My Friend's New 5.1.2 Dolby Atmos Home Theater 

Man I have had a 5.2.2 dolby atmos setup for years now and it still satisfies me I plan to upgrade my 7 year old onkyo TX-NR686 to the RZ70 which will be a big upgrade over the current receiver, I have. Im glad your friend is happy with his system I honestly think 5.1.2 still kicks ass in 2024 especially when done correctly

This is an incredible gift! Nobody understands the difference a good set up makes to the viewing until they own it. Audio is the most important part of a movie and considering that you can enjoy music at a completely different level is where the comparison from old to new becomes mountainous. I will also need to play with Marantz to see if large are set...

This is the problem. Your friend would never have done this on his own. And his house was already pre-wired according to him! He doesn't appear to have much basic knowledge about home theater systems, nor does he seem particularly keen on learning. And there are plenty more people like him, who simply don't want to be bothered with this multi channel audio stuff. A good sound bar will sound amazing to 90% of these people and they won't feel the need for any more. It's going to be hard to sell Dolby Atmos media to the masses of people that dont have the means to play it. I tried setting up my sister once with a nice pair of stereo bookshelfs I wasn't using. I got them back a few months later a little (lot) worse for wear after they bought a soundbar. People either care about this stuff or they don't, and my impression is, as technology changes, less and less do.

Good man! Cool setup for sure!

I have a 7.3.4 system, used to have a marantz 7015 avr, that i bought from best buy. The salesman new nothing of the problem with the odyssey calibration. I new it should sound better but being new to the home theater world i didn't know what was wrong. Its been about 6 years now and then i didn't have a smart phone for u tube videos, so it took me almost a year to figure out what was wrong. It was pretty frustrating. But once I got the settings rite it sounded great. I recently upgraded to the anthem 1140 with a anthem 325 amp for the front stage speakers. It's pretty amazing. I just watched gohstbusters frozen empire, great movie and i was really impressed with how active the surround and atmos speakers were thru out the movie. Thanks for doing what you do!

Awesome video!

Great video but have your buddy tow those speakers in a bit tell him to find the sweet spot

Well done 👏🏼👍🏼 and respect ✊🏼 to you for giving your friend the speaker system 👏🏼👍🏼🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇬🇧

Agreed. This friend is very lucky. PSB Atom speakers mounted on the ceiling and pivoted is brilliant. Some would say way better than in-ceilings.

This was a very kind thing for you to do. Unfortunately, you've passed this disease to your friend. He's sure to become an addict as well! 😅

Very cool! You're a good friend to have. I purchased and am waiting for Amazon delivery this week on a 5.1.2 Dolby setup with all Klipsch speakers and an Onkyo receiver. My wife didn't want to see wires so I ended up going with the R-41PM surround speakers which can connect wirelessly. I'll have an R-120SW sub, R-52C center and R-625FA Dolby Atmos mains with up-firing speakers for the Dolby Atmos effect. The receiver is the Onkyo TX-NR6100 and I'll be Bi-Amping the mains. I'll be replacing my current Polk RTi-A7 towers, Boston Acoustics center and surrounds and Pioneer VSX-935 receiver setup in the LR so I can take advantage of my Samsung 8K TV's Dolby Atmos capabilities. The "old" yet very worthy setup will migrate to our library/music room where we have our LPs, CDs, Auris streaming, books etc. Can't WAIT! Retirement from NY to FL is coming along very nicely. :)

Would you recommend placing the two hightchannels right above the listening position, like it looks like you have it there? Mine are placed at the ceiling maybe 1,5 meter towards the screen from my seating position, tilted downwards towards me.

What mounts did you use for the atmos speakers?

Is it easy to mount book shelf speakers to the ceiling?

Really awesome use of some unused gear! Very nice of you. Maybe a small sample size but having run Audyssey a couple dozen times on my setup it never set my speakers to large. But since it chooses the minus 3dB point to set the crossovers I’d always have to go and manually raise it from 40Hz to 80hz or so on the towers.

There's also one other factor involved in my opinion. True ATMOS with overheads installed/mounted only really works for homeowners. Renters don't have same freedoms. Soundbars and wireless rears (like I have) offer convenience for anyone who may have to pack up at short notice. That said had Technodad done his speakers on a stick video a year or two back then separates might have been an option for me!

so, a 5.1.2 atmos speaker system is enough for a proper experience??? also, how much it is the cost of this system used? thanks!!!

