Questions Prior To Going Atmos

R

rmcx

Audiophyte
I'm contemplating moving from traditional 5.1 to Atmos 5.1.2. But since Atmos makes up a small part of what's available to us, I'd like to know if/how the two Atmos speakers will be utilized during typical 5.1 broadcasts. (I have a Sony STR-DN1080). Will they be ignored? Will they be utilized in some way automatically? Will I have to reconfigure the speaker layout in the receiver every time the format changes? etc.
 
William Lemmerhirt

William Lemmerhirt

Audioholic Overlord
Pretty easy. Just select one of the upmixers. Dolby surround(DSU) and DTS neuralX, are really good at “upmixing” older content, or even new content that’s only 5/7.1. They both extract sounds from the bed layer in different, and it’s worth experimenting to see which one you like. If you have the means and space for rear heights/tops as well, imo it’s worth going for 5.x.4.
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
Yeah, I use DTS NeuralX for everything that is not encoded with Atmos.

This will utilize those ceiling speakers.

Actually, on some Atmos contents that don't seem to have any overhead sounds (I call them FAKEMOS), I still use NeuralX on those sorry Atmos contents to get my ceiling speakers involved. :D
 
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R

rmcx

Audiophyte
Thanks for these answers. I do believe I'll push ahead on this.

Question: To avoid having to switch between formats on this receiver depending every time the source format changes, is there a single setting you'd recommend to handle 'everything'?
 
K

Kleinst

Senior Audioholic
I also upmix all the time so I leverage those channels and it is especially noticeable since I got ceiling speakers in one of my setups vs atmos enabled speakers. I think it's worth it if you can get ceiling and maybe even worth a try with upfiring atmos. I do agree trying to get to .4 but I'm not sure if that receiver will go any further than .2
 
R

rmcx

Audiophyte
I will probably not try to get to a .4 system on this go-round. However, I'm intrigued by the concept of ceiling speakers. My problem, however, is that the ceiling is bare wood. i.e. there is no drop portion available for a recessed speaker. I could, however, just mount speakers right to the ceiling.

Any suggestions here???
 
K

Kleinst

Senior Audioholic
Worth looking into the SVS Prime Elevation speakers perhaps in that case. They would go in the front height positions and would perhaps do a good job. I don't have them but if I couldn't get ceiling then I would have look at those. In my downstairs i have an upfiring setup and I do think they work but not nearly as well as the ceiling of course
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
Considering it's usually just a button or two on a remote or phone app, I switch between Stereo for most music and one of the upmixers for HT. With Dennon and Marantz, you can just hit Movie or Music and it will recall your last setting on those. ;) Dunno about how the Sony works.
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
Worth looking into the SVS Prime Elevation speakers perhaps in that case. They would go in the front height positions and would perhaps do a good job. I don't have them but if I couldn't get ceiling then I would have look at those. In my downstairs i have an upfiring setup and I do think they work but not nearly as well as the ceiling of course
I've heard good things about the SVS Elevations. Haven't used them, though.

If possible, and .4 Atmos is doable, you should look at the Top Front and Top Back position primarily.
If only .2, then hopefuly you can do Top Middle.
Otherwise, I would go with Front Height and Rear Height if that is all your AVR will support.
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
Thanks for these answers. I do believe I'll push ahead on this.

Question: To avoid having to switch between formats on this receiver depending every time the source format changes, is there a single setting you'd recommend to handle 'everything'?
Most contents are NOT Atmos or DTSX. So I set it to NeuralX for everything. Then if it's Atmos, I change it to Dolby Surround (DSU).

When you set to DTS NeuralX and the content is DTSX, it will decode DTSX.

When you set to DSU and the content is Atmos, it will decode Atmos.

So I keep it at NeuralX all the time unless the content is Atmos.
 
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