Has Dolby Home Atmos Been a Step Forward for Home Audio?

[Cdx]

The film/audio industry approach to growing 5.1 has mostly been build it and hope they come. There's no proactive leg that's consistent.

For years I sold new construction homes...new home owners, the ideal market to tap into at the builder level...not post construction. Even the actual design of the homes...most family rooms are designed for the TV to go over the fireplace (not a great idea) but no place for a center channel speaker. Upscale homes would typically have some type of book cases flanking the fireplace for components, but subs are rarely taken into account.

Dolby should be partnering up with local retailer/custom installers, etc and sending their salespeople into Beazer, Pulte, corp offices...both sides are leaving opportunity on the table.

True but the majority of us may never get the opportunity to live in a new build or even want to. In parts of Europe, the build quality of new builds is no where near as good as the 100+ year old buildings. My house is about 100 years old, many new builds will struggle to reach 50. Add to that we have a lot of 100+ year old buildings taking up the already limited land space available.

 

[2channel lover]

True but the majority of us may never get the opportunity to live in a new build or even want to. In parts of Europe, the build quality of new builds is no where near as good as the 100+ year old buildings. My house is about 100 years old, many new builds will struggle to reach 50. Add to that we have a lot of 100+ year old buildings taking up the already limited land space available.

It matters little whether a new construction home is better or worse than a 100 year home.

The point I'm making is they are building new homes (lots of them) and not taking advantage of a built in opportunity....the model home should have a nice surround sound/atmos, system.

I view this as an opportunity missed...not a cure all.

 

[Cdx]

It matters little whether a new construction home is better or worse than a 100 year home.

The point I'm making is they are building new homes (lots of them) and not taking advantage of a built in opportunity....the model home should have a nice surround sound/atmos, system.

I view this as an opportunity missed...not a cure all.

Which is why I agreed your post. I'm just making the point that in Europe we don't have "lots" of new builds for the reasons I explained so it may not be so much of an opportunity for Dolby.

 

[daddyora]

I certainly don't feel qualified to debate audio with a guy like James Larsen but I do believe that ATMOS adds something to HT. I have a modest 5.1.2 (in-ceiling height) system in my new house and am struggling to get the ATMOS content to work correctly, even the professional installer has made some mistakes. However, I will get it functional soon and feel that the added object-based content will add more audio enjoyment than what little it may detract by playing it through an entry-point avr (Yamaha Aventage RX-A660). For HT, I don't feel that your listening discrimination is as accute as it is for 2 channel listening and minor discrepancies are either overlooked or not even noticeable. Therefore timbre matching, minor distortions, minimal power fluctuations, etc, etc aren't as apparent for HT and the added height object-based content is worth the cost/problems. As has been stated, "all engineering is a trade-off".

 

[2channel lover]

Which is why I agreed your post. I'm just making the point that in Europe we don't have "lots" of new builds for the reasons I explained so it may not be so much of an opportunity for Dolby.

Very American of me...very true of Europe and even some parts of the U.S. but there is a market...potentially hundreds of thousands new households in the U.S.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

It matters little whether a new construction home is better or worse than a 100 year home.

The point I'm making is they are building new homes (lots of them) and not taking advantage of a built in opportunity....the model home should have a nice surround sound/atmos, system.

I view this as an opportunity missed...not a cure all.

I agree, lots of missed opportunities. And what really gets me, is the whole disgusting cliche of “big screen over the fireplace”. I hate that poop. And I hate WAF too. It’s stupid. My opinion is this. I LIVE HERE TOO!!! So why do I have to cower with my tail between my legs and put up a soundbar because my wife doesn’t like my monkey coffins? We always discuss these things and come to a common ground.

I kinda mentioned it before, but I think the answer to the original question is yes, it has been a step forward. Sure, some of the content is weak, and some people don’t have awesome setups, or their old setup was super awesome etc, but IMO it’s far more advanced than 5/7.1. My biggest problem with it is that guys like Nolan, and mixers who don’t know what they’re doing are barfing out mixes that do nothing to showcase the format. So you could say Atmos has failed on its promise, but really it’s not the format as much as those involve and NOT using their power to create content.
And why the Fukk are we talking about 2ch? Btw even TLS guy like DSU for music.

