Question About 7.1 and Dolby Atmos (1 Viewer)

[McHugh]

I have the Pioneer VSX 1131 which can process Dolby Atmos. My set up is 5.1. I'm wondering if I lose some sounds when I choose 7.1 or Dolby Atmos from a disc. The other night from The Bridge on the River Kwai 4K disc I compared the sound choosing 5.1 and then 7.1 and latter sounded better to me.

 

[Todd Erwin]

The reason being that Dolby Atmos tracks usually have a stronger LFE than even a typical non-Atmos Dolby TrueHD 7.1 track.

 

[Bob Bielski]

Stick with the amount of speakers you have. And get height speakers if you can do Atmos.

 

[McHugh]

Thanks for the replies. I will check out the price of height speakers. Any suggestions? Don't want to spend too much money though as I just bought the 4K television and 4K player.
My question about my 5.1 set up and when I choose a 7.1 option on a disc is about whether there are some sounds on the track that I am not hearing because I don't have the 2 additional speakers or is just a case of it sounding better with the extra 2 speakers?

 

[Bob Bielski]

What I ment was program the receiver for the amount of speakers you have set up. Not more than you have.

 

[JohnRice]

My question about my 5.1 set up and when I choose a 7.1 option on a disc is about whether there are some sounds on the track that I am not hearing because I don't have the 2 additional speakers or is just a case of it sounding better with the extra 2 speakers?

If you have 5 speakers, you have 5 speakers. Choosing a 7.1 soundtrack doesn't somehow produce two extra speakers that aren't there. So, I think there's some confusion about what you're asking. One possibility is that the 5.1 soundtrack is DD or regular DTS, where the 7.1 is HD, so it sounds better, even with 5 speakers.

 

[zoetmb]

My question about my 5.1 set up and when I choose a 7.1 option on a disc is about whether there are some sounds on the track that I am not hearing because I don't have the 2 additional speakers or is just a case of it sounding better with the extra 2 speakers?

If you choose 7.1, you will be missing sounds because it's feeding audio to the rear channels you don't have. If you choose 5.1, the 7.1 gets folded down to the 5.1. Having said that, when it gets folded down, if there's audio in the rears that's out of phase with the the audio in the sides, it will cancel and you won't hear it. If choosing 7.1 sounds better to you on your 5.1 system, it's probably because you don't like the sound of the rears and sides mixed together - but you would need to check this on a variety of material because it's probably going to be different from disc to disc, dependent upon how it was mixed.

 

[John Dirk]

My question about my 5.1 set up and when I choose a 7.1 option on a disc is about whether there are some sounds on the track that I am not hearing because I don't have the 2 additional speakers or is just a case of it sounding better with the extra 2 speakers?

I haven't screened The Bridge on the River Kwai but Dolby Atmos is about more than "additional channels." In fact the stated goal of Atmos is to make discernible channels disappear, which is why it is termed "object based." What Atmos should do is allow for smooth panning of audio to the point where you are unaware of channels and the sound simply matches the scene you are viewing on screen in all of its theatrical glory. A 5.1 system like yours should still sound demonstrably better playing a properly rendered Atmos source. To date my mileage has varied but I have also heard some awesome Atmos tracks. Check out Terminator Genesis and then let's talk.

 

[Bob Bielski]

Just got latest Widescreen Review and has great article on Atmos have to read. Explains proper height of speakers. Great debate with Auro and others. Does make a difference.