Dolby Atmos hot new when it comes to theater gear, but there are many different ways you can incorporate Atmos into your setup. Let's talk about the difference between "visible" Atmos, power chasing drivers, and dedicated rooftop speakers.
I have tried several Atmos products over the past few years, and recently added a true Atmos setup to the house. And while every method has its advantages and disadvantages in terms of performance, it's clear that some setups will sound better than others. It's not often obvious How. So I put a few different options to test it out side by side.
Original Agreement: In-Ceiling speakers
Many guidelines like this can start at the lower end and work up to the most expensive, complicated things. But in this case, I think it's important to first talk about what a good setup looks like (with sounds), so I can accurately explain how the curvature is achieved.
Dolby has details of a few different ways to set up your speakers, but I opted for the 5.1.4 setup using the front speaker speakers, connecting station, two bookstores on the back wall, and four speakers mounted on my roof. I add to classic Stereo power setup I'm older, but you can do the same thing using four ELAC Debut on the shelves with comparison station and ceiling speakers. Or, if you prefer a more budget-friendly option, you can go The Polk & # 39; s series
If you can find speakers from the same series, that's fine, but it's not important. And if the ceiling speakers are too complicated or expensive, you can always mount them on the walls of the front or rear elevators, as described in Dolby & # 39; s. setup guide.
You also need a powerful Atmos receiver for setup like this. I use Pioneer VSX-LX303, which is one of the cheapest cheap 5.1.4 in the market, but if you only want to set 5.1.2, you can use Sony STR-DH790 for a small fee.
This adjustment includes a lot of difficulties, but it's certainly the best sounding Atmos setup you can get. Although I feel I need to deserve that statement: If you've heard people say the difference of "day and night", or that "more results are a complete game changer," enjoy your expectations just as trash. I love my Atmos setup, but for a variety of reasons than I thought I would.
Of course, there are some occasional side effects that are worth it. When the car flies over your head at the scene of the first incident Mad Mad: Fury Road, you hear above you. When one of the characters goes inside Jumanji: Welcome to the Forest, the sound of a “ding” sounds louder than your head as it falls from the sky. It might be really, really cool, and I bow my head with the safety once or twice in mind, wondering where this sound came from.
But most of the time, you will still feel the difference, the downward-looking effects coming from above, even when setting up an Atmos for real ceiling. Instead, those high-end channels usually play the same sounds as your back channels, taking you from a rounded-up sound plane to a very 3D-sounding bag – I know that sounds like a sell-talk, but it actually sounds.
It's subtle at first, but you'll see it in scenes like the storm on Fury Road, where the wind blows above you, or when the elevator hits the ground and explodes behind the lobby Matrix. Your front speakers do a lot of heavy lifting, but the roof speakers help "fill in" the sound, and you can hear the difference when switching between 5.1 and Atmos tracks in those scenes.
For movies with no Atmos tracks, you can use Dolby Suround or DTS Neural modes: X ways in your 5.1 or 7.1 track amplifier to use your rooftop speakers. It works better than I expected – Dolby's processing seems subtle, sending sounds to meetings in the channels above, while DTS processing has your face with a wide range of effects (sometimes its dangerous, if the audio shouldn't be in your head-over position.
Alternative Useful: High and Distinguished Speakers
Let's say you don't have a budget for a full speaker setup, or you don't have enough space to supply all the gear required. Dolby thinks about this, and allows their room to feature heated speakers to sound rooftop with those effects. Many speaker companies have modules to add to their building speakers that do just that, including the above The ELAC debt series.
At the end of the item budget, a series designed by Andrew Jones was made modules to add because it is well thought out the tower and book speakers. And if you want to show the caller completely, you can go with the soundbar setup Vizio is well named SB46514-F6. (You take the language out, right?)
I tested my ceiling setup aside with the Vizio system, and they both sounded great – Vizio did a surprisingly good job of making the rich sound out of a large, yet functional, sound. The flaming “Atmos-assist” speakers (as Dolby calls them) also worked well, but they didn't work as it’s great to produce unique, from-the-top results for you. As I mentioned above, those are small and persistent in the middle, however, and the heated speakers were still able to produce that 3D bubble of easily audible sound. For lack of a better definition, though, I'd say it sounds like a "shallow" balloon – I've heard sounds coming from above the ear level, but I don't know they fill the room in the same wide way that my roof does. This can depend a lot on your room, though – the size, type of roof, and where you put the speakers. That means you'll have to invent to get things right, but it's a good alternative if you don't have the money or space for a full Atmos setup – they can still generate a lot of reps that make Atmos cool.
I still recommend continuing with the 5.1.4 setup here, though. If you're looking for a sound bar without matching the speakers around, you can find some with Atmos—frequency with label 3.1.2-But it adds a lot of elegance to the soundstage in front of your room. It's handsome, but it's much less than a set with a rounded back and burning surface.
Doing the Best of the Bad Room: Virtual Suround
This is where things get interesting. Some soundbars are starting to come with what they call “3D virtual surround,” usually with Dolby Atmos or DTS Virtual: X height adjustment. These are … a lot to hit or miss.
When I tried Yamaha & # 39; s YAS-209, for example — which can determine Dolby Atmos but has DTS Virtual: X processing in it — I found the surrounding feature to include more sounds, as well as a bit of ambiguity in the soundtrack. It was great, but not mind blowing. Tony's Z9F the soundbar, with its upward-facing engine, is not much better when it comes to adding height to non-Atmos tracks.
It seems that upmixing works better for the real receiver than it does in the sound bar, even though the soundbar does well with Atmos.
And this is where the Z9F of Sony excels, especially when paired with it Z9R rear speakers for sale. It may not be over the top, but it handles true Atmos tracks better than the right to do. With or without firing the drivers, it produced a noticeable difference between the Atmos and non-Atmos tracks in the same movie, which fills that (slightly less) 3D bubble with sound with a much better experience.
It is amazing, and it is useful if you have a room with a canopy or upgraded roof, where shooting speakers don't work. Also, while sound controllers are good for saving space, their size may be their Achilles heel — 2.5-inch drivers will never compete with a real set of large speakers, and the Sony bar doesn't sound as good as the Vizio or Samsung models (or true manual brushes and towers , that story).
More of these Atmos soundbars are on the way, and companies like TCL, Klipsch, and Denon show off their 3D virtual soundbars that promise to be just as good. I tend to be skeptical about things like this, but Tony has assured me that it is possible – even if it doesn't cause 5.1.4 setup using experimental speakers.
In the end, that's okay. Co-ordination is not a bad thing — most theater has to go down somewhere, unless you have a theater that is completely dedicated to the perfect law of fixing the beauty of the room. Do what you can with the space you have, and don't worry about being 100% fit – it's all about watching movies as best you can in your space, and any of the above setups are great experiences.
Just remember that Atmos is the last step in the growth of home theater setup. You will get more miles from your system with higher front, center, and rear speakers than the jump just to add higher stations. But if there is room for you in your budget, it's a good improvement.
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