Please help, setting up Dolby Atmos

[Jameswalkmd]

Please help, I’m changing my 5.1 setup to a new Denon 4400 5.1.4 setup. My main problem is my open floor plan that forces my surrounds to be near ceiling level height (8ft). The front L/R speakers are about 15ft from rear L/R’s. I really want to do a .4 atmos setup which I can achieve the front heights at the recommended 45degree setup but the rear heights I can only achieve about a 110-115 degree setup (about 2ft behind seating position) and would place it about 2-3 ft from my Left rear surround that’s already at ceiling height that can’t be moved any lower. For the Rear right height speaker it would be within 1ft from the Right Rear surround(up against a wall), this speaker I can lower to slightly above ear level. How screwed would I be by leaving my Left Rear Surround at ceiling level about 2-3ft from each other. But move the Right rear surround down a few ft to achieve that 30 degree difference that would almost align the rear height speaker directly above the rear right surround?

I’m terribly sorry for my illustration I don’t have a stylist and didn’t have paper and pen. Please forgive me. I know my Rear Surrounds and Rear Heights are close but not in optimal location and distance but I hate to abandon my .4 setup just because of my Left Rear Surround possibly not matching the right rear surround height due to being stuck at ceiling height and so close to each other. Excuse me if I was terrible at explaining my situation.

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[shadyJ]

Please help, I’m changing my 5.1 setup to a new Denon 4400 5.1.4 setup. My main problem is my open floor plan that forces my surrounds to be near ceiling level height (8ft). The front L/R speakers are about 15ft from rear L/R’s. I really want to do a .4 atmos setup which I can achieve the front heights at the recommended 45degree setup but the rear heights I can only achieve about a 110-115 degree setup (about 2ft behind seating position) and would place it about 2-3 ft from my Left rear surround that’s already at ceiling height that can’t be moved any lower. For the Rear right height speaker it would be within 1ft from the Right Rear surround(up against a wall), this speaker I can lower to slightly above ear level. How screwed would I be by leaving my Left Rear Surround at ceiling level about 2-3ft from each other. But move the Right rear surround down a few ft to achieve that 30 degree difference that would almost align the rear height speaker directly above the rear right surround?

I’m terribly sorry for my illustration I don’t have a stylist and didn’t have paper and pen. Please forgive me. I know my Rear Surrounds and Rear Heights are close but not in optimal location and distance but I hate to abandon my .4 setup just because of my Left Rear Surround possibly not matching the right rear surround height due to being stuck at ceiling height and so close to each other. Excuse me if I was terrible at explaining my situation.

View attachment 26175

In a compromised situation, all you can do is get as close as you can to the recommended guidelines. If you haven't already gone through the Home Atmos Installation Guide, do so. Atmos is all about directional sound, so the sound cues come from where ever the speaker is. With your surround and height speakers being so close together, I'm not sure there will be much of a difference to justify the effort. Everything will sound like its coming from roughly the same location when its supposed to sound like its coming from discrete locations. If it were me, I wouldn't bother. If you want to improve your sound, there may be other avenues that will yield far more benefits than upgrading to a compromised Atmos system.

 

[Jameswalkmd]

Ok. I ran home so I could take some more detailed pics. As seen in photos I can move the rear right surround down closer to ear level but the left surround isn’t really movable away from the ceiling. I have a little leaway when it comes to rear heights placement. The rear heights as marked in photo is about 2’ behind the couch and is about 3’ away from the left rear surround. If I move the rear heights back farther they will most likely have to be brought in 1-2ft closer to center rather then be in perfect alignment-array with the front heights.
Hope this helps clear up my issue.
Excuse the mess, it’s laundry day! Thanks

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I don’t have time atm to do any markup on the photos but if it were my room I would move the right surround down, AND back a little bit. Move the left surround possible down on the pole(practically notwithstanding).
The other thing is your front speakers have to come down, or Atmos won’t work. Iirc off hand the spec says the height speakers should be 2-3 times the height of the mains above the mains. Ie: if the mains are at 40”off the floor, ideally the heights will be at 100-120” above that. Obviously that can’t work for every room, but having them all on the same plane won’t work at all. I’ll try to look closer later. Sorry if that was covered already. Multitasking....

