Home Theater Towers in the Rear Location

Earthy

Is there any practical use for full range towers in the rear of a 7.x.4 atmos setup? Would there be any benefit to having some base capability from those rear locations in the typical action movie?

Tony M

If you can set you rear speakers to LARGE...go for it. All the better !

Earthy

Nice, gonna do it. Thanks. 705's in the rear soon to be here!

ken brydson

Earthy wrote: »

Nice, gonna do it. Thanks. 705's in the rear soon to be here!

Like mine (see sig)

mantis

I'm still not sold yet on the speaker placement of Atmos. We have designed and Installed some really bad **** theaters with Atmos and for Atmos listening it's awesome.
BUT for 5.1 replay I'm not sold. I never ever liked surround speakers at ear height even though by Dolby's standards it's except-able. I'm all out. I have done countless Media and Theater rooms over my career and I find that the surround channels work best at 72 inches to the center of the tweeter.
Atmos wants you to have your tweeter at around 42 inches when you read the spec's. So using floor standing speakers will work fine and without hearing what 72 inches sound like, you should be sorta fine.
My reasons for the height issue or resistance is the fact that it makes things sound more localized then involving. If you watch a well recorded movie, you get a real sense of movement and space. When you drop the surrounds to ear height, it takes away a lot of that experience.
I'm at odds right now with Atmos as a dual role system. As a Atmos system it works but I still feel pressure from the side surround channels. Yes I get it and understand why they want them where they go but that doesn't mean I can't disagree with Dolby's engineers for designing it the way they did.

Tony M

Yesterday in the theater, the big space ships and little attack planes or whatever they're called , flew over our heads about 10' above us. Perfect. Just like the film was showing them to be. I thought the surround effects were very well done. The bass, I already talked about that.

I've been more than happy with my 5.1 systems for 35 years. When you add a powered sub , the movie soundtracks come ALIVE . So many people don't know or maybe care how darn great a home theater can sound. Also, newer TV shows are friken AWSOME sounding too.

Earthy

I understand the issue with ear level surround. I still have my LS/FX dipoles up high on the wall and decided to try some 7.1 with them. I could not tell a timbre difference oddly. I will have a few speakers to play with soon. Kind of went nuts buying Adorama deals. I typically watch movies alone or on occasion with one or two other people. Typically side 703's will be about 4' from side seats and about 6' from center seat.

Earthy

ken brydson wrote: »

Earthy wrote: »

Nice, gonna do it. Thanks. 705's in the rear soon to be here!

Like mine (see sig)

Hey Ken, I have some LS70's that did primary duty for 20 years. Those LS speakers still sound great. If I opt to keep all my LSiM's I may need to find them a new home.

BlueFox

Don't know about the Atmos part, but my 5.1 HT is all towers except for the center. The fronts are Aerial Acostics 7T, and the rears are PSB Synchrony One. The center is a PSB Synchrony Center. Anyway, I love the audio part of movies, and when I use the HT for music with surround sound, it rocks. Anyway, your electronics, cables, and power are just as important in the HT as in the stereo, so don't overlook that.