I'm on the Atmos trail! (Finally - Old Man yells at height speakers!)

[4_everyman]

Whatever you do don't buy the Audioquest Niagra 5000. It has low level hum. I am used to it now as it is barely audible, but at 5:00 in the morning it is irritating.
And believe it or not, in the directions, it says "This device emits a low level hum and is considered normal". WTF.

Double WTF.

 

[Der_Dude]

Hey JonUrban, since I only became aware of this forum recently I didn't follow your story the whole time, but read it in one big chunk right now. And I really enjoyed it, I was really hanging on your fingers, so to say. I'm happy for you that you managed to get everything to work properly!

I am really feeling your complaints about your hearing abilities, because I am also starting to feel the frequencies fade myself... on my left ear some higher freqencies are definitely missing, and I blame the rehasals with my band for that. Stupid drummer! And stupid me, since I didn't wear any earplugs because I thought I was invincible. Did you also have experience like that? Frustrating to feel that since I'm only fortyfive now and I can tell it's getting worse.

I also struggled whether or not to upgrade my surround system, but I did it eventually last summer. I'm not quiet satisfied with the sound I get from atmos now, but that might be due to only two speakers pointing at the ceiling which have to work through the whole room before the reach my ears.

I am thinking about opening a new thread about what to expect from Atmos Sound in which configuration. To me it's more less like an enhancement in the sound atmosphere, hence the name...

 

[JonUrban]

Hey JonUrban, since I only became aware of this forum recently I didn't follow your story the whole time, but read it in one big chunk right now. And I really enjoyed it, I was really hanging on your fingers, so to say. I'm happy for you that you managed to get everything to work properly!

I am really feeling your complaints about your hearing abilities, because I am also starting to feel the frequencies fade myself... on my left ear some higher freqencies are definitely missing, and I blame the rehasals with my band for that. Stupid drummer! And stupid me, since I didn't wear any earplugs because I thought I was invincible. Did you also have experience like that? Frustrating to feel that since I'm only fortyfive now and I can tell it's getting worse.

I also struggled whether or not to upgrade my surround system, but I did it eventually last summer. I'm not quiet satisfied with the sound I get from atmos now, but that might be due to only two speakers pointing at the ceiling which have to work through the whole room before the reach my ears.

I am thinking about opening a new thread about what to expect from Atmos Sound in which configuration. To me it's more less like an enhancement in the sound atmosphere, hence the name...

Thanks! Yeah, my left ear barely can her 1K!! The other bails out around 3K. Which makes it very difficult to judge my current system. I can hear the sounds coming from different places, but I can't relate to how they sound, good or bad, great or sucks. My wife says it sounds great, but it's not the same has hearing it yourself.

For sure, start a thread. I think those who enjoy this type of story/adventure will read it, and those that don't will just ignore it. Regardless, it's a nice road map for those going along the same path in the future.

Oh, and welcome to the forum!!!

 

[JonUrban]

Did Top Gun Maverick, 4K BluRay/Atmos tonight. My brother and his wife came over and we watched it. Very good, both picture and sound. The lows shook our seats, which was cool. This is a pretty good demo for surround sound, for those who are into it

 

[himey]

Did Top Gun Maverick, 4K BluRay/Atmos tonight. My brother and his wife came over and we watched it. Very good, both picture and sound. The lows shook our seats, which was cool. This is a pretty good demo for surround sound, for those who are into it

Much better than I expected although I did enjoy the original back in the day.

 

[inspclouseau]

"Up and down the ladder is pretty easy for me. Down & up from the floor, not so much. There's always Advil I guess." These days when I get the ladder out , Kathy has her cell phone in hand. I am not kidding. Makes me paranoid.

 

[CPR]

Did Top Gun Maverick, 4K BluRay/Atmos tonight. My brother and his wife came over and we watched it. Very good, both picture and sound. The lows shook our seats, which was cool. This is a pretty good demo for surround sound, for those who are into it

Reference quality, as well as No Time to Die; both great PQ, & Dolby/True HD/Atmos!

 

[TheAbsentMind]

Well, I am sure purists are going to puke, but what triggered me into actually doing these ceiling speakers was a deal at Best Buy that seemed to good to pass up. They allegedly had a pair of speakers that sold "cough-cough" for $699 and they were on sale for $129! For a pair! So skeptical Jon went in there, expecting them to not have any, and they did. I listened to them played through a 3800H and they sounded good (for me, remember that), so I went for it. The price cleared the 'wife-factor', especially since it was for two speakers. When I went to get the second pair, they were a bit more but I didn't care. You see, the big thing is getting the wiring in place. If these are inadequate or are lacking to me and others, it's very doable to cut bigger holes and install better speakers. So for now, I go with the cheap ones. They are Sonance - MAG Series 6-1/2" 2 ways. They seem to be pretty damn nice for the price.