2channel lover, this whole post wasn’t for you btw, lol. Just agreeing that there are a lot of missed opportunities. The big thing is there has to be interest. Personally I couldn’t care less if joe blow doesn’t wanna deal with speakers and wires and his wife. His ignorance can be his own bliss. Kiss my Atmos!!!

Yes, I’ll probably edit or delete this once my coffee kicks in...

 

[Cdx]

...Personally I couldn’t care less if joe blow doesn’t wanna deal with speakers and wires and his wife. His ignorance can be his own bliss. Kiss my Atmos!!!

Yes, I’ll probably edit or delete this once my coffee kicks in...

Errm....Are you sure it hasn't already kicked in? lol

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Errm....Are you sure it hasn't already kicked in? lol

Huh! Good point. I though I was half asleep...
I’ll read it again once I can see straight. Lol

 

[Danzilla31]

Huh! Good point. I though I was half asleep...
I’ll read it again once I can see straight. Lol

Now Don't take it down In with you bro it's our new rally cry!!!! YOU CAN KISS MY ATMOS@$!#: Hey we should do T-shirts!!!!

 

[Danzilla31]

Huh! Good point. I though I was half asleep...
I’ll read it again once I can see straight. Lol

Don't ever be ashamed of what caffeine does too you bro. Don't take it down.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Now Don't take it down In with you bro it's our new rally cry!!!! YOU CAN KISS MY ATMOS@$!#: Hey we should do T-shirts!!!!

Lmao!!! Laugh my Atmos off!!!
We can sell shirts to match these ones I made.

 

[Danzilla31]

Lmao!!! Laugh my Atmos off!!!
We can sell shirts to match these ones I made.

Dude I love it!!!! I think we're on to something here!!!

 

[RichW]

For me, even though I have reasonably good quality equipment capable of a full 7.2.4 with channels to spare for Bi-Amping or separate stereo music speakers, I find it's just not feasible to have a setup in my house without making it look like an electronics showroom. I think for a large segment of people, that unless you have a dedicated home theater room that's suitable for a proper Atmos/DTS-X setup, most of us don't have that extra space in our homes, and the rooms we do have can barely accommodate 5.1 systems. I personally can't put anything in the ceiling due to blown in insulation making it too much hassle to run wires up there. So I've gone with just a 5.2 plus using front wides since I can't get anything behind the seating area without disrupting the decor of the attached room they would be in. Could possibly add front heights on front wall, but again hard to hide the wires. And would it really add that much difference most of the time. I think not. So I would say buy the best equipment you can afford that best matches the setup your really going to have, and don't dilute your quality so you can buy bells & whistles your probably never going to use. So for me, my 7.2 is still pretty good sounding without the height effects, and I don't really think I'm missing much.

 

[Cdx]

For me, even though I have reasonably good quality equipment capable of a full 7.2.4 with channels to spare for Bi-Amping or separate stereo music speakers, I find it's just not feasible to have a setup in my house without making it look like an electronics showroom. I think for a large segment of people, that unless you have a dedicated home theater room that's suitable for a proper Atmos/DTS-X setup, most of us don't have that extra space in our homes, and the rooms we do have can barely accommodate 5.1 systems. I personally can't put anything in the ceiling due to blown in insulation making it too much hassle to run wires up there. So I've gone with just a 5.2 plus using front wides since I can't get anything behind the seating area without disrupting the decor of the attached room they would be in. Could possibly add front heights on front wall, but again hard to hide the wires. And would it really add that much difference most of the time. I think not. So I would say buy the best equipment you can afford that best matches the setup your really going to have, and don't dilute your quality so you can buy bells & whistles your probably never going to use. So for me, my 7.2 is still pretty good sounding without the height effects, and I don't really think I'm missing much.

I've have enough speakers for 7.1.4 but I only have (tidy) space for 5.1.4. Both of my surround speakers are behind chairs and I would have to do the same for the rear surrounds too. In terms of tidiness, my fronts are on stands with bound cabling the same colour as the stands so it doesn't stand out. My floor cables are in binds as well so you see one thing (the bind) rather than multiple cables. Almost all my equipment fits inside my relatively small TV rack. But what I haven't get properly tidy is behind the rack. I probably have to buy more binds and place logically connected wires into the same ones. But I have 8 devices, not including the TV each with two or more cables. Luckily you can't see the wiring from the front.

