Dolby Atmos

mantis · July 2018

Hello all,
This weekend I'm installing Atmos into my current 5.2 system. After upgrading to 4k and Dolby Vision I feel the need to finish it off with Atmos.

I've calibrated some killer Atmos home Theaters lately, our Showroom has a killer Revel Atmos system so I'm gonna go the 5.2.2 route and give it a go.

My Room isn't the best as I have 14 foot ceilings and one side is a 45degree angle which doesn't work for Atmos. BUT one of our speaker lines has a perfect solution for this which is called a POINT. This gives me the ability to Point the speaker at the floor instead of being off by 45 degrees. Yeah I know clever LOL.
Eposide Signature 1700 series which are their best sounding speakers and I really like them a lot has a angled speaker that I purchased for the left side of my room and I got another single 1700 for the flat part of my ceiling.
I'm gonna start out with just 2 as I was gonna spring for all 4 but I think 2 will be just fine.
My Sony STRZA5000ES has a pretty good calibration stereo Mic which will re eq the system so the Signature series speakers will Timbre match as close as possible to my Def Tech Mythos system. I looked into Def Tech but they only carry in ceiling square POINT speakers and I didn't want that as I don't like the look of square in ceiling speakers. I have installed and calibrated Def Tech's in ceiling Points in the past and they are straight up stupid awesome but for my room and this test, I don't see the reason to use them. One day if I ever get my Theater built in my basement, then I would consider using 4 of them for Almos there if I stick with Def Tech for that room, but for now I just wanna give Atmos a home demo and this is going to be fun.

Anyone else rocking Atmos?

mantis · July 2018

If you see the back light cans which are 5 inch, I'm gonna mount the Atmos speakers one straight up from the back left can and the other just left of the right can.
If I add the other set of Atmos speakers, they will mirror the other 2 Light cans left and right. Another POINT and normal In ceiling will be used just like the back Atmos speakers.

mantis · July 2018

Here are the speakers. You can see the angle of the Point vs the flat mount. They also both have pivoting tweeters for a more accurate placement of sound.

Toolfan66 · July 2018

I have a 7.1.2 setup right now, it will eventually be a 7.2.2

mantis · July 2018

And there you go, all Installed and already tested and Calibrated.
Atmos sounds amazing. It really fills in the space between the front, center and Surrounds to a more 3D space. They don't call attention to themselves they blend in as I was hoping. I can't even tell they are a different brand, Sony's EQ is pretty damn good. They have a different sonic signature if you listen to them un EQ'd but afterwards they fall into place. I was actually worried about that.
With the Marantz Monoblocks on the front speakers since they are the only LARGE channel in the system, I took some stress off the internal Amps of the 5000ES receiver and allowed the rest of the channels to have maximum Dynamic range. I will pull the mono blocks to see if the receiver falls on it's face or not.
But anyway I'm going to Best Buy to pick up Room Raider and anything else I see in Atmos LOL.

mantis · July 2018

The POINT is so awesome, it did exactly what I wanted it to do. It fired straight down, I even adjusted the Tweeter for a perfect downward firing sound. Love it.

Manticore · July 2018

Very nice install & it sounds good to boot. Are your atmos speakers above your rear seating area or more middle between seating and front sound stage? Curious as i would like to take atmos for a test drive.

mantis · July 2018

I placed the Rear Atmos Speakers exactly where they are suppose to be. So they are right in front of my listening position lined up with my front main speakers 0 degrees.
I have perfect placement for front Atmos speakers as well which would be right in front of my front Main channels 0 degrees.

mantis · July 2018

Toolfan66 · July 2018

How did you run the speaker wire so fast? Looks like it would have taken some time to pull that off, I know it took me some time to get mine pulled and place right..

Toolfan66 · July 2018

Oh, and very nice work Dan..

mantis · July 2018

Toolfan66 wrote: »

How did you run the speaker wire so fast? Looks like it would have taken some time to pull that off, I know it took me some time to get mine pulled and place right..

