I posted this on a pro audio forum the other day...but I thought it might be of interest to a consumer-centric audience too. So for those of you that read it elsewhere - apologies for the duplication!
Last week I had an incredible experience, thanks to Billy at https://poindexters.com/ here in Montana. Poindexters has been providing audio solutions for commercial and residential clients in the Bozeman area for 25 years. They are dealers for Meyer speakers ( Meyer Sound ) and Trinnov processors (they were the first of 3 Trinnov-certified Level 2 dealers in the US). And they're working on some new, very leading-edge immersive audio/video applications. Billy took me to a private ranch where he's been implementing systems for almost 20 years, including variations of surround systems over the last 15 or so.
Billy played me mixes in 2 buildings - both of them converted barns; you can see a couple pictures of the buildings in the Poindexter's website link above. Both buildings are equipped with Trinnov Altitude units and Meyer speakers. Incredible, incredible sounding stuff.
The large barn (seen from the outside on the website pic) is massive. The ceiling in the living/listening room must be 50 feet high. All the speakers are 48v powered Meyers, except for the L/R mains which are custom designed/manufactured by David Nelson at https://portlandaudiolab.com/ . See photo attached. The config in this rooms is referenced as 8.1.4, but in actuality there are 6 subwoofers built into the walls of the room, and 2 subs now resting under the Portland Audio tower mains. So - there are 8 subs total in the room, but from Trinnov's perspective, it's considered a single channel. All the Meyer speakers are up high in the barn, some way up there and some lower. I've listened in some pretty good rooms, including a big home theater showroom that was pretty great. But this was next level. The Portland mains were mind blowing - and Trinnov decoding Atmos into this physical rig was sublime; It was amazing to me that the system delivered such detailed object location in such a gigantic room.
Billy keeps a 'demo' playlist on that system, and he played reference tracks for me that he's picked out over time. I was so blown away, and so deep into the experience that I don't recall lots of specifics, but here's some stuff that was really exceptional.
- Bee Gees, Stayin' Alive. I believe it was the second Atmos mix version (apparently there are 2 out there). The front wall so impressive, the subs doing their thing, and all the BGV's spread around were beautiful.
Sorry - can't find the link for the Atmos mix on Apple Music!
- Bob Marley, Is The Love. You can only imagine the subs on this one. I loved the diagonal panning of the percussion (I actually do this quite often when I mix). Center image of the LV was beautiful. Also loved the treatment of BGV's!
https://music.apple.com/us/album/is-...3?i=1469575848
- Alejandro Sanz, Iba. Billy demo'd Meyer speakers in his demo room at his HQ a couple years ago for me, and this was the first thing he played. I got to hear it again - just exceptional, beautiful.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/iba...2?i=1592713714
- Koe Wetzel, Sweet Dreams. Very much a front-wall dominant / ambient style Atmos mix. Generally, I like stuff that's mixed with a little adventure...but I have to admit, this was really nice. The bass/drums in the front wall were just so...I dunno - locked, I guess...Those Portland Audio towers were amazing...and all the BGV's spread out were really beautiful.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/swe...9?i=1742884346
- Lastly, I got to listen so some of my mixes, which was incredibly fun. A recent mix I did for Criibaby called 'Safe'. It is very ethereal - vocals all around you kinda thing. May not be everyone's shot of whiskey. But for me, in this room on this system it was incredible.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/saf...1?i=1743278714
Along with the incredible beauty of the ranch, some things struck me about this experience.
- The technology the ATMOS has deployed is amazing. I would have never guessed that in such a huge space, the decoding/playback process could be so good. And although I'll never be able to afford it for my studio or home, Trinnov does some really great things in the measurement/calibration/decoding...
- Meyer speakers are incredible to hear, and it's obvious they are paying lots of attention to delivering product that is made for Atmos. Many of their speakers are actually quite small, and the low voltage thing is really an advantage. Anyone that's put up an Atmos mixing room (I've deployed mine 3 times) knows that just powering all those speakers is a pain...
- The number of, and the quality of Atmos mixes out in the wild gets better and better over time. Billy has a boatload of tracks in his reference playlists - none of which I had ever heard before!
It was more than a 2 hour drive back to my place, and I was lost in the whole experience throughout the whole drive. Completely lost track of the drive itself, and looked down at my speedometer - 25 mph. Thankfully it was on a lonely gravel road, with no one around to blow by me and flip me off. What an experience it was. Thanks Billy
Portland Audio Mains attached below...
