The problem with 90% of upward firing speakers is their design. Dolby limits their bandwidth vs the crossover, to promote beaming, and avoid direct sound to the listener. Its not an effective design. A better solution is for the speakers to be angled, but recessed in the box with acoustic lining. This does a much better job of reducing direct sound, and isolating the reflected sound. Also how one angles them is crucial to insuring the reflected sound even reaches the seating position. The best method is to use a helper with a ladder, who places a mirror on the ceiling where the listener can see the speaker from their normal seating position. Once accomplished, the listener then goes over to the upward firing speaker and angles the speaker so it aims directly at the mirror. A small flashlight or laser pointer is helpful. The height of the ceiling is less important than the angling, as the room correction software will set the appropriate output for all speakers, including upward firing ones. The only off-the-shelf, upward firing Atmos speakers, I would recommend are the Atlantic Technology 44-DAs and the PSB Imagine XA Atmos enabled

Excellent Ealan! I've been looking for while now for someone to talk about this topic and I think you're the only one. Thanks for the great content! Keep it up! 👍

You need to increase your level output for your Atmos enabled speakers. If they are only +1 db it isn’t loud enough

My experience with upwards firing speakers is excellent! I have 7.1.2 setup, with front speakers (and upwards speakers) from Definitive Technologies 9060 series, and KEF T301 as surround speakers, connected to Denon X6700H AVR, thoroughly calibrated with Audyssey. While most movies hardly have much going on “up there”, in video games, like Cyberpunk 2077 the effect is insane! Aircraft and monorail trains flying overhead, someone shooting at me from up above etc. My favorite test is to find music source blasting from one of the shops on the streets of Night City, approach them - and you can pinpoint the exact source of the sound above you.

I actually built speaker boxes for "in-wall/ceiling" speakers, and successfully stud-mounted them to my ceiling in a unique manner. Ceiling speakers have always been a priority even when thinking Atmos early on. And I did this for the first FOUR, and down the line I'm going to get it to SIX. Little bits at a time for now.

Mounted on upper wall front + side positions are the simple way , to enjoy Dolby Atmos 's experience 🔊 🎼🎶

I agree just upgraded to Dolby Atmos and go the Upward Firing Speakers you put on top of the Tower Speakers. It just made the Tower Speaker sound better..

I went with the 3.1.2. Atmos speakers at the side walls next to couch and it definitely works. I like that more than front heights

Excellent overview. Having tried all 3 methods with 2 and 4 height speakers 🔊, my thoughts are as follows: 1. Use 4 height speakers if you can. The sound pans more accurately and gives you an actual sense of movement. 2. SVS is right -- place your wall mounted height speakers on the SIDES of the room and make sure they are closer to you physically than the front and surround speakers. Do not place them on the front and back walls. I have found that this does a far more effective job of sound envelopment. If you put the heights on the front and back, their sound will actually get lost as they mix with the front and surround speakers radiating sound in the same direction. Remember, even direct sound travels in waves and they will mix together on the way to your ears. Side wall height speakers will give you a much better effect. Generally for good sound envelopment I have found you must mix in different heights, positions and placements. 3. In ceiling or hanging speakers that radiate sound directly downward do not give good sound envelopment because the vertical sound radiation is working against the horizontal sound radiation of your other speakers. It's actually a collision 💥 of sound as opposed to a bubble. At first it seemed cool to me until I realized that it actually muffled some sounds and was more gimmicky than natural sounding. The one exception I found to this is if you can place the speakers wide apart.on the ceiling, again in front of the front and surround speakers and then angle the speakers towards you. This definitely works but I found side wall mounting gives the same envelopment for far less work.

Really cool calm monologue. Been considering whether to invest in some upward firing speakers, this has given me some food for thought. Thanks. And you’re right, once you begin the home theatre journey, you can’t stop…

Thanks for this video. I have Klipsch up-firing speakers on my towers for years (5.2.2). Thought is was ok, but nothing great. Can't do in ceiling speakers, but after watching you video, I moved the up-firing to Front presence height location (8' ceiling). Absolutely huge difference in my room. on ATMOS tracks I actually can sense the sound is coming overhead.

