Atmos, Front heights or in ceiling!

maverick177uk

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Will start on my garage conversion next year it’s not big 5m by 3m, I will will setting up width ways for various reasons. I have some old but still very good KEF eggs, I’m thinking of using these as front heights for Atmos, rather than cut into my ceiling and reducing the insulation in it to accommodate them also the cost of new speakers. I’ve watched differing videos that say I can get the same effect from front heights, would the KEFs be suitable? If I did have to go for ceiling ones they would have to be slimline ceiling speakers anyway. Has anyone here switched from front to in ceiling or vice versa?
 
The usual rule of thumb is that people enjoy Atmos in the order of magnitude from best to worse in this order.

.4 /.2 Ceiling,
.4 /.2 Heights,
.4 /.2 upfiring

If you are sat in the right location, then a .4 creating a square around the MLP will produce the best Atmos experience you can achieve. But if you cannot place the speakers behind the seating area, then sometimes it's better to employ the .2 option than trying to squeeze a .4 system where you do not get the best crossover. This applies to all speaker locations whether they're ceiling, heights or upfiring.

Below is a simple layout solution for a simple room showing a speaker locations for a .4 or .2 configuration options. Remember this is a guide illustration where to place the speakers for an atmos system. If you want to create an accurate solution, then you still need to follow Dolby's own guidelines

all-speaker-options-atmos-2.jpgall-speaker-options-atmos-4.jpg
 
Cheers I can only fit the two at the front as my chair will be against the back wall
 
Cheers I can only fit the two at the front as my chair will be against the back wall
I've got 2 in ceiling speakers in the same position as in the diagram in ShanePJ's post above. My sofa is against the back wall in a sitting room set up and the speakers are above my knees when sitting on the sofa so as you are doing a garage conversion I would definitely go to the trouble of installing in ceiling speakers for the best atmos results. There are loads of makes to choose from I've used monitor audio C265's which give a great result.
 
If you can angle the Eggs downward and towards the MLP then they will certainly do the job assigned to them. If you are starting the build from scratch then there's no harm in putting in wire for a potential in ceiling set up. If you don't want to lower the ceiling to accommodate in ceiling speakers you could perhaps use the KEF T Series speakers attached directly to the ceiling, apparantly they do work well in that job.

Plenty for you to mull over.
 
If you can angle the Eggs downward and towards the MLP then they will certainly do the job assigned to them. If you are starting the build from scratch then there's no harm in putting in wire for a potential in ceiling set up. If you don't want to lower the ceiling to accommodate in ceiling speakers you could perhaps use the KEF T Series speakers attached directly to the ceiling, apparantly they do work well in that job.

Plenty for you to mull over.
I was thinking if actually attaching them to ceiling above, although I see many references to Atmos enabled speakers, I’m not sure what that means, the Kef eggs although quite old were brilliant as a left right years ago and very powerful.
 
Atmos enabled is used to describe the upfiring Atmos speakers such as the KEF R8a. I have a pair of R50s which I've owned since they were first put on sale. Quite effective in my set up as I'm not allowed on ceiling or in ceiling speakers. I've also owned KEF Eggs and they are very good little speakers indeed. I did try using them in the upfiring position which was hilarious as they kept rolling over.

If you put a beam in the ceiling at the correct place for the speakers then I don't see why the Eggs could not be purposed to this.
 
Atmos enabled is used to describe the upfiring Atmos speakers such as the KEF R8a. I have a pair of R50s which I've owned since they were first put on sale. Quite effective in my set up as I'm not allowed on ceiling or in ceiling speakers. I've also owned KEF Eggs and they are very good little speakers indeed. I did try using them in the upfiring position which was hilarious as they kept rolling over.

If you put a beam in the ceiling at the correct place for the speakers then I don't see why the Eggs could not be purposed to this.
Cheers i think I may go down that route, saves me a few hundred quid as well.
 
I have a pair of minx mini about where my knees are when sat they work very well
DF983817-F067-468C-9665-D54DAF7AF436.jpeg
 
Looking at that Dolby diagram for only 2 Atmos ceiling speakers they’re positioned half-way between MLP and the screen. But in other discussion it’s suggested they should be further rearward above the knees of the person in the MLP.

Confused? I am, a bit.
 
Looking at that Dolby diagram for only 2 Atmos ceiling speakers they’re positioned half-way between MLP and the screen. But in other discussion it’s suggested they should be further rearward above the knees of the person in the MLP.

Confused? I am, a bit.

I understand the confusion but it's really the angles that's more important. The best place for two atmos speakers is pretty much directly above you on the ceiling.
It's where I have my 2 atmos myself

Hope this helps.
 
Agree with this. I fitted two in ceiling speakers right above listening position.
 
I understand the confusion but it's really the angles that's more important. The best place for two atmos speakers is pretty much directly above you on the ceiling.
It's where I have my 2 atmos myself

Hope this helps.
Directly above you or your knees? The latter is what has been suggested by a few. Surely not that critical?
 
Directly above you or your knees? The latter is what has been suggested by a few. Surely not that critical?
We have ours at around knee position but this is not critical in any way I would imagine as simply moving the sofa a few inches would change that.

All I can say is that the sound we gaet is very immersive and I never think 'that could be better if I changed the position of the ceiling speakers'.
 

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