Great video. I like Audio Advice's method as it puts the 4 atmos speakers in a square pattern with the main listening position in the center of that square. Hence the angle from your head to each speaker should be the same (45 degrees). This is perfect for the main listening position. But, I'm thinking for the other seating positions it won't sound quite as good as if the left and right were spaced further apart.
Thank you. Yes, maybe that’s why Dolby spaces them and in line with the fronts. But in my room having them spaced out does sound better and works for the extreme left and right seats.
knowledge changes if you ever add a 3rd set of atmos speakers install in-between in a bit closer together. I have mine installed the way dolby originally said in line with front as well. My spacing front to back was about 45 degrees in each position when I had 4. i upgraded to a Denon 3800H which let me run 3 sets of ceiling speakers looks like you have a 7.1 base but eventually 3 sets of overheads will become more mainstream set up. nice room by the way
That’s nice. I have a 7.2.6. I have front heights and use the top fronts as top middles along with rear heights. I repurposed the top rear to rear height since they are so close to the back wall. But I do have connections on the top of the rear wall for proper rear height installation
The 3800 only has two “height 1 & 2” based on the terminals on the back, May I ask, how are you getting 3 sets of height speakers? I have the 4700 which also only has height 1&2
@xanderx9988 Hi. Thanks for the question. I have a Marantz 8805A which will do up to 7.2.6. On the 3800, you can run 6 height channels if you repurpose the surround backs.
@@magnoliamo it’s a funny coincidence because I just discovered last week when I added up firing speakers (sitting on top of my side surrounds), my rear heights are connected to am external amp however, from what I discovered, is that it basically plays the same sound as the upfiring speakers, so is it truly a dynamic six heights? Know what I mean?
That is odd. Do you have Gravity in Atmos to test that. It should not be the same sound. Or No time to die, the party scene with the overhead dialogue.
It’s kind of funny that Dolby’s own guideline is being proven to not be the best. I too followed the guideline and have regrets now. I also think on ceiling speakers with adjustable mounts are probably better than in ceilings as you can make sure the speakers are aiming on axis to the MLP. Good video
To avoid all the angles and pointing to main listening position, in my opinion it is better to simply go with Front and Rear heights or Front/Rear heights plus Top middle (which can double down as VOG as well).
Hi! I had placed 4 speakers as heights. My biggest issue is that the sound coming from the front highs can’t be distinguished from the mains. Now I bought 4 svs elevations and thinking about placing them in ceiling. The problem is that I don’t know if aesthetically will be good or bad.
Exactly because that's is not how the people mixing Atmos movies have their setup. You need to match their setup to get proper Atmos @@georgexydous2891
@@magnoliamo that is terrible advice because that is NOT how the sound mixers have their setup so you will NEVER hear what they are hearing when mixing.
@@shaolin95 Thanks for the comment. Which advice are you referring to specifically? I used the Dolby recommended layout of front/rear heights with the specified angles and top middles. To me that is the best way to avoid the whole gray area of whether top/rear in-ceilings should be 55 degrees as recommended by Home theater guru or Audioadvise.com recommendations. Please clarify because I certainly don’t want to horrible advise. Thank you.
Hey Mo! I have 4x Klipsch PRO180RPC LCR which is angled 45° from factory. Then i would assume 55° is all wrong? I would think 45° is better. What is your take on that?
So that’s not a Dolby Atmos specified configuration. Your processor will not allow you to have a top front and top middle configuration. You will have to select top front and top rear but that will move the 3D bubble in front of you as opposed to being in the front and rear with you in the middle. I suggest going with front and rear heights with top middle or just top middle. The other option would be to go with the auro 3D layout of front height and side heights which are inline with the top middle but above your side surrounds and to the sides.
@@magnoliamo i am thinking of 7.2.2 the top middle gives concrete Overhead while 5.2.4 is great,but somehow i am Missing my old "setting"...with 7.2.4 (top middle and Front) maybe i still get good effect behind me🤔
Great video Mo. My top speakers are set the way Dolby shows on their website, which is not the best position if you want good Atmos immersion as it doesn't give you enough separation between the bed layer and the tops. HT Gurus explains it well in his videos, IIRC the tops should be approximately 0.5 to 0.7 the width of the mains.
Nice room! I am curious those as to why you setup the screen on the length side instead of the width side as It looks like you could get a larger screen in and more rows of possible seating? not to mention better acoustics if you went the the screen in the back of the room. covering up the window with treatment and then a screen
Great question. That was the original thought. But I decided to go the shorter way and use the right side by the window for my 2-channel setup plus computer setup for UA-cam videos. You are right it would have allowed for multiple rows of seats.
