Favorite speaker setup for Atmos music (i.e. Abbey Road)

[ted_b]

I am staring this thread out of respect for the Abbey Road Atmos feedback thread; i.e I have no feedback cuz I don't have my room built yet, so I am staying off that thread. However, that thread has caused me to think very seriously about making my new audio room Atmos-capable (yes it will have video projector but audio is king). I realize there are a myriad of setups, have read the Dolby Atmos setup guides, etc..but now looking for real world feedback on setting up for Atmos music (i.e more than just foley effects in movies).

I will have a dedicated 5.1 setup, with equidistant and timbre-equivalent (if not exact same) full range speakers in a classic ITU setup (surrounds at around 90-105 degrees). My initial thought on Atmos was to simply put some nice Andrew Jones-designed ELAC ceiling speakers in at the recommended 5.1.4 ceiling positions. But as I look further maybe I would be open to putting non-ceiling height speakers up (less WAF but oh well), and wondered what Atmos music enthusiasts (esp the Abbey Road feedback folks) thought. Clearly, some larger non-ceiling speakers will have more balls and may even more closely match timbre to my mains, but not sure I am overthinking this. Thx
Ted

 

[Odys]

I’m just about done converting my old 7.1 system to a 5.1.4 Atmos. My old setup had the rears in the ceiling. I was able to convince the wife to allow me to use speaker stands behind the couch for the rears, so the 4 ceiling speakers can now be used as heights. I moved two of the ceiling speakers forward to closer resemble the Atmos diagram for 5.1.4. I’m just waiting for the rear speaker cables to arrive. Abbey Road will of course be the first thing played.

 

[ted_b]

Here is my OH room setup (now moved to Denver area). Net/net, the main l/r speakers will be similarly pulled out from the front wall, maybe less than the pictured 6 feet. My reading says the front height speakers need to basically be also pulled forward, which makes the brackets/angles and overall look a bit problematic, but I'll figure that out I guess. The surrounds will be MUCH more to the side (new room will be wider) than the almost-130 degrees seen here.

 

[Hamilton59]

Very nice setup you had there! It's nice to have a dedicated room like that.
I went from a Klipsch 7.2 setup to a 7.2.4 Atmos configuration. I have (4) Klipsch RF7ii that i use for the L, R, RS, LS, speakers, a RC64ii for the center, and (2) RS-62ii for L & R RS speakers. I thought that I'd go with similar Klipsch Atmos speakers (4) RP-500SA so that they may be a closer match to my main speakers. My primary reason for upgrading to Atmos was for music with the nice addition of movies so I'd hoped they would sound somewhat similar. I also had hoped that the upward firing speakers may actually work well enough that I wouldn't have to mount them on the ceiling. When I tried them, I could not get an acceptable height sensation bouncing the sound off of my vaulted ceiling. I tested various wall placements as front heights and along the sides but they never gave me the in front of me firing down from the ceiling sound I wanted. I ended up mounting them on a ceiling cross beam that runs across the middle of my living room. Now they are firing down from the ceiling in front of me. I did mount my rear height speakers at the top of the wall behind me which gives me the behind and above direction I wanted. This arrangement matches the Dolby suggested setup pretty closely.

I am disappointed by the sound quality of the height speakers compared to the rest of my system. I have a Marantz SR8012 AVR that drives these speakers. It uses Audyssey MultEQ 32 for room equalization and setup. During the measurement process, the amplifier plays a series of test sounds through each speaker, one at a time, starting with the Front Left speaker and ending with the Left Rear Height speaker. I've never really noticed before that all of the listener level speakers sound very similar when playing the test sounds. Klipsch did a really good job of matching the center and rear surrounds to the main speakers. However, when the Audyssey test signals reached the height speakers, there was a noticeable difference in their sound quality vs the listener level speakers. I find this disappointing. I had hoped they would sound similar to the rear surround RS-62ii speakers but they don't. I haven't actually noticed a timbre difference while playing any music or movie yet but I know that I heard it during setup. I can imagine a movie like Gravity that has a demo quality ATMOS sound track that you might be able to hear a difference from the ceiling speakers as the various sound effects are spun around the room and ceiling. I've just ordered a copy so I will find out soon! I think it will take some audio source that moves discretely from speaker to speaker for this to become noticeable. I've also just ordered some test disks so they may reveal some differences with the height speakers...

