It’s too bad that meh only sells one thing a day. I could see bundling these ATMOS speakers with that Onkyo ATMOS receiver, maybe even tossing in some of those MTX in wall speakers. You could call it the snapster movie theater on a budget package…
@wew I got them last time. They are meh. There is only like 30 movies that currently support Atmos right now. So I hope im just ahead of the curve and they will pay off in the end.
@wew I can’t speak to these particular speakers, but most Atmos configurations will be treated as Surround Height when you’re not in a true Atmos environment. It certainly adds some depth, but you kind of have to pay attention to it.
But you should read up if you’re interested in audio; Atmos and DTS:X are both pretty neat. It isn’t just adding a pair of speakers to the top of your room. It’s a new way to interface with audio from design down to listening rooms.
@og218 But one of them is Mad Max Fury Road, one of the few I’ve actually carefully auditioned with and without these speakers. Sometimes it’s pretty cool… yep, that’s the most positive thing I can say.
@wew, I agree with @dergreg but want to amplify “but most Atmos configurations will be treated as Surround Height when you’re not in a true Atmos environment.” I don’t have Atmos but set up my room for 7.1 a number of years ago, only to discover that, like Atmos, real 7.1 wasn’t happening on the soundtracks to most of the things I bought, and wasn’t happening at all on network shows.
But what I discovered is that when I changed the configuration to use my side speakers as Surround Width, my receiver did a wonderful job of taking 5.1 content and putting great stuff in those channels, especially when watching 5.1 sports. So if your receiver can do something interesting with these channels, like using them for surround height on non-Atmos soundtracks, you might find that to be pretty cool.
@abcde_fz So you think these’ll work well as a height set of channels for my non-Atmos receiver (that does have the option to use height speakers for things like Pro-Logic IIz?). Trying to decide if these are worth getting given that I won’t likely have an Atmos enabled receiver for at least a few more years.
@oldmantick “Sometimes it’s pretty cool…” - Sums it up nicely. Right now the coolest use of Atmos features are Dolby Digital trailers.
and @Brandonshire - Yes. They’re “just” height speakers. Atmos-as-height is just a buzzterm/description for the time being. Atmos is WAY more than that on the technical side.
If you’ve got the money to spend and want a noticeable-when-you’re-listening-for-it upgrade, these will probably do fine.
@dergreg Thanks! I know with an actually Atmos enabled system I’d get a lot more out of these, but for now this seems like a pretty good price for something I can probably at least get some use out of (and then have when I upgrade down the line).
@Brandonshire I just gave the owner’s manual a look and it looks like Pro-Logic IIz would be a fine application for these. The intent of these speakers seems to be to give you height from a speaker that without having to mount it high, and that would serve what I think are common goals for the height channel of IIz as well as what I interpret as the “above” channel of Atmos.
I would advise to all, make sure to read the manual before purchase, especially this line:
The SP-T22A-LR is designed to sit securely atop the SP-BS22-LR
bookshelf speaker or SP-FS52 tower speaker. With other speakers, make
sure that the SP-T22A-LR rests stably atop the speaker. Use the
SP-T22A-LR only with speakers that have a flat top. If it is placed on
a speaker with a curved top, the SP-T22A-LR may fall off.
@abcde_fz Thanks! I actually had just noticed that part, and am now trying to find the dimensions of my front speakers (which are at home) so I can be sure these’ll fit on them.
Got these the last time they were for sale, and they are very nice quality. Worth it, in my opinion, but then again you need an Atmos receiver first. Unfortunately for me, my broadcast is coming from TimeWarner, so no Atmos Olympics.
@KenC cool, now I feel it was even more fitting. Just kidding around about first world problems.
You have me curious though, I understand the Time Warner audio signal limitation, but would an OTA HD signal from your local broadcaster have ATMOS? Maybe a better way to ask is, with otherwise unlimited resources how would one go about getting the Olympics in ATMOS?
