Listening to Now (In Dolby Atmos)

[EricKalet]

I have been reading all the Atmos threads and very jealous of you guys.
I have Tidal and firestick and I can see everything is ready to play and all the playlists but, I don’t have an Atmos speaker set up, before end of this year I hope to.
Question: I will probably go 5.2.4 and I fear the ceiling speakers, not for putting them in and doing the work, but they do not move of course you know that.
Looking at the Dolby website it shows the 4 ceiling being slightly behind and slightly in front of the listening position.
Is this your guys experience also?

I have been reading all the Atmos threads and very jealous of you guys.
I have Tidal and firestick and I can see everything is ready to play and all the playlists but, I don’t have an Atmos speaker set up, before end of this year I hope to.
Question: I will probably go 5.2.4 and I fear the ceiling speakers, not for putting them in and doing the work, but they do not move of course you know that.
Looking at the Dolby website it shows the 4 ceiling being slightly behind and slightly in front of the listening position.
Is this your guys experience also?

I would definitely follow the Dolby recommendations or place the ceiling speakers equidistant from each other and above or slightly offset over the listening areas in the room.

 

[Eggplant]

For some reason the vocals are in the rear channels?! ... [in] Rufus - Tell Me Something Good... It's a bit annoying and self descriptive in my book

Not sure what you mean by “self-descriptive,” but I think the idea here is to make the chorus vocals dominant. It’s been done before, mostly in quad mixes. One example, timely enough, is a track on the quad Captain and Me — the nasty little blues rocker Evil Woman. The chorus there is also high and dominant, plus having the lead vocal in the rear adds to the disorientation (like the ending’s swirling strings rising like a dust devil). Guess the DVDA team thought that was too weird and reverted to the more conventional arrangement of lead in front, backing in rear. Otherwise the mixes are similar but the 5.1 has better sound quality.

 

[northernsoul]

I have been reading all the Atmos threads and very jealous of you guys.
I have Tidal and firestick and I can see everything is ready to play and all the playlists but, I don’t have an Atmos speaker set up, before end of this year I hope to.
Question: I will probably go 5.2.4 and I fear the ceiling speakers, not for putting them in and doing the work, but they do not move of course you know that.
Looking at the Dolby website it shows the 4 ceiling being slightly behind and slightly in front of the listening position.
Is this your guys experience also?

Ceiling speakers can be hung upside down by attaching to shelves etc. I have my SVS ones a few feet in front then overhead by attaching to shelf, on an ikea cd rack. Most can not put in actual ceiling. Main thing is upside down facing towards listener.

 

[marpow]

I would definitely follow the Dolby recommendations or place the ceiling speakers equidistant from each other and above or slightly offset over the listening areas in the room.

Eric,
I have another stupid question that you would think I would know the answer, it seems I only know what I have done and anything I haven't done I am clueless.
My goal is to purchase two floor standers for the fronts, so this means I will have two bookshelf (have 4 and center now) that will not be needed if I do a 5. system, so why not make a 7. system as my foundation for Atmos. My AVR will handle it and has been suggested to me to get a smaller amp to take care of the 4 Atmos speakers.
Anyway my question:
All the different formats in MCH are currently 4.0 or 5.1 mixed by someone for the purpose of surround listening (Atmos exluded), if a person has a 7. system what are those two speakers at your right and left ear, assuming you have the other pair behind you doing? Does your AVR process discrete information to the extra two or is it like a duplicate of the rear information?

Tell Mikey to let you talk more on the YouTube, I think you are a pretty knowledgeable guy. wink wink

 

[EricKalet]

Eric,
I have another stupid question that you would think I would know the answer, it seems I only know what I have done and anything I haven't done I am clueless.
My goal is to purchase two floor standers for the fronts, so this means I will have two bookshelf (have 4 and center now) that will not be needed if I do a 5. system, so why not make a 7. system as my foundation for Atmos. My AVR will handle it and has been suggested to me to get a smaller amp to take care of the 4 Atmos speakers.
Anyway my question:
All the different formats in MCH are currently 4.0 or 5.1 mixed by someone for the purpose of surround listening (Atmos exluded), if a person has a 7. system what are those two speakers at your right and left ear, assuming you have the other pair behind you doing? Does your AVR process discrete information to the extra two or is it like a duplicate of the rear information?