Upfirers can work... but in my experience, the auto-cal in AVRs almost never gets the distance/delay right. Some AVRs have a separate setting for you to manually set distance from the upfirer to the ceiling, but even then, you basically have to put on a good Atmos demo clip and tweak distances until you hear it snap into place. I think that's why most people end up thinking they just don't work at all. That said, you're still right. They should be the last resort.

After a bunch of experimentation (at least in my Man Cave), I found that making a wood baffle to the tilted Atmos speaker on top of the main stereo mains works very well. A three-sided piece of 1/4" plywood stuck on the speaker on listening side of angled speaker with double-sided tape. Essentially, the key is blocking the direct sound path to the listening ear from the Atmos speaker is key. Audessey, equalizing really made it zone in on a great sound experience. Point is...every room is different and fun to to try out what is best for you.

If you can't hear the upfiring atmos speakers being reflected off a flat ceiling at that height then it is because you're suppose to configure your HT receiver so that it knows that you are using up-firing so it can set the audio levels and time delays properly. It helps if you have a decent quality receiver that has room correction software built-in and can connect a mic so that it can be done automatically. But in saying that it still isn't going to be as good as direct sound.

I live in a pretty small apartment, and I have my home theatre in my bedroom. So space is really tiny. so I stacked up boxes to put my height speakers on the side up to the ceiling (pretty short ceilings) and it works very well considering that I'm running 5.1.2. I didn't even bother trying upward firing as I heard it wasn't the best.

I have the Pioneer add on Atmos module speakers for the front and rear speakers, and I also barely heard anything coming from the height channels when I placed them on top on the main speakers, so I decided to mount the Atmos speakers to the ceiling and it made all the difference in the world. I can easily hear Atmos in a good mix and makes the movie soundtrack totally immersive! I have a Marantz 8802a and updated it to Auro 3D capability. I purchased a few Blu-Ray discs with Auro 3D, and originally set up the Marantz for 7.1.4 Auro 3D configuration. However, speaker placement wasn’t optimized for Auro 3D, but was compatible for Auro 3D and Atmos. Result: Auro 3D wasn’t a dramatic difference from Dolby Atmos, and the price for Auro 3D software wasn’t justified. Since Atmos is prevalent here in the US, I decided recalibrate the Marantz for Atmos. Also, when I had the system optimized for Auro 3D, the front and rear Height Channels didn’t independently produce sound from the LH and RH, rather they both created the same pink noise signal at the same time using an Atmos disc. Furthermore, only the front height speakers were engaged producing any Atmos effects. The Rear Atmos channels were never used. When I recalibrated the system for Atmos, I got back the LH and RH channels on both the front and back Height Channels. Watching in Atmos is more immersive with all speakers engaged. My impressions: Auro 3D sounds similar to Atmos with Auro 3D content, but due to system configuration with Auro, you may not get 7.1.4 with Atmos soundtracks. On the other hand, you do get better overall enveloping sound from the Auro 3D up mixer. It gives a natural sound field for non Auro 3D or 2.0, 5.1 and 7.1 material. Unfortunately, once configuring the Marantz back to Atmos, I lose a few Auro 3D effects options. Btw, Atmos is based on Auro 3D, but due to copyright issues, Dolby changed the speaker placement for their design. AURO 3D uses DTS as their codec to carry Auro 3D information, while Dolby uses Dolby TrueHD 7.1 at the core plus metadata to extend capabilities for Atmos.

I'm not disputing your findings with the room and speakers you used, but I have Focal Sib Evo with built-in purpose designed Atmos upfiring speakers and they really work in my living room. Where they lose out is in accurate positioning of the sounds front to rear, but overhead effects genuinely sound like they are overhead. In-ceiling speakers aren't an option for my room, but I have previously tried speakers in various other positions. Up high on the front, but set as front height in my AVR, and they added little to height and no sense of overhead at all. I tried the test you did with all other speakers disconnected and with every movie I tried they pretty much never made a sound. Also ran with them up on the side walls and they were more active in that position, but also never really sounded overhead and it was too easy to localise the sound as coming from a specific speaker. The upfiring are easily the best experience, really filling out the soundstage and adding more height to the front than the physical front speakers did. It doesn't hurt that this is the cleanest setup also with no wires running up the walls.

