Members that are using Dolby PLIIz?

[acritzer]

Hello all. Just got my height speakers up and am wanting to pick the brains of people with first hand experience using Dolby PLIIz.

Please, PM me if you have this set up.

Thanks.

[101mph62]

What exactly are you looking for here? Im running PLIIz but not sure what info your looking for.

[jcb]

Hi Acritzer,

I recently help my brother-in law for his installation; he is using Axiom QS4v3 as height speakers which are powered by a new Pioneer VSX-920-K. For movies, it makes a noticeable difference which we both prefer and judged worthwhile. For music, it depends on the recording and music genre.

[acritzer]

Hey guys. Just looking for feedback regarding set up and calibration. It's so new to me I'm not sure how much I should be hearing. Or how I should calibrate. Even with everything else? Or should I bump them a bit?

Specifically for the pioneer 920. What level does he set the height gain? H/M/L? And how does that affect the pre set speaker level?

[NorCo_1806]

I presume you've used the MCACC....or are you setting everything by dB meter?

Either way, the front-heights should be pretty much even with everything else. You don't want to be sitting, watching and looking at the front-heights thinking, "man those are loud". You just want them to fill in. You'll think you're not hearing them, but you are.

Them slap in the Blu of Master & Commander, shuffle forward to the first battle scene, after they sail into the fog.....then sit back, crank it up and listen to the greatness!!

Guessing the H/M/L means high/medium/low....in which case, what does the manual say that setting does? --or just start with one and try them all....

guess I could go look for the manual...but I bet you've got it

[acritzer]

Thanks for the input. I haven't used the auto MCACC since setting up the Heights, because I've found it inconsistent compared to my DVE/SPL results. I ended up doing a quick calibration with the front stage as a reference point...I'd guess it's "close enough" for their use. I made sure the height gain was set at M, so that if I choose to I can bump it up easily to H for comparison...or drop down to L, if it seems overly loud.
I think I'm OK with the results, and am now just looking forward to trying out lots of different movies.


The hardest part is knowing if I'm hearing them. That sounds really stupid, but with the rest of the front stage being active, it's hard to know what the heights are doing. Switching between having them on and off is just a little too disjointed to offer a fast comparison. I should probably decide on an entire scene and watch it several times. With them off, on (M), and on (H).

[TKNice]

I think falling rain is supposed to sound amazing.

I'm jealous!

[acritzer]

Originally Posted by TKNice

I think falling rain is supposed to sound amazing.

I'm jealous!

I've heard that too, but haven't really taken the time to test it out. As I mentioned above, I really need to pick a scene and stick with it for several runs.

Oh, and if you want I'd be happy to trade set ups with you. Very, very nice theater you have there!

[NorCo_1806]

Originally Posted by TKNice

I think falling rain is supposed to sound amazing.

I concur....try the Campus Attack scene from The Incredible Hulk....at the end it gets unexplainably dark, unexplainably fast then starts to rain....plus if you keep going, when Hulk is in the mountains, hiding, it continues to rain.

There are plenty of wind-swept-sails parts in Master & Commander as well.

I know what you're saying about not knowing if they're on....I checked mine last Friday while watching those parts from TIH in DTS HD MA...and yes, they're on!!

Subtle, but I think more effective than the additional rears....at least in my set-up.

Originally Posted by Pioneer Manual

H.GAIN (Height Gain): Adjusts the outpit form the height speaker when listening in DOLBY PLIIz HEIGHT mode. If set to H, the sound from the top will be more emphasized.

[acritzer]

Originally Posted by NorCo_1806

I concur....try the Campus Attack scene from The Incredible Hulk....at the end it gets unexplainably dark, unexplainably fast then starts to rain....plus if you keep going, when Hulk is in the mountains, hiding, it continues to rain.

There are plenty of wind-swept-sails parts in Master & Commander as well.

I know what you're saying about not knowing if they're on....I checked mine last Friday while watching those parts from TIH in DTS HD MA...and yes, they're on!!

Subtle, but I think more effective than the additional rears....at least in my set-up.

Well, I don't own that title...any chance you can pick something out of my collection that's likely to be a good candidate for the height effect?

[NorCo_1806]

Originally Posted by acritzer

Well, I don't own that title...any chance you can pick something out of my collection that's likely to be a good candidate for the height effect?

Good point

I haven't watched my copy of Pearl Harbor yet....but I'm betting there are some bomb-drop scenes, along with planes flying all around that may be good.

I'd also bet The Gaurdian would have some wind-effects, waves and possible rain.

[acritzer]

Originally Posted by NorCo_1806

Good point

I haven't watched my copy of Pearl Harbor yet....but I'm betting there are some bomb-drop scenes, along with planes flying all around that may be good.

I'd also bet The Gaurdian would have some wind-effects, waves and possible rain.

Yeah, I'll have to try those. They're not actually here yet, but I put them on my Disney Club order, so I added them to my list.

