cezarL
Prominent Member
Out of curiousity:
Has anyone tried a combination of front upfiring and rear heights?
If yes, does it work properly (as in, do the Atmos effects sound "right")?
And what follows is a long post, sorry about that
I'm expecting delivery of two pairs of Dali Altecos some time next week and got to find some way to pass the time, so... looking at positioning options, of course!
Here is a drawing of the room with the placement of the 7 "standard" speakers. The surround backs are on bookshelves at 105cm height (ear-level for MLP). Sides are wall-mounted at the same 105cm height. Ceiling is flat at 255cm, plain painted concrete no plaster or other materials.
I now have a pair of Tannoy VRs upfiring on top of the fronts and I get the "Atmos bubble" but obviously not the overhead panning of sound.
I tried a 5+4 setup with the surround backs set as upfiring (still on the bookshelves, at 120cm and 160cm height) but didn't sound good at all - the Atmos effects were clearly coming from behind at roughly ear-level not above/overhead. My guess is the AVR (Denon X4500H) expects surround upfiring to be placed on top of the sides, not so far behind the MLP. There's no way to indicate they are in the rear, unfortunately.
Granted, I didn't run a room calibration on the AVR with this config; dunno if that would have made any difference.
Now, for the new Dali speakers:
The sides are again Tannoy VRs which are quite shallow (13cm) so I won't be able to place anything on top of them.
The one option where I don't have to drill new holes in the walls would be to place one pair upfiring on top of the fronts, and the second as rear heights on top of the bookshelves in the back of the room: either on top of a bookshelf at 210cm, or pushed further up until they reach the ceiling so about 230-240cm).
It would be nice if the AVR would be smart enough to properly combine front upfiring and rear heights, hence the question above.
If that won't work then I guess I'll have to go down the hole-drilling route...
Trouble is, I don't see how I might do tests for speaker placement on walls without actually drilling the holes, and I can't really get a bunch of bolts in the walls.... have to nail this (pun intended) in one go.
I don't believe front height + rear height would work properly because the fronts would be bolted 1m behind the front speakers and would sit behind thick curtains (the wall behind the TV is mostly windows).
Don't want to drill holes in the ceiling either, so that pretty much leaves only two options:
a) Both pairs of Dali on the side walls, in front and behind the MLP configured as top front and top rear
But at what distance relative to MLP? Would 50-60cm either way suffice, or further away?
b) One pair on the side walls and one pair on bookshelves at the rear. But then, where do I place the side pair: in front of MLP as top front (how far away?) or on the same level with MLP as top middle?
Edit - Now reading through the Dolby guide. Interestingly enough, they advise placing rear upfiring on top of the surround backs (rears) not on top of the sides. I wonder if the Denon will give me this option (upfiring over rears) if I configure it with 7 standard speakers instead of just 5.
Has anyone tried a combination of front upfiring and rear heights?
If yes, does it work properly (as in, do the Atmos effects sound "right")?
And what follows is a long post, sorry about that
I'm expecting delivery of two pairs of Dali Altecos some time next week and got to find some way to pass the time, so... looking at positioning options, of course!
Here is a drawing of the room with the placement of the 7 "standard" speakers. The surround backs are on bookshelves at 105cm height (ear-level for MLP). Sides are wall-mounted at the same 105cm height. Ceiling is flat at 255cm, plain painted concrete no plaster or other materials.
I now have a pair of Tannoy VRs upfiring on top of the fronts and I get the "Atmos bubble" but obviously not the overhead panning of sound.
I tried a 5+4 setup with the surround backs set as upfiring (still on the bookshelves, at 120cm and 160cm height) but didn't sound good at all - the Atmos effects were clearly coming from behind at roughly ear-level not above/overhead. My guess is the AVR (Denon X4500H) expects surround upfiring to be placed on top of the sides, not so far behind the MLP. There's no way to indicate they are in the rear, unfortunately.
Granted, I didn't run a room calibration on the AVR with this config; dunno if that would have made any difference.
Now, for the new Dali speakers:
The sides are again Tannoy VRs which are quite shallow (13cm) so I won't be able to place anything on top of them.
The one option where I don't have to drill new holes in the walls would be to place one pair upfiring on top of the fronts, and the second as rear heights on top of the bookshelves in the back of the room: either on top of a bookshelf at 210cm, or pushed further up until they reach the ceiling so about 230-240cm).
It would be nice if the AVR would be smart enough to properly combine front upfiring and rear heights, hence the question above.
If that won't work then I guess I'll have to go down the hole-drilling route...
Trouble is, I don't see how I might do tests for speaker placement on walls without actually drilling the holes, and I can't really get a bunch of bolts in the walls.... have to nail this (pun intended) in one go.
I don't believe front height + rear height would work properly because the fronts would be bolted 1m behind the front speakers and would sit behind thick curtains (the wall behind the TV is mostly windows).
Don't want to drill holes in the ceiling either, so that pretty much leaves only two options:
a) Both pairs of Dali on the side walls, in front and behind the MLP configured as top front and top rear
But at what distance relative to MLP? Would 50-60cm either way suffice, or further away?
b) One pair on the side walls and one pair on bookshelves at the rear. But then, where do I place the side pair: in front of MLP as top front (how far away?) or on the same level with MLP as top middle?
Edit - Now reading through the Dolby guide. Interestingly enough, they advise placing rear upfiring on top of the surround backs (rears) not on top of the sides. I wonder if the Denon will give me this option (upfiring over rears) if I configure it with 7 standard speakers instead of just 5.
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