Like some of the other commenters said, did you play around with the volume setting for the upward firing speakers? In most of the autocalibration I did, the receiver boosts the volume for the atmos speakers by 3-6 dBs. Also noticed that your ceiling is not quite flat, so could be a lot of scattered reflection which reduces the sound going into your ears. But this could be just the quality of your video that made the ceiling look halfway between a flat ceiling and a popcorn ceiling.

Great Video, I would just add when I first got the Klipsch 5.1.2 set up with the built in atmos speakers I did A/B testing not with the atmos modules alone but with and without them in the whole set up. While the pinpoint location possible with overhead set ups wasn't there, in my room with my set up, the upward firing speakers did add the 'environmental' immersion with reverb and sound effects that had me forgetting I was supposed to be doing a comparison and sucked me right into the scene every time.

Thank you for the description of what you should expect to actually hear given the different positions. Most people don’t explain it as well thank you.

I found that if you increase the volume of the up firing speakers it makes a huge difference and it did actually sound like it was coming from the ceiling it was truly impressive that was with about 8 foot ceiling I also found tilting the speakers so the sound reached you also helps My new house ha higher ceiling so will need to see if it’s the same

Things a LOT of people don't factor in when it comes to ATMOS speakers: Speaker drive size and dispersion pattern. You set up top front speakers for Atmos but you are using speakers with 3 or 4-inch woofers and a 1 inch or smaller tweeter. Your seating position is 10 - 12 feet away from the speakers. By the time the sound from your top fronts gets to your ears, the SPL has been reduced by 10 dB or more due to sound cancellation and bad acoustics. The correct speaker you should be using is one with a 10-inch driver and a 1.5 - 2 inch compression driver with at least 100 watts of power for the TOP fronts to work for Atmos.

I would think upfiring would cause a bunch of issues interfering with the other speakers. I'd also think you would have some latency with the added distance.

Love you're well edited fun yet informative videos.

You have to calculate the algorithmic scale for reflecting of the ceiling..as NORMAL atmos is made for speakers IN the ceiling...If you want reflective sound to come anywhere near that experience you'll have to add at least 4 to 6db to the volume of the atmos channels...

You can ALWAYS add a secondary ceiling. Which is the most beneficial for sound and running new wiring plus the added eye glory of the speakers being hidden....

I’ve got 4 speakers that I mounted on the ceiling. They’re not as far from each other front to back as I’d like them but it still sounds pretty impressive. Especially when a game is in Atmos.

That's why I purchased a Bose 900 about a year ago and their height channels and rear jewel surrounds speakers are a Beast. I have 12foot ceilings and you hear and feel it all even if the content not in Atmos.

You're up there with the best YT commentators on these subjects... Keep it up, Ealan!

If you buy actual in ceiling speakers and site them as directed 2ft in front of the listener then the sound will be fantastic. For those who don’t want to cut open the ceiling try building a ceiling box .

For upward-firing speakers, what he didn't mention is if he actually tried every possibly setting - adjusting the proper height, cross-over, volume, etc. Some people swear by them (when configured correctly).

Another point to bear in mind is that for upfiring speakers, Dolby recommends they should be placed no higher than one half (50%) of the height of the ceiling. Looking at the setup you had here in this video, with those particular large towers, it does appear that those Atmos speakers are higher than that recommendation. To compensate for that the only solution is to then adjust the angle of the Atmos speakers (raising the rear of them up) but this then adds other problems as the increased angle towards the listener will make direct sounds more audible in comparison. But yep, thos Atmos speakers are a bit too close to the ceiling for the given ceiling height it seems.

i've been trying to decide if i wanted to move my atmos speakers from upward firing to wall mounting behind my tv... you just sold me because i've been feeling the same way about having them upward firing. thanks for the video!

Thank you for saving me the time and expense of moving forward with purchasing upward firing speakers. My only placement option, at this time, would be flanking my center speaker on my entertainment center. This less than optimal positioning would not have been close to satisfactory.