@mehdaf I suspect they’d have to actually capture the audio differently to get true Atmos… The HD NBC OTA station here broadcasts in surround sound, but likely only 5.1. It would be up to your Atmos receiver to decode that and enhance it with the Atmos channels. (similar to how it would “upscale” a 5.1 DVD audio)
@djslack It’s not really about the feet (the description doesn’t say weather they’re even the same size as the ones attached to my ankles, and I can’t afford a new shoe wardrobe atm), I’m just trying to get my VMP’s worth out of this month. This is the first thing that’s interested me.
One person gave one star because he couldn’t hear any height.
On person gave three stars because they don’t match his other non-Pioneer speakers in tone.
One gave three stars because he doesn’t own many Atmos discs.
Finally, one person left a two-star review as an excuse to write a worthless, long-winded essay about his speaker buying technique. I don’t think he owns these speaker.
Good god I hate when Amazon does that with reviews. They have 6 completely different products lumped onto 1 page and therefore reviews for all 6 products lumped together. How the fuck am I supposed to go through 1219 reviews just to find out what people think about this one particular item? That is seriously one of the worst design ideas ever. I cannot fathom what the upside is for them? Is it just that they can say they have over 1100 reviews for an item?
@ELUNO Thanks. Must not function when using Chrome on Windows or Opera on Android as I’ve never seen it. I always just get all reviews all jumbled together.
I bought these the last time they were available (not long after I bought the Onkyo receiver). The speakers themselves actually sound pretty good. Don’t blame the speakers for the fact that there aren’t a lot of Atmos-enabled titles out yet.
I picked up the 5th Element remaster on BluRay because that was one of the titles with Atmos support. If you play the movie without dynamic range compression the effect of Atmos is noticeable. Is it better than standard 7.1 surround? In some ways, yes. The extra side channels in 7.1 doesn’t really add a lot to the experience vs. 5.1, except when things on screen are traveling directly at or “past” you.
Atmos seems to provide better room-filling audio in my experience because sound is bouncing off of every surface fairly regularly. Atmos has a clear edge when things are traveling “over” you (space ships, planes, etc.).
For those with the Onkyo receiver meh sold, set them in upward firing mode unless you have the speakers very close to the ceiling. I tried placing my speakers in the recommended location (above my front left and right speakers) and near the ceiling and I found it sounds slightly better to my ears in the recommended spot rather than close to the ceiling. However, I can’t really say there was that big a difference, so long as I set things up in the receiver properly and re-ran the audio setup using the included microphone.
One positive feature of adding these Atmos speakers even to sources that only support 5.1 sound: The receiver does seem to try to pass through some of the audio to the Atmos speakers intelligently and this has lead to a wider “sweet spot” than having my 5.1 speakers alone.
Audio performance is highly subjective, so as always, YMMV.
I’ve been floating along with my system for a while and I’m not really totally up on all the latest trends. I used to spend tons of time at AVSForum reading up on all of this but I’ve been out of it for a few years as I’ve gotten my system pretty much the way I want it and have focused on other stuff in the house (like a new kitchen etc.). But I have been slightly intrigued by the idea of Atmos (and similar systems) so I’m curious about picking these up.
I have a 5.1 setup right now, and my receiver doesn’t do Atmos, but it does do “height.” Am I correct in assuming I can set these up right now and at least get that benefit? Worth it for that at all?
Some day when I get an Atmos receiver, or possibly that other standard that’s floating around for the same thing, obviously these’ll have a bit more use. Does Atmos require a 7.1 setup (or I guess with these, 9.1)? I’ve resisted setting up 7.1 (my receiver supports it) just becuase of the way my room is set up making that difficult and generally not being terribly impressed with 7.1 systems vs 5.1 when I’ve been places that had them. (Admittedly most times I’ve been to someone’s house with a 7.1 system, they’re speakers and receiver aren’t as good as the ones I have for my 5.1 system).
So how exactly do these work? Do they essentially bounce sounds off of your ceiling? I know some really high end systems involve actually putting speakers in the ceiling, so I’m assuming that’s what these upward facing speakers do?
