Pioneer SP-T22A-LR Add-on Speaker Designed by Andrew Jones for Dolby Atmos,Black

These are amazing speakers. My Onkyo receiver bit the dust a few weeks ago and stopped producing sound. Since I'm going to the expense of buying a new receiver I thought it was time to buy a receiver that was 4k ready, supports dts: x (once firmware comes out), dolby atmos, and supports atmos add-on speakers. These speakers work great with my bang for the buck Denon AVR-S710W receiver. My listening area is about 10x14 with a textured ceiling. Our room wasn't ideal for ceiling speakers since I have a ceiling fan in the center of the room (our room is technically 10x30 but 20% of that is a stairway and the other side opens up to our deck on the back of the house) and the fan creeps over about 2ft into of our listening area on the right side. Even with the fan going these add-on speakers still work great in our setup. The speakers are about 4 feet below the ceiling and I had to add about 3 blu-ray cases behind the speakers so it increases the angle of the speakers. You don't have to do this, but in our case it helped to pinpoint the sound at the height level. Without adding 2-3 blu-rays behind the speakers it still sounded realistic but if you closed your eyes it wasn't focused to a single point and could be anywhere in a 3-4 foot area. I think these speakers are designed for a higher ceiling but it it is not hard to angle the speakers up a bit higher. Probably the best demo disc for this is the most recent Transformers movie with Mark Wahlberg. During several parts of the movie there's debris, zaps, and gunshots going overhead which makes it perfect to test the angle of your speakers. Just close your eyes and see if you can finger where the sound came from or if it just sounds like something in a 3 foot area. I will probably replace the blu-rays with some pieces of scrap wood and paint it black so it blends in with my black bookshelf speakers. My 5.1 setup is made up of generation 1 paradign mini monitors fronts and surrounds, matching model center, and paradign subwoofer. These speakers were $1600 back in the day when DVDs first came out and they pair well with my 6 ohm pioneer atmos speakers. It helps that Denon has the audyssey microphone to match everything up. I haven't been able to test DTS X since the firmware hasn't dropped yet but Dolby Atmos sounds amazing as does Dolby Upmix for older TrueHD signals. The upmix brings new life to your older blu-rays and it is fun to use the remote and side by side compare the sound from original to upmix and back. So far, I've listened to Jupiter Ascending, TMNT, Expendables 3, Gravity, Fury Road, and Everest in the Atmos format. (Don't buy Jupiter Ascending for the Atmos track. Yeah the surround sound is fantastic but they way they mixed it your finger is on the volume for the whole movie and that's with dialogue enhancer turned on.) You will not be disappointed if you want to add add-on speakers for your existing 5.1 setup and ceiling speakers are not an option. Make sure to buy speaker wire for these speakers. One added plus about these speakers is they do have feet you can add to the speakers. They technically look like clear chiclet candy but you get four for each speaker. They are very sticky so make sure to dust off the top of your speaker first. Be careful what receiver you use these speakers since they are 6 ohm with 80 watts max. The Denon AVR-S710W is almost a perfect match for these speakers and you can find refurbs for $300 online. I highly recommend Atmos. It makes a huge difference in how you can pinpoint where the sound comes from and the transition of sound from one speaker to another is so realistic. I wasn't going to get an Atmos receiver and speakers at first since Dolby TrueHD and DTS MA sound amazing and are lossless but it really does make a difference with this new Atmos object based surround technology. If you are looking for a great demo disc get the Gravity Diamond Luxe Blu-Ray. They are out of print but you can still find them for about $24 on Amazon.ca vs $45-60 on ebay. Sound is all over the place in that movie. :)

