Surround and Atmos options for Dali Oberon 3 and Denon 3800

Wharfedale Diamond 12.1 & 12.2 Speakers
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drguptavivek

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Hi all
I have been using a Pioneer 924 AVR with old Mourdant Short Aviano towers, center and rear bookshelves and a SVS PB1000 sub.
Just last year upgraded the front LR speakers to Dali Oberon 3. Yesterday, have ordered a Denon 3800x in a move towards a Atmos setup in my new den. Now that’s opened up a can of worms regarding cabling, surrounds, ceiling speakers etc.
My primary use case is Movies / OTT
I have option of putting speakers behind the couch as well as in ceiling. The Dalis will be on stands at LR positions. They have an extremely wide soundstage with the pioneer but Amy yet to unpack the Denon and see how they sound when paired with the new one. Have done a lot of reasearch and came to realization that voice/timbre matching is needed for surrounds and celiling speakers. Requesting guidance on speakers that do no break the bank.
I can reuse MS bookshelves as Surround Backs but they are old and aesthetics too not match up
Cheers
Vivek


IMG_0426.png
 
Dear all
Many thanks for responding. I have done a lot of research and reading over various forums.

1. I think Oberon Grand Vokal with 7 inchers (70k) would pair well as center channel or I can go with Oberon Vokal with 5.5-inch woofer (45k). I am not sure of incremental gain as I have a sub. My Oberon 3 has 7-inch woofers and will be doing heavy lifting along with the Sub.

2. I am looking at Fazon Sats for Atmos. Main advantage to me appears to be that then can be angled as they come with a nice mount. |for ambient effects of Atmos, they should be adequate. Polk OWM 3 are also on the cards and they are quite a bit cheaper. JBLs might have great sound but they look too industrial for my liking. Alteco C1 seems to be too expensive (48k). Spending 1 lac on Atmos is not something I am comfortable with. Any suggestions on the experience with OWM3 or Fazon Sats as four height speakers?

3. Am personally narrowing down to using Oberon 1 pair as ear level surrounds. However, they would need to be mounted around 1 feet above the recliners and angled downwards. Is it better to place them behind the recliners or try placing them just in front of the couch angled backwards? Placing them exactly to the right is possible as I have a wall there, but on teh left, I have a wardrobe and the wall is slightly ahead of the couch position

I am traveling to Vancouver after two weeks but have noticed there is no price benefit importing them from the online Canadian shops that i have tried thus far at current exchange rate of 60 INR to CAD

Thanks
Vivek
 
I moved from pion
drguptavivek said:
Hi all
I have been using a Pioneer 924 AVR with old Mourdant Short Aviano towers, center and rear bookshelves and a SVS PB1000 sub.
Just last year upgraded the front LR speakers to Dali Oberon 3. Yesterday, have ordered a Denon 3800x in a move towards a Atmos setup in my new den. Now that’s opened up a can of worms regarding cabling, surrounds, ceiling speakers etc.
My primary use case is Movies / OTT
I have option of putting speakers behind the couch as well as in ceiling. The Dalis will be on stands at LR positions. They have an extremely wide soundstage with the pioneer but Amy yet to unpack the Denon and see how they sound when paired with the new one. Have done a lot of reasearch and came to realization that voice/timbre matching is needed for surrounds and celiling speakers. Requesting guidance on speakers that do no break the bank.
I can reuse MS bookshelves as Surround Backs but they are old and aesthetics too not match up
Cheers
Vivek


View attachment 85653
Click to expand...
Upgraded from pioneer lx57(or56) to 4800. The amp in denon4800 is shitty...only good for bookshelf...no refinement...cant play the lows or the highs with refinement...and atmos I could rarely find a difference with atmos switched off and routing all atmos channels to bed layer dint sound any different to me.

Atmos is money in drain. I would better go for b&w speaker upgrade and mcintosh amp ....
Only place where i found atmos to make difference is when the sound wants to create an ambience -like a controlled accoustic and one time while watching madame web at 4.40...there was a feeling that the sound was travelling above that too wasnt justified....

Anyway thats my thought. Would be glad to know how you feel
 
Saiganesh said:
I moved from pion

Upgraded from pioneer lx57(or56) to 4800. The amp in denon4800 is shitty...only good for bookshelf...no refinement...cant play the lows or the highs with refinement...and atmos I could rarely find a difference with atmos switched off and routing all atmos channels to bed layer dint sound any different to me.