@Brandonshire Exactly. This is the “cheap” version of not having to install speakers on your ceiling. The bouncing off instead requires you to have a flat ceiling and hopefully at an adequate height.
Would these be at all worthwhile if I just have a receiver that does Dolby Pro Logic IIz (that is to say for “Front Height” speakers)? It will probably be a while yet before I get an Atmos enabled receiver, but I do have the spare back surround inputs that can be assigned as height speakers for a 5.1 setup (I’ve been reviewing the manual for my receiver), not sure if these would add anything for that or not. (I suppose I could also just get a pair of small bookshelf speakers and try to hang them in the corners but I’m not sure that’s worth the effort either).
Also I just remembered that other standard is “Auro 3D.” It sounds like it’s actually a pretty decent standard, but doesn’t really seem to be catching on too much, so I’m not sure it’s worth worrying about.
@Brandonshire Barco Auro3D is a completely different technology from a completely different company, Barco, from Dolby Atmos. It DOES do height, but differently than Dolby Atmos does it. There is no standard to UHD Audio as of yet, or at least one clear cut winner. If you want to talk about ‘standards’ I guess one could say that its the 4K standard already, Atmos I mean, as all the newer movies are supposed to have it that are being released in 4k on ultrabluray.
I bought these the last time they were available to compliment the new Pioneer speakers I had just installed (5.1, same family) with a Denon S710W. I used the Odyssey setup, but I still find the Atmos speakers a little soft and subtle, even during Fury Road.
It seems like having a rear set of Atmos speakers would be useful too, but it looks l Iike the Denon only supports one set. This means I also couldn’t upgrade to 7.1 down the line: there’s just one pair of extra inputs. So that’s worth considering if you have 7.1.
@chimbleysweep You’re still getting 7.1 with Atmos, you’re just moving the 2 channels from the side to the front “top.” If you wanted the extra 2 side channels OR front and back Atmos, that would be 9.1
Just remember, Atmos can UPSAMPLE/UPMIX any Dolby signal, and there are some REALLY good ones that really work well with Atmos. So don’t just think you ‘need’ an Atmos movie, I’ve started rewatching ALL my movies and found some pretty awesome ones, just from the Atmos ‘upsample’ alone. Some movies it can completely change. Movies with a lot of thunder, usually work quite well.
Specs
What’s in the Box?
2x Dolby Atmos Add-On Speakers
8x Sticky protective feet
Pictures
Speakers
Front view
Back view
Price Comparison
$199.99 List, $159.99 at Amazon (1217 reviews)
Find a relevant price comparison? Please share it in a comment in this thread
Warranty
1 Year Pioneer
Sausage Party!!
Eat it buddy!
@yakkoTDI can’t wait to see that movie
Hear ye hear ye another sound deal tonight !!
I listens to my music on wax cylinders, and that’s the way I likes it.
@melonscoop
@djslack ouch
@djslack That poor guy is probably still on suicide watch. Seriously, he destroyed something that he absolutely loved!
It’s too bad that meh only sells one thing a day. I could see bundling these ATMOS speakers with that Onkyo ATMOS receiver, maybe even tossing in some of those MTX in wall speakers. You could call it the snapster movie theater on a budget package…
@mehdaf Now, there’s an idea!
Not good, not original but hey, it might appeal to somebody. Easy A, perhaps?
@carpe_dumb
@mehdaf Worth it. She so fine …
Meh. At least they’re not speakers with docks…
@marvelljones You’re a dock
No Bluetooth? Bring back the ice cube balls! Not.
I have to think about these expensive things, which means “Sold Out”. I bet these are incredible. Ah, heck, lemme check my wallet just for kicks…
@wew I got them last time. They are meh. There is only like 30 movies that currently support Atmos right now. So I hope im just ahead of the curve and they will pay off in the end.
@og218 Thank you.
For me, that was the perfect reply. 
@wew I can’t speak to these particular speakers, but most Atmos configurations will be treated as Surround Height when you’re not in a true Atmos environment. It certainly adds some depth, but you kind of have to pay attention to it.
