Answered Dali Alteco C1 or Kef R50 Atmos Speakers

Did you order them mate?
Topmetom, I am so sorry for my late reply. I didn't realise I had not posted.

Yes, I bought and installed 4 Dali Altecos to use as Atmos speakers. I finished fitting them yesterday (15th June 2018) and the Atmos in my room has never sounded so good. After trying out various positions with them, the front speakers have been fitted on wall brackets with ball joints and installed on my side walls at 50 degrees to the centre listening position. I did originally fit the back Altecos at the top of the back wall facing straight out/down but they did not sound right and I lost a lot of the top end. So, I fitted them on ball joint speaker brackets at 45 degrees behind the seating position and have angled all four so that the wide dispersion of each covers the whole of the three-seater sofa. I can easily hear the top end of each speaker now, not losing anything like I did with the Kef T101's that were previously fitted on the ceiling. The beauty of the Altecos is that they timbre match my four Rubicon LCR's that I have as sides and rears and the sound between each speaker sounds seamless (if that's the word). I am very pleased and can thoroughly recommend them.

Here's a picture. Ignore the mess and wires please. It's a pan shot so the acoustic panels on the ceiling look distorted. You can see the four Altecos and four Rubicon LCR's behind the sofa.
 

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Hi which ball joint brackets did you buy? I have 4 BW M1 speakers at front and rear heights, tempted to switch to Dali and set up like you at the sides.
 
I am interested in the Alteco C1 also. Does anyone know if it could be ceiling mount? Is it safe to do it this way? Thanks.
 
I am interested in the Alteco C1 also. Does anyone know if it could be ceiling mount? Is it safe to do it this way? Thanks.
I have 4 Dali Altecos at the top of the side walls on brackets facing the listening position. As long as the ceiling is strong enough to hold brackets that can swivel and tilt then you would be fine.
 
Hi which ball joint brackets did you buy? I have 4 BW M1 speakers at front and rear heights, tempted to switch to Dali and set up like you at the sides.
I am sorry for my late reply. I bought two pairs of AUDIO123 SB-38 Heavy duty Speaker Wall Mount brackets. The two pairs of Altecos sit at the top of the wall for Atmos and with these ball-joint brackets they are easy to position to face me. The sound is great.
 
I am interested in the Alteco C1 also. Does anyone know if it could be ceiling mount? Is it safe to do it this way? Thanks.
I truly believe that having the Altecos at the top of the side walls in front and behind and facing to your ears are easily be as good as on-ceiling speakers - and a lot safer. I know SVS do Elevation speakers that have ceiling mount adaptors but I love my Altecos where they are.
 
I am interested in the Alteco C1 also. Does anyone know if it could be ceiling mount? Is it safe to do it this way? Thanks.
I wouldn't mount my Altecos on the ceiling. Mine are at the top of the side walls and pointed towards me. They have a great wide dispersion and are the best Atmos speakers I have ever used (better than SVS Elevations). I really like them installed in this position.
 
I am looking to get 4 Dali speakers like you and set them up as side side speakers in front and behind main seats. Have you set your switch to up or down position
 
I am looking to get 4 Dali speakers like you and set them up as side side speakers in front and behind main seats. Have you set your switch to up or down position
Do you mean you are using four Altecos at head height as surrounds and rears? If you have them at ceiling height, switch them to down. Let me know how far they will be from your seating position please. Thanks.
 
Hi will be setting them on the wall like you have. At the moment I am using four BW m1 as Atmos front height and rear height. My setting position is about 3.5m away from front height and 1.8m away from rear height. I feel Atmos could be better with the dali. Looking to set these as both sides on the wall about 3m height but set in front and behind main seating area. Will need to change amp to call them rear height and top middle
 
Hi will be setting them on the wall like you have. At the moment I am using four BW m1 as Atmos front height and rear height. My setting position is about 3.5m away from front height and 1.8m away from rear height. I feel Atmos could be better with the dali. Looking to set these as both sides on the wall about 3m height but set in front and behind main seating area. Will need to change amp to call them rear height and top middle
If you buy four Atmos speakers for use in front and behind you (5.1.4 for example), you must set them as Front and Rear Heights - never Middle. Middle is only used if you are using just two Atmos speakers above you (5.1.2 for example). If you put them on the side walls in front and behind at 3m high, make sure you tilt them towards your seating position and set them to DOWN.
 
Ok thanks, will try that
 
Just another question. Dali website says to set speakers up flat as they spread the sound out. You have them on ball joints. Deciding if I should install them flat or on a joint like you. Out of interest, did you try them set up front height and rear height before setting them up on the sides?
 
