Speaker Setup

Introduced in 2012 to commercial cinemas, Dolby Atmos®* incorporates height effects speakers to create special effects which emanate from above the viewer. This brings a new and thrilling dimension of realism to the movie theater experience.

According to Dolby, Atmos is the first audio format based on audio ‘objects’ rather than channels. In Dolby Atmos, any sound—the helicopter, a blaring car horn, a yelling child—can exist as an independent audio object, free of channel restrictions. Sounds can be placed and moved anywhere, including anywhere overhead – placed where they would occur naturally in a scene. Sounds move in three-dimensional space—flowing above and around the listener in step with the visuals to bring a new sense of height and reality.

Dolby Labs has also partnered with many major consumer electronic audio brands to add Dolby Atmos decoding capability to home audio AV receivers and processors. Several Dolby Atmos capable AV processors and Atmos speakers are already available in the marketplace, and Atmos is generating a lot of excitement with home theater enthusiasts.

A nice bonus is that Atmos content does not require a new codec, and instead is an extension of the lossless Dolby TrueHD codec. This means new/recent Blu-ray players will support Atmos without requiring a firmware upgrade (older players may experience compatibility issues). An Atmos-capable AV receiver is also required.

Dolby Atmos In The Home

Images by Dolby Laboratories

Implementing Dolby Atmos in a home theater will involve either mounting speakers high on a wall and having them radiate sound directly down, installing them in the ceiling, or adding Atmos height effects speaker modules which fire upward at the ceiling, thus relying on boundary reflection to provide the illusion that the special effects are originating from overhead.

DIRECT RADIATING HEIGHT EFECTS SPEAKERS

CEILING BOUNCE ATMOS ELEVATION SPEAKERS

Alternative Mounting Options

Currently Available Source Material