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7.1.2 vs 5.1.4?


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When i went to buy the speaker wire today from the shop I was told that the Denon amps may have issue playing streaming services on HEOS whilst playing anything in the main zone. With your X6700 do you find an issue with this at all?

 

The extra power and 13 channels is one of the reasons I’m upgrading so if you cant do this may just get the X3700H

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30 minutes ago, lufc001 said:

When i went to buy the speaker wire today from the shop I was told that the Denon amps may have issue playing streaming services on HEOS whilst playing anything in the main zone. With your X6700 do you find an issue with this at all?

 

The extra power and 13 channels is one of the reasons I’m upgrading so if you cant do this may just get the X3700H


I don’t use HEOS, but I know the older versions couldn’t do TV audio to anything but the main zone. Where the 6700 does that. I can check it out later and see if it lets me. Will report back.  

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Thanks I’m really interested to know if you play content in the main zone if it stops Spotify (for example) being played in zone 2/3. I’d be surprised if thats the case tbh as it would make the whole feature pretty pointless.

Edited by lufc001
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Ok, so I have tested and it works as expected. 
 

i reconfigured my speakers, so that 7.1.2 was assigned to main zone, and 2 speakers for zone 2, by reassign the top rear speakers to zone 2. 
 

I can play a atmos sound track from my shield in the main zone, and play music via HEOS in zone 2 at the same time. The movie came from the 7 ear level speakers, the sub and the top front speakers, and music came out of the top rear speakers. Which is what I expected.  
 

Keep in mind that if you are doing 7.1.4 in the main zone. You will need an external amp to run zone 2. But if you are doing 5.1.4 or 7.1.2 the 6700 won’t need an external amp for zone 2. 
 

Hope that helps/

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That’s great, thanks for that. 

 

I’ll be doing 5.1.4 and just 5.1 in the immediate future once i get the new PJ and amp. I then need to get the atmos speakers.

 

I was told at my local store they (local rep) are trying to get rid of all their Focal products as they may be leaving the market in Australia also?

 

Not sure if there is anything I’ve read online to that accord. 

 

If there is any truth in that might be best to import the Focals from UK and save on GST. I was recommended Krix in ceiling speakers but would rather stick with Focal tbh

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2 hours ago, lufc001 said:

That’s great, thanks for that. 

 

I’ll be doing 5.1.4 and just 5.1 in the immediate future once i get the new PJ and amp. I then need to get the atmos speakers.

 

I was told at my local store they (local rep) are trying to get rid of all their Focal products as they may be leaving the market in Australia also?

 

Not sure if there is anything I’ve read online to that accord. 

 

If there is any truth in that might be best to import the Focals from UK and save on GST. I was recommended Krix in ceiling speakers but would rather stick with Focal tbh


Please consider 7.1 as well. As I stated before, I would rather have 7.1.2 over 5.1.4. But with that 6700 you can run 7.1.4 and then your zone2 from a small amp.

 

I reckon your local rep is full of it. Focal have been in Australia for years, both in home and car audio markets, and they appointed a new distributor last year (maybe year before). There is no way they would be pulling out of ANZ. Normally when you here things like that is due to the local shop having other factors at play, this reseller market has a lot of political forces at play. 

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That would make sense but i'll see what I can get close to when i am ready to get the speakers. I've been recommended Krix speakers so many times there so would expect some sort of relationship with them.

 

I've never heard of Krix before so no idea if they are any good.

 

Also another factor in being an issue for 7.1.2 is that I have a sliding door which runs past where my Surround L speaker would go and that wall also is not cavity. It really impedes my options.

 

I'll be moving the SR900's to 90 degrees of listening position today and testing.

 

I did notice when I went to my local shop yesterday they had another brand of speaker mounted like I have my rear surrounds in a 5.1 configuration and when i spoke to them it was suggested what i had set was correct.

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Guest niterida
4 hours ago, lufc001 said:

I've never heard of Krix before so no idea if they are any good.

 

They are crap - I have absolutely no idea why nearly every commercial cinema in Australia uses them. ?

