I want to get a Dolby atmos capable AVR that has an ARC HDMI connection . My projector is a optima that only has regular HDMI cable hookups . My Question is dose my projector also have to have a ARC HDMI connection to make Atmos work or will a regular HDMI connection work as well ? My Projector is kind of old an it didn’t have an ARC HDMI .
Simply put, no. ARC stands for audio return channel. Your projector doesn’t produce any sound so there’s nothing to return unless for some crazy reason you plug a streaming device directly into it. Your AVR is going to process the sound and send the video to the projector. It might output sound to the projector as well but you’d be silly not to mute it.
So al I need is an atmos AVR receiver with a ARC HDMI connection . Thanks !
Umm… Maybe? There’s more that goes into it than just buying a Dolby Atmos capable receiver. And having ARC is a separate feature. I’d encourage you to do some more research before making a big purchase.
Again, the audio return channel is only needed if you are trying to get sound to your receiver from a secondary source. For example, if you have a fire stick plugged directly into your TV then you want the TV to be ARC capable so it can send the sound to your AVR. But the conventional setup would be to just plug your fire stick into the AVR along with all your other components and run a single HDMI cable from your AVR to your TV.
The most important part of a Dolby Atmos setup is the speakers. In a traditional home setup you’d have your center channel, subwoofer, fronts, sides, rears, and at least one pair of ceiling speakers. However, companies have put out several different types of floor or shelf speakers that have drivers on the top which aim to “bounce” soundwaves off the ceiling, thus imitating the desired sound stage. I’m not going to get into whether these are worth it or not and which ones are better than others. I will tell you that I have ceiling speakers in my home.
The term “Dolby Atmos” has unfortunately become a marketing gimmick. Anything with a few extra speakers built in can be called “Dolby Atmos capable” or “Dolby Atmos enabled”. Even television sets with nothing more than internal speakers can be labeled as such. But a true setup would have all of the required speakers physically placed in the location where you expect to have the sound coming from.
At minimum you would need the following components for Dolby Atmos:
- Audio source that is compatible and configured for the correct output type (streaming device, cable box, Blu-ray player, etc.)
- AVR that is compatible and configured correctly
- Proper number of speakers or Dolby Atmos imitating speakers
- Cords/adapters (if needed) with the appropriate bandwidth to pass through the audio.
I emphasize the correctly configured part. If you have the hardware but don’t have your settings correct, it’s not going to matter what you bought.
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I have to get up firing speakers and a Atmos and ARC ready receiver . Thanks for the info Jayhawks