But you should read up if you’re interested in audio; Atmos and DTS:X are both pretty neat. It isn’t just adding a pair of speakers to the top of your room. It’s a new way to interface with audio from design down to listening rooms.
@og218 But one of them is Mad Max Fury Road, one of the few I’ve actually carefully auditioned with and without these speakers. Sometimes it’s pretty cool… yep, that’s the most positive thing I can say.
@wew, I agree with @dergreg but want to amplify “but most Atmos configurations will be treated as Surround Height when you’re not in a true Atmos environment.” I don’t have Atmos but set up my room for 7.1 a number of years ago, only to discover that, like Atmos, real 7.1 wasn’t happening on the soundtracks to most of the things I bought, and wasn’t happening at all on network shows.
But what I discovered is that when I changed the configuration to use my side speakers as Surround Width, my receiver did a wonderful job of taking 5.1 content and putting great stuff in those channels, especially when watching 5.1 sports. So if your receiver can do something interesting with these channels, like using them for surround height on non-Atmos soundtracks, you might find that to be pretty cool.
@abcde_fz So you think these’ll work well as a height set of channels for my non-Atmos receiver (that does have the option to use height speakers for things like Pro-Logic IIz?). Trying to decide if these are worth getting given that I won’t likely have an Atmos enabled receiver for at least a few more years.
@oldmantick “Sometimes it’s pretty cool…” - Sums it up nicely. Right now the coolest use of Atmos features are Dolby Digital trailers.
and @Brandonshire - Yes. They’re “just” height speakers. Atmos-as-height is just a buzzterm/description for the time being. Atmos is WAY more than that on the technical side.
If you’ve got the money to spend and want a noticeable-when-you’re-listening-for-it upgrade, these will probably do fine.
@dergreg Thanks! I know with an actually Atmos enabled system I’d get a lot more out of these, but for now this seems like a pretty good price for something I can probably at least get some use out of (and then have when I upgrade down the line).
@Brandonshire I just gave the owner’s manual a look and it looks like Pro-Logic IIz would be a fine application for these. The intent of these speakers seems to be to give you height from a speaker that without having to mount it high, and that would serve what I think are common goals for the height channel of IIz as well as what I interpret as the “above” channel of Atmos.
I would advise to all, make sure to read the manual before purchase, especially this line:
@abcde_fz Certainly worth noting, although a small shelf or stand would also be fine.
@abcde_fz Thanks! I actually had just noticed that part, and am now trying to find the dimensions of my front speakers (which are at home) so I can be sure these’ll fit on them.
Ok, just found the dimensions and these should be fine! Pulled the trigger. We’ll see if I regret it once I get them!
Meh-ing so hard.
25 cent piece, not included
Anyone remember how much were these when they posted it a couple of months ago?
@jayplus707
The same, $74
You just sold these a month ago, different speakers please
Got these the last time they were for sale, and they are very nice quality. Worth it, in my opinion, but then again you need an Atmos receiver first. Unfortunately for me, my broadcast is coming from TimeWarner, so no Atmos Olympics.
@KenC
Wait for it…
@KenC An antenna cures that, for the stuff on over-the-air NBC.
@PhotoJim thanks, I get the Olympics, just not the Atmos version.
@mehdaf I’ve got a collection of violins but nothing as small as that. But thanks for your concern!
@KenC cool, now I feel it was even more fitting. Just kidding around about first world problems.
You have me curious though, I understand the Time Warner audio signal limitation, but would an OTA HD signal from your local broadcaster have ATMOS? Maybe a better way to ask is, with otherwise unlimited resources how would one go about getting the Olympics in ATMOS?
@mehdaf I suspect they’d have to actually capture the audio differently to get true Atmos… The HD NBC OTA station here broadcasts in surround sound, but likely only 5.1. It would be up to your Atmos receiver to decode that and enhance it with the Atmos channels. (similar to how it would “upscale” a 5.1 DVD audio)
Thinking about getting these just for the 8x Sticky protective feet!
