I don't have an Atmos system and having never played with what options are out there, I am sure that some system implementations are going to be far superior than others.
Where I fall into wonder or worry is that unlike the DD5.1/7.1 that is a defined channel, the Atmos setup is sold more like a blank canvas where it uses the processor inside the AV unit to effectively deliver the sound using what speakers it has.
So I am left to wonder, in the setup of the Atmos system, how do you define what speakers you have, or more importantly, where the speakers you have are located?
Going back to your point of surround speakers infront of your seating position. When you look at the traditional movie theater layout with the array of surround speakers. The were a group of speakers along say the back 1/2 of the theater side walls. I know from going to many movies that the prime seating for best emersive surround effect was to sit 3/4 of the way back. That would put you in about the middle of that surround array with as much sound hitting your ears from infront of you as was coming from behind. If you sat in the front 1/2 of the theater then the sound surround timing would seem a bit to delayed. This held true for even the upgrade move to 7.1 from 5.1.
This lends me to question, if you can define speaker location would I prefer the 11.1 with front wides, surround front, surround back and surroiund rear.. (ie take the standard surround and break it into two with one say 20deg infront of my ears, and a second 20deg behind). I know everyone is looking for the ultimate sound bubble, but I guess it comes from how many movie mixes take advantage of the overhead sounds vs, more sound placement around you?
I am sure that the demo's at CES were hand picked to give the maximum effect possible. Why would you demo something that doesn't take full advantage of every possible sound you can produce. My question is how common practice is this in movie sound mixing design?
We all need some lab room to experiment and a rich benefactor to pay for us to fly there and spend a week playing with technology. :-)
As for the speaker configuration, I had my Onkyo fail a couple of weeks ago and while it was off for the extended warranty "audio dropout" fix, I "borrowed" a newer Onkyo with Atmos. I could tell a difference right away with Atmos content even with a 7.1 configuration. During the initial setup, it asked me how many speakers and where they were located... Wides? Overheads? Etc. Then it did its calibration.
