I see many of the Atmos speakers are speakers that basically sit on top of your fronts and fire up toward the ceiling...

What is the difference between that and the "elevated front presence" speakers that are on the wall well above your mains?

are they pretty much interchangeable/do the same thing?

was wondering, because I have paradigm main speakers, and anotehr set of smaller paradigms that I could use for the raised, presence speakers.  good thing is that they are both paradigm, and would probably match better than getting some up-firing atmos speakers (like from onkyo or kilpsch)

thoughts?

I will look on the interwebs too fro more info...but wondering if anyone knew about this stuff.

thanks!!

They are different.

There are three different type of height channel speakers (actually 4 if we include Aura3D in the mix.)

There are front/rear presence speakers that actually mount vertically on the front and rear walls.  I think Yamaha originally started it prior to Atmos/DTS:X

Then you have Atmos-enabled speakers.  These are the modules that sit on top of you front and rear speakers and point up to the ceiling bouncing their sound off the ceiling at an angle and back to the primary listening position.

Finally, you have Atmos speakers that are actually ceiling-mounted, direct-firing speakers.  No gimmicks or magic tricks.

The 4th would be the VoG (Voice of God) speaker used in Aura3D installs.  A single, direct-firing speaker directly over the primary listening position with 4 presence speaker (front and rear.)

Aura3D and DTS:X both utilize front and rear presence speakers while Atmos utilizes Atmos-enabled speakers and Atmos ceiling speakers.

IMO, forget Atmos-enabled speaker modules unless A) You absolutely want Atmos and cannot cut into your ceiling, B) You have a reflective material for a ceiling such as drywall and C) You have relatively low ceilings--high ceilings absolutely kill the reflection and the listener just hears crap.  

DTS:X with presence speakers would be preferable to Atmos-enabled speaker modules but I personally like DTS:X with 4 traditional Atmos ceiling speakers.  It sounds much better.  I do not have any experience with Aura3D.  

Atmos is the best of the bunch, but you have to follow the Atmos specs almost perfectly.  If your room isn't conducive (cathedral ceilings, can't properly place speakers at proper angles above seating, etc.) don't do it.  You most likely won't be happy with the sound.  One thing I'll add to Atmos is it's absolutely critical that all of your bed layer channels (front LR, surrounds, etc) be at ear level.  If they are too high, you won't get the separation between objects in the height channels and bed channels.   I had to completely redo my room from traditional surround layout to accommodate the Atmos speakers.