Dolby Atmos speaker placement

}Fear_Inoculum{

}Fear_Inoculum{

Senior Audioholic
I'm looking at getting 4 in ceiling speakers for Atmos. Looking around, I'm trying to find some literature that can help me with the placement of the speakers. When I look at the Dolby (and other) websites, this is what I find:

Screenshot_20210505-164408_Samsung Internet.jpg

Screenshot_20210512-095002_Acrobat for Samsung.jpg


Which is great.......for a single Row of seating. Unfortunately, I have 2 rows. I've looked, and cannot see anything on their website for recommended placement for 2 rows of seating.

Any help/suggestions greatly appreciated.

Cheers.
 
William Lemmerhirt

William Lemmerhirt

Audioholic Overlord
Well is one of the rows used more than the other? If yes, I’d focus on getting it right for that row and the other one gets what it gets. If the ceiling is higher you can fudge a little more, but if it’s low that makes it harder to split the difference.
I seem to remember as well that your surrounds are fairly high. You’ll need to lower those to make Atmos more effective.
 
}Fear_Inoculum{

}Fear_Inoculum{

Senior Audioholic
Well is one of the rows used more than the other? If yes, I’d focus on getting it right for that row and the other one gets what it gets. If the ceiling is higher you can fudge a little more, but if it’s low that makes it harder to split the difference.
I seem to remember as well that your surrounds are fairly high. You’ll need to lower those to make Atmos more effective.
Room looks like this:

20210328_154618.jpg


Back Row sees more usage for sure, but still use the front often as well. Back row is 5~6' away from, and 16" higher than the front. Ceiling height is only 7'6".
 
-Jim-

-Jim-

Audioholic General
Hi Fear,

Without everything shown in photos and a diagram with dimensions to assist us, we'll need to work from the guidance from Dolby for Atmos speaker placement. You have the diagrams in your post above, so I'll try to assist using them for reference. The change in height will make this a bit of a challenge.

First the Left & Right Atmos Speakers need to be in line with your Left & Right Front Speakers. As for the absolute position between these pairs, I suggest the front pair (#7 Pair in the Overhead Speaker Detail for 7.1.4 Setup in the last diagram you posted above) be 55° towards the Front above the First Row Occupants. (Remember the angle is from an imaginary line parallel to the floor a ear height for a seated occupant => you!) Then put the rear pair (#8 Pair in the Overhead Speaker Detail for 7.1.4 Setup) at 150° behind them. Of course I'd measure and pencil in these locations and then check the angles for the second row. If their front pair angle is between 30° and 55° ; and the rear pair is between 125° and 150° you are golden.

If not within those "windows", you are going to have to compromise but from what I've read, deviating from these parameters a bit will not cause too much grief.

I hope this is helpful.
 
}Fear_Inoculum{

}Fear_Inoculum{

Senior Audioholic
Hi Fear,

Without everything shown in photos and a diagram with dimensions to assist us, we'll need to work from the guidance from Dolby for Atmos speaker placement. You have the diagrams in your post above, so I'll try to assist using them for reference. The change in height will make this a bit of a challenge.

First the Left & Right Atmos Speakers need to be in line with your Left & Right Front Speakers. As for the absolute position between these pairs, I suggest the front pair (#7 Pair in the Overhead Speaker Detail for 7.1.4 Setup in the last diagram you posted above) be 55° towards the Front above the First Row Occupants. (Remember the angle is from an imaginary line parallel to the floor a ear height for a seated occupant => you!) Then put the rear pair (#8 Pair in the Overhead Speaker Detail for 7.1.4 Setup) at 150° behind them. Of course I'd measure and pencil in these locations and then check the angles for the second row. If their front pair angle is between 30° and 55° ; and the rear pair is between 125° and 150° you are golden.

If not within those "windows", you are going to have to compromise but from what I've read, deviating from these parameters a bit will not cause too much grief.

I hope this is helpful.
Thanks for the help/advice Jim.

Not sure what I'm going to do yet. We just sold our 2nd house/rental property, so now my wife is thinking she might want to sell our main house to buy some property and build our "dream home". If that happens, I'll be getting a bigger (and better) HT room. I might just leave the Atmos speakers out for now. We'll see.

Cheers.
 
panteragstk

panteragstk

Audioholic Warlord
I agree that the height of your current speakers will make the Atmos speakers a bit less noticeable/useful. Only reason for that is your current speakers are pretty high. My last theater was like that and it worked great, but that wasn't ever going to be an Atmos room.

My current room is a full Atmos config and it was made from the beginning to be that. I think you could make your current room work, but it'll take some work.

Obviously the dream house option is the best one. :)
 
}Fear_Inoculum{

}Fear_Inoculum{

Senior Audioholic
I agree that the height of your current speakers will make the Atmos speakers a bit less noticeable/useful. Only reason for that is your current speakers are pretty high. My last theater was like that and it worked great, but that wasn't ever going to be an Atmos room.

My current room is a full Atmos config and it was made from the beginning to be that. I think you could make your current room work, but it'll take some work.

Obviously the dream house option is the best one. :)
Yeah, unfortunately limited by the fact that I've got 2 rows of seating. Length of room and height of ceiling meant that I couldn't really get my surrounds any lower.

Hopefully we decide to build. Then I'm putting in 9~10" ceilings in the HT room.
 
panteragstk

panteragstk

Audioholic Warlord
Yeah, unfortunately limited by the fact that I've got 2 rows of seating. Length of room and height of ceiling meant that I couldn't really get my surrounds any lower.

Hopefully we decide to build. Then I'm putting in 9~10" ceilings in the HT room.
I feel your pain. I had to do the same with the back speakers. They are as low as they can be, which isn't great for my back row, but works just fine for the front. Those channels don't get used all that much in my experience.

I think a lot of folks on here would benefit from a 5.1.4 config over 7.1.2 or even 7.1.4 like I have just because the back channels don't get used much. I'd rather have more in the front or ceiling if it helped with overhead effects.

If I were to do my room again it'd be larger footprint as well as taller ceilings. @AcuDefTechGuy went with 12' I think and that'd be excellent. Lot of config options with that sort of room. Check out his theater thread if you haven't.
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
I feel your pain. I had to do the same with the back speakers. They are as low as they can be, which isn't great for my back row, but works just fine for the front. Those channels don't get used all that much in my experience.

I think a lot of folks on here would benefit from a 5.1.4 config over 7.1.2 or even 7.1.4 like I have just because the back channels don't get used much. I'd rather have more in the front or ceiling if it helped with overhead effects.

If I were to do my room again it'd be larger footprint as well as taller ceilings. @AcuDefTechGuy went with 12' I think and that'd be excellent. Lot of config options with that sort of room. Check out his theater thread if you haven't.
26x22x14. It was based on one of those AES formulas. = 1H : 1.57W : 1.87L.

A little bit high. :D
 
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