There are so many variables like room size, ceiling height reflection points. The ideal would be overhead when applicable and then second choice being elevation type and lastly upfiring. Mine is an opinion but the reason I say ceiling mount first over elevation type is aesthetics. But I say if you can do any type of Atmos is a winner winner chicken dinner 😁👍

To get the correct Atmos effect is the outcome of all the components including the visual effects. Sound comes from 8 directions arround 1 direction each from above and the below Below the ear level , at the ear level and above the head all this from the 8 surrounding directions and the above head for the helicopter landing effects

I use onkyo upfiring Atmos speakers. 1 feet lower than the ceiling pointing to the ceiling angled to the listener . They work super fine. Please try and you will see how the sound bounces from the ceiling and widens the listening effects

Very well said. Straight forward. tnx

And specifically birds chirping etc were heard above it was amazing It may just be your ceiling doesn’t bounce the sound and I as just lucky and may not be lucky in my new house

Loved the idea of the wall of sound. And compatible with DTS-X, and Auro-3D I mounted them on wall. But.... now I heard that seperation is most important and you shouldn't go lower than 45 degrees on your front heights.... So overthinking of mounting them higher to get that 45 degrees. My listening position is about 4 mtr from the screen and my ceiling is 4.25m high so I can get that angle

We’re in a rental…but we drill, replace, swap, repair, even add walls and new cabinetry. We gave up our deposit in exchange for (very carefully) doing what we need. Of course, we’ve been here 20 years… This video provided more-or-less exactly what we needed. Actual real-world results from different speaker positions = exceptionally useful, time saving information. We used this to decide on Denon x3700 7.2.4 set up. Great job, and thank you!

Lighting. Great presentation, sound is ok, you just have to get a backlight on you to separate you from the wall. And a side fill light too (a white card will work perfect)

I have to agree with you I hooked atmos speakers on my ceiling last night. They aren't high end or anything they were under £200 (polk) but I was looking for 8 ohm atmos speakers which wasn't easy to find. I would have maybe bought better ones if they were 8 ohm. I had to stick with 8 ohm because of my existing speakers and av receiver. I never even tried the upward firing method. I just don't fancy it and just wanted to put the speakers where they are meant to be. It does sound pretty good to me and got it blending pretty well with my mordaint short mezzo range. This is partially rhe problem for me. I bought these mezzos new with woofer. For me it was a lot to spend and I love those speakers so won't be upgrading all my speakers again for another 8-10 years. But I know the best thing would have been to start from scratch again. I just don't have the kind of money to upgrade everything again so quickly. Anyway I agree with what you said about bouncing those subtle sounds off the ceiling is never going to work.

I agree with your upward firing findings. Especially with only a single pair. I have tried that in my theater room and it was rarely noticeable. I would imaging that having 4 would stand out more because of the panning potential, but I haven’t heard it. I’m starting to feel like you really need to have 4 height channels in any configuration for it to actually be with it. Every 2 height system I’ve tried just seems like a marketing gimmick.

Excellent video Exactly what I needed You're the reason I actually got into the home theater game

Finley someone has done a video speaking the truth about Atmos speakers 🔊 Very educational, thank you for this video.

One thing I really like about my Kali Audio Atmos setup is that I have the option to use speaker stands for my height channels with the mounting hardware that was included!! Just something to think about for anyone living at a rental that REALLY wants to commit to an Atmos setup. (Disclaimer, this is a music studio setup, but still a neat idea!!)

I hate to say it, but it sounds like "Atmos" itself is what's not worth anything. The standard might be useful for video games in the future, but I'm pretty sure it never even took off correctly for movies. If you have a correctly set up 5 or 7 channel system you would have to have an actual theater sized room for atmos to be worth any money, let alone effort.

This is the very first video i caught on this channel and i loved what i heard.

Very true...it is hard to stop. Kinda wish I never started

Your seat position is way too far back. You're sitting in a dead zone where no sound from Atmos is reflected off the ceiling to where you are. I would say you would need to move your chair up. Probably about 4 ft to put yourself in the cone of sound. Remember Atmos up firing sound is all about angles. I've used up firing speakers for about 2 years now and one setup properly. Yes it does work. I would suggest adjusting your seating position or adjusting where the upfire speakers are sitting. Use a protractor. Map out your room and stay within that 35° bubble from sound bouncing off the ceiling.

I've personally just begun my journey of home cinema audio upgrades and am now at a 5.1 System. I wanted to eventually add height channels to it (once I figure out how to support it software) and thanks to you I now know that up firing speakers won't cut it.

4 height speakers. I divided the 180 degrees from base layer in front and base layer in back into 3 x 60 degrees. So overhead pans should be having no gaps in time. Same for base layer, trying to keep angles the same as possible.