It's what I do for a living my man. I've been in the business for over 20 years. I ran the wires, Cut in the speakers, Installed the speakers, Terminated with Audioquest Banana plugs, calibrated and tested in under 2 hours.

mantis · July 2018

Toolfan66 wrote: »

Oh, and very nice work Dan..

Thanks man.

mrloren · July 2018

mantis wrote: »

Toolfan66 wrote: »

How did you run the speaker wire so fast? Looks like it would have taken some time to pull that off, I know it took me some time to get mine pulled and place right..

It's what I do for a living my man. I've been in the business for over 20 years. I ran the wires, Cut in the speakers, Installed the speakers, Terminated with Audioquest Banana plugs, calibrated and tested in under 2 hours.

Nice work,

gee can you come over and pull new wire to my ceiling speakers? It's coming close to 20 years old and the builder used the cheapest wire they had. Arrow 16awg stuff.

rooftop59 · July 2018

mantis wrote: »

Toolfan66 wrote: »

How did you run the speaker wire so fast? Looks like it would have taken some time to pull that off, I know it took me some time to get mine pulled and place right..

It's what I do for a living my man. I've been in the business for over 20 years. I ran the wires, Cut in the speakers, Installed the speakers, Terminated with Audioquest Banana plugs, calibrated and tested in under 2 hours.

Yes that’s insane. It’s like an all day job for me lol.

mantis · July 2018

rooftop59 wrote: »

mantis wrote: »

Toolfan66 wrote: »

How did you run the speaker wire so fast? Looks like it would have taken some time to pull that off, I know it took me some time to get mine pulled and place right..

It's what I do for a living my man. I've been in the business for over 20 years. I ran the wires, Cut in the speakers, Installed the speakers, Terminated with Audioquest Banana plugs, calibrated and tested in under 2 hours.

Yes that’s insane. It’s like an all day job for me lol.

When you have the right tools and know how it doesn't take long at all. Again I have been doing this for over 20 years so if I couldn't do it that fast I should consider another career LOL.

Thorton · July 2018

Looks very nice. Definitely needed the point with your ceilings. I'm running 7.2.2 and love it. Seamless integration makes you feel like you're in the movie not watching a movie. The way my rooms set-up I'll probably only stay with 2 atmos speakers.

Now it's time to enjoy your system. Get "Hacksaw Ridge in 4K - Atmos"

mantis · July 2018

I can easily go 5.2.4 but choose to go 5.2.2 as I wasn't sure if I needed the extra 2 Atmos speakers. My room isn't setup to run a surround back channel which I wish it was but I don't have the proper spacing for them and I'm not going to put them where they should not be.
2 Atmos speakers does the job quite well.

TopperDude · July 2018

Always enjoy your posts Mantis

.

Wish both Polk and DefTech would release round angled ceiling speakers.

mantis · July 2018

Yes that would be killer. These are custom speakers.

mantis · July 2018

Just a quick update about Atmos. If you don't have it, get it. It takes surround and home theater to a completely new level. It's WAY more accurate sounding with movement in time and space. It put things exactly where they should be.
My god I wish I would have done this years ago when it came out. Boy how I have been missing out. Our Installers go out to our theater jobs and do the full Install then I come behind and setup and Calibrate the rooms for audio and video.
I run a few clips to test but I never sit and watch an entire movie in Atmos. It's truly an amazing experience. 5.1 was good but Atmos is on another level.

txcoastal1 · July 2018

Atmos is immersive sound. Have sat through several great demo's

mdaudioguy · July 2018

I already have in-ceiling surrounds in my basement system. I thought about 7.1 or 5.1.2, but ended up sticking with 5.1, mainly because I think Atmos would seem to work best with wall-mounted surrounds.

