Dolby Atmos music finds - please share!

[Daddyjt 9,976]

Since the home theater flooded last year and I had to rebuild it, I decided to upgrade from my old 7.1 setup to a 7.2.4 Atmos configuration. During the course of construction and equipment acquisition, I collected a few Atmos music discs, and was understandably excited to audition Atmos music at home.

Well.

To say that I was underwhelmed would be an understatement. I have learned that Atmos mixes come in two (2) varieties. This first (and most common - unfortunately) is the obnoxious practice of throwing a cacophony of sounds and instruments at random speakers, literally abusing the surround and Atmos speakers. Such things as a guitar stating at right-center, then bouncing over your left shoulder, or the snare being dead center, but the hihat behind you. Stupid stuff

The second (and spectacular) use of an Atmos mix is SUBTLE use of the surrounds and Atmos speakers to create a sense of space and ambiance. THIS is what I experienced a couple nights ago with two very different discs:

Tori Amos - Unrepentant Geraldines. I’ve been a fan of Tori’s since Little Earthquakes debuted when I was a kid. The sound of this disc in my Atmos HT is simply stunning. The mix creates such an intimate sense of space, and the details of her vocals and piano are amazing. There are some subtle percussion bits sprinkled around the room, but far from annoying or unrealistic.

Thompson Twins - Into the Gap. Laugh if you want, but I have a soft spot for ‘80s synth-pop (the music of my high school years). This one is a much more aggressive Atmos mix that Tori Amos, but man - it’s crystal clear, hits like a hammer, and the singing ability is quite a bit better than I remember. Demo material for sure.

Both of these discs came from the same place - SDE Shop out of England. https://superdeluxeedition.com/news/tori-amos-unrepentant-geraldines-sde-exclusive-blu-ray-audio/ Needless to say, I have several more on the way.

PLEASE feel free to post any great finds you’ve come across for Atmos music mixes - seeing (or hearing, as it were) what’s possible with this format, I’m definitely IN!


 

[4krow 7,803]

Crap, this is just like the good old days when Quad was king.

[PhilDent 2,027]

Good to hear that you’ve got the Home Theater back up and functional. I can’t wait to  hear it.

 

You are having the same experience that I have searching for multichannel discs. Some are pure money grabs often employing gimmicky nonsense. One example that comes to mind is Metallica’s Black album in multichannel. I bought the CD when it was originally released and listened to it thousands of times over. So I was excited when I found the multichannel disc only to be immediately disappointed. The multichannel mix added nothing. In fact at times it was downright distracting. In one song they had a guitar solo circle the room - moving to each speaker for the duration of it. I haven’t pulled it out since my initial listening.

 

Mark I would recommend looking at the liner notes and find out who did the atmos mixes that you like. You might find, as I did with multichannel, that there is an engineer who knows how to do it. In my case I will buy pretty much anything mixed by Elliot Scheiner

[BobTFM35 3,251]

With my system (Marantz SR5015) I have experimented with albums that were "just normal recordings" in the various surround sound modes that my Marantz has available. The sound from them was unique and interesting, but for the most part it's just 2 channel playback at the moment.

 

@Daddyjt @PhilDent Here is an interview with Elliot Scheiner.  The first paragraph of his interview,

 

"After speaking with Elliot Scheiner for almost an hour, one thing was clear: he loves rock music, especially in surround sound. His passion for music drives his work, which has earned him world-class recognition including 2 Emmys, 8 Grammy wins and 27 Grammy nominations. It also inspired him to create the first 5.1 system for cars with Panasonic and Acura. But, as passionate as he is about 5.1, he has some reservations about Atmos technology for music."

 

A very interesting interview especially the part where he was asked "Would you ever create an album in Atmos or Auro 3D?"

 

Q&A with Elliot Scheiner: 5.1 Mixing Pioneer | IAA

 

Needless to say, this renewed my interest in Atmos recordings, and I will be checking my record store today for two specific recordings.

[Daddyjt 9,976]

I have discovered another Atmos gem - Tears for Fears release of Songs for a Nervous Planet. Both Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith are still very much engaged in their music, and while Roland sounds great, Curt Smith seems to have not aged a day, vocally. He literally sounds identical to his ‘80s prime.  This disc is a fabulous mix of new, old, studio and live recordings, and is mixed by Steven Wilson (who also did Tori Amos and Thompson Twins) - thanks for that tip @PhilDent!

 

I didn’t count, but theres got to be 30+ tracks on the disc too - great stuff!

