Hi all!
These last weeks I have been listening a lot of back and fourth discussion on speaker locations to reproduce Atmos and multichannel in general. I am wondering what is the science, studies and experience behind certain statements from different sources. Let´s see some of them.
-Gene in Audioholics considers that aside from left, center and right speakers, the most important are the ones on the sides.
His argument seems quite sound. Humans have a better sound perception to those stimuli coming to our front and sides compared to what comes to us from above or behind. Thus, Gene argues that if you have to save money on speakers, save on the rear ones for the benefit of of the front and sides. It is not stated, but I´m assuming that height speakers will provide a sound that the listener will not be able to perceive as clearly as the sound in front, so my guess is that cheaper speakers could be a fair compromise.
In an ideal world, all the speakers will be the same on all points, but we all know that this ranges from very difficult to directly impossible due to economy, space or aesthetics. Gene sounds very rational in his assesments but I´d like to know if you guys have something to add to this notion.
-There has been some controversy between the guys at Daily Hi Fi (particularly TechnoDad) and Audioholics about the location of height speakers for Atmos, DTS X and Auro 3d. The most evident notion is to set the upper speakers in the recommended configuration by Dolby to play Atmos. That is, a square around the listening spot for the upper layer angled towards the listening space and at a distance in the horizontal plane from the base layer speakers. This is the setup that the mastering in Atmos assumes on the side of the user, hence, it makes sense to replicate it as much as possible.
However, to archive a more flexible system, it is also argued that it is also possible to set an Auro-style setup with the height speakers not on (or in) the ceeling, but right above the base layer speakers if the angles are followed. With that configuration, Atmos could sound equally well. The guys in Audioholics argue that while possible, this is a substandard solution that delivers a weird sound that may or may not be to your liking, but that it is definetly not what Atmos is supposed to sound like. Due to the low amount of content in DTS X and the incredibly low amount of sources in Atmos 3D, it makes more sense to adhere to an Atmos setup as DTS X is more agnostic about speaker placement.
Ideas? Any science or experimentation you can share about all these elements?
-Most multichannel content mastered with height speakers in mind is a 7.X.4 setup. More speakers could be meaningful for larger spaces due to several rows of seats or very wide fronts, but the routing of sound will have to do more with the interpretation of the decoder than playing the source material as mastered. That means that once we pass 7.X.4, there are very clear diminishing returns. Any info about this?
I have tried to be respectful to all positions and I´m not taking sides or bashing anyone. Quite on the contrary, I am recognizing my lack of knowledge and detail on all these topics. So if Chana, Gene, Matthew or any participant in all these references reads this topic, know that I´m not critizising your ideas in any way or form, I´m bringing this up to hopefully learn a thing or two.
Since most the fellow forum participants have no vested interest on Dolby, Auro or any gear manufacturer, and we have a trove of knowledge around here, I think this forum is a good neutral ground to discuss it.
And of course, thanks for your time!