Search results

I feel as though this is, perhaps, being overcomplicated. The simplest solution, it would seem to me, are 5 or 7 speakers as normal, Front Heights, and one more pair of speakers that play double duty as Surround Height/Top Middle speakers. Let's start with Auro-3D in the home, since that is...

UltraHD Blu-ray players require HDCP 2.2 copy protection in order to pass along higher than 1080p resolution. UltraHD Blu-ray discs will NOT play at all in regular Blu-ray players. OK, so the second part makes sense - it's just like how Blu-ray discs do not play if you put them in a DVD player...

All UltraHD Blu-ray players must also play Blu-ray discs. But playing DVDs is optional. And playing Blu-ray 3D may or may not be optional; I'm not sure if it has been 100% confirmed one way or the other. Oh, and scuttlebutt is that there is no UltraHD 3D at all. So 3D dies with Blu-ray at 1080p...

It's insanely frustrating to me that we can't just have the minimum spec be identical to the way over 90% of all films ever made have been digitally archived and remastered. 1) 4096 x 2160 resolution Why is 3840 x 2160 even a thing? Was it so critical to avoid tiny vertical black bars on...

What I'm seeing is a polarization of the AV marketplace. There will always be a market for expensive, custom installation home theaters. It's not like movies are going away any time soon, nor people's desires to watch movies. And a custom home theater for the wealthy crowd is practically a...

Well, that's the thing: there aren't anywhere close to 30 channels of audio in the signal. There are only 6 (5.1) or 8 (7.1) channels. In commercial movie theaters, there can be 10 (9.1) channels. But as far as channels of audio goes, that's it! There are no extra channels. There is no...

You're most welcome. Yup, getting our heads around this new way of thinking about sound objects instead of speaker channels is tricky. But it's really important to remind ourselves that Dolby Atmos soundtracks do not add any channels to the recording. The recording on a Blu-ray disc is still...

Most welcome! Glad you found it helpful :) Yes, Dolby was well aware that lots of folks would want to make use of their new overhead speakers when they're playing back all of the existing 2-channel, 5.1, and 7.1 content that they already own! I'm sure some folks will liken it to the way Dolby...

The positioning for the overhead speakers has been made fairly clear now, thanks to the Denon AVR-X5200W and Onkyo TX-NR3030 manuals :) Denon shows the positioning via ranges of elevation angles: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.947026021981494.1073741849.522979641052803&type=1 And if...

A maximum of only 9 speakers, Marshall?! What are you, some kind of masochist? :p As I mentioned in my longer post up there, I'm actually still hoping to be able to use 13 speakers at once! AVR-X7200? Marantz AV8802 Pre/Pro? Let's make it happen, yes? :D

^^^ Now that's interesting! Thanks, Gene! Made in Japan and beefier amps. I've gotta say, that makes the identical pricing between the AVR-X5200 and the SR7009 even more curious! That either makes the X5200 an unusally good deal, or it makes the SR7009 kind of a bad one :p That does answer...

I still maintain that this is one of the worst years ever to buy a cutting edge AV Receiver or Pre/Pro. The HDMI 2.0 slash HDCP 2.2 confusion alone is enough reason to wait a year! But I really am keen to check out some Dolby Atmos Blu-ray discs as soon as they're available. My personal...

What's bizarre is that the Denon AVR-X5200 is the same price as the Marantz SR7009, and yet the Denon has fewer inputs (no 7.1 analogue audio inputs, 2 component video inputs while the Marantz has 3) Normally, the Denon and Marantz sister models have nearly identical back panels. But the X5200...

I'm the one guy Tom knows with Front Wide speakers! I'm not kidding. It really is me :D I'll tell you the reason I'm a fan of Dolby Atmos, and it's what Tom wrote at the very beginning of this article: Dolby Atmos is a useful new tool for sound mixers. Object-based mixing is easier than...

My one issue with these units (aside from the confusion caused by the number of pre-outs, binding posts, internal amps, and actual number of speakers that can be processed and output simultaneously all being different!) is that they do not include HDCP 2.2 support. This year, in particular, is...

I've made it a point this summer that every time I've gone to the theater to see a movie, I've seen it in Atmos. To date, only Gravity and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes have really impressed me in terms of what Atmos brought to the experience. I think people might be focusing a bit too much...

Well, these are, simply put, as good an amplifier as Morris Kessler knows how to make at this time, hence his decision to stamp his signature on them :) Will we hear any difference vs. the AT3000 Series or Emotiva's Reference or even X Series for that matter? The vast majority of the time...

True enough. And if you really do have genuinely full range towers, putting two subwoofers at the back of the room - essentially mirroring the Towers at the front of the room - can be extremely effective :) What I see so often, though, is just a pair of Towers, or a pair of subwoofers, but with...

Hi, Steve! Thank you very kindly for the corrections and clarification! That is very good info. You would agree that it only further eliminates the notion of "all audible frequencies must come from the same box and from each and every speaker location individually", yes? :)

So the much bigger question here, to my mind, is why you would want speakers that can play linearly all the way down to 20Hz or lower in the first place. I sense that Irishman might have fallen into the same trap of thought and intuition that afflicts so many fans of audio - namely that the...