6 ceiling speakers and either 6 or 8 subs? My layout will have 11 in a layer, which means that you are leaving out the front side ("width") speakers, correct? Is this a change in the Atmos spec or something not needed for residential scale Atmos? I don't have anything back from Dennis yet on my room re-work for Atmos, but there will be 11 positions for sure.

Oops, forgot to count the second set of surrounds toward the rear.....it's going to be 11.6.6 (I discarded the notion of 8--or, rather, my checkbook did )

So that's going to equal 17 regular speakers in an ATMOS setup plus the 6 subs right. DAYUM. That is one serious setup. How many more amps do you need to add to cover your speakers and are they still going to be Emotiva?

Even more important when should we expect framing progress pics?

With this volume of speakers, I am considering selling the Emotivas and going with pro amps based just on a cost perspective. The other side of me is telling me to take advantage of their current amplifier sale (20% off for members of the e-club, of which I am a member. That could work in my favor.

Whenever Big's next visit is. Speaking of which, I have got to find some time to finish the drywall between the joists. I don't have much of it done.

What does the emotiva have a good pro amp wouldn't ?

Ha! I'm going to avoid the consumer amp v. pro amp debate like the plague...let's just say that I like the flashy blue light strips.

I was being serious, and inquisitive - not trying to start a fight or debate or throw troll bait. I don't actually know the full answer but I'd like to understand. PM me a few sentences if you want instead.

Definitely didn't think it was troll-bait Mike, but I did want to avoid the debate that will likely follow this answer from others who swear by pro amps. That being said, what good is a thread if questions aren't answered--that's the purpose of AVS! lol.

So, I believe that *intention* has a lot to do with the end product. There are specific design goals required for residential use that vary significantly from commercial use, where loud monitors are fulling large venues. I own a pro amp for my Crowson Transducers, but I'd never hook speakers up to it. The type of speaker I use are not the speakers it was designed to drive. Emotiva products are designed to be consumer amps, and take into account the speakers, impedences, etc. that would be used in a residential setting. There is the school of thought out there that all amplifiers sound the same. Having owned many amps--some simultaneously, I can attest to the fact that all amps do not sound the same. I love my Emotiva powerhouses, and would love to multiple them for all 8 million channels of audio in the room! I guess the aftermath of the framing/drywall portion will let me know if I can afford to do such things!

17 speakers. SEVENTEEN!!!

Apparently I need to burn my house down and build a new one so I can wire the new theater so that I can increase my measly 7 to 17.

If I were to go the Atmos route, I might end up with a 7-4-4 which would only mean adding 4 ceiling speakers someplace.

SEVENTEEN!! Really???

Tell me again the room dimensions.

Lol, room dimensions are 30'x17'4" before framing. Should be 28'8"x16'2" after the triple drywall soundproofing.

I'm familiar with your room....you'd definitely want six speakers as well, for ceiling imaging between the lcr's and ceiling array.

Those are my dimensions within inches. My screen frame was 17' wide and my room 17'4". I was a bit worried none the less that things wouldn't fit.

I must ask: What super-projector do you use to fill a screen that large???

Well my screen is a 2.40 at 14' wide. Side masking (constant height) increases the frame width to 17'.

Sim2 Lumis/HOST

Very jealous of your projector.

Not to jack Beast's thread, but I just saw the 2008 Electronic House article featuring your theater. How much of an improvement did you see between the two technologies of the SXRD (reflective LCOS) 1080p Sony Qualia 004 and the DLP Sim2 1080p? Was there a noticeable change in overall brightness?

You know the Sony was great but no ability to align panels, thus, convergence was an issue with some haloing and lack of sharpness. The Sony did have beautiful colors and was whisper quiet but the SIM2, though a 3 chip DLP, is widely brighter and sharp as a tack and has much, much deeper blacks. I don't miss SXRD at all.

