Question

Atmos height - does sound come from above?

S
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I have been playing some Dolby Atmos content via iTunes Movies (Apple TV) on an LG C9. I get all the notifications Atmos is playing. I think it sounds incredible and really good at placing sound left to right but I have yet to hear anything from above.

What are my expectations from sound bouncing from above? I cannot distinguish anything from above even when watching scenes known for their great height Atmos effects.

I am wondering if there is any set distance from the TV required, and what are people’s experiences with the height of Atmos? Should I be hearing sound from above because at the moment it all sounds around my head height coming forward from the bar.

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14 replies

R

I have a double loft ceiling in the entire room where the ARC is so I am also interested to hear what the answer is to this before I shell out @ some point on an earc capable TV for Atmos

S
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I moved from a Playbase and the difference with Atmos, without the height, has won me over. It sounds really great! I am just missing the height after reading so much about the bouncing sound. I am wondering if Trueplay has tuned the speakers quieter. I would love a slider like the rear surrounds have for TV to boost it to see.

G

I moved from a Playbase and the difference with Atmos, without the height, has won me over. It sounds really great! I am just missing the height after reading so much about the bouncing sound. I am wondering if Trueplay has tuned the speakers quieter. I would love a slider like the rear surrounds have for TV to boost it to see.

Exact same experience here.

The width of the soundstage on the arc vs the playbase is in a totally different universe.

I find myself constantly switching between tur ing my surrounds on and off in an attempt to decide whether I still need them or not sometimes. I'll have the surrounds off but still be hearing sound that seems to be coming from the disabled play 1s! (I'm definitely keeping the play 1s though as the arc isn't so hot for.music).

 

However as you say, I'm also not really able to perceive sound from above despite having a solid, unhindered concrete ceiling with shiny gloss paint on it.

 

Being able to have some way to be able to isolate what sounds are coming from the atmos speakers and being able to tune them as I do.with my surrounds would help a whole lot.

 

N
Userlevel 5
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As per warnings that have been posted before. Dolby Atmos will never sound convincing or good coming from a soundbar unless the soundbar is used in a small room with low ceilings and you must sit in the correct spot.

Have you tried the S2 app? Maybe you can change the volume of the up firing drivers and that might help if you bump themup in volume?

But all in all, the only way to grauntee a perfect Atmos experience is sticking a speaker on your ceiling that fires sound down. Trying to bound sound off anything is something that isn’t going to work well for most people

SONOS ARC | SONOS Sub | SONOS Play 1 x 2 | LG C9 OLED | PS5 | RTX3090 Gaming PC | Sennheiser GSP600 Headset | Audio Pro T8L Desktop Monitors
S
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Nothing in the S2 app. I don’t expect anything comparable to having speakers in the ceiling, but I wasn’t expecting nothing at all. It plays such a large part (for me) in the marketing and to have the dedicated speakers as well. I’m just wondering if this is something in the tuning.

I live in apartment, with a low-ish, flat and smooth ceiling so I though I had somewhat ideal conditions. It’s even mentioned in the community post “Understanding Dolby Atmos and Sonos Arc” as “Dolby Atmos (as in “atmosphere”) is a format that allows sound to be heard three-dimensionally —including from above! (Arc achieves this by bouncing sound off of the ceiling).”

Granted I have missed the warnings posted here, but I do believe I should be hearing something from above? I’m extremely happy with the rest of the soundstage and clarity of dialogue otherwise.

T

You can try this 5.1.2 testifies with DD+ Atmos to see if the up firing drivers are fine. 
For me unfortunately it doesn’t sound good … it mostly comes from infront or if I connect rear speakers it comes from behind … never from above :(

https://we.tl/t-tMrhDvuhno

E
Userlevel 3
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I need to tilt the Arc forward to maximise the height channels effect. Try that.

Details below:

In youtube, someone mentioned that:

“Until last night I wasn't hearing much from the Atmos effect, but now I am. I had to move my listening position forward 6 inches then the bar forward 6 inches. I then used the brown spacers (second from the thickest) under the rear of the bar, Atmos effects kicked in. The bubble for the effects seems rather narrow. I am now sitting 9 feet from the bar. 8 feet is where the top firing speakers are the strongest. I just can't justify shrinking the room another foot .”

It seems, as I always thought, that due to the fixed angle of the upward firing woffers, there must be a sweet spot for the maximum height effect.

At the moment, I am settled with lifting the rear of the Arc by 10mm.

Before, I could not tell any difference between DD5.1 and Dolby Atmos when I switch between the two.

Now, I can feel I am in a sound bubble instead of a sound ring. Happy with Atmos, finally.

I find that the sounds from the forward firing speakers are not noticeably affected in this angle of tilt.

The ceiling height is 2500mm, the seating position to the Arc is 2400mm, the height of the Arc from the floor is 550mm ang the ear level is 1000mm above floor. That is my sweet spot for Atmos. The ceiling is uniform, level and flat.

I have the Sub and two One SL’s as rears.

T

@ekwok thanks so much for explanation! How high is the angle of the arc roughly or how high are the spacers you used?

i will try at home with my demo file.

