Dolby Atmos Help

[Englishbull]

Evening all, looking for some help on Atmos sound. My current system is AV Receiver Sony STR DN1080 speakers are front Kef R100 rears Kef T series. Atmos speakers Kef R50.

I have done usual auto setup with the Mic. There are a few other sound options on the receiver that I am not too sure on wondering if anyone has the Sony they could advise on. I have watched a couple of films in Atmos, now it does sound good but I've not been blown away with the Atmos sound, seems to be the same as a 5.1. Has anyone else got this paring (receiver/Atmos speakers) just wondered what I can do to improve the sound.

I know these up firing speakers are not as good as Celling speakers, I did look at getting some but cost and two speakers in the living room Celling could have meant divorce on the cards.

Any help would be very much appreciated

cheers

scott

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

I can suggest three, no five, things:

1. Manually boost the levels on the Atmos speakers so you stand more chance of hearing them.

2. Adjust your speaker and or listening positions. Remember your high school physics - the sound will (more or less) bounce of the ceiling at the same (but opposite) angle that it hits it.

3. Try hanging the Atmos speakers on the walls at the wall/ceiling join, angled downwards towards your listening position.4. New wife.
5. New house

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

Oh wait. If you're using the ARC line to link back from your TV to the receiver, that could be the problem. I think, repeat THINK, ARC is limited to 5.1 or 7.1.

 

[macdiddy]

speaker setup in the on-line manual (page 24) and told the amp you have upfiring speakers then I'm afraid you have found out the expensive way that upfiring speakers are no match for a proper pair of ceiling speakers (you don't need to cut holes in your ceiling, my Atmos speakers are mounted on brackets facing straight down).

maybe if you are able to (wife acceptance factor limiting) try mounting your Kef R50's like this otherwise just use them as a pair of expensive paper-weights.

you don't say how high your ceilings are but generally upfiring speakers work best with fairly low ones.

sorry to be so blunt but I don't have the WAF to worry about.

*music2*

 

[macdiddy]

but I don't think he mentions what source he uses to get Atmos audio. *unknw*

 

[macdiddy]

but at the price you paid for your Kef R50's (£600 a pair !!!), you could have got a pair of regular bookshelf speakers together with brackets to fix them to the ceiling.

*unknw*

 

[newlash09]

I had the previous junior version of the Sony avr. The Sony str dn 850. Though it was good for 2 Channel stereo, its room correction and calibration for home theatre was always way off the mark. So I would suggest that you have to measure the speakers distances by tape and adjust levels with a sound meter app on your phone. Once done, if you are still not happy with the Atmos sound. I would suggest you to boost their levels, just as sir benedict advised.

That Sony is awesome, but is let down by its poor room calibration system, which is not as competent as audessey. So, some time spent tweaking it, will give you it's true potential. All the best

 

[Englishbull]

Hi all, and thanks for the replies. Forgive me for sounding thick, boost the levels! Is that just up the Db level?

New house , one day I will have a dedicated cinema room!!

Benedict ARC ! Intresting will take a look at that. If that is the case what option would you suggest?

macdiddy- yes I understand that Celling speakers are better. Just trying to get some kind of effect. Celling height is 2m 43 from floor speakers where they are about 1m 45 to Celling. I only paid £300 for the speakers, ( haggle haggle haggle you don't ask for a discount you don't get) (yes they are brand new)

macdiddy - on your Celling speakers I presume the cable is visible ?

newlash- when you say measure do you mean from the seating position measure to each speaker? What about the Atmos would this be practically the same as the front speakers as they are on top.

Cheers

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

I presume those upcoming Atmos speakers have sloping "tops". You can probably hang those upcoming Atmos speakers on nails in the wall so that the cones face downwards at an angle. Then all you have to worry about is hiding the speaker cables.

But first I would just play with the levels.

 

[newlash09]

The distance to measure for the Atmos speakers would be the distance the sound has to travel to get to you. This will be very cumbersome and inaccurate.

