u/StevenTM

Heya. We ordered a Beam Ultra that's arriving in a few days - it's meant to replace our Beam Gen 1, which is currently bonded with two Fives as fronts and two Ones as surrounds. We've been wondering which setup would be best and are interested in others' experiences with similar setups, as A/B testing won't be the easiest - by the time we're done "unconfiguring" a setup and configuring the next one so much time will have passed i don't know if I'd even be able to tell if there's a difference, unless it's massive.

Our current thought is to either

A. keep the Fives as fronts and Ones as surrounds
B. use the Fives as surrounds and Ones as fronts
C. use just the Fives as surrounds and install the Ones in other rooms

The room is about 40 sqm/350 sqft

I'm not sure how using sequencr'd fronts (or using the Fives vs the Ones) interacts with Dolby Atmos content. I remember reading that the Surrounds are not configurable for Atmos playback, ie the Full/Ambient setting is ignored?

We currently have a Beam with 2 Ones as surrounds and 2 Fives as a front stereo pair, flanking the Beam/TV.

We're thinking of buying 2 Era 300s and a Beam Gen 2 to replace the HT portion of the setup (the Fives would still be a front stereo pair).

We'd primarily use the setup for listening to music, in Atmos when we can, but not exclusively.

But as I understand it, (1) if we output to Fives AND the new HT setup (Beam 2 + Era x2), the HT setup would just downmix and play everything as stereo and (2) I read that they're mid for Dolby Atmos audio if set up as surrounds for a soundbar, as opposed to just being stereo paired? (3) if that's true, does it make a difference if they're set to ambient/full for music playback?

(4) random aside, they'd be about 3m/10ft behind us and separated by a distance of about 6m/20ft as satellites - I've also read that they should be about 1m/3ft back and about 3m/10ft apart for optimal (good?) Atmos quality.

Outputting to just the HT (and Atmos-capable) setup for Atmos, specifically, doesn't sound very appealing tbh - feels like we'd be missing out by not playing music over the Fives as well. Plus the Beam/Gen 2 would be under a roof slope starting at about 2m/6.5 ft height.

I'm genuinely wondering if another 2 Fives as surrounds (with either the current Beam Gen 1, which is fine, or a Gen 2) wouldn't sound overall better, especially since we don't exclusively listen to Atmos.