@salaosantiago Here. I just saved you $72.45. https://blitsy.com/sku/BLOO50660
But if you want these particular protective feet, buy a pair and send me the worthless speakers
@djslack It’s not really about the feet (the description doesn’t say weather they’re even the same size as the ones attached to my ankles, and I can’t afford a new shoe wardrobe atm), I’m just trying to get my VMP’s worth out of this month. This is the first thing that’s interested me.
So how long after widespread Atmos adoption will humans evolve upward- facing ears?
It’s not easy to dig out the reviews of these speakers from those of other on Amazon.com, but I think I’ve done it.
There are sixteen reviews of these.
Twelve give five stars
One person gave one star because he couldn’t hear any height.
On person gave three stars because they don’t match his other non-Pioneer speakers in tone.
One gave three stars because he doesn’t own many Atmos discs.
Finally, one person left a two-star review as an excuse to write a worthless, long-winded essay about his speaker buying technique. I don’t think he owns these speaker.
Does this speaker offer include the CEO-comes-to-your-house-with-a-screwdriver custom installation service?
Good thing your target market isn’t the U.K.
Wires???..Double Meh!..
Good god I hate when Amazon does that with reviews. They have 6 completely different products lumped onto 1 page and therefore reviews for all 6 products lumped together. How the fuck am I supposed to go through 1219 reviews just to find out what people think about this one particular item? That is seriously one of the worst design ideas ever. I cannot fathom what the upside is for them? Is it just that they can say they have over 1100 reviews for an item?
@Bingo There is an option to select only the ones for that particular product.
@ELUNO Thanks. Must not function when using Chrome on Windows or Opera on Android as I’ve never seen it. I always just get all reviews all jumbled together.
@Bingo
@communist Thanks. Had no idea that was there. Clearly some high quality usability oriented design there, eh?
@Bingo In addition, about seven hours before you made your comment I posted a link that went directly to just the reviews for these speakers.
Hey how about selling the other Andrew Jones Pioneer speakers? I have these now I need the rest
I bought these the last time they were available (not long after I bought the Onkyo receiver). The speakers themselves actually sound pretty good. Don’t blame the speakers for the fact that there aren’t a lot of Atmos-enabled titles out yet.
I picked up the 5th Element remaster on BluRay because that was one of the titles with Atmos support. If you play the movie without dynamic range compression the effect of Atmos is noticeable. Is it better than standard 7.1 surround? In some ways, yes. The extra side channels in 7.1 doesn’t really add a lot to the experience vs. 5.1, except when things on screen are traveling directly at or “past” you.
Atmos seems to provide better room-filling audio in my experience because sound is bouncing off of every surface fairly regularly. Atmos has a clear edge when things are traveling “over” you (space ships, planes, etc.).
For those with the Onkyo receiver meh sold, set them in upward firing mode unless you have the speakers very close to the ceiling. I tried placing my speakers in the recommended location (above my front left and right speakers) and near the ceiling and I found it sounds slightly better to my ears in the recommended spot rather than close to the ceiling. However, I can’t really say there was that big a difference, so long as I set things up in the receiver properly and re-ran the audio setup using the included microphone.
One positive feature of adding these Atmos speakers even to sources that only support 5.1 sound: The receiver does seem to try to pass through some of the audio to the Atmos speakers intelligently and this has lead to a wider “sweet spot” than having my 5.1 speakers alone.
Audio performance is highly subjective, so as always, YMMV.
@mehric I agree. There are a lot more movies with 7.1 audio, but most of them rarely make any good use of it.
Quadraphonic anyone?
So a few questions about these.
I’ve been floating along with my system for a while and I’m not really totally up on all the latest trends. I used to spend tons of time at AVSForum reading up on all of this but I’ve been out of it for a few years as I’ve gotten my system pretty much the way I want it and have focused on other stuff in the house (like a new kitchen etc.). But I have been slightly intrigued by the idea of Atmos (and similar systems) so I’m curious about picking these up.
