Poll: What's your current Atmos speaker layout?

[par4ken]

I wish that we had some speaker builders here, I mentioned before that if I was to go with Atmos I would consider building large floor standing towers with the main channel speakers at ear level and the atmos speakers near the top. I would use the same drivers for the main channels and the heights. Such a large enclosure would be great configured as a transmission line or labyrinth. Such speakers produce very low rock solid bass without the boom of bass reflex designs. Consideration would have to be made whether to use smaller woofers for the heights or for height and main and then maybe supplementing that with a large subwoofer.

Sometimes my design ideas work other times they are a dismal failure. The only way to tell would be to build a prototype and try it out with different variations. If a single prototype sounds good a pair or more should also. I don't need any more projects at this time but I would welcome anyone who would like to take on this idea, or something similar! Calling all speaker builders/experimenters any takers?

 

[PK]

View attachment 113001
Another helpful diagram...I dig this one a lot

This would be my preference. Equidistant from all the speakers. But add 2 wides for a 9.x.4 config...Just had an idea. If I put my couch on wheels I could roll it out of my living room...
Rears are already on wheels as it is...Everything on wheels?? I notice the more I get into this hobby the more willing I am to make those compromises that come with a non-dedicated room. I just totally rearranged my small space 11' x 11' with open back (so small I hesitate to call it a living room! Truth be told, it's 10' 8" not even 11) Anyway, speaker placement is a bit of a thing for me lately...

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

So according to the poll the overwhelming 'Atmos' set-up currently consists 7.1.4 speakers with 73 votes, followed 5.1.4 speakers with 56 votes. Amazingly only 4 votes went to 7.1.6...

 

[PK]

I've used stand mounts all around and towers all around. I'm sure Dolby shows the mixing of small surrounds with larger L & R so as not to give an impression that the setup has to be expensive. It's understandable from their side of the sales counter, but as I've mentioned before, after many years of setting up multich systems, I strongly believe it's important to use identical speakers in all the base positions.
The need for subwoofers really depends on room size, SPL desired, whether music or movies are the primary concern, and low bass extension desired. Each to their own.

Including the Center?

 

[Sal1950]

Including the Center?

No, the center is the matching JBL HDI-Series 4500 center.

 

[mandrix]

My 4 corners are identical. The center is from the same maker, except it has two 6.5" woofers and a tweeter.
I hesitated about buying such a large center but it has worked out pretty well. Sure is one heavy piece though.

 

[srbjab]

View attachment 113001
Another helpful diagram...I dig this one a lot

This is my exact setup except my rear surrounds are slightly closer together, aligned with the front L and R positions. Also, I have subwoofers in each room corner plus one just under the center channel speaker.

 

[Sal1950]

My 4 corners are identical. The center is from the same maker, except it has two 6.5" woofers and a tweeter.
I hesitated about buying such a large center but it has worked out pretty well. Sure is one heavy piece though.

These damn centers sure get big. My prior HSU HC1 had 2 6.5 like that, it was a monster. I had to customize my center rack to be tall enough to fit it's height. My current JBL uses 4 5in woofers, it's not as tall but now it's super wide, just barely made it inside my rack.
"If it ain't one thing, it's another. Rosanne Rosanna Danna." LOL

 

[JediJoker]

Beware the 2-way, non-concentric center channel design:



I use a vertical 2-way as my center channel for this reason.

 

[MTB Vince]

Beware the 2-way, non-concentric center channel design:



I use a vertical 2-way as my center channel for this reason.

!00% agree. The radiation pattern associated with 2-way, dual-midwoofer MTM loudspeaker designs (as pioneered by Joe D'Appolito) is optimized for a vertically oriented placement with the tweeter at ear level. When you orient an MTM speaker horizontally, only the center listener enjoys great sound. Off-axis listeners to either side of the center seat end up seated in a frequency null (suckout) centered on the midwoofer-to-tweeter crossover transition region.

 

[Sal1950]

Beware the 2-way, non-concentric center channel design:

"Center Channel Speakers Suck" Humm, kind of.
Completely right for multi-seating home theaters due to the lobing etc; of most MTM designs.
For more music oriented "main listening position" Hi-Fi it's much less of a deal..
Seated on-axis in what we all know as "the sweet spot" they are mostly just fine.
Do we attack all 2ch Stereo speakers because if you sit off to the side imaging, FR, etc suffers?
Even using the best room correction apps, they can only somewhat adjust to balance things for a 2 or 3 row, 5 wide
theater. When I go to the cinema I try to get a seat somewhere very close to the middle of the room.
At my place the only other seats available are the couch on the left side of the room, sideways to the front.
Everything sucks there,. LOL.
In demos for friends they get to sit in my lazyboy.
Erin's not wrong but IMHO he makes too big a deal of this.