Regardless of who's calibration software I'm using I always go back and check speaker size and crossover level. In addition I will take my sound meter and balance db levels across all speakers. Calibration does a pretty good job but I can tweak center and atmos levels to my liking. Depending on his seating distance I'd be tempted to spread the L/R mains further apart pulling the sub next to the audio stand. Might achieve some better separation that way . That was very generous of you and I'm sure he was please with the results

I work part time at a store that sells sound bars and AVR’s/speakers. Unfortunately people want everything to be wireless or at least no more than a HDMI connection. They don’t care about immersive sound.

I believe Audyssey actually doesn't set crossovers, it merely measures the -3dB point of the speaker and gives that information to the AVR - which sets the crossover based on that

Awesome! What a great friend. I w at to have a friend like you 😂

Got a Yamaha RX-A 2080 refurbed from acc4less and it’s been great 5.1.4. Best $850 I’ve spent.

You are a legend !!! One question, why don’t you set all the speakers to 80hz ??

For a 5.1.2, is having the Atmos speakers directly over the MLP best? I have front heights on the wall behind the tv and honestly can’t really tell I have Atmos… I do have 4 recessed can light positions, that I’m thinking of taking over 2 of them, to be the Atmos speakers instead. 2 are forward of MLP (about 45°) and two are directly above. I’d look to use angled in ceiling speakers for the forward atmos position, if I chose those

Very cool video I am using all kef speakers. I have the kef q250c for Center and I have the kef q150 for Left Right and height

You should've pulled his towers off the cabinet more to give him a wider soundstage up front (where most of the action is). Try crossing your sub lower than 80hz to 70hz or even 60hz and notice a better clarity and cleaner punch.

Another rabbit hole has been opened. hehehehe The smile on his face says he's happy!

Does the Denon S760H do true Atmos ?I thought it only did 7.2 ? I might be mistaken. He sounds over the moon with his new set up.... loss for words !!

Audyssey doesn't automatically sets all the speakers to LARGE. It may happen but it's not a rule. Of course, many times it choses some very weird crossover points, but that's why you have the option to manually change almost everything. I don't use Audyssey anymore, I prefer to do some basic manual calibration and it sounds fine to me.

I also didn't like my auto calibration in my setup. The timing was great but I did have to up the crossover for all the speakers. I added another subwoofer & recalibrated last week.

I have the similar setup. Great Atmos content is sparse. It sound great when the content is great. Most content don’t take advantage of the Atmos.

Let me know if this is not correct but you don’t have to set speakers to small to have low frequencies go to the subwoofer. There is an option LFE+Main that allows low frequencies to go to speakers set as large and the sub at the same time. My Denon has this option. Check your manual.

It only sets to large base off of the speakers capability when it runs through test tones most audio cal do this

you are a horrible friend.. you have introduced him to the hobby that never ends! seriously tho! you are awesome for helping him out and hooking him up with this system!

The towers are able to get down to the 50Hz range, with room extension it’s likely in the 20s which for the lower spec receivers would be considered full range. Do a subwoofer bass test from RU-vid with just the towers in direct mode and they will surprise you with their extension - not that it’s actually usable. I’ve got Titan Monitors that are rated to 70Hz ±2db but my room extension goes down to 25Hz. My 1600h tries to set the crossovers to 40Hz - which is ridiculous for a bookshelf. I’d be curious for you to source an X1800h and X3800h series Denon receiver and then compare it against your Anthem. Your friend is fresh enough still to room correction he might not hear a difference between the receivers or he might be able to give a different perspective between the different calibration modes.

It's a great video, but what I would have loved to see is way more B-roll. There is way too much of you standing in front of your screen and not enough of your friend's space. I'd love to see more close-ups of the setup and more wide shots from different angles to get a real feel of they layout, speaker placement, rack setup etc. Keep up the great work!

Atmos Speaker slightly behind listening Position?

Do you have a full parts list for speakers? Thanks

You should try magic beans true target

The Nakaimichi dragon is extremely immersive 11.4.6

Should have gotten a AVR with Audyssey Xt32 and then RUN EVO 1 Evolved script. Perhaps in the future.

I wouldn't even turn Audyssey on if it was only used for auto-correction. Audyssey with automatic room correction makes the sound worse. For me it's only worth turning on when you've manually calibrated with Mult-EQ-X software.

My Sony receiver also sets my small M&K speakers to large during calibration. 🤔

i use outdoor patio speakers for my atmos speakers

Setting speakers as small sounds anemic