Don't have time to read entire thread but ....
I upgraded to Atmos this time last year. I use M3 in ceilings for the Atmos speakers. Because my room never made sense for a 7.1 setup I have always ran a 5.1 with the QS8's up high. Some where around 7'. I have two rows of seating, and my back riser is only about 8" high. In 5.1 this setup worked fine in one house, but for some reason in my second house I was never happy with the qs8's up high and since both rooms were very close in size I was puzzled.
With the upgrade to Atmos, I originally just installed the ceiling speakers in top rear/top front positions and left the qs8's high. This was a HUGE mistake and I knew it would be but I tried it anyways because who likes running more in wall wires? Well, with the qs8's up high there was no way to tell when sound was coming from the top rear's or just the qs8's. It all sounded the same.
So, down they came. More wires ran in wall, and now they sit at ear level when sitting down in my front row. Right off the bat, huge difference be it with atmos or not. Glad I did it. Atmos now sounds great.
Now as for the direct radiating speakers vs qs8 issue. Atmos is very hard to configure for two row seating. The ceilings speakers being the most difficult to place especially in my ceiling where I had few choices to mount. Side surrounds like the QS8's actually help my second row since they fire at both rows when positioned between them. Remember I only have 5.1.4 or technically 5.2.4. I feel I am missing something without the surround backs....which I will remedy once DTS dsx gets popular.
With a new setup from scratch, I'd go with direct firing bookshelves all around in a 7.2.4 setup at min. Dual subs are a must. The old model of big old towers in front and bi poles or whatever in rear doesn't seem optimal for atmos. You want all speakers to be similar.
Now, as for the top firing modules on the front speakers - do not waste youe time.
Lots of Atmos titles out there now, really enjoy my setup. But I'd caution waiting for the DTS solution to finalize, and make sure to go with a 7.2.4 setup at least.
The other last tidbit concerns the M3 in ceilings. They need aimable tweeters. I'm not saying they do not work well in Atmos...because they do, but if you could aim them towards the mlp they would be much better.
Last edited by newf; 11/10/15 02:29 AM.
