NO Side Speakers in an atmos system?


Hey guys I hope you can answer this.
 I am looking to build a theater and have zero place to put side speakers.  I have the rears and the over heads covered plus the main front three and sub.  However my question is this, does my Pre/pro (marantz 8802a) take the signals normally sent to the side channels and send them to the back speakers if there are no side speakers?  I would hate to lose two important channels that seem more important than the rest.

Part two of this question depending on the answer from the first.

Should I use the rear speakers as side speakers?  Meaning, that I have the rear speakers hooked up to the side speaker terminals of the pre?

Thanks for your help.
Mark
mgould

Let me ask this another way.

When I play a Atmos Blu Ray through my Oppo 105 outputting via the 7.1 channel RCA analog output of the Oppo into a Denon Receiver (again via the RCA inputs), the side speakers seem too be playing the extra channels that are dedicated to the Atmos track.

If, that is true, then all I would need is to mount the side speakers on the ceiling.

Am I missing something?

ozzy

I wonder if the side and rear channels can be combined in the processing by the receiver?
Yes, if you select 5.x.x setup
Atmos speakers are not required.
Unless you use overhead speakers

When I play a Atmos Blu Ray through my Oppo 105 outputting via the 7.1 channel RCA analog output of the Oppo into a Denon Receiver (again via the RCA inputs), the side speakers seem too be playing the extra channels that are dedicated to the Atmos track.

If, that is true, then all I would need is to mount the side speakers on the ceiling.

Am I missing something?

ozzy

Yes, you can mount the side speakers on ceiling, and change the setting on your receiver from 7.1 to Atmos 5.1.2
https://www.dolby.com/us/en/guide/speaker-setup-guides/5.1.2-overhead-speaker-setup-guide.html
I play a Atmos Blu Ray through my Oppo 105 outputting via the 7.1 channel RCA analog output of the Oppo into a Denon Receiver (again via the RCA inputs)
Dolby Astmos must use HDMI connection and set output to bitstream out to receiver/prepro, analog output will not give you dolby astmos, what you get is 7.1 surround decoded by your blu ray player.

Ok. My old Denon does not have HDMI inputs nor Atmos settings if that is what is required..

ozzy