Hey Magnolia Mo, do you prefer the in-ceilings to your audio advice setup with front heights, mid heights, and rear heights? I thought you preferred the auto setup based on one of your videos from a year ago. Would love to hear your thoughts if you still think heights are better than in-ceilings!
@@magnoliamo thanks for sharing! Do you think that if I’m setting up atmos for the first time I should go with the HT gurus angles vs. audio advice vs. Dolby recommendation? And, just wondering how often you use the Auro up mixer since I’m still not sure if I should get a processor with such capabilities! Thanks again for your input and looking forward to more HT videos!
@@usmankhalid990 if you follow some of the comments you will see that HT guru’s recommendation uses extreme angles which makes the ceiling speakers to localize way more than what you want. Some people prefer that. I like more of a diffused sound and don’t want to feel like I’m directly hearing the ceiling speakers. I prefer sticking with audio advice recommendations for the setup.
If you have ON WALL heights, like I do, and you want to use Auro3D, then 30degrees is the correct angle for front heights and rear heights and side (middle) heights.
@@magnoliamo yeah my front heights are higher than my surround heights to get the 30 deg angle. I have a vaulted ceiling that starts at 8 ft but goes to like 16 feet on a 45 degree angle so I was able to get my front heights at the right height. Im about 6-8 or so ft away from the tv. my surrounds are very close to my MLPs so surround heights dont need to be that high. Just under my 8 ft ceiling transition edge. Im using SVS prime elevations for my 4 heights. Really sucks that ATMOS doesnt make use of surround heights so thats why I use Auro3D to make use of all 11 of my speakers: :P
Of course the Dobly recommendation is accurate..they BUILD the system and that how is how the studios are mixing the movies but people is getting confused following the guide that is all.
Hi - The angle being referred to is the angle between your head and the speaker. In-ceiling speakers with pivoting tweeters work best for Atmos. Once you have the speakers installed then you can point the tweeter towards the listening position.
@@magnoliamo Gotcha, but don't you need some lower end frequencies to reach you when you are listening for overhead sound? Not sure how low those tweeters go to. I see you have a large sub which normally is set to cross over at 80hz to 100hz right? Kinda new to this!
@Karim-ik5ij So, the tweeter is for high frequencies. The woofers will produce the bass frequencies but not significantly low. The bass from the heights needs to be directed to the subwoofers using crossover settings in the Receiver.
The Audio Advice recommendations mention distance of screen to front of first seating row - this is highly ambiguous. Do they mean to the front of the seats? This is not a reference point of any value as the actual head and listening position will depend on the design of the seats. Why don’t they just reference the actual listening position?
Absolutely not! You have 6 heights. If you only had 4 heights, with no intention of upgrading to 6, then yes, a 45° to 55° position would be reasonable. But with 6, 30/90/150 is WAY better. Especially if you make use of Auro3D and DTS:X as well as Atmos. DONT DO IT! Keep in mind Mo, people talk about "separation" an awful lot, but in reality, most sound objects are attempting to rended in-between layers. Remember Wilfried von Balen and Kimio Hamasaki's research conclusions: when the angle of the height speaker is too great, vertical imaging collapses to the closer or the louder speaker. THAT is why people like the higher angle.....its closer and the sound COLLAPSES to the height layer and sounds like its coming from above and impresses people. When in reality, the sound should image between layers. Those with heights between 30° and 45° can actually image objects between layers. DONT DRINK THE KOOLAID MO!!! you are one of the few guys out there actually doing this RIGHT. hold the line.
Wow. Thank you. That makes perfect sense to me. You Sir, are great resource to have! Thank you for the detailed explanation. I did mention in the video that I “kinda” like the way my setup is.
