Dolby Atmos Setup

[SeanR]

Hey all, 

 

I'm a longtime lover of loud speakers, but I've purposely steered clear of the audiophile arena as I have a tendency to get obsessive in my research. Well, it seems I've failed to avoid it and am finally joining the club. However, getting spun up has been a doozy so far. 

 

I'm currently deployed, but I'm hoping to spend $6,500 on speakers and a receiver when I return stateside. There's an awful lot of knowledge in this forum, and if you have the time, I'd love your help in spending my money. After perusing the website, Klipsch speakers seem to align with my general auditory principles: crisp, clear, LOUD. I don't want my system to be immediately dated, so it appears that a Dolby Atmos capable System is in my best interest. Below is a tentative setup that I've chosen. Please let me know if I'm off-center. 

 

Yamaha AVENTAGE RX-A1070BL

2 RP-280FA

1 RP-450CA

2 RP-260F

1 Pair RP-140SA

1 R-115SW

 

I would like to add another subwoofer down the road to bring the system to 5.2.4. My first question is whether this receiver can handle that many inputs. Perhaps that's a woefully ignorant question, but it's a bit tough to translate the capacities and inputs of the receiver into layman's terms. 

 

Also, the HD Wireless speaker system intrigued me as well with its perceived ease of use and lack of additional wiring. Can this system be upgraded to Dolby Atmos capable with the addition of upfiring speakers? That might be an option for me as well, but I can't tell if they're compatible. 

 

Well, that's all my questions for now. Thanks in advance for any help you can offer. I apologize in advance for any grammatical errors as I'm typing this on my little phone. 

 

Sean

[wvu80]

Hi Sean, and welcome to the Klipsch forum!    

 

This will be a brief note but I wanted to compliment you on your research.  Your choice of speakers looks fantastic, even though I am not an Atmos guy.  I'm sure others will weigh-in with suggestions, but to me it looks good.

 

You will also get some suggestions for a different AVR.  The Yamaha Aventage line is very well liked around here, so you are solid in that regard.  It doesn't look to me like the 1070 BL will support the 5.2.4 you want.  It will only support 2 Atmos modules, not 4.  I think you are on the right track to go for the 4 Atmos speaker setup from what I've read.

 

Thank you for your service to our country.  Let us know when you return home so we can give you a big Klipsch welcome home party as well.

[dtr20]

Welcome to the forum, and thank you for your service. That being said, you have put together a great setup of speakers for home theater. I can't comment on the receiver, but I think you all be happy with the speakers. This forum is great at helping others spend their money! Good luck. The rabbit hole runs really deep.

[derrickdj1]

Hi Sean, the system you have looks good.  I don't know much about Yamaha avr so, I can 't help there.  I will say that atmos  speakers should be picked depending on the room.  Follow the Dolby Atmos guides.  If the system will be downstairs, the type of ceiling will make a difference and the distance or height of the ceiling will will be a factor in the choice of speakers.  I use in-ceiling Atmos speaker since I am in a basement with a drop ceiling.  Best wishes with the new system.

[holtrp]

I would seriously consider buying used gear. You will get much more for your money on Audiogon, online classifieds and craigslist. You should be able to add multiple subs, a larger screen and / or outboard amps to your setup that way. To my ear, RF-83, RF-7, etc all sound very similar so I am sure that the newer Klipsch stuff is on the same level. 

[SeanR]

Thank you for your replies! So to start from the top, I'm going to look deeper into the AVR selection and see if I can't upgrade to one I feel comfortable with keeping for a few years that will suit my growing needs. And thanks for the support, wvu80.

 

As far as choosing the setup depending on the room, that is a sticking point as well. I'm currently in the process of looking for a house while deployed. It's as hectic as it sounds. So that leaves me not really capable of adjusting my purchase around some sort of ideal room. However, I do know that it would be in the living room downstairs and be the focal point of the entire house (as it should be). I'm looking for a house in an area that has generally older construction, so I may run into issues with low ceilings muddying the sound of the upfiring speakers. The reviews I've looked at don't really buy into the effectiveness of the upfiring speakers in the first place, let alone with lower than suggested ceilings. So that may be something to take into account. Thanks for the advice. 

 

As for your comment, holtrp, I'm incredibly tempted. However, my intent is to build a system with the "latest" technology that is relatively future proof (at least for the next few years). That's a tough task for audio equipment I know. I don't want to buy a system that's immediately dated. Thank you though for your suggestion. I've never been the type of audiophile that claims to hear drastic differences at different price points. To me, once it crosses a certain threshold, it just all sounds pretty damn good. 

 

I did want to ask one more thing. My main focus for speakers has always been to play crisp, loud music. Adding to the experience of movies is always just icing on the cake. Do you think I would truly benefit from Dolby Atmos if my intent is merely to play music most of the time? Don't get me wrong, I want to establish a legitimate home theater, but not at the expense of good music. If you were to buy speakers that could excel at playing music and enhancing the movie experience (in that order), would Dolby Atmos be in the conversation? Thanks in advance for any advice you have to offer. 

 

Sean 

[holtrp]

Speaker technology doesn't change... All you are paying for is marketing with new speakers (my opinion). To be clear, I would absolutely spare no expense when it comes to atmos and good amplification. The sad reality is the new reference speakers you buy will be worth 30% what you pay for them retail two years from now and and will be indistigushable from the sound you can get out of 10 year old reference klipsch speakers.

 

Here is about all I can say for atmos and music with maybe 5 hours of total listening time to music on an atmos system. I no longer default to stereo playback music. It sounds better and more natural than anything I have heard before it. Before atmos, any sound field or setting sounded horrible outside of stereo but I have really enjoyed the subtlety atmos brings to music. It seems like the soundstage is just bigger.