Atmos Speakers in Attic

[MuttonJeff80]

Hi,
I am planning to add a pair of in ceiling Atmos speakers to my 5.1 setup.

They are to go in an Attic conversion, so I am working with a sloped roof. I have checked the Dolby guidance, which seems to recommend a minimum height of 2.3m, however due to the slope of the ceiling, this would mean the speakers would be less than a meter apart. If I go with the same width as the front L&R speakers, they’d be about 2m apart, but only about 1.8m high.

In this situation, am I best to prioritise the height, or the separation?

I have attached a picture to show the slope of the roof (although this is not the room the speakers are going in)!

Thanks.

 

[The Dreamer]

Hi,
I am planning to add a pair of in ceiling Atmos speakers to my 5.1 setup.

They are to go in an Attic conversion, so I am working with a sloped roof. I have checked the Dolby guidance, which seems to recommend a minimum height of 2.3m, however due to the slope of the ceiling, this would mean the speakers would be less than a meter apart. If I go with the same width as the front L&R speakers, they’d be about 2m apart, but only about 1.8m high.

In this situation, am I best to prioritise the height, or the separation?

I have attached a picture to show the slope of the roof (although this is not the room the speakers are going in)!

Thanks.

It's as much about angular separation than physical distance from anything - though the closer they end up to the listener, the more 'focused' the sound may be, to the point where you hear 'too much' sound coming from a point source rather than an 'area of sound' that the sound mixer envisaged.

So, in your case, let's assume your side surrounds are placed to the side of the listener. To spread your sound evenly from the left side, over your head, and down the other side to the right hand surround, we would simply imagine that semi circle, and place the speakers at even points around it.

This would mean the left side surround first at 0 degrees, then the left atmos speaker at 60 degrees, the next, right hand Atmos speaker at 120 degrees, and finally the right side surround at 180 degrees from where we started. The Atmos speakers don't need to be in-line with the side surrounds, but assuming just 2 Atmos speakers, they should be in front of the seating position in accordance with the Dolby guidelines.

This may not be absolutely accurate, but as a base line, when positioning speakers we should be looking to 'fill the gaps' fairly evenly, as this will provide a decent bubble of sound.

If you're worried that the Atmos speakers will be too close to the listener after working this out, you can always move them a little higher up the ceiling - though I would say that just a metre apart is a little too tight!

Have fun!

 

[MuttonJeff80]

Hi,
thanks so much for the input.
It's looking like the speakers will be about 6ft off the ground, and about 5ft apart. This seems to line up with what you suggested and hopefully keeps them far enough apart to get the stereo effect.

Does that sound like reasonable distances to get the best results under the circumstances, or should I consider dropping them a bit to create a wider spread?

The front L & R speakers are about 2.5 feet off the ground (to the middle of the speaker)