Dolby Atmos In-Ceiling Speaker Setup and Angles | Is the Dolby recommendation accurate? 

To avoid all the angles and pointing to main listening position, in my opinion it is better to simply go with Front and Rear heights or Front/Rear heights plus Top middle (which can double down as VOG as well).

Thanks for comment Kevin! Those were the good old days!

Yes, I recall HT Gurus mentioning .5 in his video. That does place the speakers at the 50 degree angle 📐

Thank you. Yes, maybe that’s why Dolby spaces them and in line with the fronts. But in my room having them spaced out does sound better and works for the extreme left and right seats.

Thanks for the sub!

That’s nice. I have a 7.2.6. I have front heights and use the top fronts as top middles along with rear heights. I repurposed the top rear to rear height since they are so close to the back wall. But I do have connections on the top of the rear wall for proper rear height installation

The 3800 only has two “height 1 & 2” based on the terminals on the back, May I ask, how are you getting 3 sets of height speakers? I have the 4700 which also only has height 1&2

@xanderx9988 Hi. Thanks for the question. I have a Marantz 8805A which will do up to 7.2.6. On the 3800, you can run 6 height channels if you repurpose the surround backs.

@@magnoliamo it’s a funny coincidence because I just discovered last week when I added up firing speakers (sitting on top of my side surrounds), my rear heights are connected to am external amp however, from what I discovered, is that it basically plays the same sound as the upfiring speakers, so is it truly a dynamic six heights? Know what I mean?

That is odd. Do you have Gravity in Atmos to test that. It should not be the same sound. Or No time to die, the party scene with the overhead dialogue.

Great question. That was the original thought. But I decided to go the shorter way and use the right side by the window for my 2-channel setup plus computer setup for RU-vid videos. You are right it would have allowed for multiple rows of seats.

@@magnoliamo oh ok good deal!

Yes my front and rear are at 25 degrees. I do use Auro3D. I couldn’t go any higher since my ceiling height is 8 ft.

@@magnoliamo yeah my front heights are higher than my surround heights to get the 30 deg angle. I have a vaulted ceiling that starts at 8 ft but goes to like 16 feet on a 45 degree angle so I was able to get my front heights at the right height. Im about 6-8 or so ft away from the tv. my surrounds are very close to my MLPs so surround heights dont need to be that high. Just under my 8 ft ceiling transition edge. Im using SVS prime elevations for my 4 heights. Really sucks that ATMOS doesnt make use of surround heights so thats why I use Auro3D to make use of all 11 of my speakers: :P

I prefer front/rear heights with top middles over the top front/rear ceiling configuration. I can switch between both configurations in my room.

@@magnoliamo thanks for sharing! Do you think that if I’m setting up atmos for the first time I should go with the HT gurus angles vs. audio advice vs. Dolby recommendation? And, just wondering how often you use the Auro up mixer since I’m still not sure if I should get a processor with such capabilities! Thanks again for your input and looking forward to more HT videos!

@@usmankhalid990 if you follow some of the comments you will see that HT guru’s recommendation uses extreme angles which makes the ceiling speakers to localize way more than what you want. Some people prefer that. I like more of a diffused sound and don’t want to feel like I’m directly hearing the ceiling speakers. I prefer sticking with audio advice recommendations for the setup.

@@magnoliamo thank you for sharing your experience, and all of your recommendations on HT setups!

So that’s not a Dolby Atmos specified configuration. Your processor will not allow you to have a top front and top middle configuration. You will have to select top front and top rear but that will move the 3D bubble in front of you as opposed to being in the front and rear with you in the middle. I suggest going with front and rear heights with top middle or just top middle. The other option would be to go with the auro 3D layout of front height and side heights which are inline with the top middle but above your side surrounds and to the sides.

@@magnoliamo i am thinking of 7.2.2 the top middle gives concrete Overhead while 5.2.4 is great,but somehow i am Missing my old "setting"...with 7.2.4 (top middle and Front) maybe i still get good effect behind me🤔

@texxhexxmm will these be in-ceiling or on-ceiling speakers?

@@magnoliamo on ceiling model "Nubert ws14"

@@magnoliamo on ceiling

Wow. Thank you. That makes perfect sense to me. You Sir, are great resource to have! Thank you for the detailed explanation. I did mention in the video that I “kinda” like the way my setup is.

@@magnoliamo @magnoliamo thanks Mo. I'm just one of those types of nerds who does a ton of research on stuff. Then I try to put what I learned into practice to see how well it worked. You seem to do the same kind of thing. Thats what put you on the right path. A lot of the installers and professionals came up with their methodology in the early days of Atmos when a 7.1.4 setup was considered the pinnacle of Atmos. (LOL. Its always been possible to set up a 24.1.10 if you had enough money) and many people just randomly installed in-ceiling channels to have Atmos. Most of these people ended up having a lackluster experience. Mostly due to the fact that their in-ceiling speakers didnt have enough baffle angle and were horribly off axis. So they started bringing the upper channels closer together (i.e. on-axis) and had a better experience. So in their mind, that was the answer. Closer angles were better for Atmos. Meanwhile. Those of is who put bookshelf speakers on the wall or ceiling and aimed them at our listening positions were having a great experience the entire time. Didnt matter if it was 30°, 45°, or 60°, it sounded great, because our upper layer was on-axis. The one thing people discovered was that if you opted for 30° heights, its best if you have a Top-Middle or Voice of God at 90° to supplement sounds originating from above. What people didnt realize is that Top-Middle speaker, paired with Side Surrounds at 90/270 gave the absolute best 3D immersive effect. I've tested it personally and the best 3D effect is with that specific configuration.

@@FURognar When you say side surrounds, you mean actual surrounds and not the surround heights, correct?

@@magnoliamo yes, the side surrounds at ear-level. Dolby and THX have been telling people to put them at 110° or so. And thats okay, but its much better at 90° with the Top-Middle speakers directly above. I recently moved my surrounds from about 120° to 90° after reading the NHK 22.2 research just to test how it would be and the difference was stark. Thats where the best, most tangible 3D images were delivered. Then I realized that whenever my system sounded its best, it was always wh my surrounds at 90° and my Top-Middle around 90° elevation. Whenever I moved one or the other, I would lose a significant amount of immersion. Thats when the research made sense to me. It was the ability to accurately track imaging from the sides causing this.

@FURognar makes sense to me. Thank you.