@@magnoliamo @magnoliamo thanks Mo. I'm just one of those types of nerds who does a ton of research on stuff. Then I try to put what I learned into practice to see how well it worked. You seem to do the same kind of thing. Thats what put you on the right path. A lot of the installers and professionals came up with their methodology in the early days of Atmos when a 7.1.4 setup was considered the pinnacle of Atmos. (LOL. Its always been possible to set up a 24.1.10 if you had enough money) and many people just randomly installed in-ceiling channels to have Atmos. Most of these people ended up having a lackluster experience. Mostly due to the fact that their in-ceiling speakers didnt have enough baffle angle and were horribly off axis. So they started bringing the upper channels closer together (i.e. on-axis) and had a better experience. So in their mind, that was the answer. Closer angles were better for Atmos. Meanwhile. Those of is who put bookshelf speakers on the wall or ceiling and aimed them at our listening positions were having a great experience the entire time. Didnt matter if it was 30°, 45°, or 60°, it sounded great, because our upper layer was on-axis. The one thing people discovered was that if you opted for 30° heights, its best if you have a Top-Middle or Voice of God at 90° to supplement sounds originating from above. What people didnt realize is that Top-Middle speaker, paired with Side Surrounds at 90/270 gave the absolute best 3D immersive effect. I've tested it personally and the best 3D effect is with that specific configuration.
@@magnoliamo yes, the side surrounds at ear-level. Dolby and THX have been telling people to put them at 110° or so. And thats okay, but its much better at 90° with the Top-Middle speakers directly above. I recently moved my surrounds from about 120° to 90° after reading the NHK 22.2 research just to test how it would be and the difference was stark. Thats where the best, most tangible 3D images were delivered. Then I realized that whenever my system sounded its best, it was always wh my surrounds at 90° and my Top-Middle around 90° elevation. Whenever I moved one or the other, I would lose a significant amount of immersion. Thats when the research made sense to me. It was the ability to accurately track imaging from the sides causing this.
Great Video Mo. I'm amazed at your knowledge and desire to continue to learn. It brought me back to our days of selling high end audio equipment!!
Thanks for comment Kevin! Those were the good old days!
Great video. I like Audio Advice's method as it puts the 4 atmos speakers in a square pattern with the main listening position in the center of that square. Hence the angle from your head to each speaker should be the same (45 degrees). This is perfect for the main listening position. But, I'm thinking for the other seating positions it won't sound quite as good as if the left and right were spaced further apart.
Thank you. Yes, maybe that’s why Dolby spaces them and in line with the fronts. But in my room having them spaced out does sound better and works for the extreme left and right seats.
Thank you for the info on laser angle tool.
knowledge changes if you ever add a 3rd set of atmos speakers install in-between in a bit closer together. I have mine installed the way dolby originally said in line with front as well. My spacing front to back was about 45 degrees in each position when I had 4. i upgraded to a Denon 3800H which let me run 3 sets of ceiling speakers looks like you have a 7.1 base but eventually 3 sets of overheads will become more mainstream set up. nice room by the way
That’s nice. I have a 7.2.6. I have front heights and use the top fronts as top middles along with rear heights. I repurposed the top rear to rear height since they are so close to the back wall. But I do have connections on the top of the rear wall for proper rear height installation
The 3800 only has two “height 1 & 2” based on the terminals on the back, May I ask, how are you getting 3 sets of height speakers?
I have the 4700 which also only has height 1&2
@xanderx9988 Hi. Thanks for the question. I have a Marantz 8805A which will do up to 7.2.6. On the 3800, you can run 6 height channels if you repurpose the surround backs.
@@magnoliamo it’s a funny coincidence because I just discovered last week when I added up firing speakers (sitting on top of my side surrounds), my rear heights are connected to am external amp however, from what I discovered, is that it basically plays the same sound as the upfiring speakers, so is it truly a dynamic six heights? Know what I mean?
That is odd. Do you have Gravity in Atmos to test that. It should not be the same sound. Or No time to die, the party scene with the overhead dialogue.
It’s kind of funny that Dolby’s own guideline is being proven to not be the best. I too followed the guideline and have regrets now. I also think on ceiling speakers with adjustable mounts are probably better than in ceilings as you can make sure the speakers are aiming on axis to the MLP. Good video
To avoid all the angles and pointing to main listening position, in my opinion it is better to simply go with Front and Rear heights or Front/Rear heights plus Top middle (which can double down as VOG as well).
Hi! I had placed 4 speakers as heights. My biggest issue is that the sound coming from the front highs can’t be distinguished from the mains. Now I bought 4 svs elevations and thinking about placing them in ceiling. The problem is that I don’t know if aesthetically will be good or bad.
Exactly because that's is not how the people mixing Atmos movies have their setup. You need to match their setup to get proper Atmos @@georgexydous2891
@@magnoliamo that is terrible advice because that is NOT how the sound mixers have their setup so you will NEVER hear what they are hearing when mixing.
