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Does it worth a upgrade to Dolby Atmos?

It seems Dolby Atmos is getting more steam recently. I have a 7.1 set up with Krell S-1000 processor and C-J multichannel amp. The sound quality is great. S-1000 doesn’t support anything beyond Dolby Digital. I am wondering if it worth to upgrade to Atmos processor (eg. Marantz AV770x, Anthem AVM60 used ). I don’t want to sacrifice theater sound quality ( I have dedicated 2-ch system for music listening. so I don’t care 2-ch performance). I have 4 ceiling spks and i can add 2 floor level surrounding spks w/o issue. That will give me 5.1.4. I have used Onkyo, Rotel, Krell Showcase and HTS before S-1000. HTS or S-1000 are big step up from Onkyo and Rotel. Will Marantz have same performance as S-1000 on home theater listening? I don’t want to spend over $2500 for the upgrade. Thank you.
cygnus_859
sfstereo
215 posts
 
I have also thought about upgrading to a processor with Atmos, but sound quality is highest priority. Unfortunately, there aren’t many very end processors available now that’s also good for 2 channel music. 
I have had Krell Foundation and S1200.  The S1200 sounds much better for music.  Recently replaced the S1200 with a Krell 707 with significant improvement in 2 channel sound quality.  HT sound is also really good, but doesn’t have the bells and whistles of new processors.  I will keep the 707 until there is processor that match its sound quality.
rmurphy
2 posts
 
I have both the Krell HTS 7.1 and S1200U-3D and found the Krell "bubble" of sound is better at 5.1 then any ATMOS system I've reviewed, I also had the Marantz AV880x and Krell Foundation in my system and missed how the speakers vanished. If an excellent 5.1 or 7.1 system sounds amazing, why would anyone want to change to ATMOS unless their attempting to buy cheap equipment or looking at becoming a hugh movie theater where the goal is different. This reminds me when everyone needed 7.1 to feel satisfied, but it was only needed with large rooms.  I looked at getting the Krell 707, but when it jumped from $18,000 before release to over $32,000, I got off the audiophile bandwagon.
jdub39
486 posts
 
Beyond yes! Atmos is to home cinema what 5.1 was to Dolby Prologic , the upmixers will even take a standard TV show and breath new life into the audio. No 5.1 processor no matter it's pedigree will outmatch a properly setup native 7.1.4 or 5.1.4 playback system.
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lonemountain
415 posts
 
ATMOS is the first 3 dimensional playback format that has music creators excited.  There is a ton of work going to remix records into the ATMOS format.   For film, ATMOS makes perfect sense to create motion, create the environment and space.  For music, it is a creative opportunity for composers and mixers alike.  I've heard quite a few mixes in ATMOS that were mind bending. Abbey Road remixed in ATMOS by Giles Martin is like hearing it for the first time all over again- so exciting!   Amazing experience if played back on a proper discrete channel ATMOS rig (not a sound bar that says it can do ATMOS). 
Brad  
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raysmtb1
792 posts
 
No!
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