Atmos question

[Nexgen76]

Can i use 2 front height & 2 rear height speakers angled down to the listen area(RB-51 II) for Atmos setup ? My ceiling is 8ft high so i was going to place them 7ft  high....Thxs

[Nismo]

One does not need an "Atmos" specific speaker to take advantage of an Atmos track. You don't need to replace your existing speakers to get Atmos at home. You can use the RB's firing downward (or any speakers) as your "heights" with Atmos—for that matter any existing ceiling speaker can be used as well. 

 

Although, bear in mind with a typical (home) ceiling height of 7, 8, or 9'... the sound will only have a short distance to travel from speaker to ear, thereby the sound will not have a tremendous amount of space to disperse & move about above you. For home use, the ceiling or wall mount approach will still offer positive results, but it will act more like a traditional "channel" fired directly at the listener & thus it will have a narrow or more pinpoint path.  

 

By contrast, Atmos authoring is the opposite of pinpoint or channel based sound design. Atmos takes advantage of object-based sound design (not traditional fixed channels) where the sound engineer designs the path & movement of sound overhead. A movie theater has traditional overhead speakers, however they also have the advantage of 25'+ ceilings & may have 10-12-14 or more ceiling speakers in use. That configuration allows for object-based Atmos sound plenty of space to travel & move about overhead. The home environment is far different from a movie theater & its not practical nor realistic to be able to translate that configuration/benefit at home.

 

What makes an Atmos Speaker an Atmos Enabled Speaker— is that it is upward firing, reflects off the ceiling, then cascades down over the listener. For example, if you have a pair of upward firing Atmos speakers as front height & a pair of upward firing Atmos speakers in the rear... you get 3D sound traveling up, reflecting down around you 360° (whereas a traditional speaker will fire directly at you). Over the past 8 months, I've played with 4 different speaker configurations & I personally prefer the upward firing approach—the sound field is encompassing. The Atmos authored tracks fill the room above & around you more than the same track offered in DTS HD, NEO:X , A-DSX, etc. If one chooses the upward firing Atmos approach, right now there are only 2 types of Atmos Enabled Speakers. 

 

1: A traditional Tower or Bookshelf speaker with an integrated Atmos Speaker 

 

2: Separate add-on module designed to sit on top of your existing towers (Klipsch is calling their add-on modules: Elevation Speakers)

 

Good luck with your speaker mounts, enjoy the overhead sound.

 

 

Here's a good link with covering some FAQ: http://www.dolby.com/us/en/technologies/dolby-atmos/dolby-atmos-enabled-speaker-technology.pdf

 

 

EDIT: Naturally an AVR or Pre/Pro with Atmos decoding & Atmos authored media is required. In lieu of such options, one can use alternative codecs such as  NEO:X Cinema Height or A-DSX Height

Edited May 26, 2015 by Nismo

[Jay L]

What the original poster is describing to me sounds like 4 speakers mounted 7ft high on the wall slightly angled down to the listener. This would not be a standard Atmos install. This sounds closer to an Auro-3D speaker layout. If you want to adhere to a strict Atmos configuration, you need to mount to the ceiling. If you haven't already done your AVR research I can tell you it will take over $1,000 to get a .4 Atmos capable AVR. Below that, you will only be able to get .2 Atmos channels. There is an option to use "front height" speakers (ala PLIIz style) assigned to the Atmos channel configurations listed in Onkyo receivers. I have not tested this, but it sounds like it could be an option. In my listening experience the more diffused the Atmos channels, the better the effect.

[wizop]

You should be able to see my two systems in my signature.  I'm more than a little confused as to whether I need to add speakers to get a full Atmos experience.  As you should see, both of my systems have five front speakers and a front sub and my current receivers treat my front highs as presence speakers.  My upstairs system has four ceiling speakers while downstairs I have two ceiling speakers and two back wall speakers.  In both cases the receivers see two ceiling speakers as surrounds and the two speakers further back as rears.

 

Looking at the online pictures on the new Yamaha Aventage receivers, there are no separate jacks designated as ceiling speakers.I take it then that the setup microphone detects whether speakers are in the ceiling or not.  I have 9 speakers plus a sub.  Does it matter if the receiver sees the setup as 5.1.4 or 7.1.2?  I'd like to think I have no need for more speakers and the Atmos objects will just figure out which speakers to use for what.  Is this right? 

[Nismo]

... I'm more than a little confused as to whether I need to add speakers to get a full Atmos experience.  

 

Based on your current set up— you will have no need to add additional speakers (although as always, "need" is a relative term with any setup in regards to upgrading & adding more speakers). Atmos is not a (traditional) channel based system, Atmos is object based audio (via software, authoring & decoding). Traditional channel based authoring; 5.1, 7.1, 9.1 etc., are all dedicated or fixed channels, by contrast Atmos is more free flowing & its not restricted to fixed channels— thereby allowing audio to be moved around to any speaker as determing by the sound designer during the authoring process. 

 

Atmos supports as many speakers as your AVR or separates allow (front heights, front wide, side, side heights, rear heights, rear wide, etc). In fact word is there are some new AVR's coming to market that support up to 32 speakers/channels (22 floor standing & 10 overhead or height speakers).  