Tell Mikey to let you talk more on the YouTube, I think you are a pretty knowledgeable guy. wink wink

Not a stupid question at all. BTW, you know the old saying the only stupid question...is the one you don't ask!

So, on a 7.1 setup, if you play 4.0 or 5.1 then only those speakers that are getting audible information will be active on a "direct" mode. Now to complicate things, you can ask your AVR to play the song through a DSP mode, like dts neo or dts X or a Dolby pro logic or music mode like orchestra. Then in that case, the AVR will process the music through the selected algorithm and the entire 7.1 system of speakers will play.

 

[marpow]

Not a stupid question at all. BTW, you know the old saying the only stupid question...is the one you don't ask!

So, on a 7.1 setup, if you play 4.0 or 5.1 then only those speakers that are getting audible information will be active on a "direct" mode. Now to complicate things, you can ask your AVR to play the song through a DSP mode, like dts neo or dts X or a Dolby pro logic or music mode like orchestra. Then in that case, the AVR will process the music through the selected algorithm and the entire 7.1 system of speakers will play.

Ok, just a little further. I understand what you said.
I think I will stick with my 5.2.4 goal, however in Atmos mixes are they mixing in more than two heights and more than 5 foundation speakers.
I think if I was a big movie guy I would definitely subscribe to more is better.
But looking for pure discrete (mixed that way) audio only I come up with more is not better?

 

[Goona]

I have 7. 2. 4 and think for music 5 .2. 4 would be very good. Mostly watch 4k Movies and most are in Atmos

 

[EricKalet]

Ok, just a little further. I understand what you said.
I think I will stick with my 5.2.4 goal, however in Atmos mixes are they mixing in more than two heights and more than 5 foundation speakers.
I think if I was a big movie guy I would definitely subscribe to more is better.
But looking for pure discrete (mixed that way) audio only I come up with more is not better?

Atmos supports up to 34 speakers...so you could have the main 7.1, 8 overheads, 8 heights and still room for more!! Remember with Atmos and dts X, the overheads and heights are object based, so the algorithm is running calculations of where to place the sounds in that soundfield.

 

[beerking]

Ok, just a little further. I understand what you said.
I think I will stick with my 5.2.4 goal, however in Atmos mixes are they mixing in more than two heights and more than 5 foundation speakers.
I think if I was a big movie guy I would definitely subscribe to more is better.
But looking for pure discrete (mixed that way) audio only I come up with more is not better?

I too have a 7.2.4 speaker set up and mine gets used for 99% music.
For me it gives all the options I could possibly want.
You can get JRiver to mix in 7.1 as well, should you wish.
My Marantz SR 8012 amp will give you the mix to suit your needs, from stereo to full on Atmos.
I am very happy with this set up and I don't see myself needing anything else for the foreseeable future.
Well that is until 24k TV arrives!!
Just my two penneth.

 

[dabl]

I did a 5.1.2 setup with 2 overhead speakers but wish I'd gone 5.1.4 with 4 overheads.

 

[EricKalet]

Noticed a few new tracks and playlist added...seems like a little every day

A classical album...I think...Lisa Batiashvili & Nikoloz Rachveli - City Lights

 

[edisonbaggins]

70's and 80's sound like good times. Impossible for me to keep up, so far!

 

[EricKalet]

A second version of Ride Wit Me.

