Do atmos modules really expand sound?

[Musicman61]

Does anyone have any listening experience with martinlogan surround modules? Their pretty pricey at 500 bucks a piece and I was wondering being that their only being used for atmos effects are they worth getting or will any atmos speaker do? Paired with the motion 30 center and 40s for mains.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Well the problem with any of the DAE speakers is that you have to first have good conditions for them, and then you have to spend time placing them for best effectiveness. It’s all about angles so imagine(if you’ve ever shot pool) making a bank shot from the speaker to your seat. Below is a crude drawing I made for another thread a long time ago, but you can get something of an idea about the importance of placement. Everything matters from the distance from the wall to the seat to the ceiling height to height from the floor etc. simply tipping the AE speakers up or down can be all it takes but be prepared to experiment. Also, no, I don’t believe you need to buy ML AE speakers to match. I am a believer in homologous systems when practical but for AE speakers I don’t think it’s a deal breaker/maker. I can’t really recommend any, but would suggest you dig around and find some reviews. If mounting in/on the ceiling is out, I would recommend something like SVS prime elevation speakers and go with a “height” installation.

 

[Musicman61]

Well the problem with any of the DAE speakers is that you have to first have good conditions for them, and then you have to spend time placing them for best effectiveness. It’s all about angles so imagine(if you’ve ever shot pool) making a bank shot from the speaker to your seat. Below is a crude drawing I made for another thread a long time ago, but you can get something of an idea about the importance of placement. Everything matters from the distance from the wall to the seat to the ceiling height to height from the floor etc. simply tipping the AE speakers up or down can be all it takes but be prepared to experiment. Also, no, I don’t believe you need to buy ML AE speakers to match. I am a believer in homologous systems when practical but for AE speakers I don’t think it’s a deal breaker/maker. I can’t really recommend any, but would suggest you dig around and find some reviews. If mounting in/on the ceiling is out, I would recommend something like SVS prime elevation speakers and go with a “height” installation.

Thanks for the your input. I'm wondering though if it would be an issue with logan 4ohm in the rear channel and 8 ohm for heights. The primes are 8ohm. I'm using a yamaha aventage 2080 to power the surrounds and height channels and a emotiva 3 channel external amp to power the front stage which is the motion 40 towers and motion 30 for the center channel. So would it be a issue to run 4 ohm in the back and 8ohm in the front? Not sure my yamaha is capable of doing that. Its either or but I'm not 100% on that one. Will have to look in to it.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

WhT is the total speaker count? And what are listening habits? Movies/music/volume levels etc.

 

[Musicman61]

2 speakers in the back and 2 height up front sitting on a self about 7 feet up. Left right and center speakers and a svs sub. I think my habits are equal. I watch movies I game via ps5 and listen to music pretty much equally. I own a lot of 5.1 surround music discs that a play through an oppo and also listen to just 2 channel music as well.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I don’t think you’d have a problem really. Unless you really crank it up super loud.
So is the question about adding height modules and NOT using the 7’ heights currently? Are those not being used at the moment?

 

[snakeeyes]

The Prime Elevation work pretty good. I have them on my RXA2060 in a 5.1.4

SVS will take returns if you are not satisfied. They are easy to install.

I also played around with them in 5.1.2 on the sides before I had all 4 height speakers going. That works ok, but obviously not as great as having 4.

I did end up with Canton AR800 in my front heights and Prime Elevation in my back heights. I would probably be 95% as happy with all prime elevations. I got the Cantons to match my other Cantons since the price was right on a used pair.

As far as the prime elevations, they do stick out a bit from the wall but they sound great! I think they look better in front and back than on the sides for that reason.

 

[Musicman61]

I don’t think you’d have a problem really. Unless you really crank it up super loud.
So is the question about adding height modules and NOT using the 7’ heights currently? Are those not being used at the moment?

Im currently using all polk rti series speakers. I will be getting all my martin logans soon with the exception of height speakers. So my question is that if I get the svs atmos speakers rated at 8 ohms everything else will be 4ohms. I'm not sure if I can run the yamaha at 4ohm in all speakers but the heights which would be 8ohms if I went with the svs atmos. And yes there are time when watch movies that I crank it to reference levels to equal that of a movie theater.

 

[Benni777]

Well the problem with any of the DAE speakers is that you have to first have good conditions for them, and then you have to spend time placing them for best effectiveness. It’s all about angles so imagine(if you’ve ever shot pool) making a bank shot from the speaker to your seat. Below is a crude drawing I made for another thread a long time ago, but you can get something of an idea about the importance of placement. Everything matters from the distance from the wall to the seat to the ceiling height to height from the floor etc. simply tipping the AE speakers up or down can be all it takes but be prepared to experiment. Also, no, I don’t believe you need to buy ML AE speakers to match. I am a believer in homologous systems when practical but for AE speakers I don’t think it’s a deal breaker/maker. I can’t really recommend any, but would suggest you dig around and find some reviews. If mounting in/on the ceiling is out, I would recommend something like SVS prime elevation speakers and go with a “height” installation.

Hahaha, love the drawings

 

[shadyJ]

The problem with most of those Atmos modules is that the dispersion is too wide, so you are getting far too much direct sound for the reflected sound to be useful. It totally defeats the point of those speakers. They are not good and they should be avoided unless you know for sure that the emitted sound has a very tight dispersion. Also, the crossover circuit design prescribed by Dolby is based on a very flawed principle. Avoid Atmos modules like the plague.