 

Your existing ceiling speaker configuration (pair of Front Height & pair of Rear Heights) is perfectly capable of producing overhead sound via Atmos. Any ceiling speaker will reproduce an Atmos track (there is no such thing as an Atmos ceiling speaker). Of course your AVR has to be capable of decoding Atmos, your set up has to be configured with Front & Rear Heights & you need an Atmos authored Blu-ray. Currently neither of your Yamaha's can decode or provide Atmos playback, so you will need to upgrade/replace your existing AVR's in order to have Atmos at home.  

 

 

 

 

Looking at the online pictures on the new Yamaha Aventage receivers, there are no separate jacks designated as ceiling speakers.I take it then that the setup microphone detects whether speakers are in the ceiling or not.  I have 9 speakers plus a sub.  Does it matter if the receiver sees the setup as 5.1.4 or 7.1.2?  I'd like to think I have no need for more speakers and the Atmos objects will just figure out which speakers to use for what.  Is this right? 

 

 

 

For Atmos, the speakers are connected to Front Heights, Front Wide, Rear Heights— set up will automatically calibrate no matter where the speaker is located (ceiling or otherwise). It will also automatically register your set up 5.1.4 or 7.1.2 based on your configuration.

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - 

 

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the only thing that designates an Atmos Speaker— an "Atmos Speaker" is that it is an upward firing speaker (whether a traditional Tower or Bookshelf speaker with an integrated Atmos Speaker. Or a separate add-on module designed to sit on top of your existing towers. Klipsch is calling their add-on modules: Elevation Speakers).

 

Ceiling speakers can be used perfectly, but they are simply "ceiling speakers" (not Atmos Ceiling speakers). Your rear wall speakers (down stairs), while not ideal, they still can be used for Atmos.  Adding Rear Ceiling or a pair of upward firing Atmos speaker would be better consideration for a future upgrade.

 

But before you do anything, you will need to upgrade your AVR, because right now you cannot have Atmos playback at home. Hope that helps.

[wizop]

 

... I'm more than a little confused as to whether I need to add speakers to get a full Atmos experience.  

 

Based on your current set up— you will have no need to add additional speakers (although as always, "need" is a relative term with any setup in regards to upgrading & adding more speakers). Atmos is not a (traditional) channel based system, Atmos is object based audio (via software, authoring & decoding). Traditional channel based authoring; 5.1, 7.1, 9.1 etc., are all dedicated or fixed channels, by contrast Atmos is more free flowing & its not restricted to fixed channels— thereby allowing audio to be moved around to any speaker as determing by the sound designer during the authoring process. 

 

Atmos supports as many speakers as your AVR or separates allow (front heights, front wide, side, side heights, rear heights, rear wide, etc). In fact word is there are some new AVR's coming to market that support up to 32 speakers/channels (22 floor standing & 10 overhead or height speakers).  

 

Your existing ceiling speaker configuration (pair of Front Height & pair of Rear Heights) is perfectly capable of producing overhead sound via Atmos. Any ceiling speaker will reproduce an Atmos track (there is no such thing as an Atmos ceiling speaker). Of course your AVR has to be capable of decoding Atmos, your set up has to be configured with Front & Rear Heights & you need an Atmos authored Blu-ray. Currently neither of your Yamaha's can decode or provide Atmos playback, so you will need to upgrade/replace your existing AVR's in order to have Atmos at home.  

 

 

 

 

 

Does it matter if the receiver sees the setup as 5.1.4 or 7.1.2?  I'd like to think I have no need for more speakers and the Atmos objects will just figure out which speakers to use for what.  Is this right? 

 

 

 

For Atmos, the speakers are connected to Front Heights, Front Wide, Rear Heights— set up will automatically calibrate no matter where the speaker is located (ceiling or otherwise). It will also automatically register your set up 5.1.4 or 7.1.2 based on your configuration.

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - 

 

I understand I will need to upgrade my receiver.  I'm just trying to decide when to do that and how much receiver I'll need.  I may decide to wait until I upgrade the TV.

 

For now lets talk about the upstairs system (number one in my sig) as I'll certainly upgrade that receiver long before I upgrade the other.  Currently there are four ceiling speakers two of which are connected to the surround terminals and two are connected to the rear terminals.  Are you saying that when I get an Atmos system I should instead connect the two rear speakers to the Rear High jacks and might that mean I'd want to add two new wall mounted speakers at the back and connect them to the rear jacks?  That's really my basic question.  I think without adding speakers I'd get best results leaving the back speakers connected as rears rather than rear highs as a very small percentage of what I'll be listening to will be Atmos and the receiver setup should figure out that all four speakers are firing down and route the sound accordingly.

 

I suppose my real question has to do with receiver shopping.  If I add speakers, I'll need to pay up for a system that will drive them all.  On second thought maybe I need to pay up anyway.  I'm not sure if the receiver will see my setup as 5.1.4 or 7.1.2 (will the front highs be in the first number or the last number) but a receiver that will only do 5.1.2 might not be enough. Even a 9.2 receiver might not have enough channels if I add additional rears.  

[Sancho Panza]

Any news as to Klipsch Atmos Speaker Release?