Just another question. Dali website says to set speakers up flat as they spread the sound out. You have them on ball joints. Deciding if I should install them flat or on a joint like you. Out of interest, did you try them set up front height and rear height before setting them up on the sides?
My surrounds and rears are Dali Rubicon LCR speakers. They all hang flat on the walls, allowing good spread, but because the L&R surrounds are just above and slightly behind my head and the rears hang on the wall 7 feet behind me but pointing forward, all of us on the sofa are getting good sound from all four of them - especially the middle sweet spot!
If you were using only two Dali Altecos for Atmos in a 5.1.2 system, with the amp Atmos speaker settings set to Middle, they would be fitted flat to the top of the side walls facing directly down at you and giving a very nice spread around the seating position.
If you want to use four Dali Altecos hanging flat on the top of the walls in front and behind you, these would be at quite a distance and not facing you in any way. You would not be receiving as much direct sound as you would need and the spread would be sort-of wasted. I also tried this with the SVS Elevations and it was not good.
I recommend hanging them high on the side walls on ball joints, in front of and behind you; that way, anyone sitting either side of you will also be getting the great Dali sound spread. Trust me, I experimented for almost two years and this way works great. And you can avoid endless holes in your walls like I had if you take my advice from the start!
Hope that helps? Any more questions, I am always happy to help you.
 
Thanks for your advice, I will be definitely setting them up as side speakers high on the wall front and behind main seating position. My question is will I loose much dispersion if they were flat on the wall oppose to on ball joints angled towards seating position?
 
Thanks for your advice, I will be definitely setting them up as side speakers high on the wall front and behind main seating position. My question is will I loose much dispersion if they were flat on the wall oppose to on ball joints angled towards seating position?
It depends how far away they are to lose dispersion. I thought you were hanging them all on the side walls, behind and in front of where you sit? 45 degrees from the seating position is good, sort of in a square around you.
 
I am hanging them exactly like you have, was just wondering why you put them on ball joints rather than flat as I thought the Dali spread the sound. I have just bought the same ball joints as you off eBay and will hang them like you have. I can see from your post you have tried all the various positions and options. The position of my current atmos speaker is fine for rear but not much affect from front. Hoping the Dali setup as you have will be a big improvement. Was looking at flat as would be a flush finish. My room setup may benefit from the ball joints as especially for behind side set up, as walls spread back, while in front will be on chimney breast.
 
I am hanging them exactly like you have, was just wondering why you put them on ball joints rather than flat as I thought the Dali spread the sound. I have just bought the same ball joints as you off eBay and will hang them like you have. I can see from your post you have tried all the various positions and options. The position of my current atmos speaker is fine for rear but not much affect from front. Hoping the Dali setup as you have will be a big improvement. Was looking at flat as would be a flush finish. My room setup may benefit from the ball joints as especially for behind side set up, as walls spread back, while in front will be on chimney breast.
I have them on ball joints so I can angle them. If I was running only 2 Altecos for 5.1.2 then I would have them at the sides of the sofa and high up, facing down. As my four Atmos Altecos are both in front and behind me on the top of the side walls for 7.1.4, I face them towards me, set on DOWN and this gives great dispersion across the whole of the seating area. If I had them flat to the wall, a lot of the dispersion would be going the wrong way from the front and back Altecos. I did try the Altecos on the front and back walls, the dispersion was great but totally in the wrong Dolby-recommended positions (around 45 degrees) as the fronts were too far away, and, having tried the sides positioning, I still say that the way I do it is best for me.
 
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Well I have ordered the brackets and speaker cable. Will install over the weekend and dalis next week when they arrive. Thanks for all your help and are setting up same as you. Will report back once all set up and installed.
 
Well I have ordered the brackets and speaker cable. Will install over the weekend and dalis next week when they arrive. Thanks for all your help and are setting up same as you. Will report back once all set up and installed.

You are very welcome, any time. Please post pictures as I would love to see your finished positioning of the Altecos and your system.
 
Hi how did you attach Dali to speaker mount. Just got it all and can’t work out how to attach
 
Here you go. Here are a couple of pictures - excuse the white specks, I put a cable into some trunking today and some bits fell out.
Screw the back plastic part on to the wall, cover it with the other plastic part, put the wheel over the piece of metal sticking out from the speaker, put the ball into it the wall plastic piece, screw the wheel on, adjust position and done. Does that make any sense? Hope so.
 

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Hi got them up. Got new processor coming tomorrow so will fully set up then. Will have a quick test with existing setup tonight without proper Audyssey setup.
 

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