@@shaolin95 Thanks for the comment. Which advice are you referring to specifically? I used the Dolby recommended layout of front/rear heights with the specified angles and top middles. To me that is the best way to avoid the whole gray area of whether top/rear in-ceilings should be 55 degrees as recommended by Home theater guru or Audioadvise.com recommendations. Please clarify because I certainly don’t want to horrible advise. Thank you.
Hey Mo!
I have 4x Klipsch PRO180RPC LCR which is angled 45° from factory. Then i would assume 55° is all wrong? I would think 45° is better. What is your take on that?
Yes 45° is better. I think 55° is too extreme and will make your soundstage collapse and lead to localization.
I think about changing to top Middle nearly over head and top front .Have you got experience with that combo?
So that’s not a Dolby Atmos specified configuration. Your processor will not allow you to have a top front and top middle configuration. You will have to select top front and top rear but that will move the 3D bubble in front of you as opposed to being in the front and rear with you in the middle. I suggest going with front and rear heights with top middle or just top middle. The other option would be to go with the auro 3D layout of front height and side heights which are inline with the top middle but above your side surrounds and to the sides.
@@magnoliamo i am thinking of 7.2.2 the top middle gives concrete Overhead while 5.2.4 is great,but somehow i am Missing my old "setting"...with 7.2.4 (top middle and Front) maybe i still get good effect behind me🤔
@texxhexxmm will these be in-ceiling or on-ceiling speakers?
@@magnoliamo on ceiling model "Nubert ws14"
@@magnoliamo on ceiling
Great video Mo. My top speakers are set the way Dolby shows on their website, which is not the best position if you want good Atmos immersion as it doesn't give you enough separation between the bed layer and the tops. HT Gurus explains it well in his videos, IIRC the tops should be approximately 0.5 to 0.7 the width of the mains.
Yes, I recall HT Gurus mentioning .5 in his video. That does place the speakers at the 50 degree angle 📐
@@magnoliamo.7
Nice room! I am curious those as to why you setup the screen on the length side instead of the width side as It looks like you could get a larger screen in and more rows of possible seating? not to mention better acoustics if you went the the screen in the back of the room. covering up the window with treatment and then a screen
Great question. That was the original thought. But I decided to go the shorter way and use the right side by the window for my 2-channel setup plus computer setup for UA-cam videos. You are right it would have allowed for multiple rows of seats.
@@magnoliamo oh ok good deal!
Hey Magnolia Mo, do you prefer the in-ceilings to your audio advice setup with front heights, mid heights, and rear heights? I thought you preferred the auto setup based on one of your videos from a year ago. Would love to hear your thoughts if you still think heights are better than in-ceilings!
I prefer front/rear heights with top middles over the top front/rear ceiling configuration. I can switch between both configurations in my room.
@@magnoliamo thanks for sharing! Do you think that if I’m setting up atmos for the first time I should go with the HT gurus angles vs. audio advice vs. Dolby recommendation? And, just wondering how often you use the Auro up mixer since I’m still not sure if I should get a processor with such capabilities! Thanks again for your input and looking forward to more HT videos!
@@usmankhalid990 if you follow some of the comments you will see that HT guru’s recommendation uses extreme angles which makes the ceiling speakers to localize way more than what you want. Some people prefer that. I like more of a diffused sound and don’t want to feel like I’m directly hearing the ceiling speakers. I prefer sticking with audio advice recommendations for the setup.
@@magnoliamo thank you for sharing your experience, and all of your recommendations on HT setups!
Wow. What a brilliant🎉 solution!! New subscriber thanks to this video!!
Thanks for the sub!
If you have ON WALL heights, like I do, and you want to use Auro3D, then 30degrees is the correct angle for front heights and rear heights and side (middle) heights.
Yes my front and rear are at 25 degrees. I do use Auro3D. I couldn’t go any higher since my ceiling height is 8 ft.
@@magnoliamo yeah my front heights are higher than my surround heights to get the 30 deg angle. I have a vaulted ceiling that starts at 8 ft but goes to like 16 feet on a 45 degree angle so I was able to get my front heights at the right height. Im about 6-8 or so ft away from the tv. my surrounds are very close to my MLPs so surround heights dont need to be that high. Just under my 8 ft ceiling transition edge. Im using SVS prime elevations for my 4 heights. Really sucks that ATMOS doesnt make use of surround heights so thats why I use Auro3D to make use of all 11 of my speakers: :P
Where is top middle or do u use with 7.2.6 the top Front as middle?
Top middle is slightly forward from the MLP in the ceiling.
Of course the Dobly recommendation is accurate..they BUILD the system and that how is how the studios are mixing the movies but people is getting confused following the guide that is all.
