ATMOS speakers very quiet

[stigdu]

I have a couple of small ATMOS speakers that I have high up the wall, above the TV, and I've angled them slightly upwards so the sound (hopefully) hits the ceiling and bounces down towards my listening position. But they're pretty quiet. I've set up the speakers manually, and I have these 2 speakers about 6dB higher than all the other ones.

Does that sound about right?
Thanks

[Fors*]

Originally Posted by stigdu

I have a couple of small ATMOS speakers that I have high up the wall, above the TV, and I've angled them slightly upwards so the sound (hopefully) hits the ceiling and bounces down towards my listening position. But they're pretty quiet. I've set up the speakers manually, and I have these 2 speakers about 6dB higher than all the other ones.

Does that sound about right?
Thanks

What type of pre-amp or AVR do you have them hooked up to? Did you re-run your calibration system once you included them? If you did, the results of re-running your calibration system may give you a good indication what is happening and needs to be adjusted.

[oddbox83]

If wall mounted as heights, they're supposed to be aimed towards the listener. You've got them wall mounted but angled as upfirers, they're not designed for that.

You're also supposed to tell the receiver what Atmos setup you are using, and it won't have a clue what that is as it's not a standard Atmos layout, so won't be able to process appropriately.

What Atmos speakers do you have? It would help if we knew so we could be sure what placement(s) they're designed for.

[stigdu]

They're little Cambridge Audio speakers that I got from Richer Sounds, and my amp is a Denon 2400.

[Bodyslide]

I have a set of Klipsch R-14SA Atmos and they are high mounted and pointed down to the listening area. On my Pioneer I have the volume manually set on 10 out of 12 with great results.

[oddbox83]

Originally Posted by stigdu

They're little Cambridge Audio speakers that I got from Richer Sounds, and my amp is a Denon 2400.

Do you have a link?

I can't see Richer Sounds selling Cambridge Audio Atmos-enabled speakers, so that's even more of a no-no to have standard speakers up-firing.

Is it a Minx speaker? It's OK to use some smaller speakers as Atmos speakers, many do this. They need ceiling mounted or pointed at you though. To expect a standard directional speaker to act as a Dolby Atmos Enabled is pushing it too far. Atmos Enabled-up-firers are specifically designed to give a diffuse bounce. As I said, up-firers aren't designed to be used as up-firers if mounted high - the bounce will be highly localised if you do. Though you are not using those, I imagine the effect (or lack thereof) is due to the same reasons. You're probably getting hardly any of the sound hitting MLP.

Just angle them at you (I presume you can move them if you have them angled and haven't fixed them in place?), tell your Denon you have them as height channels and recalibrate. Then manually up the calibrated setting so the Atmos speakers are around 2dB higher (not 6).

[stigdu]

Yes, exactly those! Minx 22.

I already have them set up as height speakers on the Denon, so I'll just turn them to point downwards to roughly where the family sits.

Thanks. Oh, and I don't have the little microphone that came with the amp any more. I assume that means I can't run the auto sound setup?

[Fors*]

Originally Posted by stigdu

Yes, exactly those! Minx 22.

I already have them set up as height speakers on the Denon, so I'll just turn them to point downwards to roughly where the family sits.

Thanks. Oh, and I don't have the little microphone that came with the amp any more. I assume that means I can't run the auto sound setup?

You would need that mic to re-run your calibration. Have you turned your speakers around yet? If so, any improvement from them?

[oddbox83]

If you have a smartphone, you can do a manual calibration with a dB meter. Or just buy a 2nd hand mic off eBay.

[stigdu]

I dug out the old box from the shed and found the mic, so I angled the height speakers downwards and re-ran Audyssey, and it does sound a bit better although the bass is definitely not as heavy as it was before.

Thanks, guys.

[oddbox83]

Autocal can get it wrong, so run again or manually set crossovers if you think the bass is too light. Remember as well Atmos can often be quite sparingly used. IIRC you set crossover 10hz higher than the lowest rated frequency of the speaker as a general rule. I’ve found this is something Audyssey often gets wrong.

Remember to manually set the Atmos speakers 2dB higher too if the purpose is a more obvious effect. Most will recommend that to help when you haven’t got the bells and whistles ceiling speakers.

[Necril]

If you are using audyssey or other room correction, but decide to measure the volume of individual speakers manually later on, you should be aware that many AVRs apparently produce the test sound as "pure", meaning that the AVR does not apply to the pink noise the same frequency boosts etc. that you would experience when listening to music, watching movies and so on. Depending on your speakers, this might affect the measured sound pressure level.

[stigdu]

Originally Posted by Necril

If you are using audyssey or other room correction, but decide to measure the volume of individual speakers manually later on, you should be aware that many AVRs apparently produce the test sound as "pure", meaning that the AVR does not apply to the pink noise the same frequency boosts etc. that you would experience when listening to music, watching movies and so on. Depending on your speakers, this might affect the measured sound pressure level.

Thank you, but that's waaaaay too technical for me. I'm happy now with the sound.

Thanks for all your efforts, chaps.