Hello bigboss, I'm glad that you got issue 239 of HCC, with the big article about Dolby Atmos. The issue that is on the bookshelves now, December 2014 issue 240, maybe isn't so useful overall, but on page 50 there begins a three-page review of the Onkyo TX-NR838 receiver, which is Dolby Atmos enabled.
You can read the review of the Onkyo TX-N838 here. Unlike the review of the Yamaha RX-A3040 in the November issue, this time the reviewer DID have a pair of small Dolby Atmos upfiring speakers to hand (the £130 Onkyo SKH-410s) , as well as his own lounge's in-ceiling speakers. Using Dolby Atmos test material, the reviewer said that he preferred the sound of the upfiring speakers to the in-ceiling speakers, which is good for most people. He also says that he did have to position the upfiring speakers not on top of or near his front speakers, but almost mid-room to get best results. However, he concluded the review of the Oknyo by saying that the days of buying a non-Dolby Atmos-enabled receiver are drawing rapidly to a close. Remember also the the big article about Dolby Atmos in issue 239 was wholeheartedly positive, so it's all good, yes?
Well, not quite. Yesterday Audioholics sent me an email newletter, the main feature of which was
this review of the Denon AVR-X5200 Dolby Atmos receiver. It concludes that "Despite the claims otherwise, Dolby Atmost is NOT the greatest breakthrough in 20 years for home theater." (By the way, both the Onkyo and Denon receivers - like the much more expensive Yamaha RX-A3040 - are very fine machines even without considering their Dolby Atmos abilities.) And the Audioholics article strongly prefers in-ceiling speakers to upfiring speakers, which contradicts what Home Cinema Choice says!
So, what's a man with four home cinema setups in his four rooms to think? I don't think that I can have Dolby Atmos in my kitchen, because the false ceiling is too low, only 7'6" high, and the tops of the large surround speakers, which are placed on the normal kitchen surfaces, are only 15" from the false ceiling. So I'll just have to chug along with my normal 8.1 system. I'm most curious to see how Dolby Atmos might work in the parlour (ceiling height 10' 6") , to compare with my present 11.1 system (with front height, front wide and surround back speakers, and an additional stereo amplifier driving the front wide speakers). If I were to get the Yamaha RX-A3040 receiver, which has nine channels of amplication with processing for 11 channels, then I could replace my existing 9-channel Denon AVR-4810 with the Yamaha. I could then compare my existing 11.1 system with a 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos system (with upfiring speakers, not in-ceilings), still of course needing my present extra stereo amplifier. I'm quite prepared to believe that a Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 could be better than my existing 11.1 system, but I would need to hear the Dolby Atmost system
in my own room in order to verify the improvement. With acoustics in differerent rooms being so different, it would not be enough for me to hear a successful demonstration of Dolby Atmos at a dealer's room or at a home cinema or hi-fi show, I would need to hear it in my own room to be sure of the improvement. Perhaps I'm not the right target market for Dolby Atmos, because I happen to think that my parlour and kitchen systems sound pretty good as they are, so I'd have to ensure that any change was a significant improvement.