@zcftr29, I can't use any editing tools, delete drafts or any other basic stuff on the forum for days now for some reason. So I waited until I had a little sleep and in better temperament!
But, it sounds like you have things figured out, that's great! I don't think you will get a sea change in sound with side speakers, but of course more is better with Atmos listening.
It's worth it to me to listen to Atmos with more channels. To me, the improvement over my Onkyo's 5.1.2 decoding and 7.1.4 is huge! But I think having 4 overhead speakers, instead of 2, is key for me at least. The side speakers are just a little more sweet on the cake. But even 5.1.2 is good, if that better meets someone's budget. After all, that's all I had until recently when
@zeerround told me there was a path forward to piece together a larger system, and fortunately mostly with components I already had..
Yes, our approach to Atmos listening does not have to be expensive. I was fortunate in that I already had all the speakers and a spare AVR. But sounds like you did alright picking up your components without "breaking the bank" as some say. I think your decision to go with two HDMI-capable AVR's was a good one. If my spare AVR had not been analog-only input that is the direction I would have wanted to go. But if one is a pc user, and the spare AVR happens to be analog in, it only takes a HDMI>analog extractor to bridge the gap from HDMI to analog.
The Monoprice HDMI to 7.1 analog extractor device, and my lack of writing things down/poor memory sort of tripped me up a few times! You see, the extractor device I bought has four, 3.5mm outputs. Meaning of course for 8 channel output, each outboard connector carries two channels.
So, doing the channel check in the Windows Sound applet as a 7.1 device, I had to keep changing the outputs to find the two that would drive my 4 overhead speakers. "Ok Boondocks", you think, "so what?"
lol.
Well the outputs from the extractor that would play sound in the applet would turn out to not be the same ones I would have to use for my four overhead speakers using the Dolby Reference Player . That really had me going for a while but through trial and error I got it right. Later took it all apart and had to do it all over again! So in my case pencil and paper to take a few notes would have been in order. Or a phone pic! DOH!
As for your upmixing scripts, I was aware of them but have not given them an in depth try yet. I've been upmixing for 20+ years myself, primarily with Plogue Bidule. Recent times I have moved to a combination of Plogue and stem extraction programs such as demucs.
Really not much fun time lately at all, as Tropical Storm Nicole left my property a mess, with limbs and leaves and even a few dying trees on the ground. So lot's of raking and picking up limbs and such for several hours a day, or until my old body says "stop!" But I hope to get back in to mixing pretty soon.
Also I'm hoping to buy a 9.2 Atmos-capable AVR that has 11.2 processing and preouts. I suppose if I do, and in combo with my 5.1 analog AVR I could add two more overhead speakers, but the room with my pc's/audio system is not large so probably not. But I do like my concerts, and although live concert sound is often not the greatest, it would be nice to be able to fire up PowerDVD again and listen in more than 5.1.2.
Since my 2-AVR solution requires me to use ASIO4ALL, and PowerDVD does not support ASIO, that's the excuse I keep giving myself to get a new AVR. But we'll see how the "wife factor" goes!
Shoot me a pm if you would like further discussion. Or of course, anyone else that might need some info.
Ah, one thing I forgot to mention. Adjusting volume between my two AVR's turned out to be simple. I keep the analog input AVR 11 "points" behind the Onkyo and it seems pretty consistent.
