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Dolby Digital Atmos Installation Manuallines

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Dolby Atmos
®
Home Theater Installation Guidelines
July 2017

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Summary of Contents for Dolby Digital Atmos

  • Page 1 Dolby Atmos ® Home Theater Installation Guidelines July 2017...

  • Page 2: Table Of Contents

    • Speaker-Level Calibration and EQ Standard Speaker Configurations • Dolby Conventions for Speaker Configurations • Standard Setup for Both Overhead Speakers and Dolby Atmos Enabled Speakers Additional Speaker Placement Guidelines • Listener-Level Speaker Placement Guidelines • Height Speaker Placement Guidelines...

  • Page 3: Preface: How To Use This Guide

    Dolby Atmos system with as many as 24 speakers on the floor and 10 overhead speakers. The naming of Dolby Atmos speaker configurations is based on the standard nomenclature (stereo, 5.1, and 7.1) but adds a number at the end to specify the number of height speakers in the playback system.
  • Page 4 Figure 1: At left is a Dolby Atmos system with five speakers on the floor and four overhead speakers; at right is a Dolby Atmos system with up to 24 speakers on the floor and 10 overhead speakers. Additionally, a new Dolby surround upmixer allows for channel-based content that has not been mixed ®...

  • Page 5: General Dolby Atmos Home Setup Guidelines

    You should check with the Blu-ray player manufacturer if you encounter problems. Decoding and rendering of Dolby Atmos content is managed entirely by the AVR. To properly pass the Dolby Atmos audio to the AVR, source devices must be connected to the AVR via HDMI 1.4 or later and set to audio bitstream out.

  • Page 6: Dolby Atmos Home Theater Speaker Options

    The dimension of height—hearing sounds coming from above you—is key to the Dolby Atmos experience. Reproducing overhead sounds requires new thinking about home theater design. You have several different speaker options for a Dolby Atmos home theater system, and you will not likely have to replace all of your current speakers.

  • Page 7: Overhead Speakers

    Overhead Speakers Overhead sound is a vital part of the Dolby Atmos experience. There are a variety of options for adding this capability to a room. One solution is to install speakers overhead. Most conventional overhead speakers with wide dispersion characteristics will work in a Dolby Atmos home theater.
  • Page 8 Figure 2: Vertical position of front, surround, and overhead speakers. Figure 3: Top view, listener-level and height (overhead) speakers in a 7.1.4 configuration.

  • Page 9: Use Of Existing Overhead Speakers

    If you rent the home, the property owner may not allow the change. If the To get the best Dolby Atmos experience, there must be separation between the listener-level speakers and overhead speakers. Installing all of the speakers in the ceiling will not give the optimal experience and is not recommended.

  • Page 10: Dolby Atmos Enabled Speakers

    The height terminals of an integrated Dolby Atmos enabled speaker or an add-on module must be individually connected to the corresponding output terminals on the AVR via their own speaker wire pair. Bridging the height terminals with the main speaker...
  • Page 11 Typically, these speakers are not full range. Please refer to the bass management subsection later in this section. Figure 6: Dolby Atmos enabled add-on modules include only upward-firing elements. You can place them on top of your traditional front-firing speakers or on another surface near them.
  • Page 12 The other two should be positioned ideally in the rear surround speaker locations or alternatively in the surround sound speaker locations. If you are using only two Dolby Atmos enabled speakers, place them at the left front and right front speaker locations.

  • Page 13: Combination: Overhead And Dolby Atmos Enabled Speakers

    In this case, Dolby Atmos enabled speakers may be used to complement existing overhead speakers to create a full four-speaker height experience. If existing overhead speakers are in the front of the room, then Dolby Atmos enabled speakers may be used in the rear of the room, and vice versa.
  • Page 14 (b) the ceiling to the listening position. Autocalibration systems can sometimes incorrectly set the The height terminals of an integrated Dolby Atmos enabled speaker or an add-on module must be individually connected to the corresponding output terminals on the AVR via their own speaker wire pair. Bridging the height terminals with the main speaker...

  • Page 15: Speaker-Level Calibration And Eq

    Note: If you use the autocalibration setup included in your AVR or processor, be sure to manually check the levels on the subwoofer and the Dolby Atmos enabled speakers. Some home theater systems do not correctly set the levels for these speakers.