The Sony could barely light up my 10' wide screen and when I move to a 14' wide screen, I knew it had to go. From 10' to 14' wide, you double the viewing sq footage (42 sq ft to 84 sq ft).

Layout for The Beast, Unleashed - Dolby Atmos Residential Theater:







Bass Model of Room [Pre-Treatment]:



Special thanks to @Nyal Mellor of Acoustic Frontiers for being great to work with. Next up is the treatment plan. I'm telling you guys--designing a theater with this level of scientific detail is an amazing experience, and Acoustic Frontiers values user-input far more than previous designers I've worked with (on this very room).

Wow. That looks extremely impressive Matt. That speaker layout looks awesome as well. So you have 2 24in subs in the front, two subs in the rear corners and two on the side wall. I still can't believe you will have 17 speakers not including the subs. So your sides and rears are triad Golds. Do you have an idea of what the ones in the ceiling will be? With this kind of setup, there are no "extra" speakers in the front corners like front heights or front sides? Just wondering. I can't wait to see the treatment plan as well. This is WAY beyond what my knowledge base is. I am really looking forward to see some of the construction picks and videos as this all comes together.

Is it weird that I'm more exited about your home theater than my own build?

Time to list the projector glass for sale LOL.... don't think a projector is going to sit in a 8 3/4" soffit

nice plan looking forward to seeing it take shape

Is there a reason you decided to go 16 wide when you have 8 foot ceilings?

Crazy! Good thing I am completely cash poor right now or I might start to get an upgrade "itch". Please finish this while I am still poor.

Thanks Mike! I can't wait to see this plan become reality! yup--sides, wides, and rears are Triad Gold LCR's. Triad will be announcing Atmos speakers at CEDIA in two months, so I'll be going with their best Atmos offerings!

LOLOL--Your room will be awesome. Man, give Acoustic Frontiers a call. The Atmos Layout isn't obscenely priced, and you're at the stage where you can get it too!!!

lol, I may curve the rear soffit downward as well in order to hold the projector hush-box. I'd need to do a carboard mock-up to make sure it doens't look CRAZY though (which it might )

The room before framing is 17'4". After framing and soundproofing, we'll be at around 16'.

So if I am reading your schematics right, the chair that is center, first row(the one with the 42 on it) will be your sweet spot seat?

Ha! Well, I'm sure the upgrade itch will be held at bay everytime you relax by your bar area (which I'm healthily jealous of, by the way).

But i think Atmos would be easy for you to do in your room--especially with the way your soffits are designed. Columns could support a cross bar (the angle of which would be hidden by the soffit) and you could attach speakers to the cross bars and cover the row in AT fabric to match your ceiling since your ceiling height would allow that.

Yes indeed!

That's true, but I'd rather you just tell me that it can't be done so I never consider it! Maybe in a couple of years, like 4K, once it becomes more mainstream. By then I'm at least at the 5 year mark for most of my equipment. We'll see!

As for you, I will be inviting myself over to give it a listen once you have it done and there is an Atmos film available!

It can't be done! Not in a millon years!!!!

My first Atmos screening will be consist of just a few local (or semi-local) enthusiasts who helped me with the room in one way or another, be it physically, or with solid advice. That includes you, Clyde, Jeff, Tim, and a couple of other folks. I've set aside about $500 to kick off the Atmos collection when Atmos blu rays are released, so we may go through a bunch of Atmos showcase scenes before we even get to a movie. As we run through them, I'm hoping we can establish reference Atmos scenes (I now own a copy of Scenarist. heh heh...Atmos Demo Disc is forthcoming).

I'm holding off from purchasing blu rays for this very reason. I may actually be moving away from an HTPC environment...but that's a post for another time..

Was going to go to HD to order the studs and setup delivery after work today....but...this torrential rainstorm is making me think otherwise....

I will be interested to see what direction you go in if you your HTPC behind. Does that mean a pre-made one like from Steiger or something else like a single disk (if that's what they end up using) or streaming method.