Inside Dolby Atmos Home Theater, with Pioneer's Andrew Jones

It's not everyday that one of the most recognized speaker designers and engineers in the world visits to help set up and calibrate a brand-new kind of surround speaker system they’ve just designed.

I’m talking about Pioneer’s Andrew Jones and his new Elite Dolby Atmos-enabled speakers. I got to spend a full day with the man in DT’s home theater as we talked speaker tech, design, and Dolby’s re-envisioning of surround sound in the home, called Dolby Atmos. It was pretty freakin’ sweet.

But I must cop to having entered into the meeting with a little bit of skepticism. You see, although I’ve heard enough of Andrew Jones’ speakers in the past to know the system would probably sound very good — if not damn spectacular — I had some serious doubts about this “Atmos-enabled” approach. It sounded to me like some kind of acoustic voodoo. I just didn’t think it would work very well.

I was so wrong. Turns out, not only is this Atmos-enabled approach a realistic alternative to ceiling speakers, it has its own distinct advantages, too. And it sounds great.

[WillieDWashington]

I've been saying that reflection works best with Atmos ever since I used non-Atmos speakers for this purpose. Everyone keeps insisting in-ceiling is the best, but like Andrew Jones said, when it's in the ceiling, it's a discrete sound and you know it's speaker-centric. Whereas when you have the upward-firing speakers positioned and EQed correctly, it's an immersive ATMOSpheric sound that is independent of any specific speaker, unparalleled in the world of home theater!

[James-grjo]

I bet this would make my 128kbps mp3's from my iPhone sound tip top!

[billiongenius]

6:55 - Andrew Jones got the sweet spot on the couch.

[D.L.W.]

"Bouncing off the ceiling is better" no audiophile ever said! Perhaps Bose owners... 😂

[RAJsWork]

I say this was a great explanation of how the concept works and what to look for when making a surround purchase. Thank you!

[mykalfury]

Andrew is a genius & a great speaker designer, as he should be, he's a physicist.
I have all 7 of my speakers mounted 2/3rds up the wall 3 ft. above seating.
The bubble of surround & the seldom mentioned Haas effect is superb!
I'll stick with 7.1 & pass on the Atmos.
But, I may buy his 5.1 speaker line, SP~K52FS
to upgrade from satellites.
I love the satellites as they're dialed in, but, the Pioneers are sweet.
So, soon I'll buy the Pioneers to replace the 12 year old satellites & dial them in.
Voila'!
Pro-Surround Sound for under $500.
Too bad Jones left Pioneer for ELAC.

[adrianbarac]

Well, I'm glad Andrew Jones personally likes it so much... but there is NO WAY a professional sound mixer or audio engineer would ever concur that it is actually better. I've heard it both ways, and upward-firing is a blurry mess, compared to proper satellites. So, treat your room acoustics and speaker placement correctly - and you will be AMAZED.

[charlesholmes]

This is a budget system at best and makes multiple compromises. If you read the dolby atmos pdf they clearly state that physical speakers over head will generate the sound intended by the sound engineers. Pioneer is a budget builder so it makes sense why this system is 'their best'

[TipsTripsAV]

I bought three years ago the previous generation of Andrew Jones "budget" speaker system. Only to came extremely impressed with it. Now I'm waiting for these new Elite Atmos speakers to replace it. This guy is truly a genious. Can't understand so many people saying BS this BS that without even testing this new approach...Andrew Jones is a well regarded audio engineer...

[aboyapart]

At first I was skeptical, but then Andrew Jones, the same guy associated with Andrew Jones upfiring speakers....impartially told me to buy his speakers.

[kascnef]

American Sniper is the first Warner Home Video release on Bluray to have Dolby Atmos. This was Clint Eastwood's first movie mixed in that format in addition to Imax digital 5.1.  I entered a contest on AVS Forum to win the 9.2 AVR. 5.1 is good enough for most newbies but 9.2 might be confusing as it requres plenty of wires and a good connection.

[SlotGamer]

I think the easiest way to explain it is the speakers sound further away because the speakers ARE further away, the speaker is 6Ft from the ceiling, you are 6ft from the ceiling.. 6+6=12 + whatever is lost with the sound being reflected and absorbed into your ceiling.
I wonder if there is a noticeable loss in low end, compared too ceiling mounted speakers??

[PeugeotRocket]

I read that now over 600 movies support Atmos. At the time of this video, he was talking about demo material. So it seems this technology is really becoming part of the consumer space.

[FURognar]

Except I can hear the sound originating from the base layer speakers.

I have found speakers from the ceiling to be vast superior. Especially when the sound is supposed to be focused and localized.

[BilalFazalShaikh]

@3:30 does that mean that we cant use any bookshelf or satellite speaker for Atmos? it has be DOLBY ENABLED thing?

[apieceofdirt]

For me the ceiling speakers sound better. I tried the bounced enabled speakers and they just didn’t blend like the ceiling speakers. It’s all personal preference though.

[paulmartin]

I was doing this set-up years ago -- reinforce with ceiling mounted speakers

[georgegger]

I dont get it on an atmos amplifier you must connect the height speakers seperate...these bounce speakers have only 2 cables...they should have 4 ?

[TrapHunt]

What brand of stuff is that at 0:13? Or is it just CGI?

[JRBowling]

I plan on getting the Samsung soundbar Q70R. The question is. How can I do the demo like this? Without the YouTube videos? An example is @0:43.