This will also be difficult as even Atmos tracks don't have Atmos playing all the time. What I did was, I disconnected my surround speakers cables from the speakers ( I don't have rears ). Then switched over to DTS : neural X mode on the movie sound mode. This enables sound to all the speakers you have, and extrapolates a normal 5.1 track to Atmos effects too. Now I increased the gain on the avr for the Atmos speakers till, I could clearly hear the overhead speakers contributing to the sound. Maybe you can try it too. Iam happy with it, though I might be running my inceiling speakers too hot.

On a side note, I played spectral from Netflix in Atmos mode, and didn't find it very different. So if you are still underwhelmed, it's not your systems fault.

 

[Englishbull]

Hi newlash

i am going to have a go at a manual set up on the distance for each speaker I see on the auto set up the Atmos speakers are nearly the same as the fronts. According to Dolby I have just been reading the distance needs to be speaker to Celling then down to seating position. I have been reading that many people have had good results with these speakers so hoping it's just a case of tweaking.

On another point whats the engineer sound on the receiver I have this set as off, not sure what it does really!

 

[newlash09]

Hi newlash

i am going to have a go at a manual set up on the distance for each speaker I see on the auto set up the Atmos speakers are nearly the same as the fronts. According to Dolby I have just been reading the distance needs to be speaker to Celling then down to seating position. I have been reading that many people have had good results with these speakers so hoping it's just a case of tweaking. 

On another point whats the engineer sound on the receiver I have this set as off, not sure what it does really! 

IAM really sorry it has been quite a while since I played with the Sony. But going by my marantz, flat sounds much better than reference in my room, which is almost of your size. So please see if yoy can find a flat sound setting on the Sony, as the flat algorithm is designed for smaller rooms.

And dont worry about the distance of the Atmos speaker. Just increase their gain til they are loudly audible . This is what I did...and iam with the result

 

[leenorm1]

Hi,

I’m not sure about the settings on the Sony as it’s been a while since I worked with one. It’s a single point calibration isn’t it? Ie you put the Mic where you sit. I have usually found the distances with the Sony setup to be good. When you were watching the movie did it display ATMOS on the AVR? If not then you will have to ensure that the Blu Ray player is outputting audio in Bitstream as should your other sources.

If you are unsure about levels ( adjusting the DB) then download an SPL METER app on your phone and run the test tone in your AVR. When the front left speaker is making a noise note the level on the SPL meter, now adjust each speaker to match that.

As far as I can remember there isn’t any form of loudness correction, like Dynamic Volume in Audyssey, so you will only get the best atmos effect at quite high volumes.

I dont know how high your ceilings are but the idea of the sloped atmos speakers is so that the sound bounces off the ceiling approx half way between you and the TV so as to emulate the correct positioning of Ceiling Speakers.

We have both setups in our demo room and although ceiling is best, the pod speakers are still extremely good when done right.

Good luck

 

[Englishbull]

Hi leenorm

thanks for the reply, I will be having a muck around tomorrow with the sound, for now I have adjusted the db level on the atoms speakers and seems to be better. I have down loaded the app on phone so will give that a go tomorrow. Celling height is 2m 43 with Atmos speakers sitting 1.46m from Celling.

Yes when watching movies the Receiver showed DAtmos.

Im tempted to get an expert round to have a look at the set up but don't want to waste money if I can do it myself.

 

[leenorm1]

Did you manage to check your SPL levels? Have you tweaked it to your liking?

 

[macdiddy]

As far as I can remember there isn’t any form of loudness correction, like Dynamic Volume in Audyssey, so you will only get the best atmos effect at quite high volumes.

sorry but I have to disagree with the last part of this statement, I wish I could have "high volumes" to get the best Atmos effect but like most people I have neighbours to contend with so I have to keep the volume to a reasonable level.

surely a properly setup and calibrated system should give good "Atmos effects" at all volumes.

*unknw*