Marantz Dolby Atmos question for Marantz receiver (1 Viewer)

[William Moore]

Hey guys: I own a Marantz SR7007 receiver, which has served me well since I purchased new in 2013. Looking at possibly upgrading my receiver to one with Atmos capability, this past year I purchased a pre-owned Marantz SR7013 from a dealer (The Music Room), but I haven't set it up yet. (Somewhat unbelievably, the manual for this beast is over 300 pages long, yikes!) Anyway, I want to get the speakers installed first and I'm just going to use two ceiling-mounted ones, optimally placed hopefully. My SR 7007 has unused speaker outputs for L & R front height and L & R front wide. My current setup is 7.1, but just for testing purposes I thought I could hook up either the wide or height connections, but I'm not sure if I will get any audio thru these outputs, since the SR7007 is just a 7.1 receiver. Any comments?

 

[John Dirk]

My current setup is 7.1, but just for testing purposes I thought I could hook up either the wide or height connections, but I'm not sure if I will get any audio thru these outputs, since the SR7007 is just a 7.1 receiver. Any comments?

If I'm understanding you correctly then, no, you will not. The SR7007 contains only 7 discrete amplification channels which are already in use in your setup. You can choose either surround back or front height but not both.

 

[JohnRice]

So… if you only want to test them, you could temporarily connect them to the rear surround outputs.

 

[William Moore]

If I'm understanding you correctly then, no, you will not. The SR7007 contains only 7 discrete amplification channels which are already in use in your setup. You can choose either surround back or front height but not both.

OK, that's what I thought; however, I'm just using one rear surround speaker, so I could just disconnect that and then connect the front height or front wide for both channels. Which of these would give a more Atmos-like sound or maybe neither would?

 

[John Dirk]

OK, that's what I thought; however, I'm just using one rear surround speaker, so I could just disconnect that and then connect the front height or front wide for both channels. Which of these would give a more Atmos-like sound or maybe neither would?

In that case I would use the front height connections but [as I think you already understand] this will only allow for the matrix modes included in your AVR. True Atmos will require suitable media and a hardware upgrade.

 

[William Moore]

OK, taking this issue a little further...if I'm going to use only 2 ceiling speakers for my Atmos setup (channels 8 and 9), which is in my rather small living room home theatre (roughly 12 x 14 ft), what would be the best locations for those speakers? Note: I purchased these from Crutchfield and they have adjustable HF drivers in addition to the "full range driver) The name brand of the speakers escapes me at the moment, but they are designed to be ceiling-mounted.

 

[William Moore]

OK, my ceiling speakers are the Audiosource AS615C, featuring 1' soft dome adjustable tweeter and 6 1/2" poly woofers. Just in case anyone wants to know. AND, BTW, RIP Betty White. Heaven just gained an Angel!!

 

[JohnRice]

I’m guessing there’s no room behind the seating position, so I’d put them overhead at about 25-30 degrees forward. I know suggestions are to be further forward, but real world experience is showing that’s too far.

 

[William Moore]

I’m guessing there’s no room behind the seating position, so I’d put them overhead at about 25-30 degrees forward. I know suggestions are to be further forward, but real world experience is showing that’s too far.

John: Could you translate that into feet and how far from the side walls?

 

[JohnRice]

John: Could you translate that into feet and how far from the side walls?

It can't be expressed in feet, because I don't know how high the ceiling is. So instead, what you do is start at the ear height from the main viewing location, then locate the Atmos speakers in the ceiling about 25 degrees forward from that point. It doesn't have to be perfect, just close. If you look at official Dolby suggestions, it will indicate a greater angle than that, around 45 degrees, but in the real world of a home system, that seems to be too far forward. In fact, I would probably put it between 20 and 25 degrees.

The width of them should generally be the same width as the front L&R speakers. In other words, straight out from the L&R speakers.

 

[William Moore]

John: The ceiling height is 8 ft, so I'm not sure how to compute the distances in degrees. Can you estimate in feet now? Thanks!

 

[JohnRice]

It would be about 4 feet forward of straight overhead.

 

[William Moore]

OK. I'll go with that recommendation. Thanks, John!