 

[EricKalet]

Ok not one I would listen to on a regular basis but very cool mix, really good use of the sound field!
Found in the 80's playlist

 

[Goona]

New Atmos added 2 new playlists 70s and 80s
George Clinton Atomic Dog sounds great

 

[marpow]

Atmos supports up to 34 speakers...so you could have the main 7.1, 8 overheads, 8 heights and still room for more!! Remember with Atmos and dts X, the overheads and heights are object based, so the algorithm is running calculations of where to place the sounds in that soundfield.

OK, interesting, algorithm's are doing it, now it finally makes sense. I was wondering how do these mixing engineers decide on how many speakers to mix?
I think I will definitely do 5.2.4, maybe I'll go 7.2.4, it will be one of those two, no other.
Thank you dabl, beerking and goona also. You three helped my descion.

 

[harync]

OK, interesting, algorithm's are doing it, now it finally makes sense. I was wondering how do these mixing engineers decide on how many speakers to mix?
I think I will definitely do 5.2.4, maybe I'll go 7.2.4, it will be one of those two, no other.
Thank you dabl, beerking and goona also. You three helped my descion.

That's the interesting thing about Atmos. It's not simply speaker based, but a combination of "Beds" and objects. In the May issue of Mix magazine (Dolby Atmos Releases (so far)), Steve Genewick explained how the flexibility of Atmos can lead to problems:

A mix was done at a studio with a 7.1.4 bed (four ceiling speakers assigned to the bed). The mixer fed some of the lead vocal into the front ceiling speakers, as well as the front LCR. The problem arose when that mix was played back in another mix room that had a 7.1.2 bed (two ceiling speakers assigned to the bed). Even though the second room had six physical speakers overhead, the vocal that was fed to the front ceiling speakers in the first room came out of the middle two ceiling speakers in the second room—the two speakers assigned to the bed. Had the mixer assigned the vocal to objects feeding the front ceiling speakers, the Atmos playback system would have fed them to the intended spot in both rooms. Easy rule of thumb: The bed is a set of physical speakers in a room, while the objects go to places in the room—specific, assignable and movable.

If most of the sounds are objects, they should be correctly placed whether it is 5.1.2, 5.1.4, 7.1.2, or 7.1.4. I think the additional speakers would just increase the precision of the localization. For my room, my choice was 7.1.2 or 5.1.4. I consulted with a half a dozen people and they all encouraged 5.1.4 vs. 7.1.2.

 

[marpow]

That's the interesting thing about Atmos. It's not simply speaker based, but a combination of "Beds" and objects. In the May issue of Mix magazine (Dolby Atmos Releases (so far)), Steve Genewick explained how the flexibility of Atmos can lead to problems:
If most of the sounds are objects, they should be correctly placed whether it is 5.1.2, 5.1.4, 7.1.2, or 7.1.4. I think the additional speakers would just increase the precision of the localization. For my room, my choice was 7.1.2 or 5.1.4. I consulted with a half a dozen people and they all encouraged 5.1.4 vs. 7.1.2.

Yes, that is why I lay on the fence right now, I lean heavily in favor of the 5.2.4 mainly because aesthetically I just don't want speaker madness. If I was doing a designated blacked out home theater I could definitely see it, but it will be just an open house area so the extra two of a 7. system might bring in the no go wife factor.

 

[IMachine]

4 ceiling speakers only, when you‘re sitting near the middle of a room. 2 ceiling speakers, if your sofa is more to the backwall.

 

[dabl]

4 ceiling speakers only, when you‘re sitting near the middle of a room. 2 ceiling speakers, if your sofa is more to the backwall.

I had mentioned I went 5.1.2 but wished I'd gone 5.1.4

I have a setup with a sofa more to the back wall and combined with difficulty making a 5.1.4 setup work in my ceiling that dictated my choice.

At first I thought that it was good but would have probably been better with more ceiling speakers.

I've since gotten used to it and wonder if in my room and seating position whether more ceiling speaker would improve things or not.

Overall I'm happy with my setup. 4 Paradigm Studio 40s with matching center, a Rythmik F15HP sub and 2 Tannoy CMS 801DC BM ceiling speakers.