PlayStationPepe
New member
A pair of Atmos elevation modules pressed into service as rear surrounds is a very common compromise after a move, and the room numbers in this one make the choice clearer than usual. The owner can no longer wall-mount their Magnat ATM 202s, so right now they run as the rear pair in 7.1. The fronts are about 2.4m apart and about 2.1m from the seat, the rears sit only about 0.8m behind the listening position, the room is roughly 3m front to back, and the ceiling is around 2.6m.
That 0.8m figure is the problem with 7.1. Rear surrounds that close stop sounding like space behind you and start sounding like two small speakers next to your head, especially when they were designed to aim at a ceiling rather than at your ears. In a room 3m deep there is not much distance to play with for a rear pair anyway, and many 7.1 mixes put very little in the back channels.
Meanwhile 2.6m is a reasonable height for reflected Atmos, provided the ceiling is flat, hard and has no beams or a sloping section between the speakers and the seat. Up-firing modules depend completely on that bounce. Put them on top of the fronts, aim them as the manual suggests, and run room correction again afterwards so the receiver gets the timing right.
So I would try 5.1.2 first and only go back to 7.1 if overhead effects turn out to be vague. Run the same three clips on both layouts for a week: one with obvious overheads, one with a lot of rear activity, one plain dialogue scene. The layout you stop noticing is the right one.
That 0.8m figure is the problem with 7.1. Rear surrounds that close stop sounding like space behind you and start sounding like two small speakers next to your head, especially when they were designed to aim at a ceiling rather than at your ears. In a room 3m deep there is not much distance to play with for a rear pair anyway, and many 7.1 mixes put very little in the back channels.
Meanwhile 2.6m is a reasonable height for reflected Atmos, provided the ceiling is flat, hard and has no beams or a sloping section between the speakers and the seat. Up-firing modules depend completely on that bounce. Put them on top of the fronts, aim them as the manual suggests, and run room correction again afterwards so the receiver gets the timing right.
So I would try 5.1.2 first and only go back to 7.1 if overhead effects turn out to be vague. Run the same three clips on both layouts for a week: one with obvious overheads, one with a lot of rear activity, one plain dialogue scene. The layout you stop noticing is the right one.
