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

QuadraphonicQuad

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So are you saying there is no real way to channel balance the Atmos channels?
No, I’m not saying that. The AVR does this for you during the speaker setup configuration. It configures the volume balance, time delay, and room EQ which you can choose to use or not. You can go into the speaker settings on the AVR and modify the configuration and now even the Audyssey frequency curves. I’m saying we don’t have an a good technical source to evaluate our speaker layouts and frequency capabilities...

Dolby Support states ( from https://www.dolby.com/us/en/support/dolby-demo-content.html )
”If you’re calibrating a new Dolby Atmos setup, you do not need a Dolby Atmos demo disc. Instead, we recommend using the calibration tools built into the AVR.”

I want to be able to run an external test that will let me easily evaluate my speaker installation as described in my previous post.
 
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?
I believe that you could play the files on a device like my OPPO 205. I have an external hard drive plugged into my Oppo that I use to play back audio files. I have a couple of .m2ts files of Pink Floyd’s Meddle and quad vs of Echos that I ripped off of my Early Years box set blu-ray. I would think that Atmos tracks could be played back as well. Also my Marantz SR8012 displays USB Music and Music Servers as sources to play back music using its HEOS source. HEOS appears to be Marantz’s gatekeeper for all Internet streaming, and local file source playback.
 
I believe that you could play the files on a device like my OPPO 205. I have an external hard drive plugged into my Oppo that I use to play back audio files. I have a couple of .m2ts files of Pink Floyd’s Meddle and quad vs of Echos that I ripped off of my Early Years box set blu-ray. I would think that Atmos tracks could be played back as well. Also my Marantz SR8012 displays USB Music and Music Servers as sources to play back music using its HEOS source. HEOS appears to be Marantz’s gatekeeper for all Internet streaming, and local file source playback.
I just tested playing the VIDEO files that I have of Pink Floyd Meddle/Echos on my Marantz and was unsuccessful. The amp is looking for “audio” files and will not display the ”video” files I ripped from the blu-ray. It would play the audio files I tested from the hard drive.
This is the same way my Oppo player works too... It will not display the files when I browse for Music but it will if I browse for Movies.
 
I fully agree there should be a professional disc or collection of files to calibrate/demo Dolby Atmos available. Considering the cost to buy in to the format plus Dolby's development costs it is a must.
 
Has anyone heard the XTZ S2 Atmosphere speakers? As I am finalizing my audio room build, my acoustic engineer friend/consultant Jeff Hedback said I should look into them for Atmos, but explains he hasn't heard them, just knows of the pedigree of the company. So I have 3 to consider: SVS Prime Elevation, Elac Debuts and the XTZ S2 Atmospheres.
 
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Thx. Read that earlier. They are obviously promoting their own products. Wondering about XTZ and Elac Debuts too. I'm pretty set in where my 5.1.4 on-ceilings will go, thanks to you guys.

Edit: Avatar now represents new audio room design
 
Thx. Read that earlier. They are obviously promoting their own products. Wondering about XTZ and Elac Debuts too. I'm pretty set in where my 5.1.4 on-ceilings will go, thanks to you guys.
They sure are
I have the SVS Prime Elevations for my front heights.....they produce the sound I'm looking for. I can recommend them.
 
Instead of fitting the SVS speaker mounting brackets directly to the wall, I cut two pieces of chipboard and screwed them together and attached them to the wall first. This gives more lee-way in getting the speaker brackets set up right, as it is more forgiving to attach them to the chipboard for the correct orientation, rather than potentially buggering up the holes into the plaster/brickwork.
 
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So, here we are a year later and the room isn't done yet (no work from April 1 til now). But now that we are going to try and resurrect all that remodeling activity, I am close to ordering the two pair of black SVS Prime Elevations for my ceiling mounted front and rear height speakers (I may have my Atmos speaker position nomenclature wrong :) ).

Before I do I want to put to bed one final category of speaker for any possibilities, and that's the fairly long list of reputable speaker companies (inc KEF, Klipsch) that make "toppers" for their more-floor-oriented speakers; namely, Atmos bounce speaker add--ons that portend to bounce realistic sound off the ceiling. Don't get me wrong, I am not looking to do that...I am looking to find if anyone has used these toppers as down-firing ceiling speakers? Their lower profile and angled fronts make them worth one last look, but if they are not even able to be positioned or attached to a ceiling, then nevermind.
 
....I am looking to find if anyone has used these toppers as down-firing ceiling speakers? Their lower profile and angled fronts make them worth one last look, but if they are not even able to be positioned or attached to a ceiling, then nevermind.

I have (4) Klipsch RP-500SA Atmos speakers that I use as ceiling mounted Atmos speakers. I have two mounted on a beam that runs across the center of the cathedral ceiling in my living room and two mounted high on the wall next to the ceiling behind me. These speakers have a switch that changes the frequency response depending on if they are used as Atmos upward firing speakers or if they are mounted on the wall firing down. They have a single keyhole mounting slot on the bottom for hanging them on the wall.