 

[RichW]

It matters little whether a new construction home is better or worse than a 100 year home.

The point I'm making is they are building new homes (lots of them) and not taking advantage of a built in opportunity....the model home should have a nice surround sound/atmos, system.

I view this as an opportunity missed...not a cure all.

Right, designing your new home to have an optimal Atmos setup and pre-wired is probably the best way to go, and an additional money maker for the builders. Where I live in, builders do put in surround speakers and wiring for 5 channels, and you can probably get as many channels installed as you want. But just be sure that you do the design, and determine the types of wiring and speakers to be used in the build. I've seen many pre-installed surround setups where the builder just used cheap intercom grade speakers places anywhere, and telephone cord for the wiring. And laid out in a totally worthless surround setup because the people didn't make the proper requests for the setup before it was built.

 

[RichW]

I've have enough speakers for 7.1.4 but I only have (tidy) space for 5.1.4. Both of my surround speakers are behind chairs and I would have to do the same for the rear surrounds too. In terms of tidiness, my fronts are on stands with bound cabling the same colour as the stands so it doesn't stand out. My floor cables are in binds as well so you see one thing (the bind) rather than multiple cables. Almost all my equipment fits inside my relatively small TV rack. But what I haven't get properly tidy is behind the rack. I probably have to buy more binds and place logically connected wires into the same ones. But I have 8 devices, not including the TV each with two or more cables. Luckily you can't see the wiring from the front.

Yea, I have pretty much the same amount of equipment, and the wiring is hid pretty well, but to get any height speakers it would require exposed wiring up the walls and across ceilings, or across floor for rear surrounds. Not worth it to me for a slight improvement in limited circumstances, vs the ugly look in my home.

 

[RichW]

Looking at Dolby Atmos from my personal consumer stand point.

Atmos has brought another layer of realism to home theater with the immersive overhead sound. But, imo it will not much impact on Blu-ray sales.

One reason is Joe Public is pretty far behind the learning curve. The average joe that knows what 5.1 audio is and maybe even 7.1 has almost no clue about Dolby Atmos.

Finally, an upgrade that requires you to cut holes in your ceiling or purchase speaker top modules is just not going to go very far.

Atmos will appeal to that guy that has a dedicated home theater space, or is heavily into home theater in general. The masses probably will never get it.
[Right, kind of like 3D Blu-Ray. Worked pretty good if you invested in everything needed, but many probably viewed it as another here today-gone tomorrow fad to separate them from their money. And now it's gone. Atmos will be replaced with something better soon to keep people buying more equipment.

 

[RichW]

Even in a two channel or 5.1 system, higher end components will be an improvement of cheap ones, so that does prove that Atmos is an improvement.

Quite honestly, I believe that Auro 3D would have better for the home market. It would have been much better way to implement immersive audio in the home simply because it would not have required ceiling speakers. Dolby Atmos requirement for ceiling speakers is the reason why we have Dolby Enabled speakers, which no one seems to truly like.

I believe you do need ceiling/height speakers for Auro3D don't you?

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I’m very lucky to have built my home. I designed the LR to accommodate 5.1 not knowing that I’d later add 2 more subs and 4 speakers in my ceiling. All the wires running to the back of the room are tucked in under the base trim, and between carpet seems and invisible. The front of the room can always use tidying up, but it’s definitely better than when I was a teenager with a quad setup and 11pc drum kit in my room. But I digress...
Anyway, I can definitely see where it’s just not worth the hoops and hurdles for for many people. For me though, it’s the pursuit of getting the best I can afford, and am willing to work for. I don’t mind spending hours tucking wires, or playing spider man up in scissor trusses to wire my Atmos speakers, or countless REW sweeps to get bass just right. Someday I might not give a damn, and will be happy with my “antique” Atmos setup and not pursue anything newer. Damn, I hope not. My system is definitely NOT be all end all, but I can say I do enjoy the immersive tech, and especially that it transforms my older films into something new and fun. Here’s a random pic of the front end, for fun.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I believe you do need ceiling/height speakers for Auro3D don't you?

IIRC Auro uses locations more in the corners or above the bed speakers directly, similar to dts-X.
Only, one ceiling speaker known as VOG, or voice of God speaker. There is almost ZERO content available in the US so imo, investing in an Auro setup is a waste of money.