, lets talk about the Elephant in the room... and the Rhino, Hippo, and Gorilla (Those are their names! (Ha. No. JK)). But these are big cabinets. 17# and almost 19" High. These are almost as large, but half the weight of the BMR Monitors.

And I'm gonna hang them up in the air!

All because 3 years ago I set a goal to try out Atmos come hell or high water. So her I come baby.

I got two pair of Speakers, four wall mount brackets, a drill, and I pick up Wall Anchors, Threaded Inserts, and other hardware tomorrow.

Stay tuned.

I will either destroy my walls, the speakers, both, or one will fall on my head...



Good times to come.

Congrats!!!! Yeah you just realized one of my favorite strengths about the studio 5 series Vocals and voices. Yes the midrange is thin on some instruments but the overall tone is good tweeter detail great dynamics nice and the vocals are excellent. Your not going to find what the 5's can do good for anywhere near that price point!

 

[Danzilla31]

 

[Danzilla31]

 

[Danzilla31]

Since you are doing atmos the absolute 100% no holds barred best way you can do which is mounting bookshelves up there as Dolby shows in there setup pictures. Way to not compromise you audioholic you.

Those links to his site Home Theater Gurus does a great job in those 2 episodes breaking down some great dos and don'ts for atmos he also has bookshelves in his theater room for atmos. You should check out all his episodes he's got some good stuff

Have fun my friend this is going to be a great thread!

 

[ryanosaur]

Last week, in anticipation of all this, I bought a Digital Angle Finder and a small laser level that I can fix to the angle finder. (I have a real laser level that needs to be mounted to a tripod... and it is very unhappy if you try to do anything else with it. Touchy b!tch. )
Anyway, I figured out how to turn it into a pointer, too. I've already marked the Top Front locations, to be verified once I get the chance and can play around with the Tape and a stud finder.

 

[ryanosaur]

Suck-o alert.
My hardware arrived yesterday and one pair was defective, so I have a replacement en route from Amazon to arrive on the 31.

Bizarre... the steel plate that is supposed to attach to the Speaker was BENT! On both in that box.
WT- actual-F.
The other one looks like I would expect.

Alas, they aren't $100+ apiece German manufactured. What do you expect?

I will go a step further and say these are not fine machined brackets. Sturdy, yes. But you get what you pay for and I'm doing this on the LEAN side.

Anyway... More to come.

 

[Pogre]

I just now imagined installing atmos bookshelf speakers by suspending them on cables from my vaulted ceiling... it's over 12' at the peak. There's plenty of room.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Congrats RynoDino!
Are you using the side F/R height locations?

 

[ryanosaur]

Congrats RynoDino!
Are you using the side F/R height locations?

Right now, that is my plan. I don't see the practical possibility of upgrading my AVR until late this year and that could totally push back way to easily.
TF and TB are supposed to be the best channels to use if running .4, so...
Of course my room is so small that I could set up as Heights Fr/R and switch them to Top Fr/Bk without having any weird issues. (Other than distance to the Front wall being a little far.
As I had suggested in that other post, when I upgrade, I might then add Top mid... nothing would stop me from that anyway.

 

[ryanosaur]

Nice.
But now I'm gonna rethink things a little...

 

[Danzilla31]

Nice.
But now I'm gonna rethink things a little...

Don't overthink it too much. Lol. Like he says in the video there are degrees of tolerance. So it doesn't have to be spot on. Gene told me he has wide dispersion down firing speakers set at 20 degrees of axis for his front and backs and they work just fine!!!

How's the project going you still waiting on those brackets????

 

[ryanosaur]

Don't overthink it too much. Lol. Like he says in the video there are degrees of tolerance. So it doesn't have to be spot on. Gene told me he has wide dispersion down firing speakers set at 20 degrees of axis for his front and backs and they work just fine!!!

How's the project going you still waiting on those brackets????

Brackets arrive tomorrow.

I'm going to redo measurements a little based on the video. I'm not so much trying to go full ocd on this, but I would like to try having the space for adding an extra atmos channel when the time comes, without having to undo work already done. (Thus patching 1/2" wholes in drywall, 4 per bracket! )

I think the big question I have is how do Front and back heights along with tops really compare and fill out.

For example, Top back is actually a waste in my room, in a manner, because of the size of the space.
So TF, TM, RH could be a .6 build with my .4 being TF, RH.
I was originally thinking FH, TM, RH as my target...

