How can I take full advantage of DTS NEO:X and use all 11 channels? - Page 2

As I said earlier, I've already traded the center and one of the back surround channels for additional sides, which are at 50 deg and near ceiling level.


That was poorly written on my part; what I meant by 2 or 3 was that's how many 7.1 BD's I've heard so far on the 972.


Right, it doesn't.

I misunderstood the 972 control and display behavior; unbeknownst to me, when you successively press the front panel Surround button it toggles Auto Surround on and off, which, depending on source material, may make various surround modes unavailable.

Or at least seemed to; when toggled out of Auto Surround, the display momentarily says Trinnov Surround, which made me think I got Trinnov or DPL IIx etc.

Now that I've got that straightened out, Curt, riddle me this:

In my current setup with one back surround channel, what happens to the stereo back surround information when I use DPL IIx?

Do you know if Trinnov combinse them to mono, or do I need to use DD EX in order to not lose info?

Back to back surround speaker activity; Sanjay, leaving aside notable examples such as you've cited, how often do you feel the backs add significantly to the experience?

Using the last chapter of the Super Speedway BD, which has several instances of a view down the road and the car coming from behind and zooming past and forward, I just tried DPL IIx Music, DPL IIx Music, and Trinnov Music and Trinnov Cinema.

Still barely anything from the backs.

Whereas an improved front soundstage is in evidence almost all of the time.

The 1009 CANNOT do full 11-channels, even with external amplification. It only has the processing power to generate the sound for 9 channels at a time (not counting the sub). Believe me, if it could do all 11 at once, I'd be running it that way with an external amp!

So the 1009 is not a solution for the original poster who wanted full 11-channel capability.

Right now, the only real solution is the 4311 with 2 external amps, but it will only do DSX and not Neo:X. Audyssey recommends heights first, then wides, then rears if you have to reduce your setup below 11.x

I don't understand this statement. Do you mean that rears are the first to go if you have to use less than 11 speakers - or last to go? Just curious, really. I'm wired for all 11 speakers.

You setup your normal 5.1, then the others are added in this order:

7.x - Front Wides
9.x - Front Wides and Front Heights
11.x - Front Heights and Front Wides and Rear Surrounds.


My room is too narry for front wides, so I am doing a 9.x with front heights and rear surrounds.

This is really good to hear! I run 9.2 from a 3007 using wides.
I love DSX-Wide and you comment has given me fodder to
wait for more features than the current batch of high end AVR's.

Thanks

Depends on who is doing the recommending.

When going beyond 5.1, Audyssey recommends starting from where our hearing is strongest (where we can appreciate the additional imaging stability) and working your way to where our hearing is weakest. That means their order is: Wides first, then Heights, finally Rears. So if you have 9 speakers, their recommendation would have a full 7 of them in front of you with only 2 speakers to describe the entire surround field. A little lop-sided in my opinion, but that's just me.

Pretty much everyone else (including the movie industry) has gone the opposite way, starting where our hearing is weakest (where we need the additional imaging stability) and working to where our hearing is strongest. That order would be: Rears first, then Heights, finally wides (if at all). The movie industry has been doing this by keeping the front channels at 3, but adding more channels to the surround field over the years: Dolby Stereo (mono surround channel), 5.1 (two surround channels), Surround EX (three surround channels), 7.1 (four surround channels).

So it depends on the approach that makes sense to you. Personally, I'd rather put additional speakers/channels where our hearing is weakest, for the same reasons we give crutches to people with weak legs or prescribe glasses to people with weak vision. When expanding beyond 5.1, I would (did) start with Rears, would then add Heights, and then possibly wides (though I personally don't see much need for those). YMMV.

You need the new Dolby Atmos 11 channels are old news lol. http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/26/d...urround-sound/

I could imagine some really cool suspense from above effects with one or two strategically placed center ceiling speakers. One above the main center and one above the seating area, maybe even another to the rear.