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4 hours ago, lufc001 said:

That would make sense but i'll see what I can get close to when i am ready to get the speakers. I've been recommended Krix speakers so many times there so would expect some sort of relationship with them.

 

I've never heard of Krix before so no idea if they are any good.

 

Also another factor in being an issue for 7.1.2 is that I have a sliding door which runs past where my Surround L speaker would go and that wall also is not cavity. It really impedes my options.

 

I'll be moving the SR900's to 90 degrees of listening position today and testing.

 

I did notice when I went to my local shop yesterday they had another brand of speaker mounted like I have my rear surrounds in a 5.1 configuration and when i spoke to them it was suggested what i had set was correct.


So Krix is a well known Adelaide based brand, yes they are pretty good, however I believe that they import their drives from China and make the cabinets locally. 
Considering that you already have Focal Aria in the system, why wouldn’t you stay with the same brand, with the same driver and tweeter technology across the board. And these are all made in France buy a company that makes the entire product, not just parts of it. Also Moving to another brand will change the sound signature between front and rear, and this doesn’t make sense to do. 
 

about the left surround, yeah makes sense about the door, your layout didn’t really show that. Makes sense to try a few locations anyway. 

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I'd pretty much discounted Krix from the moment i was quoted them, rather keep all the same speakers.

 

I've moved my SR900's so they are now at 90 degrees of listening area and at ear level. I've then measured (with a tape measure) distance to all speakers, set that in the AVR3312 and used an SPL meter (iphone app variety) to set each speaker channel level to 75dB as listening postition.

 

Sure this isnt the most accurate but I think its atleast done the measurements more accurately than Audyssey.

 

After doing all of this my system sounds a lot better. I think i should have enough wire to move the speakers back to the rear position and see how the system sounds but suffice to say big improvement so far.

 

I'm going to test it out with a full movie tonight once the kids are in bed.

 

On another note, do you set your SR900 crossover at 80Hz or 90Hz? I've got them set to 90Hz currently.

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Nice!. 
 

Just remember with audyssey that it will make allowances for frequency response changes due to the room.

 

The SR900 is 85Hz to 28kHz, and low point is 67Hz, so I would be setting at 80Hz, but 90 is cool too.  
 

Let us know how you go.  

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I already ran the Audyssey setup a few months back so left all those settings, and i just modified the distances and the channel levels today.

 

Did a bit more googling and most of what I’ve found suggested bipoles should go on back wall in a 5.1 setup (and not not at 90 degrees) at approximately  600mm above ear level.

 

I’ll move them back tomorrow and see how it compares.

 

Also need to move my PJ screen tomorrow as I’ve decided its too low.  Good job I’m covering school holidays!

 

 

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Moved the SR900's to the rear wall and the result is even better. I am wondering if i would be best to lower them somewhat maybe 300mm down from where they are now so they are 300mm above listning position.

 

Also moved my PJ screen higher and reset all the lens memory. Everything looking and sounding a lot better now.

 

It does raise the question though is the .4 too much for my room for Atmos? I'm wondering if i should just get the 2 x 300ICW6's and see how they go? There is nowhere to demo. 

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On 08/01/2021 at 6:24 PM, lufc001 said:

Moved the SR900's to the rear wall and the result is even better. I am wondering if i would be best to lower them somewhat maybe 300mm down from where they are now so they are 300mm above listning position.

 

Also moved my PJ screen higher and reset all the lens memory. Everything looking and sounding a lot better now.

 

It does raise the question though is the .4 too much for my room for Atmos? I'm wondering if i should just get the 2 x 300ICW6's and see how they go? There is nowhere to demo. 

 
How did you go with the SR900 location? Try some more places?

 

On the .4, I don’t think it’s too much for your room.  My room is slightly bigger and it works great.
 

With your lounge on the rear wall, directly above could be considered top middle or top rear, and there is a large gap of no speakers between the front sound stage and your rear speakers on the rear wall. So .4 makes more sense for you?


Having said that, and as I said before I would rather have 7.1.2 over 5.1.4 any day. 