I obviously can't speak for everyone as their homes, equipment and setup is different than mine. However, I can say with 100% confidence that I LOVE my Klipsch Reference Premiere RP-140SA Dolby Atmos Speakers. I've been waiting to express my feelings on this but most home theater people tend to dismiss upfiring speakers entirely and recommend in ceiling speakers without any experience with a great upfiring setup; and I believe I have one of those setups! And, yes, I have popcorn ceilings! But I know I will still get downvoted so here it goes... Everyone keeps insisting in-ceiling is the best, but like Andrew Jones said, when it's in the ceiling (one less than 9ft), it's a discrete sound and you know it's speaker-centric. Whereas when you have the upward-firing speakers positioned and EQ'd correctly, it's an immersive ATMOSpheric sound that is independent of any specific speaker, unparalleled in the world of home theater! Movie theaters are an exception because of the huge auditorium with really high ceilings that are lined with speakers so the listener seated far below cannot hear the sound above coming from a specific speaker. This effect is nullified when you're talking about home theaters that have ceilings so much shorter in comparison, therefore the ability to discern the speaker-centric sound is greatly pronounced. I know some will argue that Andrew Jones is just trying to sell his product, therefore his glowing recommendation of them over in-ceiling speakers, but at least check out his explanation in the video below... kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gah4d9eB2p-5ep8.html In the video, Andrew Jones said: "I got involved in doing an enabled system because of what I heard when Dolby showed it to me. I preferred the sound of the enabled. And it’s interesting since that time as more and more film mixes have been exposed to the enabled type approach. They prefer the enabled sound, because in the theatrical movies and any theater, the speakers are way above you; in a home they’re not. If there’s physical speakers in the ceiling, it’s 7.5 feet to 8 feet typically - it’s a bit too close. And as you move around the listening locations, you’re getting closer to one speaker than the other, the image is shifting, you’re aware of a physical speaker." "From up there with the bounced signal from the enabled, this appears upside down six feet above the ceiling. So the source that you’re aware of, that’s giving you the encoding information to give height, is 6 foot above an 8 foot ceiling and it doesn’t change as you move around. So the soundfield, I think, becomes more immersive, more continuous, maybe not quite as discrete, but the real fun aspect of Atmos is the immersion in the soundfield." Prior to object-based sound like DTS:X and Dolby Atmos, we've always had in-ceiling speakers, and while they're nice and theatrical, it's nothing new. Reflective speakers are the newest addition to home audio and when they're done right, they are completely 360 degree immersive... anyone who hasn't experienced this with enabled speakers is either setting them up wrong, improperly angling them and/or dialing them in ineffectively, don't have a proper acoustically engineered movie or show, or their ceilings are too high to witness the true benefit of them! Every time I play a well done Dolby Atmos or DTS:X movie (e.g., Mad Max Fury Road, The Cloverfield Paradox, Hacksaw Ridge, The Incredible Hulk, etc. 4K UHDs), I am grinning ear to ear in amazement with not just "height effects"... I'm talking 360 degree sound field immersion (and I have popcorn ceilings, which are considered bad for upfiring speakers)! I have a home where speakers were prewired through the walls and I have the ability to go in-ceiling if I really wanted to, but I have no desire to, because what I'm experiencing from upfiring is my complete immersion in the soundfield without being able to pinpoint what speaker it's coming from! This will be eliminated if I go to an in-ceiling installation and that's why I will never do so. For those who have higher ceilings (over 9ft) and a larger room for your theater, it's probably best that you go the in-ceiling route, but for those who have a smaller area to work with, height and length-wise, don't discount enabled, upfiring speakers. Make sure you are dialing them in correctly before dismissing them. Because I can honestly say, if they aren't blowing you away by listening to the object-based effects, then you don't have them set up properly! (Personally, I would never buy the enabled/upfiring drivers built into the Left and Right speakers, only the modules as they may not be properly angled for the correct reflection to your main listening position.) You may need to prop something under the Atmos speakers to get the adequate angle for the reflected sound. Also make sure you close the distance between the speakers and the ceiling (mine are around 3ft from the ceiling). People assume the Atmos-enabled speakers are at the correct angle to reflect sound to their listening position, but that is different for each home theater room. Depending on the height of your ceiling, ceiling obstructions, angle and listening position, the speaker's angle to the ceiling may need to be adjusted accordingly. To determine if it's at the ideal angle, you need to test it with the official Dolby Atmos Reference Demos "Amaze Trailer" and "Leaf Trailer", ensuring that you are hearing a completely filled 360 degree sound stage without any gaps therein. If you are hearing sound coming from where the Atmos speakers are placed when you're in your normal listening position, that is NOT the right angle! You should NOT notice sound coming directly from the Atmos speakers. It should have a height presence to it around the ceiling area that may be more noticeable if you "close your eyes" and listen (if your speakers can't be turned up any louder). If you can't hear much coming from them in the ceiling area, don't be afraid to max out the speaker's volume in the AVR's setup speaker volume in decibels.