 

[JediJoker]

!00% agree. The radiation pattern associated with 2-way, dual-midwoofer MTM loudspeaker designs (as pioneered by Joe D'Appolito) is optimized for a vertically oriented placement with the tweeter at ear level. When you orient an MTM speaker horizontally, only the center listener enjoys great sound. Off-axis listeners to either side of the center seat end up seated in a frequency null (suckout) centered on the midwoofer-to-tweeter crossover transition region.

A toppled MTM will also radiate much more to the floor and ceiling than is usually desirable, causing other potential issues.

 

[mandrix]

Beware the 2-way, non-concentric center channel design:



I use a vertical 2-way as my center channel for this reason.

To be honest, my first thought was someone else is going to tell me what's wrong with my speakers.
And without watching I know he did not review my center speaker as it's been off the market for years.

But, I have started watching the video in hopes he actually provides some meaningful data.
So cheers for the link...you have provided me with another time suck.

 

[JediJoker]

But, I have started watching the video in hopes he actually provides some meaningful data.
So cheers for the link...you have provided me with another time suck.

Erin is one of just two private individuals (along with Amir at Audio Science Review) who publicly owns a Klippel Near Field Scanner, which is the gold standard for loudspeaker measurements, even more so than a fully anechoic chamber with the best measurement microphones available. His reviews of loudspeakers are some of the best, most data-driven on the Internet (see also: ASR, Audioholics).

 

[mandrix]

OK. Watched it all. Not a huge revelation to me, I'm sure it will be to some.
What makes it irrelevant to me is that I'm the only listener, and my system is tuned for my MLP. No couch, MLP never changes for me +- maybe 24 inches, if that.
I do a 9 mic placement with Dirac Live, observe the response, but never have had to do much if any changes to the filters I load into my AVR.

However, folks that have more extensive seating arrangements will find this video very useful, and for those I would encourage to watch and understand.

Good link, @JediJoker

 

[Sal1950]

OK. Watched it all. Not a huge revelation to me, I'm sure it will be to some.
What makes it irrelevant to me is that I'm the only listener, and my system is tuned for my MLP.

The "Why Most Center Channels Suck" headline is quite a bit of "Clickbait".
They don't suck for people like you and me with mainly one MLP. Besides the fact that even the people with a number of forward facing seats in place, how many of those seats are occupied the majority of the playing time?. I really like Erin but this post was just a bit over the top.

 

[PK]

OK this is bitchin'...a little center speaker convo...I'm in the dark on this stuff...I think what got me wondering was @MTB Vince pics of his speakers...I'll watch the video etc...

 

[PK]

This is my exact setup except my rear surrounds are slightly closer together, aligned with the front L and R positions. Also, I have subwoofers in each room corner plus one just under the center channel speaker.

Interesting...how is the fifth sub utilized? Is it integrated with the other 4?

 

[mandrix]

The "Why Most Center Channels Suck" headline is quite a bit of "Clickbait".
They don't suck for people like you and me with mainly one MLP. Besides the fact that even the people with a number of forward facing seats in place, how many of those seats are occupied the majority of the playing time?. I really like Erin but this post was just a bit over the top.

Well I appreciate all the info I can get. But these guys make money off YT. Doesn't mean they don't provide relevant information. But if your system sounds good to you, then do you need someone telling you how f'd up it is in reality? lol.
I would be curious to know how many sub 19 year olds there are on the forum, and how many our age actually think their hearing is as good as it was back then? Sure, many will proclaim it is. I call BS unless they lived in a cubicle all their working life, and a very sedate life compared to ours.
But well, some of us were working stiffs and some not. No disregard either way. Mine has been a life of noise and fun, and I pay the price I guess for not having golden ears at my age? No complaints, it's been a full ride.

 

[mandrix]

I just get so weary of everyone shouting out why our sound systems suck.
It's like, if you weren't aware of any problems, well here you go you dumba$$ have we go news for you.
Same old same old. Like the old worn out publications that tried to convince everyone they KNEW what sounded best, as they were being comped like a Los Vegas high roller with free equipment and really, really, stupidly made up adjectives to describe the wonders of the equipment they were reviewing. Give me a f'n break.

If you have not read the "audiophile" mags since the late 60's then you probably don't know what I'm talking about. Many of these people were less than realistic, and besides which, some laughed about being able to give bad reviews and putting people out of business (not in print, but noted) . Prove me wrong. Self serving people of means with free comps of equipment to listen to, whereas you and I would have to fork up money. Still chaps my ass these people think they could/did influence the buying of so many. oh I used to read the responses in Stereophile until I wanted to just puke. The koolaid was fully ingested and infused.
Got to have them there $20K speakers. Or that jazzy piece that gets rid of "jitter".