Edited by Monster11
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I dont have many other places to put them. I do think they need to be lower by 300mm or so I think so they match the fronts.

 

Then in conjuction with the Atmos I think it will sound great. After modifying all the distances manually and setting volume levels manually to 75dB it certainly packed more of a punch than it ever has. I think my PB-1000 sub is happier.

 

My wife keeps saying it's too lound but I think i can dial that out ?

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Yeah WAF is important.

 

Mine made a comment the other day about how much clearer that the monsters are behind here her when she is gaming with the new speakers installed. I think it freaks her out a bit. That a win right?

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On 03/01/2021 at 5:18 PM, lufc001 said:

So here is my plan, started to do something fancy in Sketchup then couldn't be bothered as it was taking too much time.

 

I do have conduit run in the walls either side of the couch however if i moved the SR900's there would that improve things and also would i put them at listening height or a bit higher. So far they are about 500mm higher on the back wall.

 

Im also upgrading to the Epson 4k TW9400 projector to replace my Panasonic 8000. I've also got a 130" cinemascope screen.

projector-plan.jpg

With a room of this size/layout, you really should move the couch forward before thinking of 7.1 or atmos - you can always build a plinth for it to extend the step if you have to

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  • 5 months later...

Hi.

I have a 4.7x3.6m room with 3.3m high ceiling. All carpeted everywhere but the ceiling.
(some old photos: https://www.avenard.org/home%20cinema/Pages/1.html https://www.avenard.org/home%20cinema/Pages/2.html before I got the SP32)

 

It's been configured as a 7.1 setup for over a decade now, Dynaudio Contour series for the front, center and left/right surround, audience 40 at the rear.

 

In this room there's a 3-seater couch at the rear, and you sit at 3.7m from the screen. Speakers are located in what THX used to recommend at the time. So left and right surround are about .6m above ear level, and about 30cm ahead of the sitting position.

Rear surround is mounted on a tall bookshelf, similar height to the left and right surround and about .8m behind where you sit.


Due to the configuration of the room, I can't relocate the side surround speakers and place them lower (there's either a door in the way on the left or a fire mantel and window on the right)

 

I recently got an Anthem MRX 1140 AVR to upgrade my existing Primare SP32. It can do 15.2, with 11 channels integrated amplifier.


I got a pair of focal 300ICW6 ceiling speaker following the advice of the store where I got the 1140 who said that ceiling speaker should be slightly ahead of your sitting position.

He said that as I was sitting towards the back, and there was only a single row of seats, there was no point having 4 ceiling speakers.

 

Now I'm kind of getting confused because apparently Dolby suggests 5.1.4 over 7.1.2 ; yet THX suggests the reverse.
Now I've found no proof that Dolby actually suggests 5.1.4 over 7.1.2 other than people in forums saying that Dolby said so, and I've extensively browse Dolby site and documents:
https://www.dolby.com/about/support/guide/speaker-setup-guides/


So sounds more and more like hearsay and people simply repeating what they were once told.

 

Doing holes in our ceiling is already a contentious matter with my wife, who doesn't want her freshly redone and repainted ceiling get damaged in anyway.


Secondly, I hesitated with the 300ICW4 and that's what I first got but because they are so tiny I exchanged them for ICW6; was told it would make no difference to the sound quality as atmos ceiling wasn't going below 150Hz per spec, but old convictions that size matter are hard to kill.

 

What would your suggestions for a proper setup be?
thanks.

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5 minutes ago, jya said:

I got a pair of focal 300ICW6 ceiling speaker following the advice of the store where I got the 1140 who said that ceiling speaker should be slightly ahead of your sitting position.

He said that as I was sitting towards the back, and there was only a single row of seats, there was no point having 4 ceiling speakers.

 

the rule of thirds is usually pretty effective at placing yourself audio wise... so not in middle of the room... where there is usually a null... and not sitting up the back which is usually where bass gain resides and you are close to he back all that can be detrimental to coherency of vocals as well.. with rule of 1/3rds you end up sitting at 2/3rd room depth which also mean you dont need a big huge screen and it leaves plenty of room for 7.1 and 7.1.4 if wanting to go that way... sitting at 2/3rd room depth also means you dont usually need a HUGE screen using THX spec for immersion at 40 deg viewing angle.

