Dolby Atmos choices for future setup

[mastercosma]

Hello everyone,

In a recent fair (IBC2024) I was able to listen to a Dolby Atmos demo and even though the setting was less than perfect I really loved the sensation of this setup. It was a 7.1.4 setup I believe with Neumann KH-150s all around. The desire to build my own version of that setup increased since then and I now started thinking how to realize it.
My current speakers are 2xJBL 305p and since I love them I thought that they could be the way to go for the whole surround setup, so I bought 2 more JBL 305s for the overheads. When it was time to choose the LCR and surrounds I second-guessed this decision and all the doubts began. So here are the options that I considered (always having the 305s for overheads):

1. Sticking to the original plan of 305s, maybe 308s for LCR and buying now a sub (LSR310S?)
2. Do a similar setup to this one and use Kali IN8v2 for LCR and IN5s for surround
3. Big price jump -> Neumann KH-80 all around
4. Neumann KH-120A or Genelec 8030C for LCR and Kali IN-5 for surrounds

Which one do you think is the most reasonable?
Also what directivity is desired for surround speakers? (I like wide dispersion but maybe it is too much for surround setups)
Of course every setup is going to have a sub but I think it is going to be the last thing in the buy list.
The room in which I'm going to listen to this system is going to be <5x5m. I'm considering also how to treat the room (I just bought a UMIK-1).

Also this is my first post on this forum. I wanted to thank all the contributing members because they have been the pole star for my audio-related choices and I have been very happy so far, thank you!

 

[kyuu]

Greetings from the other thread.

I think getting some 308s for the LCR and moving the 305s to surround duty is a good plan. Or, if you want to go full upgrade, going with option 4 would be my pick.

As far as directivity on surround speakers, when you're doing multichannel having wide directivity is less important as the information from the additional channels tends to swamp the reflections from the room (at least, if I understand Toole correctly). But whether you go with the JBLs or the Neumanns, you're getting good directivity anyway and there's certainly no downside AFAIK.

How are you planning to feed your active speakers the multichannel content? An AVR with pre-outs? Some kind of pre/pro? As I mentioned in the other thread, for taming the bass region you should be considering room correction rather than acoustic treatment unless you're prepared to spend a lot of money and sacrifice a fair amount of floor space. And even with treatment, I'd still add the room correction on top. So whatever device you're using for the multichannel processing should ideally include a room correction system, or you could add a miniDSP Flex HT or the like in addition if there's something you're planning to use that doesn't include it.

 

[mastercosma]

Hello there, thanks for the inputs

I'm open to consider other low-cost (<200€) alternatives to the 305s for the surrounds. I am now excluding IN5s because they have a soundstage that breaks easily (as I could experience from my IN-8s that I am currently testing), although if high directivity is desirable they may be better candidates.
For LCR I am thinking something more refined because, at the end of the day, they are going to be the most used with the majority of music being stereo and I think that the 305/308s even if they are good they can be improved on (as I am witnessing with the test on IN-8s).

Regarding directivity there are very mixed opinions about this, that not only consider the effect of dispersion on early reflections but also the ease of spatial positioning of audio sources in the audio field given by narrow dispersion speakers. Some other studies claim no difference instead.

As far as the audio chain goes my current idea is:
File -> Dolby Reference Player -> Software room correction -> 16-channel sound interface or smaller with ADAT -> active speakers
I took inspiration from this post.
I am considering also AVRs which would remove most of the steps of the chain, especially since they integrate Dirac Live onboard. However the SINAD of the pre outs on <€1500 devices does not seem particularly good. It may become even worse with room correction enabled since most of the SINAD tests are run with the input in "Pure" mode where no processing/resampling is done.
Also the upgrade plan is be to move the software room correction to hardware using miniDSPs, however it is of second importance.

This is not a definitive plan as I am changing idea and discovering ways to do this all the time, do you see any criticality? How are you doing this?

 

[OCA]

Hello everyone,

In a recent fair (IBC2024) I was able to listen to a Dolby Atmos demo and even though the setting was less than perfect I really loved the sensation of this setup. It was a 7.1.4 setup I believe with Neumann KH-150s all around. The desire to build my own version of that setup increased since then and I now started thinking how to realize it.
My current speakers are 2xJBL 305p and since I love them I thought that they could be the way to go for the whole surround setup, so I bought 2 more JBL 305s for the overheads. When it was time to choose the LCR and surrounds I second-guessed this decision and all the doubts began. So here are the options that I considered (always having the 305s for overheads):

1. Sticking to the original plan of 305s, maybe 308s for LCR and buying now a sub (LSR310S?)
2. Do a similar setup to this one and use Kali IN8v2 for LCR and IN5s for surround
3. Big price jump -> Neumann KH-80 all around
4. Neumann KH-120A or Genelec 8030C for LCR and Kali IN-5 for surrounds

Which one do you think is the most reasonable?
Also what directivity is desired for surround speakers? (I like wide dispersion but maybe it is too much for surround setups)
Of course every setup is going to have a sub but I think it is going to be the last thing in the buy list.
The room in which I'm going to listen to this system is going to be <5x5m. I'm considering also how to treat the room (I just bought a UMIK-1).

Also this is my first post on this forum. I wanted to thank all the contributing members because they have been the pole star for my audio-related choices and I have been very happy so far, thank you!

My advice might go against the grain, but it’s backed by both data and experience (just not by the industry):

• For Atmos, always aim for identical speakers all around. Matching ceiling and front mains can be tricky, but it’s the only way to properly time-align a sub with all speakers at once.
• Skip the center speaker unless you have a wide seating area or asymmetrically placed front speakers. If you absolutely need one, get a good 3-way model and mount it high. With properly placed mains, you’ll get a higher, cleaner center image and voices than any center speaker crammed under a TV can provide.
• If you don’t have multiple seating rows, invest in one great sub instead of two average ones. If you do have multiple rows, go for 3-4 subs rather than just 2.
• Get the most basic Denon or Marantz processor with enough surround channels for your setup and don’t pay extra for DSP.