Dolby ATMOS 5.1.2 Worth it? How to get Dolby 5.1.2 right! Home Theater Gurus!

Dolby Atmos 5.1.2. Is it even worth it? Home Theater Gurus Q&A.
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Highly Recommended Gear based on Performance to Cost ratio

The amazing Anthem AVM 70

Anthem AVM 90

JVC Projectors. Incredible picture with deep blacks and the Best tone mapping in their price range.

Home Theater Seating. In the Dedicated Theater.

Home Theater Seating in the living room system.

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All loudspeaker Amplification. Great clean power at a very good price!
ToneWinner.

Subwoofage!!
GSG Devestator!

Panasonic 4k players

Speaker Power Amps . Massive power for Massive subs!

XBOX

MiniDSP HD 2x4 to align subs. FLex model will be used in this theater.

MiniDSP Umik-2 new version. Measurement mic

Fabric Mate Track

Fabric Mate install Tools shown in videos.

For info on Fabric Mate products contact Jerome.

Wall /acoustics adhesive.

Budget crown stapler

Crown staples

Bosch laser level shown in video

Links to items discussed.

LED can lights for theater

*** on the can lights I changed the connector to these (the stock connector was cheesy)
And I made the connections in a single gang box with a blank cover (very cheap at Lowes/HD)

LED light transformer/driver

[qwickwitted]

Holy shit…..I have had my 5.1.2 Atmos speakers set to top middle since I got them with a similar setup with my couch against the wall…. 5 minutes after changing my AVR to top front and before running audyssey it sounds so much better.

[Lowkey_nxthxn]

Thank goodness people are talking about a 5.1.2 setup

[krisztiankovacs]

I “grew up” in HT topics with your videos. Such a relief to have science, documentation and measurements behind everything, instead of just random subjective advicing!

[mustangfred]

I have a similar setup for 5.1.2 with a couch against the back wall. One of your other videos suggested 45 degrees forward and 35 degrees on the sides. I have basically cemented my Focal Domes into the ceiling now so there is no moving them around. Set up as top front. Sounds great. I was gonna change the avr to top middle and run audyssey for the fiftieth time to see if there was an improvement but maybe I won't bother.
Not everything sounds stellar. But when I plugged in A Quiet Place 4k into the system, Holy Shit! So good!!

[evilawkeye]

Another great video; loving these bite size videos also.

[RockDigi]

I'm running 5.1.2 and it's GD awesome!

[mikenicholls]

I'm getting mixed up with the "35 degrees apart" bit. I put tape up on the ceiling and looking at that I think it should be 35 degrees each side of centre to left and right. Love the channel, lots to learn!

[Wishram]

I have a drop ceiling right over my listening couch (required due to HVAC/power/structure). It's not terribly wide--but slightly wider than the couch. I'm concerned if I put my ceiling speakers past the drop ceiling that the drop will deflect the sound away. So I'm leaning towards mounting them over the couch and setting it to mid to avoid that. The ceiling is only about 7 feet high at that point.

[dmwmjj]

Quick question, if I have my seating against the back wall and initially set up 5.1 2 30 degrees forwards and 30 degrees to the side of centre of the sofa, in future can I do 5.1 4? And if yes where would I place the other .2 atmos speakers? I understand in a 5.1.2 I would tell the Avr the atmos speakers are top front rather than top middle, so adding extra .2 atmos would I need to have them 30 degrees to my side? Right against the back wall? Or would It be best just to stick to 5 1 2 in my situation?

[Chris.Massimino]

Great advice man, thanks. Since people really love .4 with both front and rear tops, I've been agonizing over trying to fit rear tops but the only way would be maybe rear heights against the wall but then the angle is way off to MLP. It's refreshing to know less speakers with proper placement is better. My surrounds are on the backwall anyway since they have to be. Since I'm doing top middle location (set as top front) and I can do front heights, should they be in line with or wider than the mains? 12 x 12 x 8 room

[fromoutwest]

Excellent channel, need your advice. I'm adding ATMOS to a 5.1 as well. 7.5ft smooth ceiling, couch on back wall. Surrounds ELAC OW4.2 1ft above ear level. Unfortunately have an HVAC vent right at the 30 out spot (ceiling 0 degrees). I can go out 20 but that's only 3ft off the back wall which isn't ideal. Plan is to go out 40 using a pair of RSL C43E MKII 15 degree but is this enough of an angle to offset? Or should I be looking instead to something like the 30 degree ELAC IC-DT61-W? Also note I'm limited to 25 on either side of the MLP, thus not ideal but I have to work with what I have.