 

yes the heights placed slightly front of main listening position works... as does placing rear heights slightly behind and where following rule of thirds there is plenty of room to place those rear heights so not all on top of each other wiht the side and rear speakers....

 

in essence if you can setup for 7.1 with well positioned main listening position you should be able to easily 7.1.4

12 minutes ago, jya said:

Now I've found no proof that Dolby actually suggests 5.1.4 over 7.1.2 other than people in forums saying that Dolby said so, and I've extensively browse Dolby site and documents:
https://www.dolby.com/about/support/guide/speaker-setup-guides/

 

 

dolby doesnt suggest 5.1.4 over7.1.2 or anything like that. what they suggest is speaker locations ... it comes down to what you can accomodate...they have suggestion for 5;1, 7.1, 5.1.2, 7.1.2, 5.1.4 and 7,1.4... 

 

what you find is a LOT of folk and i kid you not its amazing how many folk want to jam main viewing position hard up against back wall and get the biggest screen they can get in... which of course leaves no room for 7.1 let alone even doing 5.1 even justice and also forcing them to get a huge screen to compensate for extended viewing distance... and also a compromised 5.1 setup that is not ideal and will squeeze 2 more speakers in front with clearly no room for anything else...

 

 

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39 minutes ago, betty boop said:

 

the rule of thirds is usually pretty effective at placing yourself audio wise...

[...]

 

in essence if you can setup for 7.1 with well positioned main listening position you should be able to easily 7.1.4

 

So right now it's at 4/5th. If I move the couch to be aligned with the side surround, it will be almost exactly 2/3rd back (3.13m ideal vs 3.05m actual)

I use a projector, so my screen is 2.4m wide, I don't need any bigger :)

 

Actually, now that I think about it, it's probably where I originally got my couch positioned when I first installed it.

 

I guess the fundamental question is if 4 ceiling speakers is a much better setup than 2. Looking at dolby's recommendation, you can't upgrade from .2 to .4 without drilling new ceiling holes. Can go from .2 to .6 though..

 

Dolby diagram don't make it ideal to identify where to put speakers ; like https://www.dolby.com/about/support/guide/speaker-setup-guides/7.1.6-overhead-speaker-setup-guide/

 

like how far from the back wall are the heights supposed to be? they seem to be even behind the rear surround ; which I couldn't achieve in my setup.

 

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1 hour ago, jya said:

So right now it's at 4/5th. If I move the couch to be aligned with the side surround, it will be almost exactly 2/3rd back (3.13m ideal vs 3.05m actual)

I use a projector, so my screen is 2.4m wide, I don't need any bigger :)

 

Actually, now that I think about it, it's probably where I originally got my couch positioned when I first installed it.

good thats solved :D back to where had it and will be fine with side surrounds as side surrounds can be at 90 deg

 

1 hour ago, jya said:

I guess the fundamental question is if 4 ceiling speakers is a much better setup than 2. Looking at dolby's recommendation, you can't upgrade from .2 to .4 without drilling new ceiling holes. Can go from .2 to .6 though..

if you can put in 4 with sitting in 2/3rd room depth i would put in 4 ...2 front heights and 2 rear heights... the front heights slightly forward of couch... rear height slightly rear of couch... if you can put in .4 you can put in .6

 

I wouldn't be going .6 dolby locations though and instead going 7.1.6 with Ch and Ts speakers are far more useful but your anthem does not as yet support DTS-X pro or auro 3D for that matter so would be a waste... so suggest with your anthem to stick with 7.1.4 at the most

 

1 hour ago, jya said:

Dolby diagram don't make it ideal to identify where to put speakers ; like https://www.dolby.com

about/support/guide/speaker-setup-guides/7.1.6-overhead-speaker-setup-guide/

 

if looks at the 7.1.4 guide will see the recommendations there,

https://www.dolby.com/siteassets/about/support/guide/setup-guides/7.1.4-overhead-speaker-placement/7_1_4_overhead_speaker_setup.pdf

 

note the side elevation in the pdf...