My biggest conundrum is that I just don't know how the programming really interacts and gets parsed as you move from a .4 capable processor to a .6 or .8 capable processor, and how the upmixers really do their job.

I'm a geometry guy, so angles and that don't bother me. The key thing is that I do have to do this within the confines of my sloped wood beam and slat ceiling.

Good hardware would likely be the solution, but that starts to get more expensive. I could hang gear in the perfect place if I had another $500-700 to buy the right gear. I would find this much more preferable than looking at wall mount compromises.
In the end, I just have to do what feels right. If I can fill those gaps in the "Bubble" appropriately...

*strokes goatee in thought... some more

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Brackets arrive tomorrow.

I'm going to redo measurements a little based on the video. I'm not so much trying to go full ocd on this, but I would like to try having the space for adding an extra atmos channel when the time comes, without having to undo work already done. (Thus patching 1/2" wholes in drywall, 4 per bracket! )

I think the big question I have is how do Front and back heights along with tops really compare and fill out.

For example, Top back is actually a waste in my room, in a manner, because of the size of the space.
So TF, TM, RH could be a .6 build with my .4 being TF, RH.
I was originally thinking FH, TM, RH as my target...

My biggest conundrum is that I just don't know how the programming really interacts and gets parsed as you move from a .4 capable processor to a .6 or .8 capable processor, and how the upmixers really do their job.

I'm a geometry guy, so angles and that don't bother me. The key thing is that I do have to do this within the confines of my sloped wood beam and slat ceiling.

Good hardware would likely be the solution, but that starts to get more expensive. I could hang gear in the perfect place if I had another $500-700 to buy the right gear. I would find this much more preferable than looking at wall mount compromises.
In the end, I just have to do what feels right. If I can fill those gaps in the "Bubble" appropriately...

*strokes goatee in thought... some more

Amigo! I can’t remember off hand. How long is your room? IME/imo .6 is mostly useful in a long room(24ish’) or with multiple rows. The reasons are a couple. First, if you have your tops set up like so…

then anything meant for TM would phantom image directly over your head anyway. This will give you great objet placement as well. Secondly, with the cost of hardware, and the inconsistent way that TM’s are used, I don’t think you’ll benefit at all.
One can possibly make a case for using the entire length of the ceiling, but processors that can are very expensive thus far. I know you’re a gamer so that MIGHT change my mind a little. But honestly just using my own room as an example. 7.x.4 in a 16x26ish with tops has been amazing. Content is king however, and many films just aren’t mixed that great(this goes all the way back to movie sounds infancy so naysayers can kiss my ass). In that case the upmixers can do a great job. With good content however, my experience has been excellent. On top of that, I know you’re music centric and spacial music on my atv4K has been downright amazing. Again, content is king, and some music is better than others. But some of the better stuff has sounds just inches from my head and it’s almost creepy. Dear future self by Yello is a prime example. Stylistically I think it fits you well too.
Also, from experience I can say temper your expectations. I know people want to be blown away and hear their new top/height speakers all the time. That’s definitely fun and all, but Ime the absolute best stuff is the more subtle in room(not around the room)stuff.
I’m still waking up and rambling so I’ll bail now, but will stay active in this thread.
Also. 1/2 holes in drywall are easy. 5 dollar can of joint compound and a little touch up paint. Done!

 

[Eppie]

Wish I had a photo from our living room from 20 years ago. I have a pair of Electrovoice Inteface I speakers that are easily as big as the BMRs. The room has a lot of doorways and windows, so I built shelves and suspended the front edge with steel cables from the ceiling. No way I would do that now. Have fun with your experiments!

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Hola…? Amigo?!?!

 

[ryanosaur]

Whee!
The Lady is out for a while. Just the cats and I.
(Frankly, they can be way more demanding...)
Amazon surprised and the replacement pair of brackets arrived. They are in good condition.

I am reviewing the 60pg PDF. I've read it before, but am encouraged by the video to brush up on the details before proceeding.

Senor Lemmerhirt, I hear ya. I'm not trying to get too crafty, just planning for the upgrade. Hoping it will be later this year.

Regarding my room, it is 11'6" x 15'3". My right (N) wall is 98"H to the low slope of the clerestory ceiling. The left (S) wall is 89" to finished trim and the "loft." The trim is another 5-1/2" (effectively a finished 2x6) potentially giving me 94" to work with.
Where I generally sit, my ears are ~11'3" off the front wall, and 8'8" from the Front Speakers.