 

https://superdeluxeedition.com/news/tears-for-fears-songs-for-a-nervous-planet/

 

[BobTFM35 3,251]

These are the three copies of Atmos related recordings that I just received.

 

 

The best of the Doors

 

 

 

[itchitch 4,739]

Have you tried Amazon Music?

 

Their premium music service has a decent Atmos library. 
 

You may be able to sign up for a free trial. 

[Daddyjt 9,976]

My son picked this up a couple weeks ago, and all I can say is WOW - I’m fairly certain that this is THE BEST top to bottom concert disc I’ve seen.  First off, the pure energy from the band AND the crowd is infectious. Next, the engineers perfectly captured the sound of a stadium concert - then the video editing is fantastic, with a great mix of camera angles.  And finally, the material itself… I’ve liked INXS since they hit the scene big in the 80’s - I saw them live in 86, and I have all their recordings. However, I have to admit that watching this show, I didn’t realize how many of their songs I knew - this show is about 90 minutes of hit after hit.

 

give it a spin - it’ll show just what Atmos can do, which is transport you to Wembley Stadium in ‘91 for a spectacular show….

 

 

 

[AndrewJohn 11,399]

18 minutes ago, Daddyjt said:

However, I have to admit that watching this show, I didn’t realize how many of their songs I knew

 

That is a good recording.

 

I took my son and his wife to see Queen, a couple years ago, and they both said this same thing..., being younger, they had never attributed many of the songs they knew by heart, to Queen - and Adam Lambert did an incredible job being part of the tour.

[NickT 255]

Alan Parson has redone "Tales of mystery and imagination", "I robot", "Pyramids" and is just about to release "Eye in the Sky" - All in BluRay Audio Atmos..

 

 

Edited May 8 by NickT

[Daddyjt 9,976]

On 5/5/2026 at 8:09 AM, Daddyjt said:

My son picked this up a couple weeks ago, and all I can say is WOW - I’m fairly certain that this is THE BEST top to bottom concert disc I’ve seen.  First off, the pure energy from the band AND the crowd is infectious. Next, the engineers perfectly captured the sound of a stadium concert - then the video editing is fantastic, with a great mix of camera angles.  And finally, the material itself… I’ve liked INXS since they hit the scene big in the 80’s - I saw them live in 86, and I have all their recordings. However, I have to admit that watching this show, I didn’t realize how many of their songs I knew - this show is about 90 minutes of hit after hit.

 

give it a spin - it’ll show just what Atmos can do, which is transport you to Wembley Stadium in ‘91 for a spectacular show….

 

 

 

I was lucky to have @PhilDent stop by last night, and believe it or not, we didn’t even fire up the 2ch system - we spent the evening in the HT demoing a slew of new Atmos material I have acquired.  We closed out the listening session with the INXS Live Baby Live 4k Atmos.  This was my 4th watch of this concert, and it just doesn’t get old.  Tim (with his background) gave me a few insights that I haven’t considered about this concert:  first, being shot in ‘92, all the video was shot on FILM (no digital).  Second, this appeared to be before the era of in-ear monitors, and he pointed out how refreshing it is to see a concert where no one is holding up a smart phone.  And the other thing I noticed on this viewing is just how small and dim the Jumbotrons were back then!

 

seriously, if you have an Atmos setup and you haven’t experienced this one, you're missing out…!

[AndrewJohn 11,399]

On 7/27/2026 at 6:45 PM, Daddyjt said:

I was lucky to have @PhilDent stop by last night, and believe it or not, we didn’t even fire up the 2ch system - we spent the evening in the HT demoing a slew of new Atmos material I have acquired.  We closed out the listening session with the INXS Live Baby Live 4k Atmos.  This was my 4th watch of this concert, and it just doesn’t get old.  Tim (with his background) gave me a few insights that I haven’t considered about this concert:  first, being shot in ‘92, all the video was shot on FILM (no digital).  Second, this appeared to be before the era of in-ear monitors, and he pointed out how refreshing it is to see a concert where no one is holding up a smart phone.  And the other thing I noticed on this viewing is just how small and dim the Jumbotrons were back then!

 

seriously, if you have an Atmos setup and you haven’t experienced this one, you're missing out…!

 

Since we've seen a few of your 2-channel configurations..., I'm curious to ask, @Daddyjt Mark, what is driving your Atmos (I'm sure you posted it before - but I forget).  

 

What kind of carver amplification is driving your atmos setup?  I know @loner_t used to swear by the Marantz 8805 (IIRC) as a preferred dolby atmos head unit.  What do you use for your processor/preamp system?   

 

I'm limited to 7.1 at the moment - but planning a future move a few years from now - dolby atmos likely coming into play. 

