If the drivers are the same on both, it's just the added "angle" of the height speakers. It meant you can just mount it flat on your walls without buying a mount, that could also involve drilling into the standard bookshelf speakers. It's cosmetic "tax" more than functional.

It's like how razors for women are more expensive than men, even though it works the same.

That's from Klipsch support page.

So if the upfiring speakers don't have the switch, they just output the full range that they can handle.

For any surround setup, you need good front speakers and a powered subwoofer. You can live without the powered subwoofer but you will feel the sound is lacking with certain content. Not just movies but music as well. If you analyze the surround content (you can open it using Audacity or any DAW), you can see that sometimes the LFE channel is being used to provide that bass kick; that sound effect exist only there.

Front speakers, even floorstanding ones with tweeters, mids and woofer, don't get below the 20-30 Hz level. The receiver will take those frequencies and gives it to the subwoofer. Adding the height speakers (DTS-X also uses these speakers) doesn't change this. Any low frequencies are still being handled by the subwoofer, as set on the receiver. So coming back to that Klipsch speaker, even if you forgot to switch to the Atmos position, you'd still be fine as long as you have a sub.

Any sound output that comes out of the receiver is "dumb". All 7.2.2/4/6 channels are analog signals. The processing is done by the receiver. When you use that calibration mic that comes with your receiver, the receiver uses that data to understand what condition the room it is in - the speaker placements, the room size and where you sit, for example. Using that data, it applies signal processing to hopefully give you a better sound, like you're in a concert venue or whatnot.

The newer receivers can know how loud your speakers can get and if they are lacking certain frequencies, and correct those anomalies. All of this while making the system user friendly.

So coming back to your original question, yes Wharfedale is forcing you the Dolby tax without the Klipsch low-freq switch.

If you want a "cheaper" Atmos setup, watch this video as a guide.

We can't get those prices since we got the Malaysia tax, but it'd definitely be cheaper. Techno Dad is a professional Dolby Atmos mixer.

I found the forum on Audio Science Review.

In the last page, as of today, somebody said



The Klipsch Reference Theater Pack is 8 ohms. So as suggested by Techno Dad, it's fine. Of course, you can always find another 9.2 model.

Put aside the receiver.

Techno Dad's suggestion with the Klipsch is for a 5.2.4.

Here's the Sony CS5 bookshelf speakers.

RM700 a pair. 5 pairs is RM3,500 which gives you 10 speakers. Get a 10" powered subwoofer for around RM2,000, you have 5.1.4 setup.

For the Onkyo receiver (or any other 5.2.4 receiver) from the UK/US, you can try freight forwarding companies.

I've got no interest in this receiver nor do I work in the CE industry.

Yes, impedance can dip. But that's why the NR-7100 has as ASR calls it, a "limp" mode which can be reset by physically unplugging the receiver.

But if you look at Page 9 of the ASR forum (and page 10), you can read how while the original poster did a good job at reviewing, it's not audio content - they were test tones. And played loud and long. Normal people don't do that. They listen to music and watch movies.

ASR users suggested beefier receivers costs 3 times as much or more that can provide more power. But why would you want that when your use case and budget doesn't match?

You can build a vacuum cleaner so powerful, it can suck the paint off the wall. But why would you build that? Which househusbands are demanding that much power?

61°C is pretty low. It could be that the user placed the receiver in a non-well ventilated space.

Rule of thumb of audio: If your ear drums feel pain because of what you are hearing, turn down the volume knob. It's too loud. You'll damage your hearing, your audio equipment and your relationship with your neighbor.

Also a rule of thumb: If people are complaining that it's too loud but you can hardly hear anything, either your ears are plugged or you already lost your hearing.

It depends on the content. -15 to -20dB are good for Youtube and audio, including multichannel PCM and DSD. -5 to -10 are good for most movies.

There are however some movies that are mixed so low yet somehow they are technically Dolby-correct specced, that you'd have to get it to 0 dB just to hear the dialog. This also applies to Dolby Atmos music on Tidal.