Question How to get Ambeo Max to output to 13 channels?

[rahulthewall]

I have the following questions about the Ambeo Max (I am comparing with my friend who has an Ambeo Plus).

When I play Audio through Spotify Connect, I see that it using 2 channels. When I play Audio through Netflix or Amazon, I see it often uses 8 or 10 channels (the codec is Dolby Digital Plus). When I play content through Sony Bravia Core (I have a Sony Bravia 8 II) it uses DTS-X and plays audio through 10 channels.

It never uses 13 channels. For my friend with the Ambeo Plus, it always shows playing on 12 channels (irrespective of the content he uses).

My sound settings are as follows.

* Acoustic Center Sync is off.
* Audio system prioritisation is on.
* Digital audio output is set to prioritise pass through.
* eARC setting is set to Auto

Secondly, when it comes to sound calibration, on the Ambeo Plus you can see the last calibration data in the smart control app. This is not the case with the Ambeo Max. Is this as expected?

Thirdly, on the Ambeo Plus you see three codecs - Dolby, DTS and MPEG-H. On the Max, I don't see the MPEG-H (in the smart control app). Is this again expected?

My Max's firmware version is 1.0.287. Can you please tell me what I am doing wrong, and have I setup the Ambeo max correctly?

 

[Jasonovich]

Hi welcome to the forum.

I had a quick look at the online manual, it has thirteen speaker drivers and this should reflect the dimensionality of a 5.1.4 speaker setup. Sum it up and you have 10 channels.

I'm not familiar with the product and I suspect someone on the forum will have more useful knowledge.

With physical wired speaker setup, the calibration is a lot more straight forward than wireless.
I would suggest recalibrating it again, so that it mirrors 5.1.4 speaker setup or maybe the Sennheiser support team is able to guide you through.

Best of luck 🙂

 

[rahulthewall]

Hi welcome to the forum.

I had a quick look at the online manual, it has thirteen speaker drivers and this should reflect the dimensionality of a 5.1.4 speaker setup. Sum it up and you have 10 channels.

I'm not familiar with the product and I suspect someone on the forum will have more useful knowledge.

With physical wired speaker setup, the calibration is a lot more straight forward than wireless.
I would suggest recalibrating it again, so that it mirrors 5.1.4 speaker setup or maybe the Sennheiser support team is able to guide you through.

Best of luck 🙂

Hi, thanks for the response, but let me explain my problem. Below are two screenshots. I am using Ambeo Max, I see output as 10 channels. My friend uses Ambeo Plus, he sees output as 12 channels. We are both playing content from Netflix.

He also MPEG-H codec option in the app, I don't see that.

 

[bigboss]

Your Ambeo Max appears to be operating correctly.

1. Channel count display
The Ambeo Max only shows the number of channels present in the incoming audio stream.

Most services deliver 2.0, 5.1, 7.1 or Dolby Digital+ with Atmos metadata.

Because no consumer service delivers a true 13-channel audio stream, the Max will never display “13 channels”, even though it uses its full virtual speaker array when AMBEO mode is enabled.

The Ambeo Plus reports channel usage differently, which is why it appears to “always use 12 channels”.

2. Calibration information
The Max does not display the detailed calibration data in the app.

The Plus does, so the difference you’re seeing is expected behaviour, not a setup issue.

3. MPEG-H display
The Max does not list MPEG-H in the app. This is normal for the Max platform.

Your current settings and firmware version look correct, and nothing in your setup appears misconfigured.