So I believe, if you can afford, and are able to use similar speakers for your height speakers as your surround speakers, you should. I've been very satisfied with my system but there is a little nagging "what if" that I now have concerning the height speakers sound quality. Everything I've heard through them so far has sounded wonderful, but.....what if?

Just my opinion!
David

 

[kap'n krunch]

Here is my OH room setup (now moved to Denver area). Net/net, the main l/r speakers will be similarly pulled out from the front wall, maybe less than the pictured 6 feet. My reading says the front height speakers need to basically be also pulled forward, which makes the brackets/angles and overall look a bit problematic, but I'll figure that out I guess. The surrounds will be MUCH more to the side (new room will be wider) than the almost-130 degrees seen here.
View attachment 43741View attachment 43742

preeeettyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Beefalo]

Here is my OH room setup (now moved to Denver area). Net/net, the main l/r speakers will be similarly pulled out from the front wall, maybe less than the pictured 6 feet. My reading says the front height speakers need to basically be also pulled forward, which makes the brackets/angles and overall look a bit problematic, but I'll figure that out I guess. The surrounds will be MUCH more to the side (new room will be wider) than the almost-130 degrees seen here.
View attachment 43741View attachment 43742

Awesome setup. I like your style. Nice & "beefy" speakers. Or what is that term that's so overused these days...Robust !!

 

[filper]

Hi Ted. My HT room is very similar to yours in layout. My speakers are well away from the walls and I also use a projector. I recently added two 'full' range speakers (bass reflex front port) into my unfinished ceiling as per the Dolby 5.1.2 specs in anticipation of the Abbey Road 50th release. The height speakers are not an exact timbre match to the other five speakers, but they are close. Your room treatments and equipment are far more sophisticated than mine and my Atmos upgrade only cost me a roll of speaker wire as I had recently moved up to an Onkyo TX-NR585 and had the speakers used for the height channels from a previous set up.

The Abbey Road Atmos track is a whole new way to enjoy the album we have all heard a thousand times in two dimensions. 'Sun King' is actually magical with sound placement. Should you add height speakers ? My 'upgrade' to Atmos basically only cost me my time. If had to purchase a new receiver plus height speakers and pay someone to cut holes in the ceiling and fish hundreds of feet of speaker wire I may have been a little disappointed with the return on investment. My personal thoughts on using large full range height speakers; I did not hear anything to warrant that in the Abbey Road Atmos presentation. Your mileage may vary.

 

[PmikeK]

5.1.2 is all that is needed.

 

[HomerJAU]

5.2.4 is recommended by many, including me.

Adding the height fronts lifts the front soundstage and also allows for better rendering of sound in the y-axis, where an object can appear anywhere inside your 3D listening space box. You’d definitely lose some spatial positioning effects with only 1 pair of heights. (Similar to playing 5.1 with only a rear centre speaker or with rears in mono)

 

[beerking]

Another vote for 5.2.4 here, although, conversely, mine is 7.1.4. As I wanted to fully utilise my Marantz 8012 receivers full 11.1 capabilities. Will add another sub in the future.
Had that not been the case I would have gone for 5.2.4.

Once you immersive yourself in Atmos surround sound, you will wonder why you didn't take the plunge earlier..

It is soooooo worth it.

Afraid the 5.1.2 version will not give you the true 360 degree sensation that many of us now enjoy.

I will beat the Atmos drum for as long as I can.....it is a total transformation for our beloved surround sound.

 

[ted_b]

Thx for all the feedback (and nice comments) so far. I am toying with a combination of front ceiling and rear height (meaning box), just because I can't imagine the look of front height. Any pics, or feedback about a hybird solution, are welcome. Thx

 

[filper]

Here is the layout of my room. The projector screen wall to the surround speakers is 25 feet. Total room length is 35 feet. Width of the screen wall is 13 feet to the left side of the equipment stand, total width is 20 feet at front. Left surround is bottom left corner of image. Height speakers are forward of the couch as per Dolby spec. My mains are spaced 64 inches driver center to driver center apart. Rear surrounds are 12 feet apart. For scale the projector screen is 110 inches diagonally.