Last night I tried Batman Begins, where he grabs the fat cop and pulls him up on the zip line. It's raining in that scene. I tried the three variations, no height, height at M, and height at H. Overall I wasn't getting that feeling of the rain falling from above. The dialogue is pretty strong in the scene though...so maybe that's part of it.

Hopefully I'll find a good test scene and start really believing in the effect. So far my impression is more that the front stage is becoming a wall of sound...and less that the specific sounds coming from the heights add to the feel of the scenes.

[Cmiller44]

I watched the "new" Nightmare on Elm street last night on BR..There was a nice rain scene @ the beginning of the movie,try that if you have a copy..

[NorCo_1806]

Originally Posted by acritzer

Yeah, I'll have to try those. They're not actually here yet, but I put them on my Disney Club order, so I added them to my list.

Last night I tried Batman Begins, where he grabs the fat cop and pulls him up on the zip line. It's raining in that scene. I tried the three variations, no height, height at M, and height at H. Overall I wasn't getting that feeling of the rain falling from above. The dialogue is pretty strong in the scene though...so maybe that's part of it.

Hopefully I'll find a good test scene and start really believing in the effect. So far my impression is more that the front stage is becoming a wall of sound...and less that the specific sounds coming from the heights add to the feel of the scenes.

The effects are certainly suttle....did you try back surrounds too? Since there are some software (Disney) releases in that 7.1, you may notice more.

The first time I watched the scene in Master & Commander (some sailors are below deck, while others are on-deck) I SWEAR to you, I thought someone was running on my roof!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~Edit~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I just checked out your equipment list...I have considered the Monitor 30's for my heights too....they're certainly nicer than what I do have.

[golden ears]

Just as an update,, now that atmos and dts:x are out, i have been using my height speakers pointed at and closer to the mlp as top height speakers in a sort of 7.1.2 setup. Imho i hear about the same immersion as dolby atmos, without spending more $$$$$$

[superpacman]

Originally Posted by golden ears

Just as an update,, now that atmos and dts:x are out, i have been using my height speakers pointed at and closer to the mlp as top height speakers in a sort of 7.1.2 setup. Imho i hear about the same immersion as dolby atmos, without spending more $$$$$$

This is an old thread to bring back to life...

But,

I have wondered about this. What would be or is the difference between heights(if they would send more information to them) and Atmos speakers placed above.

I'm not saying they don't send information to my height speakers, I'm just wondering if more audio such as with Atmos.

Or,

Is it more of the AVR then just speaker placement as well?

[applemac]

Originally Posted by superpacman

This is an old thread to bring back to life...

But,

I have wondered about this. What would be or is the difference between heights(if they would send more information to them) and Atmos speakers placed above.

I'm not saying they don't send information to my height speakers, I'm just wondering if more audio such as with Atmos.

Or,

Is it more of the AVR then just speaker placement as well?

I have a 7.1 PLIIz setup with height and I enjoy it more than having a 7.1 with extra surrounds.

This question about the heights and atmos is confusing to me as well, as I dont find any documentation about using height in the ATMOS system. If it were a true object oriented format, you think it could take advantage of the extra speakers.

[golden ears]

Hello to all, so glad to see "hear" that others are still interested in PLIIZ. I have my heights over my MLP on side wall about 2" from ceiling. This is not to put down the DPL ATMOS/DTS:X. but just to say that sound effects could have been encoded that would be extracted for a more enveloping overhead effect. I am not a sound engineer, but I do experiment with sound effects.it is all about the $$$$$ yes audio effects could be placed in the surround channels with a "flag" that the PLIIZ height decoder will extract and send to the correct speaker location. I have done this by sending the front right and the right surround right into a DPL avr to extract a center channel which I placed on right side of room midway between the front soundstage and rear soundstage(right above my listening position) which greatly increased the panning effects of front to back. I have 2 AVRS with external inputs, and my BD player has 7.1 external outputs. Pleased to see that others share my thoughts on this

[golden ears]

After doing the right side, I repeated this for the left side. The manufacturing community are the ones that want our hard earned $$$$$$

[golden ears]

I wish there was some way to get more persons into PLIIZ. If you stop and think about the progression of home theater you will see why. In the seventy's we started with Star Wars from the commercial cinema, from there it was Dolby Digital, next step up DDPLII, next PLIIZ, now Atmos. Why could we not have been just giving an add on module that could have been placed between our Bluray player and our AVR to receive the extra height info through HDMI, the module could have speaker outs to the indicated locations. I am sorry, but it's not rocket science. Why is DTS so long in coming out with their version of implementation of immersive audio? There is a thread dealing with this subject on other forums, but they have been sidetracked by speaker design, placement, etc. I would like to hear from others who would like to find out how they can expand their soundstage without throwing away their present equipment, and still benefit from "immersive audio" while waiting for the new technologies to reach their true potential, as well as trickle down to lower tiered AVR'S. Actually Atmos is available in Denons 910 & 710 models $579.00 and $479.00 respectively. The problem I have is that DTS is not inherently included, you can only get it by means of a firmware upgrade this fall. Why? Why? Why?