Do Dolby Atmos Speakers Actually Produce Sound? Let's test it and find out!!

A user on the AVS forum stated Atmos is worthless! I know I'm getting a lot of sound thru my Dolby Atmos, so I decided to measure exactly what sounds I get thru a single Atmos speaker. You may be surprised how much sound actually comes thru. Watch the video and hear what you're missing if you don't have an Atmos setup.

[anandraj]

But these are rare.most of the mixes are very poor or too subtle

[Wozzaatwozza]

Be the man you want other men to be. That’s what you demonstrated here. You observed a criticism, didn’t react, but acted. You chose to consciously get curious, explore, propose a concept, back up the proposal with YOUR personal direct experience with wronging the other person, then offer a debrief, and finally offer a hand to the person to open and explore alternatives without using absolutes.

Thank you

[jc]

Ready Player One, speacially the race scene, is probably the greatest atmos mix available today. However, I think it is the exception. Most atmos mixes are very poor.

[leadershippush]

Atmos is great when the engineers mix it well. Otherwise, silent night to those speakers.

[Foreverjazzfan]

I found that choosing Auro 3D is by far the best for using height channels. Top Gun Maverick is absolutely amazing.

[GManGMan]

Your selections are more the exceptions that the rule so I agree with the AVS Forum member. I've been a member of AVS since 2000. I also have a dedicated front projection home theater with a 7.2.4 Atmos set up and stadium seating. Its not the technology, its the application. I have an Atmos demo disc and it really demonstrates what a properly mixed Atmos system can do. I just feel studios don't do much past 5.1 for non-blockbuster movies. Even for Blockbusters, there is rarely anything in the Atmos heights. Its a real shame!

[AtracBreezy]

You should have tested Ghost Busters Afterlife, not movies that have good Atmos tracks. Some movies say Atmos but it’s poorly implemented. You can’t say his experience is invalid when you don’t even test the movie he had an issue with.

[ViciousXUSMC]

The entire video was to debunk a comment that was "too rash and short to conclusion" by countering with the opposite opinion that was also too rash and short to conclusion.
Nothing is wrong with the equipment like the decoding, wiring, levels, etc if the person is getting repeatable output for testing.

The comment being tested here is not that Atmos is not working, but that there is not enough content "to be worth it". This is a very well known issue that so many mixes have very small amounts of Atmos content. In this video to counter, you used some of the BEST known mixes that everybody plays and recommends in the "What is the best Atmos movies to show off my system" threads.

For any testing first and foremost you should have included the exact same content that was being previously discussed. That particular movie is actually supposed to be good for Atmos, though I have not watched it myself. But trust me, there are so so so many movies that are "Atmos" with minimal to no content on the height channels, missing scenes to capitalize on it, just using basic sound effects or some music.

Its been thoroughly tested by several and this fact remains true, there are multiple lazy mixes and terrible mixes and they in large outnumber the good mixes, that is why often for a bad mix movie some people actually upmix with DTS, Auro3D, etc to bring more content to the height channels than the default Atmos mix.

I appreciate your time to make a video, but as a reviewer, IT Guy, etc. It was more upsetting to me to see someone try to debase a truthful topic in the position of an "expert" with bad testing and false understanding of the issue than it would have been to get a rash and short conclusion" from a viewer or writer. If we want to be the ones to share valid opinions and testing with the world, we need to do better than this.

[jake-jpvb]

Great video.
Question for OP.
What frequency response are your Atmos speakers?
Are they set at 80hz crossover?

[vanderhofffu]

I just purchased a Onkyo 5100 receiver with kef q150 for my left and right channel as well as my upper height channels and a kef C250 Center Channel. I have a Cambridge 14 inch subwoofer with a 250 watt amp and two Cambridge surround sound speakers. When the atmos track is engineered and mixed properly it's amazing otherwise I just get a lot of filler up there like I used to in my 7.1 setup overall I am quite pleased. I also bumped up my height speakers to + 10 to get more sound out of them

[jws]

You played the top 3 movies known for their bluray Atmos tracks. So in this example you have not proven that Ghostbusters has or has not a bunk Atmos track. It was just 18 minutes of you showing off your system. There is a YouTube channel dedicated to revealing the isolated Atmos tracks in movies and it does confirm that it’s mostly blank.