E
Userlevel 3
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IThe height of the spacer is 15mm. So practically, the rear edge is raised 15mm. I tried 20mm as well once but I find 15mm works best in my room. 

T

@ekwok 

i tried the described setup at home and unfortunately I couldn’t replicate the good results :( 

i have nearly the same dimensions like you, but did not hear sound coming from the sealing. 
Strangely when I connect my rear (play:1) the sound which should come from the sealing (acc to the 5.1.2 file I posted) is played by the rear speakers only, arc is completely silent.

 

can you confirm that you hear sound from above playing the file I posted ? This Info would help a lot, knowing that it should work in general 

 

thanks 

E
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@ekwok

i tried the described setup at home and unfortunately I couldn’t replicate the good results :( 

i have nearly the same dimensions like you, but did not hear sound coming from the sealing. 
Strangely when I connect my rear (play:1) the sound which should come from the sealing (acc to the 5.1.2 file I posted) is played by the rear speakers only, arc is completely silent.

 

can you confirm that you hear sound from above playing the file I posted ? This Info would help a lot, knowing that it should work in general 

 

thanks 

Hmm, when the ceiling speakers are highlighted on screen, the upward firing on the Arc makes the noise, and not the rears. The sounds from the 5.1.2 file goes correctly to their respective speakers for me. There must be something wrong with your setup somehow.

I have to say though when I use that file to test for height effect, it is not the most obvious. When I played Wandering Earth from Netflix time stamp 1:28:00 or so, the electric sparks from the ceiling sounds like it is right on top of me! And when I level the Arc again, those sounds are not as convincing as when I tilt the arc forward.

E
Userlevel 3
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@Thrhw31 , 

Can you confirm from the S2 app that the Arc is receiving Dolby Atmos when you play that file?

 

T

@ekwok  

thanks for confirming. My s2 app shows Atmos, so it should work. 
i will contact the Sonos support and maybe they can see what is wrong. 
unfortunately my tv is receiving atmos in the Netflix app :( the only way for me to test the set up are files on an usb stick 

F

I need to tilt the Arc forward to maximise the height channels effect. Try that.

Details below:

In youtube, someone mentioned that:

“Until last night I wasn't hearing much from the Atmos effect, but now I am. I had to move my listening position forward 6 inches then the bar forward 6 inches. I then used the brown spacers (second from the thickest) under the rear of the bar, Atmos effects kicked in. The bubble for the effects seems rather narrow. I am now sitting 9 feet from the bar. 8 feet is where the top firing speakers are the strongest. I just can't justify shrinking the room another foot .”

It seems, as I always thought, that due to the fixed angle of the upward firing woffers, there must be a sweet spot for the maximum height effect.

At the moment, I am settled with lifting the rear of the Arc by 10mm.

Before, I could not tell any difference between DD5.1 and Dolby Atmos when I switch between the two.

Now, I can feel I am in a sound bubble instead of a sound ring. Happy with Atmos, finally.

I find that the sounds from the forward firing speakers are not noticeably affected in this angle of tilt.

The ceiling height is 2500mm, the seating position to the Arc is 2400mm, the height of the Arc from the floor is 550mm ang the ear level is 1000mm above floor. That is my sweet spot for Atmos. The ceiling is uniform, level and flat.

I have the Sub and two One SL’s as rears.

I’ve to say you’re one of the very few fortunate ones to be able to find the sweet spot. For me, I spent weeks and months of adjustments to distance, tilting the Arc to different degrees and using iPhone 6 all the way to iPhone 11, iPad Air to iPad Pro to fine tune with Trueplay - all to no avail. I’ve a small and ideal 11’x11’ room with 8.5’ ceiling with seating distance of 6.75’ from the Arc and surrounds placed 3.5’ from the rear. I don’t know your expectations but I came from a dedicated and elaborate 9.3.4 (.3 = two subwoofers and a Buttkicker transducer) home theatre system with discrete speakers for front and rear of the ceiling. I’ve since downsized and decided to keep things simple. I can assure you and everybody else in the Sonos community that it’s one of the very best brand out there for the price. Don’t let rtings tell you otherwise. I’ve tried LG SN11YG and then switched to Samsung Q950T to utilize the Q Symphony to match up with the Q90T Samsung TV which I found is a marketing gimmick. All these systems packed a punch but that is where it ends as they just don’t measure up to the overall refined sound of the Sonos. Even my 2nd gen Sonos sub blows both the LG and Samsung’s in punch and tightness.

However, the shortfall of soundbars (perhaps with the exception of Sennheiser Ambeo which I’ve never tested) as I’ve discovered after having testing them quite extensively is that they all failed miserably when it comes to Atmos height - Arc inclusive. There is absolutely NO sound from upfiring speakers from any of them. I’ve not only tested them with Netflix, Apple TV and Amazon Prime, I did most of testing with 4k blu ray discs with movies that came with Dolby Atmos. All movies I’m very familiar with very distinct sound emanating from the ceiling is clearly absent. So, to you all in the Sonos family, we can expect high quality sound and a decent range of immersion, just don’t expect perfect 3 dimensionality, because anything from above is still a marketing gimmick when compared to a discreet system.  

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