So here's the result of today's action. I figured out where to put the other two holes, cut those out, drilled in between the joists and pulled some pull wires in anticipation of running the 4 speaker wires to each destination. I now have a clear pull from each speaker hole to the 2" conduit that runs through the ceiling and down to the crawl space. At least I am done with sheet rock. What a mess that creates!

(For the curious, the square hole will be covered with the snap in blank off plate you can see on the seats, and the cable and small access holes have cover plates for them. I need that access to get to the box that terminates the 2"pipe from the basement)

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Jon, it seems I may be a year behind you… almost to the day! And with the same speakers, I believe.

I’ve skimmed the thread but am hoping you can provide your impression on these speakers’ quality as in-ceiling Atmos music channels. Even a thumbs up or down’ll help. I don’t expect others to be as long-winded as I’m about to be.

By all accounts they’re fine for movies but we all know that music mixes (at least the great ones) use these channels differently. I value any opinions here far more than at AVS, etc. and I know you really know your stuff!

A bit about my system/room if it helps. If not, everything below is just me blathering tmi . Important stuff at top.

• Listening space is about 15x15 (one side is wide open so it’s not a square room).
• Ceiling is about 7.5’ (unfinished so I’ll be doing this quick and dirty at first).
• System is 5.1.4 (expandable to 7.1.4) with a “135 watt” AVR (we know the number is a joke, but just in case).
• Using PSB speakers (just call them pretty neutral)
• Source: Apple TV/Apple Music for most, but Oppo 203 for the rest.

Crutchfield recommended Monitor c265. Specs are very similar from my basic knowledge. These are on sale at Best Buy, though, so I can avoid return hassles if I get cold feet.

 

[JonUrban]

Jon, it seems I may be a year behind you… almost to the day! And with the same speakers, I believe.

I’ve skimmed the thread but am hoping you can provide your impression on these speakers’ quality as in-ceiling Atmos music channels. Even a thumbs up or down’ll help. I don’t expect others to be as long-winded as I’m about to be.

By all accounts they’re fine for movies but we all know that music mixes (at least the great ones) use these channels differently. I value any opinions here far more than at AVS, etc. and I know you really know your stuff!

A bit about my system/room if it helps. If not, everything below is just me blathering tmi . Important stuff at top.

• Listening space is about 15x15 (one side is wide open so it’s not a square room).
• Ceiling is about 7.5’ (unfinished so I’ll be doing this quick and dirty at first).
• System is 5.1.4 (expandable to 7.1.4) with a “135 watt” AVR (we know the number is a joke, but just in case).
• Using PSB speakers (just call them pretty neutral)
• Source: Apple TV/Apple Music for most, but Oppo 203 for the rest.

Crutchfield recommended Monitor c265. Specs are very similar from my basic knowledge. These are on sale at Best Buy, though, so I can avoid return hassles if I get cold feet.

Like I said above, I really cannot judge them critically. They were easy to install and they do the job with respect to sound location. My wife says they sound good, as do others who have heard them, and they are "good enough for me" at this point, but I can't really give you a blessing because I just can't hear them properly. In fact, my hearing is actually worse at this point than when I did the room over. So I am sorry, but I just can't give you the feedback you want here. Believe me, I wish I could

 

[TheAbsentMind]

Like I said above, I really cannot judge them critically. They were easy to install and they do the job with respect to sound location. My wife says they sound good, as do others who have heard them, and they are "good enough for me" at this point, but I can't really give you a blessing because I just can't hear them properly. In fact, my hearing is actually worse at this point than when I did the room over. So I am sorry, but I just can't give you the feedback you want here. Believe me, I wish I could

Thanks for the speedy and (yes) helpful reply! I’m sorry about your hearing. Speaking as someone whose own body has analogous issues… I understand the sorrow of how that can affect passions.

But your “good enough for me” is, well, good enough for me, too. Especially with your wife’s own thought. I trust that much more than what I’ve found floating the internet ethers. Your other posts here are also encouraging that at the very least these hold their own with their presence. So I’m also glad for the rest of this thread.

They're about $10 more now than before but that’s still a bargain. Know that you’ve helped another member with this thread and your reply… and this community you fostered so long!

 

[HomerJAU]

Welcome to the club @IronWaffle

Great you went for a quad ceiling layout (x.1.4). Four on the ceiling gives superior Atmos experience IMO.