I've done a ton of experimenting myself, but I can't do ceiling mounts. I didn't like high wall mount because I got some harsh reflections. All the upward firing speakers I've tried have not been satisfactory. My best results have been regular 2 way bookshelf speakers angled 20 degrees from vertical with the tweeter closer to the listening position and the crossover as high as your receiver allows. It also matters how far away you sit, if the speaker is too far I think the reflection ends up wasted in front of you. My experience is it didn't work well on the sides either wall or reflection mounted as its too left/right localized. Every speaker I've tried that was built to be upward fired either sounds off due to design, or is very inefficient and room correction never handles them right

I never thought upward firing speakers would work as intended. You are better off getting the speakers as high as you can, and angling them down towards you if in ceiling is a no no.

Great video! Very useful information for a lot of people. Obviously with it not being your space more in-depth testing wasn't probably possible however if you do it again I'd use a different movie with known good atmos uptop. Another thing I've heard helps with upward firing is adjusting the angle since if you think about it they are usually a set angle so assuming you're not sitting at the exact perfect spot based on baffle angle, ceiling height - module height, and seating distance it's possible all the reflected sound is infront or behind the seats. That's why I never recommend build in ones as you can't prop up the front or back of the module to increase/decrease the angle. I was originally planning on doing a 5.2.2 top middle atmos setup but I'm thinking before I go cutting holes in my ceiling I might see if I can do 5.1.4/5 auro3d setup since I can't do 5.1.4 atmos due to couch being on back wall.

I hate being short. Dude just reached up to the ceiling. LOL

Moved to a new location so setting up our AV system for the first time in this house. We have a avr-X1800 7.1 Denon AVR. Will be using a Definitive Technology Procinema 6D 5.1 speakers with stands for ear level. I have a couple of extra Procinema 800 satellites which I will try mounting on walls near the ceiling for height which is about the only place I can mount height speakers. The living room is quite small and not easy to set up an AV system. The fireplace in the middle of the long wall complicates the setup. Will post how it sounds.

the best way to listen to Dolby Atmos is in the 13.1.10 config.. using the Smyth Research A16 ..... it sounds amazing..

You have to increase the volume, my upfiring speakers are so precise and sound is heard above my head so clear using techno-dad's callibration disc, O hear him speaking above my head and from all four corners of the room, very very accurately

Like I said in the last video, you're in my head...literally! How?? Amazing comparison and with real world perspectives. I literally feel like you're on the exact same journey as me on discovering Home Theater and ratcheting up your experience with but still offering valuable insights for even seasoned folks. #Nailingit

And of course, this came out AFTER I bought the R-625fa pair. (This is life though) Definitely selling them to give more options, as the apt I am moving to has a 2ft higher ceiling. This particular apt will actually allow for mounting of speakers and tv! Thank you a ton for sharing your experiments and results!

I'm experimenting with a 5th option (up-fire, on-wall). I have up-firing Polk XT-90s and found them to be lacking when placed on top of my fronts/rears. I completely agree with your findings... too lossy with the extra distance this creates and they mostly get lost. I have wall mount brackets in the corners of my room (front and back about 1.5' from ceiling), I'm trying out placing them into the brackets but not pointing them directly at me, leaving them pointing up towards the ceiling at 45 degrees. That way, the sound from each "fills" the corners of the room with less directional effect. Still too soon to tell if this is better than placing them pointing directly with those brackets, but so far so good and I like it.

Bose and Polk Audio were both two of many companies who have done this. Atmos is just the 2.o reboot of this with home theater software.

