The Dolby Atmos Home Theater Paradox

[William Lemmerhirt]

Are you saying that my surround sound placement being too high will interfer with the Atmos modules? I don't have a lot of room for moving the couch forward. Thats why the surrounds are angled down towards the listener position.

Yep. The more angular separation between the bed layer and height layer the better. Otherwise it’s all on the same plane, and that won’t work. Atmos uses the difference in height to phantom image sounds into the room, and just like LR speakers that are too close together, it won’t work. I’m going by memory, so a pic would sure help my little brain cell! Lol
Iirc you have 3 across the back? The one on the back wall should be removed(Atmos also only works in pairs so a single rear is out) and then just use a 5ch bed. Nothing wrong with that at all. Back when I had 5.3 I had imaging behind me all the time.
Another thing is placement of the modules. Ime you can’t just plop them on your mains and call it good. You MIGHT get lucky, but more than likely you’ll have to experiment by tipping them foreword or backward as your basically making a bank shot like on a pool table. Hoping it hits the ceiling and lands on the couch. Ceiling height is important too. This picture is just to give a kind of idea how placing the modules at different heights vs different ceiling heights can change the effect. It would be simpler to angle them up/down but I haven’t doodled that out yet lol

 

[3db]

Yep. The more angular separation between the bed layer and height layer the better. Otherwise it’s all on the same plane, and that won’t work. Atmos uses the difference in height to phantom image sounds into the room, and just like LR speakers that are too close together, it won’t work. I’m going by memory, so a pic would sure help my little brain cell! Lol
Iirc you have 3 across the back? The one on the back wall should be removed(Atmos also only works in pairs so a single rear is out) and then just use a 5ch bed. Nothing wrong with that at all. Back when I had 5.3 I had imaging behind me all the time.
Another thing is placement of the modules. Ime you can’t just plop them on your mains and call it good. You MIGHT get lucky, but more than likely you’ll have to experiment by tipping them foreword or backward as your basically making a bank shot like on a pool table. Hoping it hits the ceiling and lands on the couch. Ceiling height is important too. This picture is just to give a kind of idea how placing the modules at different heights vs different ceiling heights can change the effect. It would be simpler to angle them up/down but I haven’t doodled that out yet lol

Yep. The more angular separation between the bed layer and height layer the better. Otherwise it’s all on the same plane, and that won’t work. Atmos uses the difference in height to phantom image sounds into the room, and just like LR speakers that are too close together, it won’t work. I’m going by memory, so a pic would sure help my little brain cell! Lol
Iirc you have 3 across the back? The one on the back wall should be removed(Atmos also only works in pairs so a single rear is out) and then just use a 5ch bed. Nothing wrong with that at all. Back when I had 5.3 I had imaging behind me all the time.
Another thing is placement of the modules. Ime you can’t just plop them on your mains and call it good. You MIGHT get lucky, but more than likely you’ll have to experiment by tipping them foreword or backward as your basically making a bank shot like on a pool table. Hoping it hits the ceiling and lands on the couch. Ceiling height is important too. This picture is just to give a kind of idea how placing the modules at different heights vs different ceiling heights can change the effect. It would be simpler to angle them up/down but I haven’t doodled that out yet lol

Hmmm it would only be 6.1.2 so I still maybe able to keep the back speaker but I would consider lowering all of the back speakers...My ceiling is about7' + but definately not 8".. I'm beginning to think that this room might be too small to go with Atmos... but.. just thinking about this.. I could mount the atmos modules on the wall behind my towers...The closet edge of the tower to the wall is approximtaley 20" - 24"

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Hmmm it would only be 6.1.2 so I still maybe able to keep the back speaker but I would consider lowering all of the back speakers...My ceiling is about7' + but definately not 8".. I'm beginning to think that this room might be too small to go with Atmos... but.. just thinking about this.. I could mount the atmos modules on the wall behind my towers...The closet edge of the tower to the wall is approximtaley 20" - 24"

Nah, not too small. Just a little fussy. The rear speaker has to go since Atmos only works with pairs and that should help make it easier. Also, it looks like it might be more of a distraction than anything but I’d want to hear it before I could say that.
As far as the front wall goes, you should definitely experiment with the modules. Very room is different and you just have to find the right geometry.
For in ceiling though, imo a fish tape and a couple holes and you’re done. Unless you have insulation which I doubt.(and the top plate might be a problem, but a couple access holes to be patched later could fix that)) Finish the wall with terminals and plates and done!
Many IC speakers will work and don’t have to match the bed layer(although it never hurts). Iirc, Polk speakers tend to share sonic characteristics with some psb lines. You can get a pair of Polk RC80i for about 150 and others for less. Ypao will probably help match them up. To me that makes more sense than 700 for a pair of bank shot speakers. He’ll, you can get a nice set of mains for that! lol

 

[2channel lover]

(I should have posted this here instead of general...anyway..)

