New Sound System - Part 8: Dolby Atmos (5.2.2)

 

The so-called chef's kiss was placed on my new sound system over the Thanksgiving weekend when I added Dolby Atmos enabled speakers to my home theater. This caps off a two year process of upgrading my components or adding new components to my downstairs home theater. Previously, I had a stereo setup that essentially never got used. I now have a full surround system that is used every time I use the TV. I also upgraded the TV and receiver to handle 4K video. The Atmos-enabled speakers shown above were the final upgrade, and I now consider the project finished for the foreseeable future except for possible minor tweaks (see the upcoming My State of Mobile Gaming posts as an example).

Dolby Atmos is a type of spatial audio that adds sound above the listener for overhead effects. The standard is to have two rows of speakers in the ceiling that beam sound down towards the floor. I was not interested in the construction that would be required to thread speaker wire through my drywall and mount speakers in my finished ceiling. Instead, I opted for Atmos-enabled speakers. The wedge shaped speakers sit on top of my floor standing loud speakers and beam sound upward towards the ceiling. This allows the sound to bounce off the ceiling and back down towards the floor and listener, akin to Bipole surround sound.

I was really excited to add Atmos to my setup. I felt like it would "complete" my theater and make it as modern as possible. Unfortunately, I don't think I can tell one bit of difference after adding the newest set of speakers. I even turned the relative volume on the speakers to +3 (all of my other speakers are at 0 except for my rear surrounds which are at +1). I just cannot hear additional sound coming from them. My basement is not an ideal room for surround sound speaker placement. It is one large open room that is interrupted by a staircase. I tend to sit in the back left corner, which is also not ideal as I am really close to the left speakers and really far from the right speakers. I also have a really large center channel speaker. So large that it won't fit in front or underneath the TV. Instead, it sits on top of my entertainment center, just a few feet from the ceiling. I suspect that both my off-center sitting position and the sound from the center channel filling the upper air of the room are contributing to my lack of awareness of the Atmos sound. With the awkward room it will be difficult to adjust the placement of the speakers much, so I feel like I'm locked into my current setup for the time being. With that being said, I definitely don't think the Atmos enabled speakers detract from the theater experience. Maybe with some fine tuning I can enhance the effect of the speakers.