Atmos is money in drain. I would better go for b&w speaker upgrade and mcintosh amp ....
Only place where i found atmos to make difference is when the sound wants to create an ambience -like a controlled accoustic and one time while watching madame web at 4.40...there was a feeling that the sound was travelling above that too wasnt justified....

Anyway thats my thought. Would be glad to know how you feel
Click to expand...
Madame web very good Atmos
 
Thanks Guys.
I have seen some suggestions that using front and rear heights works for Auro3D as well as Atmos as well as for upmixing such as DTS NeuralX. My ultimate intention is to use the 3800 as a Pre-Pro and get a two channel to drive the LRs. The Pioneer was quite musical with ESS Sabre DAC. Denon is a bit dry but would like to postpone amp purchase for now.
I am also getting these at decent price
These look good as well for atmos
  1. JBL Height Channel Loudspeakers - Black (JBL240HBLK) 429$. https://www.visions.ca/jbl-height-channel-loudspeakers-black
  2. Polk Audio Monitor XT90 $250 https://www.visions.ca/polk-audio-monitor-xt90-height-speakers-for-dolby-atmos-dts-x-pair-black
  3. Sony SS-CSE Dolby Atmos Enabled 100 Watt at 6 Ohms Speakers (SSCSE) 300$
Whats your opinion on these.

thanks
Vivek.
 
I am using Auro 3D for all my movie watching. The main difference that I find is that Auro 3D creates a nice ambient sound as opposed to other formats which I found to produce sound more directly from the speakers. It is hard for me to tell which speaker is producing the sound but all the sounds are where it should be and because of this, it takes me right to the movie rather than distract me with speakers playing all around me. Very often, I have found the ambient sound to be between speakers, ie, between floor and top speakers which makes the speakers disappear, a term that is often used with two channel listening.

Auro 3D is my personal preference. Others might like Atmos or DTS better.
 
Last edited:
ssf said:
I am using Auro 3D for all my movie watching. The main difference that I find is that Auro 3D creates a nice ambient sound as opposed to other formats which I found to produce sound more directly from the speakers. It is hard for me to tell which speaker is producing the sound but all the sounds are where it should be and because of this, it takes me right to the movie rather than distract me with speakers playing all around me. Very often, I have found the ambient sound to be between speakers, ie, between floor and top speakers which makes the speakers disappear, a term that is often used with two channel listening.

Auro 3D is my personal preference. Others might like Atmos or DTS better.
Click to expand...
Yes i too find auro3d good. Dts nueral x is 2nd and atmos is the least better of all. This is from denon 4800 and my hearing perspecrive
 
Thanks Guys
This is incredibly helpful and is pushing me towards front and rear heights. Ultimately its about an open field sound stage where instruments are placed somewhere in the room and sounds are not pointed towards the speakers. Thats my preferred mode.
Small Dali for height angled downwards on brackets are also an option
Cheers
Vivek
 
Saiganesh said:
Yes i too find auro3d good. Dts nueral x is 2nd and atmos is the least better of all. This is from denon 4800 and my hearing perspecrive
Click to expand...
Forgot to add...the height channels even when switched off - no difference at all. Unless we (humans) evolve with a third ear on the top of the head, i would say atmos is a scam!
 
I am using Sonodyne 3540 speakers for front and rear heights in a combined Auro 3D and Atmos setup. I usually upmix content to Auro 3D.

The Sonodyne 3540 are priced much lower than the competition and well built. They also come with a bracket so that they can be angled when fixed on the wall.
 
Thanks Sayan. Hows the experience with Sonodynes. They definitely look purpose built and ideal. What are your speaker parings with these
 
I'm using multiple speaker brands in my setup. Gradually expanded as and when I could afford to.
L&R Focal 716, Center Sonodyne 3360, Surrounds QAcoustics 3020i, Dual XTZ 10.17 Edge Subwoofers. All this powered by O&B 3 channel power amp for LCR. Rest all channels with Denon 4700H. Heights are 4xSonodyne 3540.

I think they sound good and are VFM products. Specially the center channel is absolute bang for your buck. I had read alot about the center being the most important channel in HT, and I completely agree after listening to the setup.

I have not had any issues with the 3540 speakers and they look good, sound good. For height channels, other than JBL, the competition is pretty expensive afaik.
 
So our make in india products are delivering well. I had actually been eying the Sonodyne IWO on walls that have passive radiators for surround back duties as well. Had also seen the products by O&B and was considering those for LR at a later daye
 
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