Agree and that is what I used for my setup.
How are you supposed to angle those atmos speakers at 45 degrees when most of them only tilt about 15 degrees. What am I missing here?
Hi - The angle being referred to is the angle between your head and the speaker. In-ceiling speakers with pivoting tweeters work best for Atmos. Once you have the speakers installed then you can point the tweeter towards the listening position.
@@magnoliamo Gotcha, but don't you need some lower end frequencies to reach you when you are listening for overhead sound? Not sure how low those tweeters go to. I see you have a large sub which normally is set to cross over at 80hz to 100hz right? Kinda new to this!
@Karim-ik5ij So, the tweeter is for high frequencies. The woofers will produce the bass frequencies but not significantly low. The bass from the heights needs to be directed to the subwoofers using crossover settings in the Receiver.
The Audio Advice recommendations mention distance of screen to front of first seating row - this is highly ambiguous. Do they mean to the front of the seats? This is not a reference point of any value as the actual head and listening position will depend on the design of the seats. Why don’t they just reference the actual listening position?
That’s a good point. I just assumed they were referencing the main listening position.
Absolutely not!
You have 6 heights. If you only had 4 heights, with no intention of upgrading to 6, then yes, a 45° to 55° position would be reasonable. But with 6, 30/90/150 is WAY better. Especially if you make use of Auro3D and DTS:X as well as Atmos.
DONT DO IT!
Keep in mind Mo, people talk about "separation" an awful lot, but in reality, most sound objects are attempting to rended in-between layers.
Remember Wilfried von Balen and Kimio Hamasaki's research conclusions: when the angle of the height speaker is too great, vertical imaging collapses to the closer or the louder speaker.
THAT is why people like the higher angle.....its closer and the sound COLLAPSES to the height layer and sounds like its coming from above and impresses people. When in reality, the sound should image between layers. Those with heights between 30° and 45° can actually image objects between layers.
DONT DRINK THE KOOLAID MO!!!
you are one of the few guys out there actually doing this RIGHT. hold the line.
Wow. Thank you. That makes perfect sense to me. You Sir, are great resource to have! Thank you for the detailed explanation. I did mention in the video that I “kinda” like the way my setup is.
@@magnoliamo @magnoliamo thanks Mo. I'm just one of those types of nerds who does a ton of research on stuff. Then I try to put what I learned into practice to see how well it worked. You seem to do the same kind of thing. Thats what put you on the right path.
A lot of the installers and professionals came up with their methodology in the early days of Atmos when a 7.1.4 setup was considered the pinnacle of Atmos. (LOL. Its always been possible to set up a 24.1.10 if you had enough money) and many people just randomly installed in-ceiling channels to have Atmos. Most of these people ended up having a lackluster experience. Mostly due to the fact that their in-ceiling speakers didnt have enough baffle angle and were horribly off axis. So they started bringing the upper channels closer together (i.e. on-axis) and had a better experience. So in their mind, that was the answer. Closer angles were better for Atmos.
Meanwhile. Those of is who put bookshelf speakers on the wall or ceiling and aimed them at our listening positions were having a great experience the entire time. Didnt matter if it was 30°, 45°, or 60°, it sounded great, because our upper layer was on-axis.
The one thing people discovered was that if you opted for 30° heights, its best if you have a Top-Middle or Voice of God at 90° to supplement sounds originating from above. What people didnt realize is that Top-Middle speaker, paired with Side Surrounds at 90/270 gave the absolute best 3D immersive effect.
I've tested it personally and the best 3D effect is with that specific configuration.
@@FURognar When you say side surrounds, you mean actual surrounds and not the surround heights, correct?
@@magnoliamo yes, the side surrounds at ear-level. Dolby and THX have been telling people to put them at 110° or so. And thats okay, but its much better at 90° with the Top-Middle speakers directly above.
I recently moved my surrounds from about 120° to 90° after reading the NHK 22.2 research just to test how it would be and the difference was stark. Thats where the best, most tangible 3D images were delivered.
Then I realized that whenever my system sounded its best, it was always wh my surrounds at 90° and my Top-Middle around 90° elevation. Whenever I moved one or the other, I would lose a significant amount of immersion.
Thats when the research made sense to me. It was the ability to accurately track imaging from the sides causing this.
@FURognar makes sense to me. Thank you.
Your atmos sucks for 100%
lol. Thanks. Let’s see yours! Assuming you have the right Atmos setup that sounds awesome!