From the measurements I've seen, XT32 is excellent. It concentrates most of its correction in the low frequencies, where the improvements will be the most audible, and does gentle curve shaping in the higher frequencies.

If the upcoming Outlaw processor is released by the second quarter of 2015, as Peter T indicates, I think it has the potential to truly be a game changer. With Dolby Atmos, HDCP 2.2, and HDMI 2.0 it ought to. However, in my humble opinion, to dominate its' market, it should have state of the art, bug free room correction. Trinnov? A unique flavor of Dirac? Multiple and separate sub LFE correction capability?
Emotiva must be working on a successor to their XMC-1, and it'll surely have Dolby Atmos and Dirac room correction. But if Outlaw can beat them to the punch, they'll have a winner right out of the gate.

Looks like Outlaw is a DTS:X licensee:

http://ubb.outlawaudio.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=94612#Post94612

Best part, DTS:X speaker placement is compatible with Dolby Atmos speaker placement.

This is going to be some pre-pro!

Hope Outlaw brings it in at a good price. By that I mean $1200 to $1500 max. It may be a tough sell at 2k.

I think the 1200-1500 band was their original target for the 997/998/978 processors but this processor will be well beyond what they planned for those, especially with both object oriented codecs on board. No word yet what room correction will be used (if any) but I think it could sell at 2K depending on the overall feature set and performance.

I see some familiar handles from AVS. I still own my 990 and still check for updates and was excited to see this announcement. The next Emotive Processor, from what I've read, is the XMR-1.

Rumored specs for the XMR-1..

• Channels: 16
• "new" Codecs supported: Dolby Atmos
• CPU: TI Series 800 6 core
• Completely balanced (all channels)
• Manufacture Location: Franklin, TN
• EQ: Ship with Dirac Live, Dirac Unison offered later
• Anticipated MSRP: $5k
• Release date: 04/12/2025 - My add

Personally I would really like to see Outlaw do something beyond what the typical big manufacturers are doing. I'd like to see more channels and a different room correction suite if possible. Just something to set it apart.

Has anyone seen and could direct me to a layout for Dolby Atmos ceiling speakers location when there are two rows of seating? The ones I've seen always use one row of seating. Not sure if they should be placed just in front of each row and let my two rear speakers take it from there or maybe one in front of the first row and right behind the second row. I'm running a 7.1 configuration with the sides and rears placed about 2 feet above seated ear level. The rear speakers are about 4 1/2 feet behind the second row head position. I'm concerned if I place them behind the second row there won't be much separation between those and the rears. Thanks for any input. I've got the amplification, speakers and wiring; just not installed yet. Still waiting for the Outlaw pre/pro to be released or if it ends up being cancelled, I'll go with the AV7702.

Layout recommendations are typically in relation to the main listening position, hardly ever for a full row of seats (let alone two rows). Dolby's install guide for home Atmos is no exception, since all the elevation and azimuth recommendations are based on a single MLP.

Since you have a 7.1 set-up, with surrounds already elevated, I would place the height speakers so that they are angularly separated from the other speakers. The front pair of heights can go in the gap between your front and side speakers; the second pair of heights can go in the gap between the side and rear speakers.

To keep the height speakers from overwhelming the closest listener, I would point them at the listener furthest away (a little time-energy trading). So, for example, the front left height speaker would be aimed at the listener at the right end of the back row.

Technically Dolby does publish a guide that specifically shows a multi-row Atmos enabled home theater. In that configuration there is a row of overhead speakers that is directly to the apparent side of each row ("row side heights") as well as another pair that is forward of all the rows (essentially "room front heights"), and one pair to the rear of ALL the listening positions( "room rear heights") thus it is bit confusing as there THREE rows and TEN Atmos overhead speakers (and a mind boggling 24 floor standing speakers) I believe this is very similar to how a top notch commercial theater would be configured -- http://www.dolby.com/us/en/technologies/...-guidelines.pdf

I seem to recall an interview with the sound designer(s) of The Hobbit that really liked the effects possible when they "steered" content to the overhead channels via front / side / rear biases so I assume the ultimate config uses those six channels per "room" with each "row" getting a reinforcing speaker ...

Thank you both for the posts. I've been thinking about it. I kind of wonder whether splitting the front height channels into four and mounting in front of each row and then mounting the rear heights behind the second row would be a bad thing. It would change the sound concerning each row, but wondering if that might be an okay setup. Just thinking out loud.