I recently finished upgrading my 5.1 system to a full Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 setup and the resulting sound really enhances the home movie experience. The 5.1 system is part of the stereo so when the Outlaw 975 died I replaced it with an Anthem AVM 60 because I already had most of the amps needed. I picked up a used Adcom GFA 7300 5-channel amp for $350 from the
The Music Room for the atmos speakers and I was all set.
Researching ceiling speakers was daunting, I didn't know everybody and their brother-in-laws makes ceiling speakers with prices from real cheap to really expensive. I began narrowing down my search with a couple of requirements: they should disappear and be protected from blown insulation and the high 140 degree attic heat in Arizona.
Big Red Machine also gave me something to think about with his post on the first page of this thread:
...I found the ceiling speakers were too close to your ears with no dispersion to give any effect...
So I began thinking of bi-pole speakers for more dispersion and less beaming, which led me to Triad Speakers. Triad has been doing home theater for a long time and recently blew everyone away with their
$300,000 11.4.6 dts-X: PRO Demo w/ TRINNOV Audio Altitude 32 & TRIAD Speakers at CEDIA 2019Triad has a user group at AVS Forum and Dawn Gordon suggested using the
Inwall Bronze/4 Surround bipole as atmos speakers, which is what I ended up using. The reason for using bipole speakers is that for ceilings 8' and under it is very hard to get the proper dispersion as BRM discovered and my ceiling is less than 8'. I am very happy with the speakers and would use them again. Highly recommended!
I found a pair of
Triad Onwall Bronze Surround speakers to use as the surrounds on eBay along with two Inwall Bronze/4 surrounds so fortunately I only had to buy two at retail. Triad only sells through a dealer network, I located a dealer that sells Triad speakers at 10% off, no tax and free shipping:
https://avscience.com/My 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos surround sound home theater has 4 amps and a REL Gibraltar G2 sub for a total of 1740 class AB high current watts and yes, it's as awesome as it sounds.
Free Dolby Atmos demo videos can be downloaded at:
Demo WorldDemolandiaOfficial Dolby WebsiteSo far movies I have watched that show off the immersive Atmos sound include Blade Runner 2049 ( the Hans Zimmer soundtrack has very strong 25Hz content), John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, and Godzilla: King of Monsters (of course).
My goal was to incorporate all the changes without drastically changing the uncluttered look of the living room. The front has the REL sub and amp stack, speakers are Salk HT2-TL and Salk HT2C.
There are 8 speakers with a total of 26 drivers in the photo below, the Onwall Bronze surrounds are hidden in the modified ATC sound panels and the upper rear speakers are homemade Vifa bipole surrounds.
The installation involved a Tyvek suit because the ceiling has 16" of blown insulation but I ended up doing all the work from below because the attic was too tight with all the braces.
The Fein oscillating sander with a saw blade made cutting the 1" thick plaster & drywall ceiling very easy.
I figured out how to fish wiring from hole to hole and down the front wall all from below, cleanup was fun too.