 

[sbrom]

+1 for 5.2.4, for all the great reasons mentioned above. Only downside is cost and wiring. I just upgraded from 5.1 and it is amazing. For a cost effective on-ceiling speaker I recommend Boston Acoustics Soundware 4.5’s. They’re relatively neutral, low cost ($70), and easy to install.

 

[sbrom]

... I've also just ordered some test disks so they may reveal some differences with the height speakers...

Can I ask what test discs you ordered, and from where? Very interested in wringing out my system

 

[ted_b]

I'm confused by the 5.2.4 recommendations (plural). In what way do you guys have TWO LFE channels? Or do you mean two subwoofers chained off one LFE channel? I've toyed with Duke LeJune (and others) idea of multiple sub arrays (to reduce or eliminate nodes and nulls) but that's still .1 as far as nomenclature goes.

 

[Hamilton59]

I'm confused by the 5.2.4 recommendations (plural). In what way do you guys have TWO LFE channels? Or do you mean two subwoofers chained off one LFE channel? I've toyed with Duke LeJune (and others) idea of multiple sub arrays (to reduce or eliminate nodes and nulls) but that's still .1 as far as nomenclature goes.

My last Marantz SR 7008 and my current SR 8012 each have two separate subwoofer line outs. The amps speaker setup wizard will ask for the number of subs and when running Audyssey speaker setups it will initially configure each sub separately to match volumes (and maybe freq EQ don’t remember) and then it sets up the EQ for each mic position using one freq sweep for both subs at the same time. My subs are basically diagonally across the room from each other and I believe that it does help even out the bass nulls around the room.

 

[ted_b]

Ok well those sub outs are the same but if that’s what 5.2.4 means then I’ll follow.

 

[ted_b]

Somewhat OT: So I have some BluRay rips I was given (MakeMKV) and rather than burning them to Bluray discs and playing them on a 4k/Atmos-capable bluray player, I could play the files and have Atmos capability if I used what? Nvidia Shield TV (or Pro) and Kodi?

 

[sbrom]

I'm confused by the 5.2.4 recommendations (plural). In what way do you guys have TWO LFE channels? Or do you mean two subwoofers chained off one LFE channel? I've toyed with Duke LeJune (and others) idea of multiple sub arrays (to reduce or eliminate nodes and nulls) but that's still .1 as far as nomenclature goes.

Yea, I get it confused all the time. I use two subs. Next to opposite walls for maximal uniformity, being fed from the two SW outputs on my Yamaha receiver.

 

[Hamilton59]

Can I ask what test discs you ordered, and from where? Very interested in wringing out my system

Hi there,
I broke down an ordered Dolby Atmos Demo disks off of eBay. I saw the back of the box had listed test tones for several different Atmos speaker configurations; 5.1.2, 5.1.4, 7.1.2, 7.1.4, and 9.1.6. Unfortunately, it only plays pink noise that you can step through each channel It states in small print that the test tones are for speaker identification only... I have not been able to find a new modern configuration disk with Dolby Atmos content.

I personally feel that it is a unforgivable that Dolby will create this new format and not supply us with a great demo disk, or more in-house created files that they can distribute however they see fit, that really lets us configure and demo our systems. I have downloaded a few files that will play back short demos which are wonderful to have (including the aforementioned test tones) but they aren’t enough.

I’ve imagined a demo that will display the various Dolby Atmos speaker configurations in a room similar to our AVR setup screens. There would be an on-screen visual indicator to show us the position/point the sound is mixed to in the room. They could move this sound around the room, including the 3D space created by the ceiling speakers so we can see and hear the sound move through the room. The display could switch orientation from our view point in the MLP to side views to display elevation and above views to display the sound passing past the MLP towards the back of the room. We could then evaluate the effectiveness of our speaker installation. They could run various frequency tones through these tests so we could evaluate the timbre matching of our speakers...

Seems like it shouldn’t be too hard or too much to ask for....