Rachael B said:The appeal of the Atmos enable speakers, to me, is I could move them if need be. I've had the same Paradgm speaker for over a decade. So, I gave changing speakers a thought. I'm gonna carry the receiver downstairs in a few and have a look at the manual.
If DTS X takes off, well, I can always change processing again, easily....and I'll have Atmos in my bedroom system....if I had enabled speakers in there. I'll never put speakers in the ceiling of my bedroom. Why is DTS always bringing up the rear...? ....one format after another....
It's absolutely worth the effort (especially in a dedicated room) to have true overheads. You'll not regret it. The enabled speakers also are very, very finicky about placement and only a small "window" of the listening position can get much benefit from them.
The "enabled" reproduction of immersive sound is more like listening to a DSP matrixed phantom stereo widening mode than true, discrete, pinpoint sounds coming from a particular distinct location within the room that most of the listeners can enjoy. A great example is the drop ship flyover from Mockingjay Part One. With the enabled speakers engaged, the illusion of the ship flying up and out of frame collapses compared to having real overheads. It's a similar effect to the Star Trek: ID clip from the Atmos discs at CEDIA used to demo gear that I heard too many times to count, except the shuttle was flying down out of the clouds.
DTS likes to see what Dolby is up to and then tries to exploit a potential weakness in their format or in their business model. Their licensing is a bit more easy on the pocketbook than Dolby, for instance, and theater owners and studios don't necessarily have to buy Dolby's proprietary equipment at a huge markup as other companies are free to create DTS:X capable gear and software.
I'm thinking of going with the Marantz 7702 mk II processor coming soon as it will have 7.1.4 for DTS:X as well as the newer HDMI chips. Maybe I can find a deal since I didn't win the Onkyo... grumble, grumble.