Is there a way to use a 7.2.4 Dolby Atmos home theater as a Pro Tools Dolby Atmos mix
 

So in my basement I've got a 2.1 stereo studio running PT Ultimate with HD Native TB and an HD Omni interface in one room and a 7.2.4 Dolby Atmos theater with an Emotiva amp and Marantz processor/receiver in another. I want to get into, and do, my next album in immersive audio but wasn't looking to convert the studio into a full surround room. For cost, size and other restrictions and reasons I'd like to leverage the theater.

While I understand I'd need an interface with more outputs for the increased amount of speakers and as the receiver isn't an interface, I'm not clear on everything required to get this set up and running.

Is this possible to do? Would there be a way to essentially have the interface in the studio and run cables into the theater and somehow easily switch to "mix mode" by hooking a few cables up to my MBP and maybe using a switch of some sort to switch between an interface and the Marantz receiver to go back into theater mode?

Looking for any and all advice here. Especially buying and cable connections advice.


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Re: Is there a way to use a 7.2.4 Dolby Atmos home theater as a Pro Tools Dolby Atmos
 

The receiver itself probably isn't ideal, as it will include additional decoding and processes that will either adversely affect your mix... or not work at all. If your emotiva amp has line level inputs on it, you would just hang it off the appropriate audio interface just like you would any passive studio monitoring system with dedicated amplifier.

You will need to use Dolby Atmos Production or mastering suite, but neither of them output an encoded audio signal suitable for consumer atmos home cinema systems.

Re: Is there a way to use a 7.2.4 Dolby Atmos home theater as a Pro Tools Dolby Atmos
 

Trying to map this out in my head. Would I completely bypass the Marantz receiver (as it's not an interface) and have the speakers and subs connected to the amp then the amp connected to the interface then the interface connected to the computer? So in my case

MBP with Pro Tools Ultimate and Dolby Renderer > HD Native Thunderbolt > Mtrx Studio (or Focusrite Red 16Line) > amp > 11 speakers + 2 subwoofers?

Is that about right? What am I missing or getting confused and mixed up?

Re: Is there a way to use a 7.2.4 Dolby Atmos home theater as a Pro Tools Dolby Atmos
 

The Emotiva is just a power amp right? Which is fed (hardwired) by the Marantz AV receiver?
In that case maybe the Marantz has a multichannel analog input you can use to hook up your audio interface. This way you can switch between your Protools output and other media devices.
Keep in mind, using a multichannel analog input on pretty much any AV receiver will bypass all the processing features on the device (like room eq, etc), as most receiver only have AD converters for stereo sources.

Another way would be to use a MTRX as your monitor controller/volume/room eq, etc, and feed it with the Marantz output for your Bluray/Game/Homecinema stuff, and output to the power amps for the speakers. You will need a ton of AD/DA though for the MTRX which can get expensive.

Re: Is there a way to use a 7.2.4 Dolby Atmos home theater as a Pro Tools Dolby Atmos
 

Yea, the Emotiva is just a power amp. The Marantz is strictly a processor so it can't power the speakers. So instead of a speaker being connected directly to the receiver, it's connected first to the amp to get power then a cable from the amp goes to where the speaker would usually go directly if it were an actual A/V receiver.

So, yeah, this is where I get lost. I simply want to be able to bypass the Marantz processor when in "studio mode", and use the Mtrx as the processor to feed the sound and whatnot to the speakers. At least I thought that's what I wanted to be able to do.

I just want to connect a laptop up and have a mouse and monitor controller in the theater to open up Pro Tools and have the theater straight up be my surround mix room then unplug the laptop and have the theater go back into regular mode so the family can use it like how they're used to. Does that make sense?

And if it does, in "studio mode" I'd maybe have all my room settings set from the Mtrx SPQ then in "theater mod everything would switch to the settings I made in the Marantz processor/receiver. Does that also make sense?


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Re: Is there a way to use a 7.2.4 Dolby Atmos home theater as a Pro Tools Dolby Atmos
 

Model of Marantz receiver and Emotiva?

Is there a way to use a 7.2.4 Dolby Atmos home theater as a Pro Tools Dolby Atmos mix
 

Marantz AV7705 https://www.marantz.com/en-us/produc...parates/av7705and Emotiva XPA-11 Gen 3 https://emotiva.com/collections/amps...ts/xpa-11-gen3



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Re: Is there a way to use a 7.2.4 Dolby Atmos home theater as a Pro Tools Dolby Atmos
 

It would be a pretty straight forward task with a mtrx studio, as the receiver and power amp both have XLR connectors. You could route the XLR outputs of the receiver to the analogue inputs of the MTRX studio, then the analogue outputs of the MTRX studio to the XLR inputs of your amplifier.

In DADman you would then create a monitor source for the receiver, and another for your HD native card for the Dolby renderer. This will allow you to switch between listening to the receiver or to the renderer with one button click in DADman. All you would need is two 8 channel female XLR to DB25 cables, and two 8 channel male XLR to DB25 cables of the appropriate length to run the distance between your receiver/amp and your MTRX studio.

In this configuration you would use the Dolby audio bridge to get audio out of pro tools and into the renderer. HD native then becomes the output of the render. It is possible to do with Dante too, but it would be limited to 64 channels unless you move to HDX2.

Re: Is there a way to use a 7.2.4 Dolby Atmos home theater as a Pro Tools Dolby Atmos
 

Alright, I think that almost makes sense to me. I’ll try to map it out to make sure I truly understand the signal path and whatnot. But in the meantime, would it be safe to say that going this route would allow the marantz to, for all intents and purpose, straight up function like it does without the mtrx studio? So having the same Apple TV, PlayStation and other devices hooked up would function like they do now. Sound, video source. All that.


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Re: Is there a way to use a 7.2.4 Dolby Atmos home theater as a Pro Tools Dolby Atmos
 

The MTRX studio would basically be acting like a big input switch and volume control for your power amp. Choose input A, and it just grabs the audio output from the marantz and feeds it to the power amp. Choose input B, and it grabs the output of the Dolby renderer and feeds it to your power amp.

The MTRX studio also has the ability to work in ‘sum’ mode, which would mean both the signal from your Marantz and the signal from the Dolby Renderer would be fed to the power amp at the same time. Perhaps a handy feature if you have other people in the household wanting to use the marantz. Other than that, the marantz will function just the same, with all the peripherals attached, as it does now.

A simpler, more manual option would be to just unplug the XLR cables that connect your Marantz to the Emotiva, and plug your audio interface straight into the emotiva whenever you want to mix in Atmos. You will still need something to act as a monitor controller, unless the emotiva has a volume knob on the front.