Wonderful content. Have 3 pair of Atmos speakers. Klipsch r 41sa Klipsch rp 500sa SVS Prime Elevation Going to try the side wall placement for my Elevation pair.

If you can't mount mount speakers to walls or into ceilings maybe try some tall speaker stands for your hight speakers or hanging ceiling mounts

Hi Ealan, after spending 2 hours testing placements for the best atmos effects using my speakers and I finally found the best solution that you may want to try. My ceiling is 8' hight and I have 2 klipsch reference bookshelf speakers being used a atmos speakers sitting on the top of a two 6' tall bookshelves while having the tv in the middle. I have the speakers tilt toward the ceiling instead of facing where I am sitting and they sound amazing. The problem of having on wall speakers facing my sitting position is that I can tell where the sound is coming from l ( from the front pretty much like 2 stereo speakers sitting high up.) On the other hand, When I have the speakers sitting on top of the selves facing the ceiling at a 20-25 degree angle, the sound blow to the ceiling and it spreads across the room and I feel like the sound is coming from above all over the place. I cannot believe how good it sounds!! It is extremely difficult for the sound from upfiring speakers to bounce off the ceiling when placing them on top of a set of tower speakers, but they work 10x better when they are placed closer to the ceiling since that require a lot less power. Since my wife doesn't want me to have in ceiling speakers, so I planned to mount 4 speakers in the corners of the rooms and make it a 5.1.4 setup, but now I am super happy with my 5.1.2 setup. Note that my room is about 10 feet wide and 16 feet long, I probably would need to mount 2 speakers in the back if my room was bigger.

I agree. My first experience was with up firing Speakers didn’t work for me, so I bought 4 SVS elevation speakers mounted them on the walls recommended by auro, I liked it but wanted more. I redid my room 11 x 13 a small room so mounting them on the ceiling works for both ATMOS/AURO Because the room is so small and I was able to put the ceiling speakers over my floor Speakers and now the configuration works for both.

The biggest problem is the movies lack of sound. I've done the same thing as to disconnect everything but the height channels and most movies don't have anything there. Also for up-firing you need a good speaker, a one that hides the mid driver inside so you can't hear it directly. Also the floor standing speakers need to be just above your head so that the up-firing are not visible directly.

This is a very knowledgeable video. Was so confused while selecting the system. This video sorted/covered everything very well.

Hi. Interesting comments about up-firing speakers. Wrong lol, but interesting ;) I get sounds coming from the ceiling all the time. I think using timbre matched Dolby speakers built into my Focal speakers and not external Dolby modules helps. I wouldn't recommend them to everyone because there might be too many variables outside of our control, any one of which might derail the whole experience.But they've always sounded great for me, even when I just had 2 speakers. Today I tried TechnoDad's specially mixed Atmos demo and it worked brilliantly with all the height effects directed exactly where he placed them. So well in fact, that I realized that I needed movie my surround heights to surround back heights in order to get the full front to back experience.

No kidding, this is the best dolby Atmos speakers placement and real experience explanation ever. Thank you so much again for being straight to the point. It is a ton better than other people and channels that don’t really give details and how to and what to! Awesome video!👍

Oh man! I've been trying to convince myself that my up-firing speakers are doing just fine sitting on top of my Energy fronts. Well, you seriously opened my eyes! Cause here's the kicker… I'm dealing with a GD cathedral ceiling! "Probably" in that 8-9 ft range on the high side but obviously the heights are unmatched. I thought calibrating my Atmos receiver would account for the difference. Probably not. I think they can be mounted on the wall above my TV but it will not be the most aesthetically pleasing visual. I guess there's always cord covers for the wall. Oh well… It's all about the sound, right?

Yeeeeeeeees my man! But now I have to wait all day to watch!

I have a very unoptimal home theater setup a 20x15 room set up wide not long. It's also the attic of my house so it has sloped ceilings what I've done is I have two Billy tall Ikea bookshelves on either side of the sitting position with a full size 6-in driver speaker on top pointing at the angled wall but then bounces the sound down to the listener. Playing with the angle that it hits that angled ceiling, and the angle of the speaker made for a very nice effect

The problem that no one addresses, the movies with good surround sound are very very very rare, most movies the back channel is non existent, as for the top/atmos speaker channel.... good luck.

Thanks Ealan! This is exactly what I was trying to decide on!