 

[Jameswalkmd]

I’ve read some mixed articles about the possibility of running your surrounds near ceiling level on acousticfrontier.com (they kind of contradict Dobly Atmos whitepage and say they’ve installed many setup this way) but I do understand it. I plan on upgrading to Klipsch center like a 440C and have it under/above the tv and possibly adding bookshelves in the entertainment center as far left/right as possible so they won’t be near the ceiling anymore and more at ear level. Might not be able to do it right away until I get more funds but it will happen. As far as replacing the rear surrounds I’m not sure yet , I don’t mind lowering the right surround (I could even put it on a floor stand) to match the newer LCR’s that I will get but that left surround is killing me because I don’t want to mount it on the white pillar as it will be an eye sore. I know my setup isn’t perfect/optimal but to say I can’t make 5.1.4 work doesn’t seem that I’m to far from being realistic. (Except that stupid left rear surround).

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I’ve read some mixed articles about the possibility of running your surrounds near ceiling level on acousticfrontier.com (they kind of contradict Dobly Atmos whitepage and say they’ve installed many setup this way) but I do understand it. I plan on upgrading to Klipsch center like a 440C and have it under/above the tv and possibly adding bookshelves in the entertainment center as far left/right as possible so they won’t be near the ceiling anymore and more at ear level. Might not be able to do it right away until I get more funds but it will happen. As far as replacing the rear surrounds I’m not sure yet , I don’t mind lowering the right surround (I could even put it on a floor stand) to match the newer LCR’s that I will get but that left surround is killing me because I don’t want to mount it on the white pillar as it will be an eye sore. I know my setup isn’t perfect/optimal but to say I can’t make 5.1.4 work doesn’t seem that I’m to far from being realistic. (Except that stupid left rear surround).

I have no doubt AF has installed many systems that way. I would guess they were just giving the customer what they asked for and would be curious to know if they’d do that in their own spaces. People contradict Dolby all the time, but who knows how great they turn out.
Good, sounds like you’re already looking at the front of the room. That will help.
As far as the surrounds, that is most definitely tougher, or I should say the left surround. Eyesore is in the eye of the beholder. In my room, I built a pillar to hold my right surround. I’ll share a pic just to illustrate my level of madness.

I’ve since moved on from those, but my poor wife hated them for about 12 years! I’m a nuts and bolts(volts?) guy, so I loved em lol.
In your case, I’d still try to mount on the pillar somewhere but I’m sure it wouldn’t be practical even if you could stand the sight of it. Basically that’s your compromise to choose. I’m sure if you leave it your experience won’t be horrible, but if your like some of us, your audio OCD will put you into fits!!! In fact fwiw, every room has compromises, and not many are optimal. Especially multi use rooms. I just wanted to play devils advocate so that you didn’t dive in and wonder what the big deal is. Happens all the time. I walked in to a house once, and saw all 5 satellites on the entertainment center and the guy said to me, “what a waste of money”. Lmao!!!!!!!!!
Just to be clear, I’m only trying to help.

 

[Jameswalkmd]

Ok so I’ve changed direction slightly... Hopefully it will be worth it and a better fit within the parameters of a 5.1.4 atmos setup. I’m completely removing my Mirage Nanostat Prestige and I’m installing a pair of RP-150’s as L/R (when I move I’m going to go with KLipsch Floorstands) as for center I’m going with RP-440C sadly those are the biggest speakers I could fit it my entertainment center, I had to raise my tv a couple inches to accommodate. I’m going with a pair of RP-240s and installing one on the white pillar, again it seems the biggest I could accomplish for the area. I also went with a new 7012 Marantz receiver from Denon 3400x. For Atmos in ceiling speakers I’ll be going with 4 - CDT-5800 II. How does this sound and will it be a huge improvement? I’m hoping by lowering all my speakers to 18” above ear level from the current ceiling height setup will make a difference(I will now have 2 and 1/2 ft from L/R/SL&SR to my 8ft ceiling).

I did go from 12ft wide sound stage to 8ft so hopefully that’s not too big of a deal with the open room.

Any advice would be highly appreciated!

Thanks