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Dolby Atmos Beyond 7.1.4 – Part 6: Reconfiguring Everything (Again)

Josh Zyber — Mon, 28 Oct 2019 17:00:17 +0000

My seemingly never-ending project to incorporate an absurd number of speakers into my home theater has undergone another major overhaul since I last provided an update. While, no, I haven’t squeezed any more speakers into the room, I have rewired and re-assigned several of them – hopefully for the better. Most home theaters are content...

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IMAX Enhanced Audio Examined, Part 4

Josh Zyber — Thu, 23 May 2019 12:00:20 +0000

Earlier this year, the IMAX Corporation and DTS introduced the new IMAX Enhanced variant of the DTS:X sound format, and I wrote a few articles trying to get to the bottom of what it really is or does. Just as I thought I understood it, a recent firmware update changed some ways the format works....

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Dolby Atmos Beyond 7.1.4 – Part 5: The Front Wide Experiment

Josh Zyber — Tue, 29 Jan 2019 18:00:22 +0000

It’s been a while since I last provided an update on my ongoing attempt to expand my home theater beyond the conventional channel limits allowed by Dolby Atmos or DTS:X. Never satisfied, I’ve now crammed 17 speakers into my room. If you can believe it, in some ways this has actually simplified matters since my...

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IMAX Enhanced Audio Examined, Part 3

Josh Zyber — Thu, 03 Jan 2019 17:00:21 +0000

As I’m still trying to figure out the new IMAX Enhanced audio format, I’ve done some additional playing around and discovered a strange use that was likely not intended by the designers. If you really wanted to, you can activate the mode on DTS-encoded DVDs. You probably shouldn’t, though. Yes, I said DVD, not Blu-ray....

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IMAX Enhanced Audio Examined, Part 2

Josh Zyber — Wed, 26 Dec 2018 17:00:18 +0000

Last week I shared my first impressions of the new IMAX Enhanced audio format, available on select A/V receivers and two movie discs to date. Additional testing has answered some of the questions I had, but I’m not sure I like those answers. Both IMAX and DTS have been stingy with details about exactly what...

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Yet Another New Audio Format: IMAX Enhanced Makes Its Debut

Josh Zyber — Thu, 20 Dec 2018 17:00:24 +0000

As if home theater audio weren’t already confusing enough with the plethora of sound formats available on Blu-ray and Ultra HD, the IMAX Corporation has now introduced another proprietary format, called IMAX Enhanced. What’s unique or special about this one, and should you upgrade your A/V receiver to get it? I’m trying to figure that...

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Poll: Do You Use Front Wide Speakers?

Josh Zyber — Thu, 27 Sep 2018 12:00:14 +0000

In all the years I’ve had surround sound, I’d never given much thought to implementing Front Wide speakers between my main Left and Right channels and the Surround speakers. Recently, however, I gave it some consideration. Does anyone here use Front Wides? Is it worth the effort? This train of thought started as a result...

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Poll: What Brand Is Your A/V Receiver?

Josh Zyber — Wed, 01 Aug 2018 12:00:48 +0000

In the home theater world, brands tend to inspire a lot of loyalty, especially when it comes to A/V receivers. Often, the brand of receiver you’ve used in the past will dictate what you buy in the future. What’s your preference? I’ve long been hooked on the Denon brand. I bought my first A/V receiver...

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Making Better Bass, Part 3: The Failed Dual-Subwoofer Experiment

Josh Zyber — Tue, 31 Jul 2018 16:00:29 +0000

I recently went to a lot of trouble getting the best bass response from one subwoofer. In theory, adding a second subwoofer could improve my results even further. Not the way I did it, unfortunately. As I recounted in previous posts, I found the Room EQ Wizard software to be an invaluable tool for seeing...

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Making Better Bass, Part 2: Subwoofer Phase

Josh Zyber — Wed, 18 Jul 2018 12:00:43 +0000

In my quest to improve bass response in my home theater, first I had to move the location of my subwoofer. After that, I found myself doing something I’d never paid much attention to in the past: adjusting the subwoofer’s phase knob. Technically, it wasn’t a knob I used. The SVS SB-4000 doesn’t actually have...

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Making Better Bass, Part 1: The Inordinate Frustration of Subwoofer Placement

Josh Zyber — Tue, 17 Jul 2018 12:00:57 +0000

Achieving good bass response is by far the most difficult part of setting up any home theater audio system and the solution is rarely as simple as buying a big or powerful subwoofer. Finding the right spot in the room to put that subwoofer can make a world of difference. Ironically, a bigger sub may...

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Upmixer Face-off: DSU vs. Neural:X vs. Auro-3D

Josh Zyber — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 12:00:27 +0000

As part of my testing of the flagship Denon AVR-X8500H A/V receiver, I finally have access to all three of the competing immersive sound upmixer formats and was able to run a comparison to see exactly how they each work on a normal movie soundtrack. My prior A/V receiver, the 2014 Denon AVR-X5200W, was a...

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