Ask S&V

Q I am new to the world of home theater, but I’m building a house soon and want to plan for the possibility of a home theater setup. I like the idea of having in-ceiling speakers running the surround sound. Is it possible to set up a Dolby Atmos system that exclusively uses in-ceiling speakers?—Jonathan Huizingh / via e-mail

A Yes, but to be honest, that strategy is not recommended anywhere in Dolby’s literature for home Atmos installations. For Atmos, the height speakers (either in-ceiling or Dolby-enabled models) are meant to extend the sound coming from the main (ear-level) speakers, as well as convey vertical effects such as rain falling or helicopters flying overhead. Dolby has even created a naming system for Atmos layouts that specifies the number of main speakers plus subwoofers and height speakers: 5.1.4 (five main speakers, one subwoofer, four height speakers) or 7.1.2 (seven main speakers, one subwoofer, two height speakers).

Of course, home theater installations that use all in-ceiling speakers are fairly common; I’ve experienced a number of them that conveyed an effective surround-sound experience. If you do go that route, I’m sure you’ll probably be happy with what you get. Just don’t expect it to necessarily deliver the goods with Atmos-encoded soundtracks.