#Dolby atmos speaker placement 5.1 2 movie

The film’s music score will fade in from every corner of the room filling it with energy. You’ll experience panning from back left to back right. You’ll get a sense that there’s action behind you. Since 5.1 combines both surround sound tracks from 7.1, it follows that there’s no audio missing. It also might be why going from 5.1 to 7.1 only gives you a 30% (or so) boost. This is part of why your front speakers are by far the most important speakers in your system. They grab your attention more readily - which makes sense because you’d need to turn around to see what caused them - but they present slightly less detail. This tells your brain they’re coming from behind. In other words, sounds coming from behind you have certain frequencies reduced. Your ears work out where sounds come from based on the difference between your left and right ears… and the attenuation of frequencies caused by your ear shape.

(That’s an arbitrary number but you get the picture.) You also get panning effects that feel a little more real.īut the improvement is more like 30%. You get a more immersive sound that’s also “bigger feeling” for any given volume level. I’m not saying it isn’t worth upgrading 5.1 to 7.1.

#Dolby atmos speaker placement 5.1 2 movie

It’s not the other way around.ħ.1 is what’s encoded in the movie content, but you can get 70-80% of the experience by combining those surround tracks on each side.

The reality is… 5.1 is actually a concession on 7.1. The following explanation on the other hand, just might…ħ.1 adds two “ear level” speakers to the back I’d also say that every client who heard 7.1 vs 5.1.2 (yes everyone, at least that I can remember) agreed that Atmos was noticeably superior.īut sadly we’re not at a café. If we were sitting at a café sipping espressos I’d be telling you 5.1.2 is better because I sold home theatre for 7 years and… since the day Atmos hit stores and we set up our first demo, it was clear to us 7.1 days were numbered.