Dolby Atmos Best Practices for Proper Home Playback

[Wardog555]

I'm going to take a guess and say 3 meters as it's entirely possible in my room. You wouldn't want anything less.

The Dolby studio guidelines say 3.5 meters though.

 

[cae780]

Hey there, I was hoping to get clarification from Gene or some of the other guys. In the article and video, Gene calls straight up 90 degrees, and states he places his atmos speakers 25-35 degrees away from the main listening position.

Dolby's diagram has straight up as 90 degrees, and the smaller the angle the closer it is to flat/ear level. So if we were to put Gene's preferred angle on the dolby spec, it would be shown as 55-65 degrees, which puts it closer to directly above your head, correct?

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Hey there, I was hoping to get clarification from Gene or some of the other guys. In the article and video, Gene calls straight up 90 degrees, and states he places his atmos speakers 25-35 degrees away from the main listening position.

Dolby's diagram has straight up as 90 degrees, and the smaller the angle the closer it is to flat/ear level. So if we were to put Gene's preferred angle on the dolby spec, it would be shown as 55-65 degrees, which puts it closer to directly above your head, correct?

 

[cae780]

I have zero idea of what you're trying to communicate. Gene has top heights, angle *2 in that drawing. Dolby spec is 30-55 degrees, I just want to confirm that Gene's would be, on that drawing, 55-65 degrees (as I previously misunderstood and thought he was at 25-35 degrees on that drawing)

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I actually haven’t watched the video. Just giving you a visual. Ignore the doodles, that was for something else lol.

 

[cae780]

Ah..thanks, I guess?

 

[gaby95]

I have zero idea of what you're trying to communicate. Gene has top heights, angle *2 in that drawing. Dolby spec is 30-55 degrees, I just want to confirm that Gene's would be, on that drawing, 55-65 degrees (as I previously misunderstood and thought he was at 25-35 degrees on that drawing)

I know what you are saying. It makes it VERY confusing when some people give the angle based on the top of your head like 25º from directly above your head. I think you are right..the 25-35 Gene uses is 55-65 in the correct way of expressing it as per the Dolby guidelines.

 

[cae780]

Yes I think that's right as well. I found an old thread where he mentioned this, thought to myself "wow this is all the information I've wondered about".. and then realized it was my own post he was responding to a year or two ago. Woops. NEver too young to go senile I guess!

 

[TheDarkOne]

Hey there, I was hoping to get clarification from Gene or some of the other guys. In the article and video, Gene calls straight up 90 degrees, and states he places his atmos speakers 25-35 degrees away from the main listening position.

Dolby's diagram has straight up as 90 degrees, and the smaller the angle the closer it is to flat/ear level. So if we were to put Gene's preferred angle on the dolby spec, it would be shown as 55-65 degrees, which puts it closer to directly above your head, correct?

Did anyone get any official clarification on this? If Gene's guidance is to move the front and back atmos speakers closer to the MLP, (less than 45 degrees), then I think the article is technically wrong, (or at least contradictory). As stated from the article:

"As quoted above, Dolby recommends a 45-degree angle of elevation from the listening position to the overhead speakers (with 90 degrees being straight up). According to Dolby, there’s some wiggle room there, and anything from 30 to 55 degrees is acceptable. Gene recommends sticking to the smaller end of that range, placing the front Atmos speakers 25 to 35 degrees forward from the main listening position, and the rear ones 25 to 35 degrees behind."

If we are saying 90 degrees is straight up, then Gene's recommendation of 25 to 35 degrees would push them further away from the MLP, past the 45 degree mark. However, it says 25 to 35 degrees forward from the main listening position, which sound like straight up in that case would be 0 degrees. Overall, I THINK, the suggestion is to bring the atmos toward one another from both left to right, and from back to front, despite the confusion in the article. Is that correct?

 

[TLS Guy]

Did anyone get any official clarification on this? If Gene's guidance is to move the front and back atmos speakers closer to the MLP, (less than 45 degrees), then I think the article is technically wrong, (or at least contradictory). As stated from the article:

"As quoted above, Dolby recommends a 45-degree angle of elevation from the listening position to the overhead speakers (with 90 degrees being straight up). According to Dolby, there’s some wiggle room there, and anything from 30 to 55 degrees is acceptable. Gene recommends sticking to the smaller end of that range, placing the front Atmos speakers 25 to 35 degrees forward from the main listening position, and the rear ones 25 to 35 degrees behind."

If we are saying 90 degrees is straight up, then Gene's recommendation of 25 to 35 degrees would push them further away from the MLP, past the 45 degree mark. However, it says 25 to 35 degrees forward from the main listening position, which sound like straight up in that case would be 0 degrees. Overall, I THINK, the suggestion is to bring the atmos toward one another from both left to right, and from back to front, despite the confusion in the article. Is that correct?

I don't think you can be over dogmatic. I think speaker spacing aces angles. I think that the best arrangement is for the ceiling speakers to be spaced evenly between the mains and the rear surrounds, and inline with the right and left mains. I think unless you room is very long indeed four ceiling speakers beats six. That is what I have done and it works very well indeed over all nine seats.

 

[TheDarkOne]

I don't think you can be over dogmatic. I think speaker spacing aces angles. I think that the best arrangement is for the ceiling speakers to be spaced evenly between the mains and the rear surrounds, and inline with the right and left mains. I think unless you room is very long indeed four ceiling speakers beats six. That is what I have done and it works very well indeed over all nine seats.

While I appreciate your opinion, I was specifically asking for clarification on the article. Thanks.

 

[TLS Guy]

While I appreciate your opinion, I was specifically asking for clarification on the article. Thanks.

I did clarify it. Don't get hung up and degrees, pay attention to spacing and then the degrees will be what they are. Even Dolby says that.

 

[TheDarkOne]

I did clarify it. Don't get hung up and degrees, pay attention to spacing and then the degrees will be what they are. Even Dolby says that.

Telling me to dismiss the contents of the article does not clarify details within the article...I hope you can see that.
To be honest, I don't care what "you think", I'm trying to clarify what the authors of the article meant.