Where are all the Atmos speakers??

[Sliced Bread]

Seriously…where are all the Atmos speaker announcements?

Atmos is now rolling out across receivers quite nicely and the first material has been announced, so why are we not seeing manufactures plugging their Atmos speakers.

Of the main speaker brands it seems that only Kef have come forward. What about B&W, Mission, Monitor Audio etc.

And Style systems…to my reckoning style systems, due to the satellites size, should be well suited to Atmos in the home. So where are the Apex ceiling or reflective speakers, Kef Egg ceiling or reflective speakers etc?

 

[Glacialpath]

Maybe they are waiting for ARV sales and titles releases to go up before plunging into making the rigt type of speaker. It could flop then the speaker manufactures would have a shed load of units to flog and no one would wan't them.

Or they are in the pipeline and want to get them right.

Front and rear height speakers never really took off. I know this is a specific codec and not just an amp gimic but lets see what happens.

 

[Frank Harvey]

It doesn't really matter who announces Atmos speakers until there's a decent amount of software out there.

 

[Al ears]

I didn't realise Atmos required different speakers, just more of them surely

Mission has just announced the Cubed system of small satellites, perhaps this is what you mean

 

[Son_of_SJ]

I didn't realise Atmos required different speakers, just more of them surely

No, that is not correct. If you buy the magazine that I mention here, the article explains that, at least for upfiring Dolby Atmos speakers or upfiring add-on Dolby Atmos modules (it may be different for in-ceiling Dolby Atmos speakers), the upfiring ones need a high-frequency notch filter, in order to trick the human ear that the sound is coming from above. That's why you can't use ordinary loudspeakers for upfiring duties.

 

[Son_of_SJ]

In the Atmos-sphere?? *ROFL*

 

[macdiddy]

Thank you Al ears, you beat me to what I was going to add.

The only special "atmos" speakers that people are going on about that KEF have launched are angled speakers that sit on top of the fronts so that you don't need to install ceiling mounted speakers, which I'm guessing most people can't.

Most of the main manufacturers of speakers will have already somewhere in their range a speaker small enough to be used for atmos.

In my system, I use a small pair of monitor audio bronze BX1 as front heights and they work well.

 

[Son_of_SJ]

Macdiddy, check my post number five above. Certainly for upfiring speakers, you need special ones for Dolby Atmos, not just angled upwards.

I use front height or (Yamaha-designated) presence speakers in three of my four home cinema rooms, and they do work well, but that is not the same concept as upfiring Dolby Atmos speakers.

 

[Sliced Bread]

It doesn't really matter who announces Atmos speakers until there's a decent amount of software out there.

Yes but we know the software is on the way and to me it kinda does matter as I wouldn't consider an Atmos receiver until I have a set of suitable speakers that work in my room with my current speaker packages.

I wouldn't consider buying an Atmos receiver until I had an answer to that question.

As for ceiling speakers, I hope they come up with a pair of thin ceiling speakers (like MA RXFX speakers), so we can go the whole way with geniune ceiling speakers without cutting huge holes.

 

[macdiddy]

Sorry, I haven't read the article you mention fully, so when I replied, I wasn't aware of any special types of speaker needed for atmos.

 

[jonathanRD]

I'm going to wait a year or two for the titles and software to be more widely available, then buy an atmos enabled 9.2 receiver and add all the speakers (plus ceiling) to make 9.2.4.

Actually it will take me a year or two to persuade my wife to let me do it! *kiss3*

 

[bigboss]

You cannot make it 9.2.4 with a 9.2 receiver. You'll need a 13.2 receiver which doesn't exist at this point of time, and I will be surprised if anyone offered a 13.2 channel receiver in the mainstream range in the near future (I'm excluding the high end processors which will cost several thousands of Pounds, like this.). The most you can get is 7.2.4, like the Onkyo.

 

[jonathanRD]

You cannot make it 9.2.4 with a 9.2 receiver. You'll need a 13.2 receiver which doesn't exist at this point of time, and I will be surprised if anyone offered a 13.2 channel receiver in the mainstream range in the near future (I'm excluding the high end processors which will cost several thousands of Pounds, like this.). The most you can get is 7.2.4, like the Onkyo.

Ok thankyou - yes I have just thought it through *wacko*

 

[Frank Harvey]

Yes but we know the software is on the way and to me it kinda does matter as I wouldn't consider an Atmos receiver until I have a set of suitable speakers that work in my room with my current speaker packages.

I wouldn't consider buying an Atmos receiver until I had an answer to that question.

As for ceiling speakers, I hope they come up with a pair of thin ceiling speakers (like MA RXFX speakers), so we can go the whole way with geniune ceiling speakers without cutting huge holes.

By the time there will be a decent amount of software available, most manufacturers who want in on Atmos will have released Atmos speakers. I doubt many speaker manufacturers will want to tool up for dedicated Atmos speakers until there's some sort of demand, which right now seems a little lacking.

Of course, a wide selection of Atmos software aside, there's also the quality of those titles to consider...

Anyone upgrading their receiver over the next few months will more than likely be buying an Atmos enabled receiver, or one that can be software updated very shortly. As I say, pretty soon it'll be as standard as the supplied setup mic.