Atmos height speakers for a system that uses RAAL tweeters.

[merrymaid520]

I had planned to ceiling mount 4 HTM 200s for my atmos ceiling speakers and the wife didnt care for it Anyway, I just snagged a pair of the sonance VP66r to try! Once they are up and running I will report back.

[petmotel]

I had planned to ceiling mount 4 HTM 200s for my atmos ceiling speakers and the wife didnt care for it Anyway, I just snagged a pair of the sonance VP66r to try! Once they are up and running I will report back.

Thanks, as Nate mentioned I probably expected too much. If you download some of the demos he linked to, you will hear what the system is capable of, those worked amazingly well through my system. The height speakers unfortunately just aren't used much in movies.

I hope your experience is rewarding. The thing is, ATMOS has been around for a while, I'm not big on early format adoption, that has bit me in the arse on a few occasions. I would have thought the format would be in it's full glory by now, but I have to say not so much.

Jay

[petmotel]

So Brandon, I really love your new bonus room HT, that would suffice as the primary for most of us. Have you had a chance to try out the overhead speakers, and do you have room to do 4 overhead? It has been pointed out elsewhere that it takes more than two to pan front to rear overhead. Of course there has to be content mixed for that. Something like Blackhawk Down would be pretty darn cool if mixed to take advantage.

It would appear I'm even more behind the curve than I thought, there's a 3,000+ page thread on AVS starting in June 2014. Lack of quality Atmos content is a theme expressed regularly in that thread.

Jay

[merrymaid520]

So Brandon, I really love your new bonus room HT, that would suffice as the primary for most of us. Have you had a chance to try out the overhead speakers, and do you have room to do 4 overhead? It has been pointed out elsewhere that it takes more than two to pan front to rear overhead. Of course there has to be content mixed for that. Something like Blackhawk Down would be pretty darn cool if mixed to take advantage.

It would appear I'm even more behind the curve than I thought, there's a 3,000+ page thread on AVS starting in June 2014. Lack of quality Atmos content is a theme expressed regularly in that thread.

Jay

Hi Jay,
Thanks! Its a narrow room (12 x 50') but works well for our son and entertaining purposes! I ended up purchasing 4 of the Sonance VP66r's. They are mounted per Dolby spec with 2 along the edge of the ceiling before it slopes down in front of the first row and the back two behind the 2nd row. I played a few Netflix atmos scenes through them on my Yamaha receiver and while not super noticeable, I could still sense the overhead effect! The system is still coming together. I dont have my 340 SE center channel yet (my buddy has it and the 340 stands in MN). I also am moving my LG OLED 65" C8 up here while my living room gets the new C1 77' I also am waiting on my electrician to run my surround speaker wires which will go on the side wall just behind the rear row.

I have also heard the same, as in the content is somewhat limited and mediocre at best. Once the final pieces arrive and things are up and running, I will report back.

[N Boros]

I've had Top Front and Top Rear Atmos speakers for about 6 months now. I don't think that there is a lack of content. Most UHD Blu-Ray's have an Atmos mix. Many/Most titles on Disney+ do as well. Any new movie on HBO Max has an Atmos mix. Netflix has quite a lot of Atmos titles, though I haven't had Netflix for about a year now. Usually if there is HDR, Dolby Atmos comes with it too. We also see streaming music now started to populate with Dolby Atmos, from both Amazon and Apple.

If you have a 5.1 source that doesn't have an Atmos mix, you have turn on the Dolby Surround upmixer. Technically you can do it with a 2 channel mix, but that to me sounds like way to much processing/extrapolating to take 2 channels and expanding to 11 speakers. I think that the new Dolby upmixer is better than it was previously. I never liked expanding a 2 channel source to 5.1 years ago, since it felt too heavy handed. It didn't sound right to me. The surround speakers drew too much attention to themselves. The new upmixer you can leave on without worrying about it messing up the mix.

All of that said, the overhead effect is typically pretty subtle. For context though, my theater area is in the corner of a finished basement. I am looking forward to putting up a couple of walls, soon, so that I am will have a dedicated space. This will help get the noise floor down. From there I also plan to do sound treatments (absorption and diffusion). These two things together are supposed to be pretty large in terms of impact on the perceived sound and improved clarity and localization. About as large as upgrading from an entry level pair of speakers to a high end pair of speakers. At that point I will be able to better say how much of a difference Atmos makes, as far as the overhead sound effects. Maybe they won't be subtle anymore. Even if it still is subtle, like now, I feel like it adds something positive, not negative. Though I only spent around $500 on my Sonance speakers and backer boxes, getting a steep discount around Christmas and another $150 on a two channel Dayton amp for my extra two channels. The modest budget helped with thinking that there was value even without having the dedicated treated room.

[petmotel]

So far the most I've heard from the Atmos speakers was a 7.1 mix of DreamWorks "Puss in Boots" during the credits at the end they turned the height speakers loose, made it sound like a real theater! I played the credits 3 times just cause it sounded so cool!

Jay

[merrymaid520]

Some pics of the 4 Atmos sonance speakers in the ceiling.

[davef]

Some pics of the 4 Atmos sonance speakers in the ceiling.

Looks great!

Are the Sonances working well for you?

[merrymaid520]

Looks great!

Are the Sonances working well for you?

Thanks! I did some brief listening using the all channel stereo setting on my yamaha receiver. They seem to have blended very well with the Ascends (340 SE's)! They all seemed pretty close in terms of timbre matching which is ultimately the goal Once I get my TV mounted, I will experiment with some movies. Just waiting on my electrician to run an outlet above the tv mount.

[petmotel]

Thanks! I did some brief listening using the all channel stereo setting on my yamaha receiver. They seem to have blended very well with the Ascends (340 SE's)! They all seemed pretty close in terms of timbre matching which is ultimately the goal Once I get my TV mounted, I will experiment with some movies. Just waiting on my electrician to run an outlet above the tv mount.

Brandon, are your ceiling speakers mounted in enclosures?

Jay