Will this Atmos update to my theater be worth the investment.?? (1 Viewer)

[vid1953]

My Atmos home theater consists of the Pioneer Elite SC-95 AVR and HTD 6x9 in-wall L-C-R-SBR-SBL and all other six speakers are in-ceiling 8-inch round.
I am planning on updating my theater with the Monolith 11 channel 200x3-100x8 amplifier and some type of preamp sound processor.
Is this going to be worth the investment? Will it sound better since I have only used AVRs and never used Separates before? I would appreciate any and all opinions.

 

[Dave Moritz]

It sounds like you are going with 5.1 not including Atmos heights. So the Pioneer Elite SC-95 being 9.2 which will give you 7.2.2 or 5.2.4. Unless you go with larger speakers IMHO there is no need for an 11 channel amplifier. Speaker efficiency and size of your room and how loud you like to listen to your movies can have an impact on if you need or can benefit from an external amplifier. One issue that can happen is if you use any ceiling speakers for surround along with Atmos but it doesn't look like your doing that. The most that receiver can do is 4 channels for Atmos as long as your only using 5 floor speakers. Otherwise in a 7.2 configuration your looking at only having 2 Atmos height speakers. Now there are options with preamp processor where you would have to have amplifiers where you could run 6 Atmos height speakers. And placement of the Atmos speakers are crucial in order to get the immersive experience. If you are looking for an upgrade later to a preamp processor / amplifier combo later you might want to upgrade to larger speakers. If not and you stay with the receiver then you can still upgrade the LCR to larger speakers and all you should need is a 3 channel amplifier just for your front three speakers. Then the receiver will be more than enough as unless your listening to a lot of multi channel music the demand on the receiver for surrounds and Atmos is not very intensive. The majority of your power demand is going to be your center channel then your left and right. Are you using a tv display or projector screen? If projection then is a regular screen or acoustically transparent screen? If you run an amplifier with your receiver don't forget to use a trigger wire from the receiver to the amplifiers. That way when you turn on the receiver your amplifier will come on automatically and you can leave the power button on the amp.

Merry Christmas

 

[JohnRice]

My Atmos home theater consists of the Pioneer Elite SC-95 AVR and HTD 6x9 in-wall L-C-R-SBR-SBL and all other six speakers are in-ceiling 8-inch round.
I am planning on updating my theater with the Monolith 11 channel 200x3-100x8 amplifier and some type of preamp sound processor.
Is this going to be worth the investment? Will it sound better since I have only used AVRs and never used Separates before? I would appreciate any and all opinions.

As Dave pointed out, it appears you have more speakers than the receiver can process. Of course, maybe that's why you're asking about a processor and external amp.

First, the short story is, there is very little benefit to having a home system beyond 7.x.4. That means three front speakers, two side surrounds, two rear surrounds, and one pair each of fore and aft (NOT front and back) overhead speakers. It sounds like you're skipping the side surrounds in place of six overheads. That's really not going to be a good setup. The side surrounds are the first, and most important of all the surround speakers.

 

[vid1953]

I’m sorry
I forgot to state the fact I have a 100 watt amp supplying power to 2 of my height speakers. The projector I’m using is the Epson 3800. I have one 12 inch subwoofer with a 200 watt amp.

 

[vid1953]

Also a sound transparent screen

 

[vid1953]

As Dave pointed out, it appears you have more speakers than the receiver can process. Of course, maybe that's why you're asking about a processor and external amp.

First, the short story is, there is very little benefit to having a home system beyond 7.x.4. That means three front speakers, two side surrounds, two rear surrounds, and one pair each of fore and aft (NOT front and back) overhead speakers. It sounds like you're skipping the side surrounds in place of six overheads. That's really not going to be a good setup. The side surrounds are the first, and most important of all the surround speakers.

I do have 2 side surrounds and 4 height speakers

 

[JohnRice]

I do have 2 side surrounds and 4 height speakers

Well, you said you have three front, two rear surrounds and six in-ceiling speakers.