I have the Pioneer SP-FS52 (front towers) and Pioneer SP-BS22-LR (rear bookshelf) speakers. I put them on top of my towers. One note that I didn't notice or catch before I purchased. If you're looking for the flush look and feel, put them on the bookshelf speakers, as they're slightly smaller than the front tower's tops and it looks funny.They sound really nice, and they're good quality (at least as much as the Pioneer set I have). Even after re-running the Audyssey MultEQ setup in my Denon, they're not as pronounced as in-ceiling speakers -- and I don't expect them to be. These are a hack, if you can't use in-ceiling. Some Atmos tracks work better than others. John Wick, in the beginning with the rain, it is a subtle effect, but it is there (I played the scene with the speakers laying on the floor face down and then again with them on my speakers firing at the ceiling). In movies without Atmos encoding, I feel like I'm getting a fuller sound.I think less than or equal to $149 would be a better price. $179+tax is a bit steep for what they do, but I decided to keep them.

These speakers are a reasonably priced add on for Dolby Atmos applications. They have good sound and serve their purpose well. They are well constructed and don't feel like quality was sacrificed to meet a price point. I bought 2 pair before I realized my new Dolby Atmos enabled receiver only had outputs for one pair. I kept both pairs because I will eventually update my system and relegate my new amp to a different room. Of course then I will need more of these great speakers.

Seating distance to Atmos enabled speaker matters especially for front speaker placement.Here are some tips for those who sit farther to speakers beyond 5 feet especially front side and ceiling height is 8 feet.*1 Do not place Atmos enabled speakers on top of your left and right speakers*2 these speakers need little breathing room from their place to ceiling to have full envelopment*3 make sure to place these speakers so they are about 6 to 7 feet distance from the ceiling.* 4 place them near your TV (assuming it is on a stand that is below to your left and right speakers). Take point *3 into consideration.* 5 If you have done above and you happen sit with in 8 feet from your speakers Enjoy your atmos sound. If you sit beyond 8 feet use one blu-ray disc cover (about 1/2 inch) and prop up the back side of the speaker. Enjoy your atmos sound.Btw, I have Pioneer Elite bookshelf speakers with Atmos speakers built-in for front and surrounds. My surrounds are 6 feet away and I don't have any complaints. Front speakers are 11 feet away and I am not happy with the Atmos sound. After very very very long experimentation I bought these speakers for front and played around. Above tips are coming from this experimentation.If you are sitting in 5 to 6 feet from front speakers and placed these Atmos speakers on top of your front left and right. you will be treated with fantastic over the head Atmos experience. If you sit beyond 6 feet and ceiling height is 8 feet follow above tips. Make sure to add rear atmos speakers as well. Level of immersion you will experience is beyond words. You will never visit the movie theater.Advanced Tips for those who are familiar with speaker delay settings.- Check out the attached picture. As you can see in the attached picture front atmos speakers placed almost next to front left & right speakers.- From distance point of view atmos speakers are about same distance from left and right speaker to MLP( main listening position).- Auto setups like Audyssey will measure distance and one may end up similar distance for atmos speakers with respective to left and right speakers.- This may pose problems such as, one may find sound coming directly from atmos speakers (not from ceiling.. from speaker it self) due to the placement. This could happen especially with non atmos sources, when using DSU processing.- But one can adjust the delay of the atmos speaker and blend the sound with right/left speakers. 2 to 3 milliseconds delay will do the trick. Simply reducing 2 or 3 feet from the atmos speaker distance with respect to main left/right speakers will do the trick. By doing this what happens is , sound from main Left/Right speaker reaches first to MLP and will not hear sound directly coming from atmos speakers. We are applying timing delay principle used in public addressing systems.** example of speaker distance adjustment: if your front right main speaker is 12 feet from your main listening position, set your front right atmos speaker distance to 10 or 9 feet. ***NB: 98% of content that one might be listening now (year 2018) will be non atmos. Above are very important steps that will make listening non atmos sources truly remarkable using DSU. DSU(Dolby Surround upmixer) is wonderful processing developed by Dolby. Thank you Dolby Labs.Always remember these are your speakers , your room , your avr and your ears. Adjust them to your liking.