Initially, I was attracted to the wedge shape of the speakers. I thought I might be able to mount them on the angled support beams on my ceiling using the wedge shape to where the speakers would be pointed virtually straight down parallel to the floor. After I researched Atmos speaker positioning I found that the ceiling support beams would place the speakers in an unideal position.

I tested these speakers in several positions around the room. I tried them on the front wall mounted up to the ceiling but I could tell the sound was coming too much from in front of me, not from the ceiling firing down. I tried them on the side walls up high on each end of the cathedral ceiling firing down into the middle of the room in front of me but again I could hear the sounds coming from high on the sides of me. I tried them on the center ceiling beam in front of me and finally they were firing down from the ceiling in front of me.
I tried placing the rear speakers on the side firing down behind me but they again they sounded off to the sides not behind me. I tried them on the rear wall about 6.5’ high where I had my rear speakers for my 7.1 config and they sounded better, definitely behind and above me. Lastly I tested them as high up the wall to the ceiling behind me and that gave me the best speaker placement sound. I also lowered my rear 7.1 speakers down to about 3.5 feet to keep a good separation of the floor speakers vs the ceiling speakers.

So in the end, I’m not using the “Atmos” capabilities (Upward firing with the special notch frequency config) of these speakers so I didn’t need these speakers... If I were doing this again, I’d look into a couple of pairs of good bookshelf speakers that I think would probably sound better and could still be mounted at angles in my room.

I hope this helps,

David
 
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.

You can try and downloaded the "DTS-X Object Simulator" demo (most AVRs these days that support Atmos also support DTS-X):

DTSX_object_emulator1.png

DTSX_object_emulator2.png
 
Have you looked at the JBL SCS-8 or SCS-12? Worth looking into, highly regarded.
Thanks for this; they look like a great alternative, especially given the brackets and ability to point/adjust after install. In my roughly 21x16x9 room I'd think two pair of SCS-8s (as opposed to 12s) would be plenty for the ceiling. Now just OCD'd about timbre matching my Aerials vs using the SVS Primes. No idea really, and no way to test. First world problems.

BTW, I'm a UD alum, met my wife there, and two of my three sons also went there. Go Flyers...the cancellation of March Madness was unbelievably unfortunate for our then-number-2-rated Flyers. :(
 
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I am almost finished with my room, just waiting for the wall treatments to arrive from GIK Acoustics. After they arrive I will do my final tuning but sure is sweet so far. My room is 12' X 14'.
I have 5 speakers on the floor, 4 ceiling speakers for Atmos and 3 subwoofers.

The 4 Atmos speakers (B&W CCM7.5 S2) are tilt able to the listening position. They are in line with my two front speakers on floor. Two front heights are between front speakers and myself, two rear heights are between the back of my head and wall.
Note: My experience so far with Atmos heights is sometimes spectacular, most of time not. Movies seem to embrace the Atmos more than music only discs, music only discs are little weak except for some exceptions, Booka Shade, etc.
The envelope of sound is very cool even when not hearing discrete artifacts.
The foundation floor speakers are still the engine of all.

My 3 subs, all REL S5 (rear sub), S510 (for front L/R) and S812 (for center) are really great. I thought that REL was crazy suggesting that set up to me based on a 12' X 14' room, but really glad I listened. They are tuned perfectly, they do not wall shake, there is just this nice layer of low frequency that ties the bottom in and pressures the room just right, they are not turned up to shake but on movies sometimes they do a little.

The front and rear subs used for the floor speakers are LFE connected from two separate sub outs of my AVR and High Frequency speakon cable connected to amp speaker posts. I had some minor feed back and by disconnecting the black speakon wire the hum went away.

The 3rd sub for center channel is NOT connected to LFE but High Frequency cable only, red and yellow to amp end and black to phono ground of AVR (another help in eliminating hum).
As I said in the beginning I am still tweaking it out with minor placement of speakers adjusting my brain to certain imaging and reflection. Did I say my sitting spot is off center, my right armrest of my chair is center, so the center of my head is off about 8-10 inches.
I have been successful using mono recordings to dial in the center image between left and right mains, so now my stereo image sounds better.
Since this picture was taken the two fronts are moved towards center about 2" from audio rack, the two subs are now angled diagonally, IsoAcoustic Gaia II feet have been added to the two floor standers, and the new carpet finally lays flat.
I have started to turn off my tweaking brain and start to just enjoy what I have, believe it or not this is challenging to get out of that head space to want to improve, not even sure I know what to improve anymore.
IMG_0914.jpg
 
Thanks for this; they look like a great alternative, especially given the brackets and ability to point/adjust after install. In my roughly 21x16x9 room I'd think two pair of SCS-8s (as opposed to 12s) would be plenty for the ceiling. Now just OCD'd about timbre matching my Aerials vs using the SVS Primes. No idea really, and no way to test. First world problems.

BTW, I'm a UD alum, met my wife there, and two of my three sons also went there. Go Flyers...the cancellation of March Madness was unbelievably unfortunate for our then-number-2-rated Flyers. :(
Indeed, they may never have a team like that again.
 
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