 

Thanks for the post, and keeping us on this leading edge of audio reproduction and experience in this thread.

[Daddyjt 9,976]

11 hours ago, AndrewJohn said:

 

Since we've seen a few of your 2-channel configurations..., I'm curious to ask, @Daddyjt Mark, what is driving your Atmos (I'm sure you posted it before - but I forget).  

 

What kind of carver amplification is driving your atmos setup?  I know @loner_t used to swear by the Marantz 8805 (IIRC) as a preferred dolby atmos head unit.  What do you use for your processor/preamp system?   

 

I'm limited to 7.1 at the moment - but planning a future move a few years from now - dolby atmos likely coming into play. 

 

Thanks for the post, and keeping us on this leading edge of audio reproduction and experience in this thread.

Most of my HT power is Carver.  A 500t MKII runs the L & R, another 500t MKII runs the center (steering mode, not bridged), a Sunfire Theater Grand runs the base layer surrounds (4 speakers x 200 Sunfire watts - overkill I know), and a Parasound Z-12 running 8 of its channels bridged to 4 running the 4 Atmos speakers at 100 watts each.

 

Then there’s the subs - the 2 SVS SB4000 each have a 1,200 watt amp, and the 2 Velodyne DD18 subs each have a 1,250 watt amp.  The 4 subs pressurize the room quite well…;-)

 

I am running the Marantz SR6015 receiver as a processor.  I didn’t see any reason to move up the line (SR7015 or SR8015), because I didn’t need the 2 extra amp channels (9 vs 11) nor did I need more powerful amp channels, as ALL my amplification is via separate amps.

 

There are a lot of different options for Atmos channels.  While ceiling mount is best, high on the front wall is pretty good, and even the “aimed & ceiling reflected” Atmos speakers that sit on top of the front mains present a realistic image.

 

 

[AndrewJohn 11,399]

On 7/31/2026 at 12:31 AM, Daddyjt said:

Most of my HT power is Carver.  A 500t MKII runs the L & R, another 500t MKII runs the center (steering mode, not bridged), a Sunfire Theater Grand runs the base layer surrounds (4 speakers x 200 Sunfire watts - overkill I know), and a Parasound Z-12 running 8 of its channels bridged to 4 running the 4 Atmos speakers at 100 watts each.

 

Then there’s the subs - the 2 SVS SB4000 each have a 1,200 watt amp, and the 2 Velodyne DD18 subs each have a 1,250 watt amp.  The 4 subs pressurize the room quite well…;-)

 

I am running the Marantz SR6015 receiver as a processor.  I didn’t see any reason to move up the line (SR7015 or SR8015), because I didn’t need the 2 extra amp channels (9 vs 11) nor did I need more powerful amp channels, as ALL my amplification is via separate amps.

 

There are a lot of different options for Atmos channels.  While ceiling mount is best, high on the front wall is pretty good, and even the “aimed & ceiling reflected” Atmos speakers that sit on top of the front mains present a realistic image.

 

So Atmos then requires at least 9.1, it seems.  I have the Marantz SR 5014 model doing 7.1 now about 6 years old.  It sends the main L and R to a TFM 4.0 driving a pair of NHT 2.6i speakers.   The other 5 channels are fed through an AV-705x feeding my front-L&R surrounds high up on the left and right walls 6 feet from the back wall, aimed down to the sweet spot, and then feeding my rear-L&R surrounds behind the sitting area sweet spot, also high-up, but aimed down to the sweet spot.  The SR 5014 is connected to a Samsung flat screen via E-ARC HDMI so i can control everything with the 7 button Samsung remote (very cool how this works so well!).  Oh, My surround speakers and center were a Boston surrounds I picked up when Boston was still making good speakers..., they are a "system" to support that configuration, or a 5.1.  I have a single sub - a Carver Knight Shadow - the rare and elusive Carver-branded version of a Sunfire Super Junior (I have 4 of these..., LoL).

 

I think that the best thing about the Marantz is the Audessy setup..., gets thing close for my room (which is wildly non-standard)  Then, I usually tweak it - mostly tweaking the Center channel to amplify dialog/speaking for movies.  The above config is in a "den" style room off of our kitchen that we use daily for most TV use.

 

I should say that I have a second AV setup, it is showing it's age - denon receiver (hate it), and fabulous Sonus Faber speaker setup (LOVE these!!)..., description on that setup for another day - I am hoping to re-outfit it with another Marantz receiver, through a 2 channel and 7 channel Sunfire amplification.  Located in the man cave combo bourbon-bar and is less used.