I'm almost exclusively interested in ATMOS music, but a friend of mine is very into action movies so we've been discussing ATMOS indirect vs ceiling speakers. My system is 5.3.4 with indirect bounce speakers which has been Dirac tuned. Because of the room layout, the side speakers are at 180 not behind us, so that's a limitation.
However, after listening to Mannheim Steamroller's Rain Dance album and clearly hearing thunder moving from the left side, across the ceiling in front of us, and ending off to the right front, then rain falling overhead, I decided to try some movies. I tried 6 Underground and The Adam Project and while I can't recommend the movies, the overhead effects were very much there. In my case they were overhead and in front, not really directly overhead, but definitely above me.
I've no doubt that real ceiling speakers would produce a much stronger effect, but I'm surprised at how well the indirects work. I've not messed around with more balancing, but strongly suspect the Dirac helps a lot.
However, after listening to Mannheim Steamroller's Rain Dance album and clearly hearing thunder moving from the left side, across the ceiling in front of us, and ending off to the right front, then rain falling overhead, I decided to try some movies. I tried 6 Underground and The Adam Project and while I can't recommend the movies, the overhead effects were very much there. In my case they were overhead and in front, not really directly overhead, but definitely above me.
I've no doubt that real ceiling speakers would produce a much stronger effect, but I'm surprised at how well the indirects work. I've not messed around with more balancing, but strongly suspect the Dirac helps a lot.
