5.1.4 Atmos Recommendation

[Dovydas]

I recommend 5.2 instead, with subs positioned according to the Harman research. Then your bass response should be good for several listeners and your AVR's XT32 integrates dual subs well.

Also check that the centre speaker will be ok for the spread of your listeners - horizontal MTMs can give poor performance for the outer listeners.

A recent research paper found little advantage of 5.1.4 over 5.1 for movies:

AES E-Library » Influence of Changes in Audio Spatialization on Immersion in Audiovisual Experiences

Understanding the influence of technical system parameters on audiovisual experiences is important for technologists to optimize experiences. The focus in this study was on the influence of changes in audio spatialization (varying the loudspeaker configuration for audio rendering from 2.1 to 5.1...

www.aes.org

Here are few thoughts about Atmos from personal experience as I just mounted in-ceiling speakers. My room is far from perfect as it's just a regular sitting-room with a lot of "bad" surfaces. You can see my setup in the signature. I was installing in-ceiling speakers kind of blindly, as it was way after construction was completed and in the end I think I put them too close to each other, but the effect is still quite nice, at least for MLP. I'm mainly watching action movies on Netflix, Apple TV, Amazon or BluRay and I'm very happy that I went through all the difficulties installing it. There are lot of sound coming from top speakers. But I agree that it makes sense to invest more to base layer and add top speakers later. Maybe just cut the holes, run cables and add it later? I'm using Focal speakers and it takes minutes to install it once holes are cut. I've started from 3.1 and gradually moved to 5.2.4 No way back to 5.1 now

 

[Steve Dallas]

Not really, no. That would be jumping to a conclusion the authors themselves warned is not valid.



That said, with this budget I agree 5.1.4 doesn't make sense. You should add heights after you have a solid 5 channel and at least two subs.

If there is some kind of installation difficulty I guess I could see doing ceilings right away, but honestly in ceiling speakers are genuinely terrible. Don't use them unless you absolutely have to for aesthetic reasons. It's far better to mount small bookshelves.

I disagree. Sure, they all measure terribly under less than ideal circumstances, but they are OK functionally. I have Polk 70-RT speakers in my ceiling, and raindrops sound like raindrops, helicopter rotors sound like helicopter rotors, wind sounds like wind, etc. Surround speakers are mostly noisemakers, and in-wall and in-ceiling speakers make noise just fine--especially after DRC is applied. Beyond ambient sounds, there is very little content in those channels, and in-ceiling speakers reproduce it well enough to be convincing. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

As for subs, I agree that you need at least 2, unless you have the flexibility to place 1 in the perfect location in your room, which almost no one has. If you are in the US, you can often find SVS subs at "open box" sale prices, where the box has never actually been opened. I purchased 2 SVS SB2000 subs for under $1000 delivered that way a few years ago. I also agree this is more important than height speakers. (See limited content up there anyway comment above.)

 

[Sancus]

I disagree. Sure, they all measure terribly under less than ideal circumstances, but they are OK functionally.

Sure, that's fine, I'm not saying people should tear them out of their walls. But I see no purpose for them in new installs. They're not easier to install, they're not easier to repair or change out, and they're worse at their job, I guess they're slightly better aesthetically if you like functional things to be hidden? But unless you're also putting surrounds in-wall you're not getting much improvement there.

And personally, "these things measure terribly but they sound OK to me" is an extremely unpersuasive argument on ASR. Why would that statement translate to anybody else?

 

[Doctors11]

There's also those of us who enjoy Atmos multi channel music, in which case the quality of the heights is as important as the rest of the speakers.

 

[Steve Dallas]

Sure, that's fine, I'm not saying people should tear them out of their walls. But I see no purpose for them in new installs. They're not easier to install, they're not easier to repair or change out, and they're worse at their job, I guess they're slightly better aesthetically if you like functional things to be hidden? But unless you're also putting surrounds in-wall you're not getting much improvement there.

I have in-wall surrounds and in-ceiling heights because my wife absolutely hates the look of boxes everywhere. (All are painted to match the wall and ceiling colors. I'm lucky she lets me have the hideously ugly Revel speakers and SVS subs across the front.) When I built the home theater 5 years ago, I was depressed to have to go this route, thinking I would be seriously missing out on great sound. It turned out to be fine. I don't miss the boxes at all. Everything sounds great. It also looks great. Win-win.

And personally, "these things measure terribly but they sound OK to me" is an extremely unpersuasive argument on ASR. Why would that statement translate to anybody else?

I appreciate the objective information provided by ASR, how it guides me in making purchasing decisions, and how it drives companies toward better engineering results. I always take it into consideration, but many times the best performing products do not fit my lifestyle or use cases. There are compromises most of us have to make. SOTA objective performance is not always practical in the real world.

Many members obsess over things that do not turn out to matter in the real world, my former self included. We cannot hear a few dB SINAD. We cannot hear a few dB directivity error in most cases. AVRs measure terribly. Does that mean we should never use nor recommend one for stereo listening?

There's also those of us who enjoy Atmos multi channel music, in which case the quality of the heights is as important as the rest of the speakers.

Sure, the calculus is different for that use case. I was responding to the OP's specific use case, which is identified as "home theater."