 

1536713424_ScreenShot2021-06-11at9_46_48pm.thumb.png.1f4b5314e9d5fdf460d6cdf4d50a503f.png

 

if you want a rule of thumb... in every decent setup i have listened to... if seated you couldn't see the front heights... but if moved your eye brows back you'd see them...there is some flexibility if look at the drawing with the vertical angles... reality is you will be missing ceiling rafters to place anyways ...so will end up there abouts...  dont stress about it ... most in ceiling speakers have aimable tweeters and can just aim them at you. with the rear heights just place them behind the couch somewhere in between other speakers so things arent on top of each other... again dont get all @nal  about the locations.... :)

 

as far as locating the in ceilings along the room try to have them in line with mains or just inside the line of them where located again roughly as per the drawing below... but again dont get to caught up in trying to get it exact ! 

 

1464472912_ScreenShot2021-06-11at9_51_53pm.thumb.png.13f68047128716dee593e02b9038df63.png

Edited by betty boop
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13 hours ago, betty boop said:

good thats solved :D back to where had it and will be fine with side surrounds as side surrounds can be at 90 deg

 

if you can put in 4 with sitting in 2/3rd room depth i would put in 4 ...2 front heights and 2 rear heights... the front heights slightly forward of couch... rear height slightly rear of couch... if you can put in .4 you can put in .6

 

I wouldn't be going .6 dolby locations though and instead going 7.1.6 with Ch and Ts speakers are far more useful but your anthem does not as yet support DTS-X pro or auro 3D for that matter so would be a waste... so suggest with your anthem to stick with 7.1.4 at the most

 

I thought the MRX 1140 did DTS-X Pro ; it's in the spec at least.

 

 

13 hours ago, betty boop said:

 

if looks at the 7.1.4 guide will see the recommendations there,

https://www.dolby.com/siteassets/about/support/guide/setup-guides/7.1.4-overhead-speaker-placement/7_1_4_overhead_speaker_setup.pdf

 

note the side elevation in the pdf...

 

 

My ceiling is 3.3m high, my head would be 1.8m away from the rear wall if sitting 2/3rd of the way back.

There's no way I could achieve those angles, trigonometry rules.

 

To achieve an angle between the couch and the ceiling that would be between 30 and 55 degres, you would have to have the height speaker between 6.6m and 2.3m in front or behind the couch.

 

Achievable at the front, certainly not the back where there's only 1.6m (1/3rd of 4.7m).

To fit in Dolby recommendation and have the height speaker say 1.2m behind me and .4m from the wall), the ceiling would need to be 1.7m high.

Has Dolby even considered the impracticality of those guidelines in a normal house?

 

Even with the very low Australian minimal height ceiling of 2.4m you would need the room to be absolutely massive to get anywhere near those guidelines.

 

The other thing annoying is that before Atmos, all recommendations were for the surround speakers to be 3 feet above hear level. Which is exactly where I set my speakers. Now they are recommended to be preferably at hear level or 1.2x the height of the front speaker. The configuration of my room doesn't allow for this unfortunately.

 

I guess I should have considered those impracticalities before getting that AVR and the rabbit hold of this Atmos thing.

 

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1 minute ago, jya said:

 

I thought the MRX 1140 did DTS-X Pro ; it's in the spec at least.

 

 

 

My ceiling is 3.3m high, my head would be 1.8m away from the rear wall if sitting 2/3rd of the way back.

There's no way I could achieve those angles, trigonometry rules.

 

To achieve an angle between the couch and the ceiling that would be between 30 and 55 degres, you would have to have the height speaker between 6.6m and 2.3m in front or behind the couch.

 

Achievable at the front, certainly not the back where there's only 1.6m (1/3rd of 4.7m).

To fit in Dolby recommendation and have the height speaker say 1.2m behind me and .4m from the wall), the ceiling would need to be 1.7m high.

Has Dolby even considered the impracticality of those guidelines in a normal house?

 

Even with the very low Australian minimal height ceiling of 2.4m you would need the room to be absolutely massive to get anywhere near those guidelines.