  • Page 16: Standard Speaker Configurations

    3. Standard Speaker Configurations Dolby Conventions for Speaker Configurations With the debut of Dolby Atmos, there is a new method of referring to surround sound speaker configurations (see the “Dolby Atmos for the Home Theater” white paper for more details). As we mentioned earlier, it is based on the standard nomenclature (stereo, 5.1, and 7.1) but adds a number at...
  • Page 17 Figure 10: A traditional 5.1 speaker layout with two Dolby Atmos enabled speakers (5.1.2). Standard Setups for Both Overhead Speakers and Dolby Atmos Enabled Speakers The following pages contain images of standard and hybrid setups for the most common speaker configurations and are provided for both overhead speakers and Dolby Atmos enabled speakers: 5.1.2...
  • Page 18 Figure 11: Standard 5.1.2 setup with overhead speakers.
  • Page 19 Figure 12: Standard 5.1.2 setup with Dolby Atmos enabled speakers.
  • Page 20 Figure 13: Standard 5.1.4 setup with overhead speakers.
  • Page 21 Figure 14: Standard 5.1.4 setup with Dolby Atmos enabled speakers.
  • Page 22 Figure 15: Hybrid 5.1.4 setup with rear Dolby Atmos enabled speakers and front overhead speakers.
  • Page 23 Figure 16: Hybrid 5.1.4 setup with front Dolby Atmos enabled speakers and rear overhead speakers.
  • Page 24 Figure 17: Standard 7.1.2 setup with overhead speakers.
  • Page 25 Figure 18: Standard 7.1.2 setup with Dolby Atmos enabled speakers.
  • Page 26 Figure 19: Standard 7.1.4 setup with overhead speakers.
  • Page 27 Figure 20: Standard 7.1.4 setup with Dolby Atmos enabled speakers.
  • Page 28 Figure 21: Hybrid 7.1.4 setup with rear Dolby Atmos enabled speakers and front overhead speakers.
  • Page 29 Figure 22: Hybrid 7.1.4 setup with front Dolby Atmos enabled speakers and rear overhead speakers.
  • Page 30 Figure 23: Standard 9.1.2 setup with overhead speakers.
  • Page 31 Figure 24: Standard 9.1.2 setup with Dolby Atmos enabled speakers.
  • Page 32 Figure 25: Standard 9.1.4 setup with overhead speakers.
  • Page 33 Figure 26: Standard 9.1.4 setup with Dolby Atmos enabled speakers.

  • Page 34: Additional Speaker Placement Guidelines

    4. Additional Speaker Placement Guidelines In addition to the typical configurations in the previous section, Dolby Atmos can support more speaker positions, up to a maximum of 34 total (for example, 24.1.10). This section focuses on the placement of speakers, which may be added to the positions covered in section 3.
  • Page 35 included in the speaker layout, we recommend that distances between the left and right, left center and right center, left screen and right screen, and center speakers be subdivided and that the left center and right center speakers be placed at approximately 30 degrees from the center-front reference. Figure 27 shows the range of angles at which the left center and right center speakers may be placed.
  • Page 36 5° 5° 15° 15° Figure 28: Left screen and right screen speaker placement. Left surround 1/right surround 1 speaker pair The left surround 1 and right surround 1 speakers should be placed between the left surround and right surround and left wide and right wide speakers at approximately 75 degrees from the center-front reference.
  • Page 37 Left surround 2/right surround 2 speaker pair The left surround 2 and right surround 2 speakers should be placed between the left surround and right surround and left rear surround 1 and right rear surround 1 speakers at approximately 105 degrees from the center-front reference.
  • Page 38 105° 105° 120° 120° 135° 135° Lrs1 Rrs1 Figure 31: Left rear surround 1 and right rear surround 1 speaker placement. Left rear surround 2/right rear surround 2 speaker pair The left rear surround 2 and right rear surround 2 speakers should be placed between the left rear surround and right rear surround and left center surround and right center surround speakers at approximately 145 degrees from the center-front reference.

  • Page 39: Height Speaker Placement Guidelines

    Left center surround/right center surround speaker pair The left center surround and right center surround speakers should be placed between the left rear surround, right rear surround, and center surround speakers at approximately 165 degrees from the center-front reference. Figure 33 shows the range of angles at which the left center surround and right center surround speakers may be placed.
  • Page 40 Left front height/right front height speaker pair The left front height and right front height speakers should be mounted on the front wall (instead of on the ceiling) in line with an approximately 30 degrees horizontal from the center-front reference. This places the left front height and right front height speakers directly above the left and right speakers.
  • Page 41 Figure 35: Top view of left front height and right front height speaker placement. Left rear height/right rear height speaker pair We recommend that the left rear height and right rear height speakers be mounted on the rear wall (instead of on the ceiling) in line with an approximately 30 degrees horizontal from the center-front reference.
  • Page 42 op View of Lr h/Rrh Spe aker Place ment Figur e Figure 37: Top view of left rear height and right rear height speaker placement.

  • Page 43: Dolby Surround Upmixer

    5. Dolby Surround Upmixer When you invest in a Dolby Atmos home theater, you expect to get full use of all the components, even when the content you are playing is not mixed in Dolby Atmos. This includes taking advantage of overhead and Dolby Atmos enabled speakers to further enhance the playback experience.

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