I do have some upward-firing Atmos add-on speakers in my family room 5.1.2, but have only tested them with short trailers. Cool effect, but haven't enjoyed an entire movie with them.

mantis · July 2018

mdaudioguy wrote: »

I already have in-ceiling surrounds in my basement system. I thought about 7.1 or 5.1.2, but ended up sticking with 5.1, mainly because I think Atmos would seem to work best with wall-mounted surrounds.

I do have some upward-firing Atmos add-on speakers in my family room 5.1.2, but have only tested them with short trailers. Cool effect, but haven't enjoyed an entire movie with them.

Atmos works best with wall mounted surrounds. If you have in ceiling speakers for other channels, Atmos isn't ideal.
I also don't really care for the upward firing designs. It feels like a band aid but it works and it's close to what you would get with actual speakers.
Atmos your also supposed to drop your surrounds down to 42 inches to the Tweeter but I don't agree with that spec. When your using 5.1 stuff you now have to use a simulator to recreate the proper height for the surrounds. Yes you can run your 5.1 at 42 inches or ear level but it never sounds right to me. I have done countless systems both ways and every single system even with much higher end speakers on the floor, the wall mounted 72 inch to the tweeter surround channels always sound right correct or better. More lifelike and more accurate to what your watching on the screen.

Hermitism · July 2018

mantis wrote: »

Yes you can run your 5.1 at 42 inches or ear level but it never sounds right to me. I have done countless systems both ways and every single system even with much higher end speakers on the floor, the wall mounted 72 inch to the tweeter surround channels always sound right correct or better. More lifelike and more accurate to what your watching on the screen.

Have you ever had a situation where the side surrounds and the rear surrounds had to be at different heights? Say you have a long rectangular room (7.1 channel), you mount the side surrounds at 72" on the wall, but the rear surrounds have to be put on stands because the rear wall is too far away or inaccessible. So the rear surrounds would be much shorter than the sides. Would you lower the side surrounds to match the rear surrounds, or have the rears lower than the sides?

Hermitism · July 2018

I've stumped the professional.

mdaudioguy · July 2018

Hermitism wrote: »

I've stumped the professional.

I've done wall-mounted surrounds with in-ceiling backs, and vice-versa. Worked out fine either way, but that was without Atmos, which calibrates differently.

mantis · July 2018

Hermitism wrote: »

mantis wrote: »

Yes you can run your 5.1 at 42 inches or ear level but it never sounds right to me. I have done countless systems both ways and every single system even with much higher end speakers on the floor, the wall mounted 72 inch to the tweeter surround channels always sound right correct or better. More lifelike and more accurate to what your watching on the screen.

Have you ever had a situation where the side surrounds and the rear surrounds had to be at different heights? Say you have a long rectangular room (7.1 channel), you mount the side surrounds at 72" on the wall, but the rear surrounds have to be put on stands because the rear wall is too far away or inaccessible. So the rear surrounds would be much shorter than the sides. Would you lower the side surrounds to match the rear surrounds, or have the rears lower than the sides?

Yes I have. But in that situation I would not use surround back channels. I don't think it sounds right when the surround are at different heights wall side. However If you where able to put the surround back channels in the ceiling at the correct distance from the seating position and use Point design speakers or amiable some brands call them, then you can have the surrounds at different heights.
This setup would not work well with Atmos.

mantis · August 2019

Funny this was returned from the dead. I'm actually planning on adding 2 more Atmos speakers to the system. I'm gonna use the exact speakers I have now. One Point and one downward firing. 4 Atmos speakers work better then just 2. 2 is very nice and a very nice way to get into Atmos but 4 is where things start to really come alive.

diverdog · August 2019

Very nice install. Atmos does make a huge difference adding the overhead channels and vector placement of the sound. I like the speakers you used and it seems the flat model might be a good match for my 707's & 703's. I'm building a 9.3.4 system in a custom room. It will be six months or so till the room is ready.

halen · August 2019

txcoastal1 wrote: »

Atmos is immersive sound. Have sat through several great demo's

Thank you for the DTSX and Atmos sampler from years ago!

Dolby Atmos

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