Last week I had an incredible experience, thanks to Billy at https://poindexters.com/ here in Montana. Poindexters has been providing audio solutions for commercial and residential clients in the Bozeman area for 25 years. They are dealers for Meyer speakers ( Meyer Sound ) and Trinnov processors (they were the first of 3 Trinnov-certified Level 2 dealers in the US). And they're working on some new, very leading-edge immersive audio/video applications. Billy took me to a private ranch where he's been implementing systems for almost 20 years, including variations of surround systems over the last 15 or so.
Billy played me mixes in 2 buildings - both of them converted barns; you can see a couple pictures of the buildings in the Poindexter's website link above. Both buildings are equipped with Trinnov Altitude units and Meyer speakers. Incredible, incredible sounding stuff.
The large barn (seen from the outside on the website pic) is massive. The ceiling in the living/listening room must be 50 feet high. All the speakers are 48v powered Meyers, except for the L/R mains which are custom designed/manufactured by David Nelson at https://portlandaudiolab.com/ . See photo attached. The config in this rooms is referenced as 8.1.4, but in actuality there are 6 subwoofers built into the walls of the room, and 2 subs now resting under the Portland Audio tower mains. So - there are 8 subs total in the room, but from Trinnov's perspective, it's considered a single channel. All the Meyer speakers are up high in the barn, some way up there and some lower. I've listened in some pretty good rooms, including a big home theater showroom that was pretty great. But this was next level. The Portland mains were mind blowing - and Trinnov decoding Atmos into this physical rig was sublime; It was amazing to me that the system delivered such detailed object location in such a gigantic room.
Billy keeps a 'demo' playlist on that system, and he played reference tracks for me that he's picked out over time. I was so blown away, and so deep into the experience that I don't recall lots of specifics, but here's some stuff that was really exceptional.
- Bee Gees, Stayin' Alive. I believe it was the second Atmos mix version (apparently there are 2 out there). The front wall so impressive, the subs doing their thing, and all the BGV's spread around were beautiful.
Sorry - can't find the link for the Atmos mix on Apple Music!
- Bob Marley, Is The Love. You can only imagine the subs on this one. I loved the diagonal panning of the percussion (I actually do this quite often when I mix). Center image of the LV was beautiful. Also loved the treatment of BGV's!
https://music.apple.com/us/album/is-...3?i=1469575848
- Alejandro Sanz, Iba. Billy demo'd Meyer speakers in his demo room at his HQ a couple years ago for me, and this was the first thing he played. I got to hear it again - just exceptional, beautiful.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/iba...2?i=1592713714
- Koe Wetzel, Sweet Dreams. Very much a front-wall dominant / ambient style Atmos mix. Generally, I like stuff that's mixed with a little adventure...but I have to admit, this was really nice. The bass/drums in the front wall were just so...I dunno - locked, I guess...Those Portland Audio towers were amazing...and all the BGV's spread out were really beautiful.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/swe...9?i=1742884346
- Lastly, I got to listen so some of my mixes, which was incredibly fun. A recent mix I did for Criibaby called 'Safe'. It is very ethereal - vocals all around you kinda thing. May not be everyone's shot of whiskey. But for me, in this room on this system it was incredible.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/saf...1?i=1743278714
Along with the incredible beauty of the ranch, some things struck me about this experience.
- The technology the ATMOS has deployed is amazing. I would have never guessed that in such a huge space, the decoding/playback process could be so good. And although I'll never be able to afford it for my studio or home, Trinnov does some really great things in the measurement/calibration/decoding...
- Meyer speakers are incredible to hear, and it's obvious they are paying lots of attention to delivering product that is made for Atmos. Many of their speakers are actually quite small, and the low voltage thing is really an advantage. Anyone that's put up an Atmos mixing room (I've deployed mine 3 times) knows that just powering all those speakers is a pain...
- The number of, and the quality of Atmos mixes out in the wild gets better and better over time. Billy has a boatload of tracks in his reference playlists - none of which I had ever heard before!
It was more than a 2 hour drive back to my place, and I was lost in the whole experience throughout the whole drive. Completely lost track of the drive itself, and looked down at my speedometer - 25 mph. Thankfully it was on a lonely gravel road, with no one around to blow by me and flip me off. What an experience it was. Thanks Billy
Portland Audio Mains attached below...