And Dolby Atmos is not the only new "better theatrical sound" technology designed to attract consumers into choosing one particular movie and|or theater in preference to another, viz:

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoundChex

As only an observer mostly trying to infer the longer term impact [of Dolby Atmos] on Home Theater, I was interested to read this 5/8/2012 screendigest article "Cinema sound becomes a competitive environment again" (link). It seems to suggest there is (about to be) more of an "audio oriented" struggle for the hearts, minds, ears, and wallets of the high street movie-going public than I had heretofore believed . . . and that we might soon expect to be making our movie and|or theater choices by considering the availability of Dolby Atmos, [imm sound (RIP - eaten by Dolby 7/2012),] Iosono, Auro 11.1, and Illusonic 3D sound as an additional characteristic.

[I have to wonder just how capable is the average theater goer to make a critical discrimination between these five 'enhanced sound' technologies...?! ]

Of course it remains to be seen (1) just how successful will each of these products be in the theater, and (2) when--and to what extent--will any movie theater success translate into the Home Theater environment...?!

Edited by SoundChex - 7/25/12 at 4:00pm

You are right, I mixed it up. I will correct my post.

Room width on its own is not a factor; just put the wides on the side walls at the proper angular location.

I guess right now there is only one AVR in the horizon that can do 11.x DSX and Neo:X

The Denon AVR4520 is supposed to be the replacement for the 4810 and 4311.

Here's hoping that Onkyo's 5510 (5509 replacement) can do that too.

With the change the DenonLinkHD, I might also just bin my DenonLink4 combo of 4010 Universal+AVR4810 and just go for the Onkyo. I already have 11 channels of external amplification and I would love to go full balanced.

I have found this to be true. When I listen to TV programs with surround sound, I swear if I decode using Logic 7 the room comes alive. Go back to Dolby Digital and it is, well, meh. It is like the sound engineers did the spicing up with Matrix surround, but did very little with discrete. The embedded surround from the front channels does leave the Dolby Digital track in the dust on some programs. This isn't always true, but there have been times I was so glad to have the Logic 7 decoding ability.

i think the new yamaha RX-A3020 can be expanded to 11.2

http://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio-visual/aventage/?selected=384538_384537_&mode=compare

From the spec sheet it looks like it implements NEITHER DTS Neo X nor Audyssey DSX

From the rear panel, it looks like it offers the following pre outs
Regular 7.x (up to .2 subwoofer for front and rear)
Front Presence x2 (in place of Zone 2)
Rear Presence x 2 (in place of Zone 3)

For 11 channels in total

But I am not convinced of Yamaha's presence speakers having owned an old Yamaha 2700 in the past. And wasn't too impressed with it. In fact, most reviews of DSX and IIz always tell owners not to be put off by a bad experience with Yamaha's presence speakers because DSX/IIz do improve the soundstage and was not at all gimmicky. This was borne out with my own experience as well.

^^^

Yeah, if your willing to spend $2500 to $3000!

Hopefully we will see a pre/pro with full DTS NEOX 11.4 Marantz would be nice but I am not holding my breath

Interestingly, I don't recall hearing about how much impact (if any!) the acquisition of SRS patent technologies has had|will have on DTS Neo:X evolution over the next few years...?! From what I read 'now', it would seem the 'integration' of DTS|SRS is 'mostly complete' so perhaps we'll see some results of that union soon...

Audio 11.4 / ch laid low with the like of me.

 

This is what I am talking about Multi-Dimensional Audio :)

 

http://www.srstechnologies.com/landing.aspx?id=2459

 

 

http://www.twice.com/magazine/homeaudio/dts-outlines-plan-promote-mda-surround-sound/104706

http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/blog/2012/05/16/3d-audio-update-srs

 

http://www.hometheater.com/content/tech-spotlight-srs-future-surround

 

Interesting Paper

http://www.linkwitzlab.com/multidimensionalaudio.pdf

e,

Thanks for the links, though I don't see how the last one fits in

Wups, someone read past the title.