That s five traditional surround sound speakers one subwoofer and two extra speakers the configuration of which is open to debate.
Dolby atmos ceiling speakers vs upfiring.
This makes some sense mechanically.
Dolby atmos is the new hotness when it comes to home theater gear but there are a lot of different ways you can incorporate atmos into your setup.
Figure a is a ceiling mounted system that requires either two in or on ceiling speakers to be mounted above the viewers head.
Atmos supports a maximum of 10 speakers 5 pairs in the height layer at any combination.
Depending on the size of your room front heights might get lost quite easily i have 5 2 4 atmos setup with 2x middle ceiling speakers and 2x rear height speakers can t say there is a massive difference but i have them positioned as close to dolby s guides as possible.
They also tend to indicate that a 5 1 4 system kicks the crap out of a 5 1 2 system.
Dolby atmos system with as many as 24 speakers on the floor and 10 overhead speakers.
Dolby atmos enabled speakers produce slightly diffuse overhead audio that is quite lifelike and in some cases preferable to the sound that comes from overhead speakers audio experts agree that the overhead layer of sound produced by dolby atmos enabled speakers can be preferable to the sound originating from overhead speakers.
So most of the articles i ve read recommend in ceiling speakers for the very best atmos experience.
Let s talk about the difference between virtual atmos up firing drivers and dedicated in ceiling speakers.
The naming of dolby atmos speaker configurations is based on the standard nomenclature stereo 5 1 and 7 1 but adds a number at the end to specify the number of height speakers.
I sit far enough back from my tv that i think front heights wouldn t sound separate from my l r c channels.
A dolby atmos configuration is 5 1 2.
Atmos isn t limited to overhead on ceiling though and unlike dts x claims to do actual will adapt to any combination of floor ceiling speakers so long as it s in a specified location.
Run your room correction and set those speakers to at least 2db over the calibrated reading.
Below are two popular configurations.
It just makes sense to try them upfiring first as you don t have to drill holes in the wall.
Both of these speakers are in our opinion a waste of engineering resources and should be avoided if you re serious about taking full advantage of the capabilities of dolby atmos.