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In an ideal Atmos configuration, all 7.1 of the base layer channels should be at or near ear level, whereas I had the Surround Backs on the same plane as the height channels. One thing that left me particularly unsatisfied was that my Surround Back channels were mounted to the ceiling in the back of the room. When I initially installed Atmos, I had to make some compromises in speaker placement due to the way my former 7.1 system had been wired and installed when I built the home theater room. I then had to decide what to do with those MC200s, and that was especially complicated. Because I was left with a spare MC300 speaker that I didn’t want to put to waste, I next hunted down a second MC300 in order to replace my left and right Surround channels (formerly MC200s). Replacing the center channel then triggered a chain reaction. That wasn’t the end of my changes, though. My front soundstage sounds a lot better now, not just for the rare mono movie but for everything I watch. Just look at how much more space it takes up on that stand, for starters. I have now moved up to the MC500, which is significantly larger and more powerful. Previously, I used a model MC300 speaker for my center channel, as you can see in this old photo. The company used to have a big retail presence in my area, so its products (even high-end speakers) turn up pretty regularly on Craigslist and eBay. Fortunately, I’ve had a lot of good luck finding used Soundworks speakers for reasonable prices. The company doesn’t make home theater speakers at all now.
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If I’d had a better center channel, I shouldn’t have had to do that.Īs I explained in my prior post after I made the Atmos upgrade, upgrading speakers is a little tricky for me, because all of the speakers I have are from a brand (Cambridge Soundworks) that isn’t even in the home theater market anymore. I realized that this was a problem when I played a mono movie and found myself disabling that speaker in order to split the mono signal to my left and right front mains instead. In my case, wiring my home theater for 7.1.4 channels of surround sound made me question the adequacy of some of my speakers – especially my center channel speaker, which is tasked with reproducing the majority of dialogue and significant portions of any movie soundtrack. Is it ever possible to be happy with what we have? However, as these things usually go, making one big change inevitably prompted even more. If you had $500 to start upgrading this setup, what would your plan be? How about $500 now and $1000 more in 6 months? BTW - I still have the MC200's to fall back on if that's needed.When I added Dolby Atmos surround sound to my home theater a few months ago, I expected that to be the last major upgrade that I would tackle for a while. Wife wants wall-mounted speakers (no towers) and the sub shouldn't be too conspicuous. I've been reading about replacement LRC speakers, surrounds, and subs. Even across the front changes from the different speakers.Īs I read about various HT experiences, I suspect I'm missing out on some exciting LFE sensation with my current sub. Of course, I now find that sounds that move around the sound field change "quality". Move from the primary listening area and and volume drops significantly. While they seem to have a nice response, the SPL seems strained at high volume (gotta do that once in a while) and they seem to have a very narrow sound field. I then found a deal on the B&W M1 speakers and and decided to give them a try. Woo hoo! That'll make anything sound good. By then I had found AVS so I read about the Denon receivers and Audyssey. The HK sub output died so I did a little research. Nothing fancy, but I was happy with sound all around. I had a Harmon Kardon receiver that powered this set pretty well. 60" Plasma is in the middle on a long wall, with seating on the opposite wall. This is in a 12x24 room, opening to a kitchen on one end. 15 years ago I decided to venture into surround sound.