 

The other thing annoying is that before Atmos, all recommendations were for the surround speakers to be 3 feet above hear level. Which is exactly where I set my speakers. Now they are recommended to be preferably at hear level or 1.2x the height of the front speaker. The configuration of my room doesn't allow for this unfortunately.

 

I guess I should have considered those impracticalities before getting that AVR and the rabbit hold of this Atmos thing.

 

Mate

its just a guide, go for 7.2.4 - you won’t regret it

my signature has a link to my current setup in case you want to see how it looks

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29 minutes ago, petetherock said:

Mate

its just a guide, go for 7.2.4 - you won’t regret it

my signature has a link to my current setup in case you want to see how it looks

 

Nice setup, love those confidence C1.

 

Which ceiling speakers did you use? Are they the white round on your ceiling? what size are they?

What are the dimensions of your room? So you have them in the four corners of the room pretty much. That's easier design to set up!

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41 minutes ago, jya said:

I thought the MRX 1140 did DTS-X Pro ; it's in the spec at least.

they havent figured out how to get it working as yet. they have dual sub EQ also in the spec sheet and havent figured that out as yet either... so very much a work in progress...

 

51 minutes ago, jya said:

To fit in Dolby recommendation and have the height speaker say 1.2m behind me and .4m from the wall), the ceiling would need to be 1.7m high.

1.2m back and 0.4 from back wall... for rear heights seems too far back to me and little too close to wall when doest need to be ..I would aim to have them somewhere thereabouts between you and the rear speakers/back wall...

1 hour ago, jya said:

Even with the very low Australian minimal height ceiling of 2.4m you would need the room to be absolutely massive to get anywhere near those guidelines.

thats why i said earlier dont get too stressed out... it is only guidelines... and believe me when i say i have listened to a lot of systems before doing mine about 5 years ago also heard a lot since... dont get to wound up and as long as slightly ahead of you and slightly behind ...even just one step it works fine... keeping in mind each speakers dispersion is different...have amiable tweeters...

 

43 minutes ago, jya said:

My ceiling is 3.3m high, my head would be 1.8m away from the rear wall if sitting 2/3rd of the way back.

There's no way I could achieve those angles, trigonometry rules.

that ceiling is quite high.. most folks have 2.4 to 2.7m ceilings... so you actually have quite an advantage over most even just here...

 

1.8m is more than sufficient to fit in not only rear speakers but also rear heights without everything all on top of things. my wall is exactly the same and i have my rear height speakers just behind the couch and works an absolute treat :) 

 

you are likely to be constrained with what you have behind the ceiling plaster anywise ... so keep that in mind... start checking with the stud finder where all the beams are ... that iw what is likely to limit where can have them anyways ...

1 hour ago, jya said:

The other thing annoying is that before Atmos, all recommendations were for the surround speakers to be 3 feet above hear level. Which is exactly where I set my speakers. Now they are recommended to be preferably at hear level or 1.2x the height of the front speaker. The configuration of my room doesn't allow for this unfortunately.

yes that was "before atmos" actually lets call it 3D audio shall... as atmos is quite restrictive... formats like DTS-X are not so specific i can tell you of locations and atmos is still only providing guidelines... dont over think this... 

 

with your speakers again i can say what is important is some height differential... you have quite high ceilings... id leave your surrounds where they are ... as there will be still quite a height differential between your wall mounted surrounds and your height speakers to make them heights .....

 

1 hour ago, jya said:

I guess I should have considered those impracticalities before getting that AVR and the rabbit hold of this Atmos thing.

think beyond atmos... think 3D audio thats more encompassing....in day to day likely find atmos coming into play rarely... its more dolby surrounds and neural-X and i can tell you neural -X is superb for great bulk of DTS-HDMA sound track blu-rays likely have. superb for great slab of netflix and streaming, even FTA TV thats 2 to 5.1 pcm and neural - x does a superb job with all that ... go for this go for 7.2.4 and enjoy... there will be a LOT to enjoy... i have been last 5 years ... never looked back ...

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