I had upward firing built into my speakers, totally disappointed in the results. So I got 4 dali alteco c1 elevation speakers for front/back heights. Wow what a difference, now I can hear atmos affects.

Hmm, well as right now I only have a soundbar with height effects bouncing off the ceiling, but I will be building out a room in my basement, with in ceiling klipsch speakers, that I think will sound great and add some more dimensionality to my movie watching experience… as opposed to the hit and miss of the bouncing sound off of the ceiling…

Should the front hight speakers be louder then the rest? I think they blend well but hearing the effekt placed up high ist easy and I often wonder if the sound is coming from the front or hight speakers.

I'm used starting a 300USD AVR+speaker set for 7 years and just getting my first Dolby atmos setup today but I have to manage and clear some stuff in my room first lmao. And my budget was not enough so I take the Yamaha RX-A4A because of the price and took almost the budget into 5.2.2 set up with Klipsch. After doing some research I think I have a plan to go for 7.2.4 in the future. But for now.. This is my first time Atmos experience I'm still excited to experiment with upward firing and on the wall for soon.

Curious if bouncing is better or mounting them in the height position and trying them as Atmos to kind of fake out the Atmos setting.

did you try raising the volume on the channel for the upwards-firing setup?

I completely disagree with upwards firing. You even gave a good reason with the Atmos tracks being pretty much terrible still in today's movies, but I can definitely hear them well if you have the right source. My upwards only travel about 4 to 5 ft in the air before reflecting to about 6ft of distance.

You are asking the important questions! Will you be having other videos coming out that test speaker placement like this? Also, I didn't know Auro 3D existed. Will you do a video comparing that to Atmos?

Your videos are really fun to watch. Well researched content. Good work🎉

Im waiting for my str an1000 to arrive and now Im confused where to place the height channels, in the beginning i just thought i would place them right above my head it was so obvious but now i understand it can be a noob mistake, now after watching many videos Im planning to place two satellites on ceiling front shooting directly towards you, like if you had a an on ceiling 4 speaker configuration, where the front ceiling speakers would be placed, so it might can give you that wall of sound effects with height sensation too, please inwant opinion on this 🙌🏼

Ok, so it sounds like you really liked the wall mounted height speakers more than the on-ceiling/in-ceiling speakers. Is that an accurate assessment? I'm working on finishing my basement at the moment and am getting ready to run speaker wire before drywall goes up. Trying to decide if I wire for in-ceiling while I have the chance or if I should go for wall mounted height speakers instead. Thoughts?

Fully agree that the up firing speakers are far less effective than ceiling or front high atmos mounting. But why high end speakers has atmos speakers built-in on the top ?

Yamaha did this with rx-z11 years ago which I currently have and love.

I completely disagree, have the klipsch 8060 front...the effect is dramatic. Tried several atmos demos discs and I can confirm the sound was clearly coming from above. In the dolby helicopter demo, it you cleary move from back to the front and around, all coming from above. The problems is most forget to bump up the volume of the atmos module a few db, +3 to +6 after doing room correction.

Since the sound has a longer distance to travel to the listener from the speaker shouldn't the volume and distance be compensated for in the receiver?

On Wall heights using Auro3D is the best sound. You can make any badly mixed ATMOS movie and make it rock even compared to True DOLBY Atmos that was mixed properly

Very awesome comparison. Have you configured the Speaker as Atmos, Front high and on ceiling speakers or were they all configured the same?

Ealan, I'm converting a small bedroom into a dedicated front projection HT room. It measures 12.5" x 12.5" x 9. I've heard from some don't do atmos in this room due to how small it is. Or the separation of the atmos speakers wouldn't be big enough. I've decided to install 2 atmos speakers and then maybe decide later to add 2 more. What are your thoughts??

Hello good sir! Timecode 9 minutes and 17 seconds. Are the Atmos speakers taped onto the ceiling? What kind of magic is that? I am not able to drill into the ceiling due to a cooling system and your solution looks like it will work? I have the Dali Alteco C1 x4.

Great video! What bass traps did u have behind you lol ?

Hi good video. Question. What is better. Put the height speaker (upfiring) directly on the ceiling or on the wall right next to the ceiling? (Video 9:18 min)

Seems like in wall heights have an extra advantage of wiring convenience. It’s the same wall cavity that is used for the mains