Dolby Atmos question

F

Finn1067

Audiophyte
I have a Yamaha rx A2020 receiver and can’t determine if I can hook up 2 ch Dolby Atmos speakers to it. I intend to connect them to zone 2. Do I connect the Dolby Atmos to the zone 2 pre out or somewhere else? Or not at all? (Sorry I’m a newbie) Any suggestion is appreciated
 
NINaudio

NINaudio

Audioholic Samurai
If your intention is to run Atmos, you should be hooking them up to the front presence channels as outlined in the A2020 manual (pg 22).
 
William Lemmerhirt

William Lemmerhirt

Audioholic Overlord
If your intention is to run Atmos, you should be hooking them up to the front presence channels as outlined in the A2020 manual (pg 22).
Which is another reason I dislike
Yamahas language. Nowhere else are front heights/tops referred to as presence. That is what Yamaha used to call their heights before Atmos was a thing. Why they still do is beyond me. Just middies the water like they always do.
 
S

snakeeyes

Audioholic Ninja
Which is another reason I dislike
Yamahas language. Nowhere else are front heights/tops referred to as presence. That is what Yamaha used to call their heights before Atmos was a thing. Why they still do is beyond me. Just middies the water like they always do.
Think 2006 with the Z9 is where they changed from calling them Front and called them presence. Probably less confusing than front. :). But no rear presence showed up until 2008 with the Z11.

Anyhow probably easiest to keep calling them front presence and rear presence in 2014 when 2040 and 3040 got the Atmos update.

I’m thinking a RXA2020 from 2012 would not do Atmos. I’m not 100% sure it can’t but I’m guessing it cannot.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Looking at the RX-A2020's details it does appear to be pre-Atmos....
 
William Lemmerhirt

William Lemmerhirt

Audioholic Overlord
Think 2006 with the Z9 is where they changed from calling them Front and called them presence. Probably less confusing than front. :). But no rear presence showed up until 2008 with the Z11.

Anyhow probably easiest to keep calling them front presence and rear presence in 2014 when 2040 and 3040 got the Atmos update.

I’m thinking a RXA2020 from 2012 would not do Atmos. I’m not 100% sure it can’t but I’m guessing it cannot.
It definitely wouldn’t. Iirc DA was released in 2014.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Altho if you have two speakers you're calling Atmos speakers and simply want to use them in zone 2, that would be a bit different.....
 
F

Finn1067

Audiophyte
Altho if you have two speakers you're calling Atmos speakers and simply want to use them in zone 2, that would be a bit different.....
I read the Yamaha manual and had an additional question.
My intention would be to run 2 speakers from zone 2, in another room; not the main HT room. I saw speakers with Dolby Atmos and thought that new music may be recorded using that technology.
Can I run from zone 2 pre out to an external amp then use that amp to power 2 speakers with Dolby Atmos? Or is there another solution?
Thanks
 
William Lemmerhirt

William Lemmerhirt

Audioholic Overlord
I read the Yamaha manual and had an additional question.
My intention would be to run 2 speakers from zone 2, in another room; not the main HT room. I saw speakers with Dolby Atmos and thought that new music may be recorded using that technology.
Can I run from zone 2 pre out to an external amp then use that amp to power 2 speakers with Dolby Atmos? Or is there another solution?
Thanks
Yes you can preout to Z2 but the AVR can’t decode Atmos.
There is some Dolby Atmos music but afik not much content yet.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
v
I read the Yamaha manual and had an additional question.
My intention would be to run 2 speakers from zone 2, in another room; not the main HT room. I saw speakers with Dolby Atmos and thought that new music may be recorded using that technology.
Can I run from zone 2 pre out to an external amp then use that amp to power 2 speakers with Dolby Atmos? Or is there another solution?
Thanks
Yeah that's just using speakers in zone 2. That they are marketed as Atmos is more likely to do with how they're able to be mounted/positioned, not that they have some inherent technology for the marketing of "Atmos". The 2ch Atmos is just an algorithm employed in a playback device to expand the surround experience. Looking at the Yamaha page you could run a 7.1 main and 2ch zone 2 simultaneously. You could also use an external amp via the zone 2 pre-outs.
 