I'm looking at used Yamaha AVRs and I can pick up an RX-A2000 for $300. I looked at the specs and it dawned on me that it doesn't support Dolby Atmos... That started with the xx40 series. SInce I have all PSBs, I looked at the asking price for their Imagine XA Dolby Atmos speakers. These modules would sit on top of my towers. Asking price is $700 which I find absurdly expensive. They got solid reviews but $700? .

For those of you who went with Atmos.. did you find it a game changer over 7.1? Anyone use the speaker modules over ceiling speakers? I ask because my ceiling in the basement is finished and it would be rather difficult to fish wires through the walls into the ceiling.

I've heard a speaker top (Klipsch) Atmos system during a demo, and also a Paradigm inceiling atmos system....same source player and source material, different demo rooms...the speaker top was okay...not as convincing as the inceiling imo. FWIW I have a friend with almost the same Klipsch speaker top system...eehh.

I was fortunate to have attic space above the my loft HT space so in ceiling was a breeze for me...absent of that I probably would not have atmos speakers at all, but I'm into it for the music mostly anyway.

 

[Kingnoob]

We've heard chatter in the industry that the new surround format Dolby Atmos, originally designed for Cineplexes, may be working its way into new AV receivers as soon as this fall. Are you ready to jump on the 9.1 or 11.1 surround bandwagon? Or, do you think this will be another forced technology push like 3D and UltraHD have been, from an industry desperate to promote a shiny new product or feature rather than educating the consumers on how to better set up existing technologies to maximize their home theater experience? It will be interesting to see if consumers will identify a need and benefit for adding more speakers in their existing home theaters and if they will be willing to allocate both budget and space to accommodate.

Read The Dolby Atmos Paradox

Are you planning an AV Receiver upgrade to accommodate Dolby Atmos and up to 11 channels of audio? Let us know in this thread.

I don’t see the point in going past 7ch unless you have a boatload of cash and can afford 4 atmos speakers then go or it .
Are the on ceiling speaker small yes or no ? I don’t see small speakers in the cinema


Ultimate bass lover !! si ht15 dvc.
Free the reptile aliens

 

[VonMagnum]

Hey, this poll is no good. It only goes to 11.1 speakers. I'm running 17.1 (11.1.6)

 

[ellisr63]

I am going to 7.6.3... Atmos sucks, Auro3d is the way I am going to go.

Sent from my SM-T550 using Tapatalk

 

[VonMagnum]

I am going to 7.6.3... Atmos sucks, Auro3d is the way I am going to go.

Sent from my SM-T550 using Tapatalk

I wasn't aware you had to choose (and I'm not sure what the .3 is on the end; Auro-3D wants front and rear heights or front heights and surround height, although I suppose you could do probably do front heights and top surround, technically speaking).

My home theater supports Auro-3D, Atmos and X (and anything below it) and even 6-speaker matrix stereo for that matter. I use front/rear heights plus I have "top middles" in the Auro-3D "surround height" location (above side surround). I can extract a top middle channel for Auro-3D from between front/rear heights or I can press a speaker select button and move rear height to the surround height location. This also lets me change to 5.1.4 Atmos (tell it I have 5.1 + front/rear height in the assignment menu and rear heights move back to the side surround location with the switch). I can also COPY rear height instead to surround height (like Auro-3D cinemas copy surround height all the way back to rear as well for 11.1 setups). All three formats sound great here, IMO.

 

[ellisr63]

I wasn't aware you had to choose (and I'm not sure what the .3 is on the end; Auro-3D wants front and rear heights or front heights and surround height, although I suppose you could do probably do front heights and top surround, technically speaking).

My home theater supports Auro-3D, Atmos and X (and anything below it) and even 6-speaker matrix stereo for that matter. I use front/rear heights plus I have "top middles" in the Auro-3D "surround height" location (above side surround). I can extract a top middle channel for Auro-3D from between front/rear heights or I can press a speaker select button and move rear height to the surround height location. This also lets me change to 5.1.4 Atmos (tell it I have 5.1 + front/rear height in the assignment menu and rear heights move back to the side surround location with the switch). I can also COPY rear height instead to surround height (like Auro-3D cinemas copy surround height all the way back to rear as well for 11.1 setups). All three formats sound great here, IMO.

The .3 is for 3 subs (it should have been 7.3.6). I do not like Atmos, and want to go to Auro3d...hence 6 overhead channels (3 front heights, 2 surrounds, and the VOG). Base level will be 7 channels.

 

[RTG]

Modules really can’t get the job done. I’ve been using them upfiring for a few years. September I decided to mount them on my ceiling in a top middle configuration. It’s night and day. I’ll be adding another pair this Christmas for the top rear for a full 7.2.4 setup.
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