[Mimbrera]

Thanks for all the info and greetings from Spain!

I couldn't set atmos speakers in the ceiling so I set them in the side walls, just in the top, like 1 meter away from the sofa and directed to the viewer/listener. You think my atmos is alright or I could get better sound I could place them in the ceiling? I usually set a higher level in my AVR so hear atmos speaker a bit louder. Is that good?

As you said, there are no rear speakers. I have my sofa just in the wall, have no space to take it a bit separated from the back wall. What distance should I have surround "not rear" speakers I mean how high and how far from listener?

Thanks again

[samirkhosla]

Hello from India! Thank you for that informative video! I have a related question pls

— I have a 9ft ceiling.. and I am planning to use SVS prime elevation speakers for atmos. I don’t have space behind my MLP. My surrounds are bipolar flanking the rear wall at roughly 90 degrees at 1.25x the height of front channels.

Can I possibly have 5.1.4 setup?

— top front at 35, 35
— top middle at 90 and in line with top front

Or will this be an overkill and possibly ruin the atmos with little separation between top middle and surrounds? Would you advise I stick to 5.1.2 only? My room size is 18x14 and I am using the 14’ width of the room for my home theater viewing (I can’t use 18’ distance because there’s a huge glass window there)

[tonyoneill]

Hey, great videos!
You give great advice that makes a lot of sense & your content is really starting to have me revise my own set up. Do you have a link to the actual Anthony Grimani video that describes speaker separation?

[kathleen]

I have a kind of unusual room — the watching area is about 8.5’ wide and 10’ long, but the ceiling is high and sloped down towards the main listening position. The screen is on a wall that is 16’ high, and then we will watch from a couch that is against a wall that is 12’ high. 30- 35 degrees forward put the front atmos speaker in the very top corner of the room, but that’s so far away from the MLP that I wouldn’t be able to get much lateral separation (since max width can only be 8.5’). So I was thinking I’d put 2 atmos speakers 45 degrees away from MLP, about 13’ up the front wall, which, with the room width, would allow me to have around 44 degrees of lateral separation between the two forward atmos speakers. Then I could put a second pair of atmos either directly above the MLP at 90 and make them middle tops, or, given that wall is tall, I could also put the 2nd pair far up the back wall to have those at an angle, and make them rear tops. Thoughts on 1) whether it’s better to preserve the lateral separation of the front 2 atmos and have them lower down, at 45 degrees, on wall, or would be better to have them at 30 degrees forward but without much lateral separation and in the far top corner of the room, 2) if front atmos are 45 degrees up and on front wall, would I tell the receiver they are Front Height or Top Front?, and 3) should I place the second set of atmos directly above the MLP or up the back wall? I should also say the system now is 5.1, and the side speakers are about 7 degrees back from the MLP, and only about 3.5’ up the wall. Have really appreciated all your videos, than you for your work and explanations.

[NBC_NCO]

New to your channel.
I have a question I hope you might be able to help me with.

I built some custom floor standing speakers with dual 6.5 drivers and a 3 inch tweeter up front with a 8" sub on the side.
I also made a center channel speaker box with dual 6.5s and a tweet.

My question is....
My daughter of 5 decided one day to push in all the domes on the 6.5s and the tweets.
Is there a easy fix?

The domes appear to be some sort of plastic.

[BritonRites]

I'm adding top front on-ceiling speakers this week. I just measured and I'm at 44 degrees forward and 39 out each way. (wanted 30-35 but 39 is the only angle to mount to joists. Hope it sounds good!

[williamwilson]

I like the new look "professor Smith".

[shaolin]

Not everyone has seats that block speakers. In fact, that was a major point for me when but my theater seats.

[loichansduskic]

Hi, I dont know much about audio: I have a 5.1 system paired to a 7.1 capable receiver [nr1606] I was wondering if I could remap the 2 free channels of the receiver [surround back L&R] to accommodate a 5.1.2 system, or if I would need to swap my receiver to get top speakers. My couch sits against the wall so 7.1 can't work:/ Thanks a lot!!