William Lemmerhirt

William Lemmerhirt

Audioholic Overlord
v


Yeah that's just using speakers in zone 2. That they are marketed as Atmos is more likely to do with how they're able to be mounted/positioned, not that they have some inherent technology for the marketing of "Atmos". The 2ch Atmos is just an algorithm employed in a playback device to expand the surround experience. Looking at the Yamaha page you could run a 7.1 main and 2ch zone 2 simultaneously. You could also use an external amp via the zone 2 pre-outs.
I wonder if he’s talking about Dolby Atmos enabled speakers. The bouncy kind.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
I wonder if he’s talking about Dolby Atmos enabled speakers. The bouncy kind.
Not sure. I figured it was a bouncy speaker or something for ceiling mount but not sure. Dolby and their "Atmos" marketing can be weird, especially now that its on phones and via Amazon Music and such when that has little to do with Atmos for avrs/movies....
 
William Lemmerhirt

William Lemmerhirt

Audioholic Overlord
Not sure. I figured it was a bouncy speaker or something for ceiling mount but not sure. Dolby and their "Atmos" marketing can be weird, especially now that its on phones and via Amazon Music and such when that has little to do with Atmos for avrs/movies....
It is hard to follow for sure. Iirc Amazon does have some Atmos music. I know it’s out there in the wild but haven’t chased it down...
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
It is hard to follow for sure. Iirc Amazon does have some Atmos music. I know it’s out there in the wild but haven’t chased it down...
I'd think that's just an algorith applied to the music by Amazon or their app for playback (like my phone can apply "Atmos" to audio). At least I don't think that music is recorded "in Atmos" but I'm not positive. Makes me wonder do they market bluetooth speakers called "Atmos" too?
 
William Lemmerhirt

William Lemmerhirt

Audioholic Overlord
I'd think that's just an algorith applied to the music by Amazon or their app for playback (like my phone can apply "Atmos" to audio). At least I don't think that music is recorded "in Atmos" but I'm not positive. Makes me wonder do they market bluetooth speakers called "Atmos" too?
Not sure about speakers as idgaf about “magical” sound modes lol.
WhT I do remember reading about Atmos music is that it is actually mastered as Atmos material. Was a while back I read it... also, I remember a guy. I think his name was Matt wolf? Was giving away his album for a limited time that was supposedly mixed and mastered in Atmos. Imo, I don’t really want to hear instruments and shitt on the ceiling. But my hope is that they can utilize the objects to place things more into the room with the XYZ coordinates that Atmos can use.
 
Last edited:
Mark E. Long

Mark E. Long

Audioholic General
Think 2006 with the Z9 is where they changed from calling them Front and called them presence. Probably less confusing than front. :). But no rear presence showed up until 2008 with the Z11.

Anyhow probably easiest to keep calling them front presence and rear presence in 2014 when 2040 and 3040 got the Atmos update.

I’m thinking a RXA2020 from 2012 would not do Atmos. I’m not 100% sure it can’t but I’m guessing it cannot.
I have the RX-A 3020 it doesn’t have Atmos either it does have front and rear Presance . I believe the op’s is the same . If used with all channels it’s a great setup. The 3020 and 2020 are of the same year Atmos wasn’t added till the 3040 series and after .
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
It sure about speakers as idgaf about “magical” sound modes lol.
WhT I do remember reading about Atmos music is that it is actually mastered as Atmos material. Was a while back I read it... also, I remember a guy. I think his name was Matt wolf? Was giving away his album for a limited time that was supposedly mixed and mastered in Atmos. Imo, I don’t really want to hear instruments and shitt on the ceiling. But my hope is that they can utilize the objects to place things more into the room with the XYZ coordinates that Atmos can use.
So perhaps like Dolby 2.0 had cues for upmixers? I guess I've got some research to do....
 

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