Atmos speakers for increased sound stage?

[NightHawkIX]

Background: I have a pair of Klipsch RP-280FA floor standers for my front L/R. I've since moved to using discrete ceiling mounted speakers for Atmos effects, and the upwards firing speakers on the 280FAs are now sitting idle.

But say I use a MiniDSP and a discrete amp (like an Emotiva A500), do you guys think I can output a single L or R signal to both the upwards and forwards drivers to get a larger sound stage?
I assume I have to change the delay/phase of the upwards firing to match the front firing, and can probably mess with the high/low pass filters a bit- all things the miniDSP should be able to do.

I should also say I have some ceiling treatments (combination BAD plates with 2" Roxul) between my speakers and MLP- that might help disperse the sound?

 

[shadyJ]

If I were you, I would leave them alone. You are not likely to improve soundstage using those speakers in anyway. You are far more likely to degrade the soundstage.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Definitely a recipe for disaster.

 

[MalVeauX]

Are you trying to get a better sounstage or are you just trying to have directional audio from more directions?

Very best,

 

[NightHawkIX]

Are you trying to get a better sounstage or are you just trying to have directional audio from more directions?

Very best,

I have fairly low ceilings (7.5ft) and a narrow room (15ft), so I struggle to get that large and enveloping sound stage I've heard in some other reference systems.
I've noticed if I change tracks from Stereo to Dolby Surround or NeuralX upmixers, I get some of that envelopment back. I was hoping to sync the upward firing speakers with the mains to achieve some of that effect

 

[MalVeauX]

I have fairly low ceilings (7.5ft) and a narrow room (15ft), so I struggle to get that large and enveloping sound stage I've heard in some other reference systems.
I've noticed if I change tracks from Stereo to Dolby Surround or NeuralX upmixers, I get some of that envelopment back. I was hoping to sync the upward firing speakers with the mains to achieve some of that effect

Ahh ok, so you're looking more for immersion, not soundstage (soundstage is a quality property of a speaker, not the product of lots of speakers, to an extent). So you want a big sound bubble where you're immersed in audio and there's no longer strict directionality, perhaps it sounds like?

If that's the case, using Dolby Surround Upmixer and spreading out to a 7 channel system with some 2 or 4 channels on the ceiling, would create a big sound bubble.

Upward firing drivers rarely work well without a perfect room for them to generate the effect. You'd be better off with a atmos capable system perhaps and then use surround upmixer. Just spreading the audio across all channels with splitters, DSP, etc, will of course power more speakers, but that doesn't mean they will all play nice together.

Very best,

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I have fairly low ceilings (7.5ft) and a narrow room (15ft), so I struggle to get that large and enveloping sound stage I've heard in some other reference systems.
I've noticed if I change tracks from Stereo to Dolby Surround or NeuralX upmixers, I get some of that envelopment back. I was hoping to sync the upward firing speakers with the mains to achieve some of that effect

I would definitely recommend using DSU and DTSnx to upmix. You also might try bumping the trim of the tops a couple db to see if that helps with immersion. Even if you could use the DE speakers with the tops you’d have too many competing sources of sound and while you might even get more sound, it would not be better sound, just a mess of sound. How is the bed layer set up in regards to speaker distance and angles etc? Also what kind of material are you watching and listening to?

 

[NightHawkIX]

How is the bed layer set up in regards to speaker distance and angles etc? Also what kind of material are you watching and listening to?

Here's a picture of my room. The rear surrounds are calibrated and get moved in 2 ft towards the center of the room when I'm doing any serious listening. They get tucked to the sides to stay out of the way.
Speaker distances are between 8-9 ft away from the fronts and 6-8 ft away for all the others.

I listen to a range of different music, but a lot of classical- at least that's where I care about the imaging the most.

This is also a HT, so the movies I generally watch are action.