My Atmos home theater consists of the Pioneer Elite SC-95 AVR and HTD 6x9 in-wall L-C-R-SBR-SBL and all other six speakers are in-ceiling 8-inch round.

 

[vid1953]

Well, you said you have three front, two rear surrounds and six in-ceiling speakers.

The side surrounds are the style with directional aiming that are in the ceiling.My theater room dimensions are 70 feet long and 14 feet wide with seating and screen in the middle with no side walls.

 

[JohnRice]

The side surrounds are the style with directional aiming that are in the ceiling.My theater room dimensions are 70 feet long and 14 feet wide with seating and screen in the middle with no side walls.

OK.

The room is 14 feet wide, with no side walls. And 70 feet long, with the seating in the middle. So.. the seating is 35 feet away from the image?

 

[Dave Moritz]

Your not going to get very good results with surround speakers up in the ceiling with Atmos speakers. And now I know you have projection and an acoustically transparent screen you may want to consider bigger speakers behind the screen. And you might want to move the two channel amp to your left and right and look for a mono block amp for the center channel. 70' deep room really? Is this a dedicated theater room? If you have a 70' deep room the receiver for the front 3 speakers may not be enough. And I seriously would consider larger speakers behind your screen. What is the speaker brand and models? It might be me but 35' from the screen seems kinda far but maybe others with projection set ups can chime in on this. And the further from the screen the lower the db level will be because of your distance from the speakers. It will most likely not have that punch / impact it could have if you where closer. Do you have any photos of your room?

 

[vid1953]

OK.

The room is 14 feet wide, with no side walls. And 70 feet long, with the seating in the middle. So.. the seating is 35 feet away from the image?

Hi John
im in the middle of the room sitting 14 feet from my screen. Tomorrow I will post pictures of my entire room which will help me explain better. Thank you all for your responses so far

 

[vid1953]

I am attaching photos of my theater and the design layout I was given 8 years ago by HTD. All the speakers I purchased were their top of the line. The 6 ceiling speakers are hard to photograph since they are all white to match the ceiling. My wife wanted a clean uncluttered look, and I gave it to her. I have talked to fiends that only swear by separates.
They tell me I would get much better channel separation and an amp would also help give me better sound.
The manufactures tell you, that you get 135w per channel with 2 channel driven. I have no idea what power is going to all the AVR channels. I do not listen to music at all. I only watch TV and stream movies on my Nvidia Shield.
1.Should I purchase a preamp processor and a good amplifier to improve the sound of movies?
2. I have been wanting to update my AVR so do I just do that with a good Amplifier?

Thank You for all your help.
Gary

 

[JohnRice]

Do you happen to have the specific model numbers of the speakers?

 

[JohnRice]

...and what is your subwoofer? I'm thinking there are better places to invest in improvements before going full separates.

 

[vid1953]

L-C-R and and rears are:

HDX-W80 HIGH DEFINITION IN-WALL SPEAKERS​

The two side surround are

HDX-R65AIM HIGH DEFINITION IN-CEILING SPEAKERS​

The other 6 are

HDX-R80 HIGH DEFINITION IN-CEILING SPEAKERS​

 

[vid1953]

...and what is your subwoofer? I'm thinking there are better places to invest in improvements before going full separates.

HTD LEVEL THREE POWERED SUBWOOFER with a 200 watt amp​

 

[JohnRice]

Do you watch action movies? My feeling is the sub is the most obvious opportunity for improvement. Is your wife opposed to dual subs? One in the current location, and a second one to the left of the screen?

 

[vid1953]

Do you watch action movies? My feeling is the sub is the most obvious opportunity for improvement. Is your wife opposed to dual subs? One in the current location, and a second one to the left of the screen?

I only watch TV and stream movies on Nvidia Shield like Netflix and plex.

 

[JohnRice]

I definitely have priorities of where I believe your best improvement options are, but separates is no higher than third on the list, probably fourth. I have a full separates system, so it's not like I'm inclined against it.

 

[Dave Moritz]

I would definitely lower your rear surrounds as they are way to high up on the wall. Basically the same height as your front speakers wouldn't be bad.