Inexpensive Surround Sound for Atmos Mac Source?

[ClearHearing]

I have a living room with five built-in surround sound speakers in the ceiling of the family room. This installation predate me owning the house and I imagine that the speakers would test poorly if Amir or Erin measured them. Nevertheless, I would like to try out surround sound without messing with my stereo setup in another room.

I would be streaming Atmos from Apple Music via an Intel Mac Mini that is already installed near where the cables to the ceiling speakers are sitting unused. Can someone recommend an inexpensive combo amplifier and pre-amp that would drive this setup and ideally work with Atmos?

Thanks!

 

[staticV3]

Dolby do not support an odd number of overhead speakers: https://www.dolby.com/about/support/guide/speaker-setup-guides/

And doubly so do not support an overhead-only speaker setup.

 

[DVDdoug]

I'm not sure what kind of a configuration you are considering or what "inexpensive" means but an AVR is the most common, easiest and least expensive way to get surround sound. HDMI from the Mac can serve as the source.

You can get 5.1 & 7.1 channel USB soundcards but I haven't seen an Atomos soundcard. And you'd still need multiple channels of amplification so an AVR is usually more economical (with lots more features).

 

[kemmler3D]

I would say look for any secondhand AVR that can decode atmos, that should be your most affordable route.

 

[kyuu]

Yeah when you're talking about a combo pre-amp and amp that can decode surround sound formats, that's what an AVR is, along with video switching.

When you say inexpensive, what actual budget range are you looking at?

An entirely overhead surround sound setup is definitely not ideal regardless of the quality of the speakers, though of course your average contractor almost certainly used poor speakers as well. The front bed layer in particular should not be overhead. I use in-ceiling speakers for my surrounds as a deliberate compromise, but there it's much less of an issue in my opinion and experience.

 

[darth]

There is also the upcoming Nuprime H16-ANA. No amp though. It roughly their upcoming H16-AIP / H16-AES + DAC chips. So will be > $799 price tag.

 

[ClearHearing]

I would say look for any secondhand AVR that can decode atmos, that should be your most affordable route.

Any brand recommendations for secondhand AVRs?

 

[ClearHearing]

Dolby do not support an odd number of overhead speakers: https://www.dolby.com/about/support/guide/speaker-setup-guides/

And doubly so do not support an overhead-only speaker setup.

Are you saying Atmos will not work without a subwoofer?

Presumably an AVR wouldn't know whether the speakers are in the ceiling? So sound would come out of them if hooked up? Just how bad would it be?

 

[ClearHearing]

Yeah when you're talking about a combo pre-amp and amp that can decode surround sound formats, that's what an AVR is, along with video switching.

When you say inexpensive, what actual budget range are you looking at?

Thanks for the AVR pointer. In terms of budget, the worse the audio will be from this setup, the less I want to spend on electronics to drive the setup. So let's say a budget of $500?

An entirely overhead surround sound setup is definitely not ideal regardless of the quality of the speakers, though of course your average contractor almost certainly used poor speakers as well. The front bed layer in particular should not be overhead. I use in-ceiling speakers for my surrounds as a deliberate compromise, but there it's much less of an issue in my opinion and experience.

I guess how bad is bad going to be? Are these five ceiling speakers approaching an unlistenable quality?

 

[SMc]

Thanks for the AVR pointer. In terms of budget, the worse the audio will be from this setup, the less I want to spend on electronics to drive the setup. So let's say a budget of $500?


I guess how bad is bad going to be? Are these five ceiling speakers approaching an unlistenable quality?

If you want a specific recommendation, Denon 760h, available refurbished from Denon for $299. It's good enough that disappointing audio can be blamed on the speakers and speaker placement and cheap enough to avoid buyer's remorse. Or just get the cheapest five channel from accessories4less with whatever level of room correction you want.

I'd try the setup as is first, but consider using floor-based or desktop LCR speakers if you don't like the result and use the ceiling for surround, surround back and/or Atmos. Of course, a mono or multi-channel "stereo" setting could be the best choice with your configuration.

 

[chelgrian]

I'm not sure what kind of a configuration you are considering or what "inexpensive" means but an AVR is the most common, easiest and least expensive way to get surround sound. HDMI from the Mac can serve as the source.

You can get 5.1 & 7.1 channel USB soundcards but I haven't seen an Atomos soundcard. And you'd still need multiple channels of amplification so an AVR is usually more economical (with lots more features).

Any sound device with enough discrete outputs can be configured to output Atmos from Apple Music and Apple TV this has worked since macOS 12.x you can do 5.1.2 with a cheap 8 output interface and one of the cheaper direct to customer 7 channel amps from a variety of manufacturers. Going beyond that gets expensive fast.

To get Atmos pass through out of an HDMI port on a Mac you require an Apple Silicon Mac with either an HDMI port or a supported USB-C to HDMI dongle and macOS 15. It will not work on the Intel Mini the OP has.

We need to know what the OP means by ‘cheap’.

 

[ClearHearing]

To get Atmos pass through out of an HDMI port on a Mac you require an Apple Silicon Mac with either an HDMI port or a supported USB-C to HDMI dongle and macOS 15. It will not work on the Intel Mini the OP has.

So I can output multichannel audio but not digital Atmos signals from the Intel Mac? The AVR would be able to tell the Mac what channels of audio to send? What cable would I be using? Would there be an audible sound quality difference on crappy speakers?

We need to know what the OP means by ‘cheap’.

The $300 Denon that SMc just posted about is in the right ballpark.

 

[staticV3]

Are you saying Atmos will not work without a subwoofer?

I'm not saying that.

Presumably an AVR wouldn't know whether the speakers are in the ceiling?

Correct.

So sound would come out of them if hooked up?

Yes.

Just how bad would it be?

You would not get the intended sound experience.

 

[kyuu]

So let's say a budget of $500?

Others have already covered the used option. If you prefer something new and/or more compact than your usual AVR, I might recommend the JBL MA310. There's no support for ATMOS, but that's fine since you don't have ATMOS speakers. You're just looking at 5.x with your current setup, and even if you got separate front speakers, they are almost certainly placed inappropriately for actual overhead channel use. The AVR should downmix the ATMOS to 5.x.

I guess how bad is bad going to be? Are these five ceiling speakers approaching an unlistenable quality?

Hard to say. As Static said, it's not the intended experience. But whether or not you'll be okay with it is something only you can judge.

 

[olieb]

So I can output multichannel audio but not digital Atmos signals from the Intel Mac?

It might depend on how old your Mac mini is, but with my Intel Macbook (MacOS13) I can send Atmos from Apple Music to outputs (USB). I just checked with a Motu Ultralite Mk3.

It is also possible to route the channels in all sorts of ways by means of virtual routing (i.e. with Blackhole https://existential.audio/blackhole/ and Element https://github.com/kushview/Element )

But I don't think you will get something worth the effort with ceiling speakers alone. Certainly not with routing the ceiling channels only. But routing LCR to the ceiling seems not to be such a convincing approach either.