When I am watching a movie, I am less upright, and have measured that to be about 46" ear height.

This is what I am working with for creating my "Bubble"

As I said before, I know that my room is not ideal, but I do believe I can get good positioning and hopefully usable Atmos. I would like to play around with the Auromatic upmixers, too, when I am able.
As for that potential upgrade to a 13-channel processor, again, this is just a fantasy right now, but believe me when I say I am seriously considering such an investment, especially if it will come with the ability to process 3-4 discrete Sub/LFE channels.

Alas, I digress.

I'm gonna get to laying out my room and see what I come up with by the angles.

Discussion will continue!

 

[Mr._Clark]

And I took a breath and listened beyond that. To me, Piano is one of those instruments that is supremely demanding of a Speaker. Anybody that has played a Piano, or played with a Piano knows what it sounds like.
Well... I knocked that off my list early. While the Voices sounded great, the piano revealed the flaw to me. Somewher in the mids, perhaps around the cross (I am uncertain), the resonance and sustain that I know from my days as a musician was a bit flat. Constrained, more than anything else. This likely only stood out because I chose these tracks for their stripped down minimal instrumentation.

Interesting. I have a baby grand in my living room and I've often thought that no speaker in existance would be able to accurately reproduce the sound (in the sense that I think I would have no problem in a blind test determining which was the real piano and which was a speaker). I'm not sure what it is about the sound from a piano that sounds so much different "live" (at least to my ears).

Having said that, when I'm watching Godzilla the sound effects seem to be perfect because I've never had an actual Godzilla in my living room for comparison.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Whee!
The Lady is out for a while. Just the cats and I.
(Frankly, they can be way more demanding...)
Amazon surprised and the replacement pair of brackets arrived. They are in good condition.

I am reviewing the 60pg PDF. I've read it before, but am encouraged by the video to brush up on the details before proceeding.

Senor Lemmerhirt, I hear ya. I'm not trying to get too crafty, just planning for the upgrade. Hoping it will be later this year.

Regarding my room, it is 11'6" x 15'3". My right (N) wall is 98"H to the low slope of the clerestory ceiling. The left (S) wall is 89" to finished trim and the "loft." The trim is another 5-1/2" (effectively a finished 2x6) potentially giving me 94" to work with.
Where I generally sit, my ears are ~11'3" off the front wall, and 8'8" from the Front Speakers.

When I am watching a movie, I am less upright, and have measured that to be about 46" ear height.

This is what I am working with for creating my "Bubble"

As I said before, I know that my room is not ideal, but I do believe I can get good positioning and hopefully usable Atmos. I would like to play around with the Auromatic upmixers, too, when I am able.
As for that potential upgrade to a 13-channel processor, again, this is just a fantasy right now, but believe me when I say I am seriously considering such an investment, especially if it will come with the ability to process 3-4 discrete Sub/LFE channels.

Alas, I digress.

I'm gonna get to laying out my room and see what I come up with by the angles.

Discussion will continue!

No worries brother. Just had to rib ya a bit. Figured you’d be posting by now, about how awesome it is, or how much it sucks lol. The best and worst part is that it takes a while to go through material and really listen and evaluate.
I listened to the Apple Music link you posted earlier today in 7.3.4 DSU. It was not Atmos, but still very very good. DTSnx has been a mixed bag for me, and Auro…could not care less. Of course as you know, my 6012 doesn’t do Auro either, so there’s that.
Also, swing by demolandia and dolbys site to download some fun demos. Also, if you haven’t seen it, a member on AVS made a couple really fun Atmos demos. I’ll try and find the links. They’re cool. He codes his voice an object and pans it all over the room while explaining where it should come from. Made another one using a car. Fun.
Ok. Carry on.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Interesting. I have a baby grand in my living room and I've often thought that no speaker in existance would be able to accurately reproduce the sound (in the sense that I think I would have no problem in a blind test determining which was the real piano and which was a speaker). I'm not sure what it is about the sound from a piano that sounds so much different "live" (at least to my ears).

Having said that, when I'm watching Godzilla the sound effects seem to be perfect because I've never had an actual Godzilla in my living room for comparison.

Cmon now, I think we’ve all had at least one Godzilla in our living room before!