Atmos Underwhelming

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I have a 5.2.4 inceiling atmos system....9' ceiling.

I used 8" Polks....the brand doesn't matter a ton, but 8" offers wider dispersion...imo better for a 9' ceiling vs 6" speakers.

Positioning...I used the Dolby config as a baseline...the end result was the front heights are about 2' in front of the MLP and rear heights are about 2' behind the MLP....I bumped them up 4dB and left them...I hear them fine.

I think that's best right there. Keep Atmos speakers close to the MLP. If doing 4 Atmos, then 2 speakers a little in front and 2 a little behind MLP. Then boost those Atmos speaker levels just like we boost the Center speaker level.

 

[JAB11]

I think that's best right there. Keep Atmos speakers close to the MLP. If doing 4 Atmos, then 2 speakers a little in front and 2 a little behind MLP. Then boost those Atmos speaker levels just like we boost the Center speaker level.

makes total sense now after reading this thread and seeing a couple of those Audioholics YouTube videos. So for the guy that has two front heights high on the front wall, should I just not bother listening to Atmos content until I can configure it properly (which in my case would be limited to 2 height speakers over the MLP given the Denon X1600H AVR). Does one just up-mix to Dolby Surround or Neural, turn off the "best quality/Atmos" in my ATV 4K box, and call it a day for now? Seriously - I wonder if Netflix, Apple, Prime pushing the Atmos mix more and more and taking over the AVR is not a good thing for us without a proper Atmos setup. Besides the overhead audio Atmos brings, is there any benefit whatsoever of listening to the Atmos content vs. up-mixing from 5.1?

 

[Kingnoob]

Dolby Surround is not a particular codec/metadata thing like Atmos, it tries to imitate Atmos via upmixing.....

My old receiver bas Dolby ThZ front heights and wide channels but sadly you can only use one of them.
Atmos is the next step up ??

So in ceiling speakers are better ?? Do they make like floating speakers you can hang ? Or do in ceiling allow this ??
Like hanging a light


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Yep

 

[lovinthehd]

My old receiver bas Dolby ThZ front heights and wide channels but sadly you can only use one of them.
Atmos is the next step up ??
So in ceiling speakers are better ?? Do they make like floating speakers you can hang ? Or do in ceiling allow this ??
Like hanging a light


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes, Atmos is the latest/greatest codec from Dolby, likewise Dolby Surround is the next step up after Dolby PLII x/z. Atmos is designed for in/on ceiling speakers....how you mount them varies.

 

[Garway]

thanks to Gene and the Audioholics YouTube videos I finally realize I'm not crazy, and Atmos can be very underwhelming compared to other formats like Neural or Dolby Surround. I thought there was something wrong with my system when Atmos content would rarely put sound in my front height speakers, and when it did, it's pretty faint/quick. I would just assume change my Apple 4K TV box streaming format off of "best quality/Atmos" and upmix in my Denon 1600 receiver to Dolby Surround or Neural that makes use of the height speakers. But before I do, is there some other benefit to the Atmos/object based sound format other than a signal occasionally going to the height (or ceiling for those that have those) speakers? As in, are the ground speakers (front L/R, rear surrounds, center) getting a different kind of mix with this object based format vs. just using Dolby Surround, Neural, or other formats? Kinda feeling duped by the Atmos hype, although I know all I have is front height speakers above the front L/R (5.1.2) so perhaps without in-ceiling it's not worth the bother.

I complained last week about the same thing but I took everyone's advice and made some adjustments. I increased the volume of my Atmos Height Speakers and lowered the other channels. I then compared soundtracks and listened. I found not all Dolby Atmos movies are created the same. Some have very little sound and others are loud and distinct. Good luck.