Front wides versus top middle

[Pandaman617]

It seems like there’s advantages and disadvantages to each setup. Taking the room out of the equation, what do you guys prefer for a mixed usage of native Atmos & DTS:X content as well as upmixed DD+ and PCM 7.1 content a 9.4.4 or 7.4.6? I could be mistaken but with upmixing I believe only the Neural X uses front wides where as any content I upmix to 7.4.6 uses all 6 height layer speakers but not the wides. I’m not 100% on this though so feel free to chime in. I’m looking at changing my setup to wides in my new room which is exponentially larger than my previous one and makes wides a more manageable configuration

 

[TLS Guy]

It seems like there’s advantages and disadvantages to each setup. Taking the room out of the equation, what do you guys prefer for a mixed usage of native Atmos & DTS:X content as well as upmixed DD+ and PCM 7.1 content a 9.4.4 or 7.4.6? I could be mistaken but with upmixing I believe only the Neural X uses front wides where as any content I upmix to 7.4.6 uses all 6 height layer speakers but not the wides. I’m not 100% on this though so feel free to chime in. I’m looking at changing my setup to wides in my new room which is exponentially larger than my previous one and makes wides a more manageable configuration

I'm not a fan of front wide speakers. What I do know is that in most of the rigs posted here, the fronts are too close together. If you have a large enough room, place to fronts 12 to 14 feet apart. This will get them six to seven feet from the center. This improves the soundstage enormously.

As far as layout, I recommend following Dolby specifications to the letter. I think a 5 or 7,2,4 is optimal, failing that 5 or 7.2.2. Unless you room is very large, I would avoid 7.2.6. I have a fairly large room, a 9 seat theater, and use 7.2.4. I do recommend rear backs if you can swing it.

My results have been excellent following Dolby specs. The Dolby upmixer has been far superior to the others. The Dirac surround system intrigues me, so that may be something for the future. However, with correct specs and calibration, I'm really impressed with the Dolby upmixer.

 

[Pandaman617]

I'm not a fan of front wide speakers. What I do know is that in most of the rigs posted here, the fronts are too close together. If you have a large enough room, place to fronts 12 to 14 feet apart. This will get them six to seven feet from the center. This improves the soundstage enormously.

As far as layout, I recommend following Dolby specifications to the letter. I think a 5 or 7,2,4 is optimal, failing that 5 or 7.2.2. Unless you room is very large, I would avoid 7.2.6. I have a fairly large room, a 9 seat theater, and use 7.2.4. I do recommend rear backs if you can swing it.

My results have been excellent following Dolby specs. The Dolby upmixer has been far superior to the others. The Dirac surround system intrigues me, so that may be something for the future. However, with correct specs and calibration, I'm really impressed with the Dolby upmixer.

Appreciate the input man!

 

[Pandaman617]

I'm not a fan of front wide speakers. What I do know is that in most of the rigs posted here, the fronts are too close together. If you have a large enough room, place to fronts 12 to 14 feet apart. This will get them six to seven feet from the center. This improves the soundstage enormously.

As far as layout, I recommend following Dolby specifications to the letter. I think a 5 or 7,2,4 is optimal, failing that 5 or 7.2.2. Unless you room is very large, I would avoid 7.2.6. I have a fairly large room, a 9 seat theater, and use 7.2.4. I do recommend rear backs if you can swing it.

My results have been excellent following Dolby specs. The Dolby upmixer has been far superior to the others. The Dirac surround system intrigues me, so that may be something for the future. However, with correct specs and calibration, I'm really impressed with the Dolby upmixer.

Setup a 7.4.4 tonight. Not only do I not notice the missing top middles but I do like the sound a bit more. I don’t know how to describe it. It’s clear why having a front pair and rear pair is vital for overhead and I could see in a MUCH larger room how top middles could perhaps add a bit to fill that gap but even in my larger room looking top front and rears are doing excellent! Thanks for the tip man

 

[TLS Guy]

Setup a 7.4.4 tonight. Not only do I not notice the missing top middles but I do like the sound a bit more. I don’t know how to describe it. It’s clear why having a front pair and rear pair is vital for overhead and I could see in a MUCH larger room how top middles could perhaps add a bit to fill that gap but even in my larger room looking top front and rears are doing excellent! Thanks for the tip man

You are welcome.