I have a 5.1 setup right now, and my receiver doesn’t do Atmos, but it does do “height.” Am I correct in assuming I can set these up right now and at least get that benefit? Worth it for that at all?
Some day when I get an Atmos receiver, or possibly that other standard that’s floating around for the same thing, obviously these’ll have a bit more use. Does Atmos require a 7.1 setup (or I guess with these, 9.1)? I’ve resisted setting up 7.1 (my receiver supports it) just becuase of the way my room is set up making that difficult and generally not being terribly impressed with 7.1 systems vs 5.1 when I’ve been places that had them. (Admittedly most times I’ve been to someone’s house with a 7.1 system, they’re speakers and receiver aren’t as good as the ones I have for my 5.1 system).
So how exactly do these work? Do they essentially bounce sounds off of your ceiling? I know some really high end systems involve actually putting speakers in the ceiling, so I’m assuming that’s what these upward facing speakers do?
@Brandonshire Exactly. This is the “cheap” version of not having to install speakers on your ceiling. The bouncing off instead requires you to have a flat ceiling and hopefully at an adequate height.
@ELUNO Thanks! That’s what I assumed was going on but wanted to be sure I understood correctly.
Would these be at all worthwhile if I just have a receiver that does Dolby Pro Logic IIz (that is to say for “Front Height” speakers)? It will probably be a while yet before I get an Atmos enabled receiver, but I do have the spare back surround inputs that can be assigned as height speakers for a 5.1 setup (I’ve been reviewing the manual for my receiver), not sure if these would add anything for that or not. (I suppose I could also just get a pair of small bookshelf speakers and try to hang them in the corners but I’m not sure that’s worth the effort either).
Also I just remembered that other standard is “Auro 3D.” It sounds like it’s actually a pretty decent standard, but doesn’t really seem to be catching on too much, so I’m not sure it’s worth worrying about.
@Brandonshire Oops, meant to do this as a reply to my above post. Sorry, still new to the Meh community.
@Brandonshire Barco Auro3D is a completely different technology from a completely different company, Barco, from Dolby Atmos. It DOES do height, but differently than Dolby Atmos does it. There is no standard to UHD Audio as of yet, or at least one clear cut winner. If you want to talk about ‘standards’ I guess one could say that its the 4K standard already, Atmos I mean, as all the newer movies are supposed to have it that are being released in 4k on ultrabluray.
I bought these the last time they were available to compliment the new Pioneer speakers I had just installed (5.1, same family) with a Denon S710W. I used the Odyssey setup, but I still find the Atmos speakers a little soft and subtle, even during Fury Road.
It seems like having a rear set of Atmos speakers would be useful too, but it looks l Iike the Denon only supports one set. This means I also couldn’t upgrade to 7.1 down the line: there’s just one pair of extra inputs. So that’s worth considering if you have 7.1.
@chimbleysweep You’re still getting 7.1 with Atmos, you’re just moving the 2 channels from the side to the front “top.” If you wanted the extra 2 side channels OR front and back Atmos, that would be 9.1
How would they sound if I played Thomas Dolby on them?
Is $74 for a pair or 1 speaker ?
@Kingram Pair. (See the “Whats in the box” section at the top of this thread).
Just remember, Atmos can UPSAMPLE/UPMIX any Dolby signal, and there are some REALLY good ones that really work well with Atmos. So don’t just think you ‘need’ an Atmos movie, I’ve started rewatching ALL my movies and found some pretty awesome ones, just from the Atmos ‘upsample’ alone. Some movies it can completely change. Movies with a lot of thunder, usually work quite well.
Is meh going to make Irk Atmos compatible?? I can hardly wait to hear that…
I bet Meh would totally sell out if they randomly threw in “DEAL PAUSED” on these less popular items.
Free Dolby Atmos demo vids on Vudu.
http://www.vudu.com/movies/Movies_mobile.html#!content/638505/The-Dolby-Atmos-Experience-Bundle