FYI. General statement but, "Atmos Enabled" speakers are actually manufactured to meet a higher set of specifications specifically for Dolby Atmos than regular speakers mounted in/on your ceiling. Not that you can't get better speakers that work on the ceiling, but there isn't much in the way of "needs to meet these Atmos specs" out there. I heard A/B/C demos of 7.1, 7.1.4 with ceiling speakers, and 7.1.4 with Atmos enabled. Couldn't really tell much difference in the good ceiling speakers vs. the Atmos Enabled, but like mentioned above, you need a reflective and flat ceiling.

Height does not HAVE to be 8' and the Dolby guys at CEDIA mentioned that they wished that they left that minimum spec out. It will just be less effective the lower the ceiling, but they said that around 7' you start to lose effectiveness. 6'7" will be tricky.

Farewell - June 4, 2020