[davewme]

I enjoyed your video… and made many great points! My room is a small living room in a small house… 12x12 ft. 9’ ceiling. I went from a 5.1 set up.. upgraded to denon 2800, for a 5.1.2 set up, with decent quality speakers. And absolutely source makes the difference. I have satellite tv… and Apple TV thru Mac mini. Apple TV is better than satellite.. and I know disks are better than Apple TV.. but with only another pair of on ceiling speakers, slightly larger sub, and new receiver, I’m blown away happy with my results.

[Chris-hruj]

I agree with this video. I also ran this test with movies, where i turn off my bed layer amp and just let the heights play (i.e. the only information playing is height channel signals), and some movies play a ton of audible height. But the distance between heights and bed layer can impact how audible the direction of the sound. I also agree with that uncompressed physical media is going to sound better. I think users also need to be mindful that some movies simply dont have a lot of height channel mixing (sometimes only 7.1) despite being labeled dolby atmos (i.e. they use atmos mixing, but no height mixing). Some netflix movies (black crab or encanto) have a ton of atmos and height movies now, totally immersive.
I agree- types of speakers and adjusting levels of heights, using an amp are all a huge deal. All the points raised in video are huge.

[HoobtheNoob]

I found it really informative reading your comment section. I'm a mixing engineer who has had some mixing experience in Atmos - in an extremely well set up mixing theatre.

Some people are saying well you only get a tiny portion of the film in Atmos or using those speakers - and I'd say yes that's true but your mixing decisions are based on a huge number of factors one of the most important being contrast.

If everything is loud - nothing is loud. Equally if everything is everywhere all the time not only do you not have the wow factor for the big moments but it's actively distracting when you are watching simple dialogue scenes. There's no need to stick a ton of sound everywhere unless it's justified so naturally some films will have more Atmos than others.

Having said that if there is any justification - any atall - to put immersive sound in I would absolutely take it. It's a hell of a lot of fun to mix.

A lot of cinemas which have Atmos have it set up extremely poorly as well. I've never heard an Atmos mix in a cinema that does the system justice and I'm pretty sure that's down to cost saving and rooms that are too large for the mix to translate.

I'd love to setup an Atmos home theatre and get into the nitty gritty of that to see what's the most effective in that listening environment. That would be really informative for me on what are the best mix decisions to make, and what to prioritise when delivering home Atmos.

I'm willing to bet a lot of Atmos mixers have not heard an Atmos home theatre.

[Luke]

Would it be because the volume set on the reciever for the atmos speakers isn't set correct? Maybe turn up the db's in the equaliser?

[mikebass]

I had this exact same problem too. I found out that placing the 2 Atmos speakers in front, like he has, does not help the situation. All this does is give you a wall of sound. Place the 2 speakers to the sides of your seating position. After doing that go to: Amp Assign, Assign Mode, Top Middle. This will support Dolby Atmos and give you the bubble of sound you are looking for.
Some other good Atmos movies are:
Morbius
Dune
BladeRunner 2049
Gravity
John Wick 1, 2 and 3
Alita Battle Angel

[bunnyme]

Hi, I'm curious about the location(eg. Either topfrontleft or tfright etc) of the speaker where you put your mic, and if you use preamp to that speaker.

[stevelovesgod]

The biggest thing is his source like you mentioned at 8:00, ia the receiver seeing genuine Dolby atmos sound, or is his receiver converting it....

My receiver the pioneer elite shows me whether its seeing true dolby source or not.

Its critical, netflix, Amazon prime and Disney plus streams in true Dolby Atmos if they show it in the audio of the movie.

[MattyDaddy]

I really liked this video and your theater!! The before pic of the basement reminds me of a lot of basements in townhomes that I’ve been looking at. But I especially liked is how you got everything to work and feel without spending tons of $$ and did most of it yourself!! I look forward to any updates you might do.
This is the first video of yours I’ve seen. 🎉
Btw. I think it would be killer to see you add a couple diy monster subs to your setup! Like the gsg flat pack 18” or 24” subs! 🎉 keep up the good work! Thanks!

[Foreverjazzfan]

When only running 2 height channels they should be placed directly to the sides of the MLP on a wall aimed down to the MLP. Then select Surround Heights. With 4 height channels it would be front height and rear height.