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Atmos Surrounds Possibility?

  • 24 December 2020
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I know Sonos does not release any of it's future plans but I'm just wondering about future speakers.

Does any suspect or think Sonos may offer Atmos enabled rear surround speakers. I see quite a few brands have Atmos sound bars plus Atmos Surrounds.

I'm adding more Sonos speakers to my home but If rather just move my current Sonos One's that are currently surrounds to other locations in my home if there is any hope of new surrounds coming.  Do I want to play the waiting game or take chance and purchase new speakers now 

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Best answer by GuitarSuperstar 26 December 2020, 18:52

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I am not sure I know what an 'Atmos surround' is. In the only Sonos product that offers Atmos, the Arc, all the processing work is done by the Arc. The surrounds just play what they are sent, as always. So I am listening to Atmos content using my Play:1s as surrounds. 

Could you explain what you mean please?

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I am not sure I know what an 'Atmos surround' is. In the only Sonos product that offers Atmos, the Arc, all the processing work is done by the Arc. The surrounds just play what they are sent, as always. So I am listening to Atmos content using my Play:1s as surrounds. 

Could you explain what you mean please?

An example of “Atmos surrounds” would be Sonos offering Sonos Ones with an upward firing speaker. This would turn the Arc/Sub/Ones x2 setup from a 5.1.2 system to a 5.1.4 system.

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@John B 

Exactly what Guitar superstar said.

Sonos (while I love the products) took a long time to bring Atmos speakers to the market. Wondering if a similar story with the sorrounds if at all.

The Arc is the only speaker offering Atmos because is currently the only speaker in the Sonos line that has upward firing speakers. Many other manufacturers also offer surrounds capable of the same. "Maybe there's a helicopter taking off behind you and then flies over your head"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Perhaps it’s a case as to whether the rear (virtual) upward firing surround speakers might possibly ‘muddy’ the soundstage perhaps? - see attached Atmos image (using a soundbar:

It’s what sounds best at the end of the day and the actual (real/noticeable) benefit to the listener - I’m not saying it may not happen, but it might be a case that the detail needs to be worked through to get the best sound experience at the chosen ‘sweet spot’. 

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The height effect of the Sonos Arc is pretty subtle even with standard, flat 8 ft ceilings. Many even complain about not hearing it at all. Surrounds with upfiring speakers would help create a more convincing height effect especially for people with larger rooms. Plus it would help Sonos sell more speakers. I would replace my pair of Play:1 surrounds in a heartbeat if Sonos offered Ones with upward firing speakers.

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I know Sonos does not release any of it's future plans but I'm just wondering about future speakers.

Does any suspect or think Sonos may offer Atmos enabled rear surround speakers. I see quite a few brands have Atmos sound bars plus Atmos Surrounds.

I'm adding more Sonos speakers to my home but If rather just move my current Sonos One's that are currently surrounds to other locations in my home if there is any hope of new surrounds coming.  Do I want to play the waiting game or take chance and purchase new speakers now 

 

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The height effect of the Sonos Arc is pretty subtle even with standard, flat 8 ft ceilings. Many even complain about not hearing it at all. Surrounds with upfiring speakers would help create a more convincing height effect especially for people with larger rooms. Plus it would help Sonos sell more speakers. I would replace my pair of Play:1 surrounds in a heartbeat if Sonos offered Ones with upward firing speakers.

Same….I’d take a vacation day to play with them too, but no more. Just one at-mos’

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I am so ready to buy Sonos Atmos up firing speakers if there is a project on the making from Sonos! 
Come on Sonos ingeners  I know you can do this, you have the technology and the knowledge to make this type of speakers 😊👌

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Was hoping the new release announcement tomorrow was going to some upfiring rears, instead its some bluetooth speaker no one is asking for!!

The ARC really needs some help with its overhead effects, even some sort of control to be able to up the upfiring speaker volume would help.

I am so ready to buy Sonos Atmos up firing speakers if there is a project on the making from Sonos! 
Come on Sonos ingeners  I know you can do this, you have the technology and the knowledge to make this type of speakers 😊👌

 

I don’t think it’s just a matter of whether there are enough customers to buy atmos surround speakers, it’s also a matter of whether it can be technically be done in a reliable way that Sonos can support.  In this case you’re sending two audio channels to each rear speaker, where you used to send one channel. So a significant increase in wireless traffic in addition to the existing streams for rear surrounds and bass channels.  Maybe it’s not a big deal, but I would think, assuming the Arc has the hardware to do it, it’s going to be less reliable overall, particularly in homes with a lot of wireless traffic, and Sonos won’t want to do this if it’s a small market, and/or going to give Sonos a bad reputation for reliability.

 

 

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I am agree. It won’t  be for many people for sure, but for those who are movie lovers like myself would be great. Maybe is to much ask for now, I just hope it will possible and hopefully not so far into the future 😁 

 

Why not have the Arc send signals to a 3rd and 4th set of speakers (downward firing Amp / In-Ceiling combination) and then turn off / tone down the upward firing on Arc or sync as necessary, depending on the in-ceiling pair(s).  All the hardware exists to do that right now.  

I for example have a set of CWM684s in the wall behind powered by a Sonos Amp and two sets of CCM684s in the ceiling waiting for a Denon Amp to be installed, but if I could power them with another couple of Sonos Amps then I would abandon my Denon and have a true 5.2.4 Atmos (two Subs)!

All software…?

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If you asked me last week if I wanted a play one  surround speaker with Atmos upfiring drivers Is have said yes please because I've always felt the height affects from Arc to be nearly non existent for me 

 

that was until s2 13.1 was released and now I've found that actually the Atmos height affects from the ARC soundbar into be actually very good, the problem was that the volume was way too low and so the other channels drowned out the height channel sound - but now that I'm able to increase the volume it sounds great 

 

as an example, when I play the Dolby Nature Atmos demo file, the scene where it rains it should sound like rain falling on your head. It has never before with the ARC, it sounded basically just like the Playbar in that the rain sounds all around but never above. Now I've gone and jacked up the height channel volume and for the first time since I got the ARC it actually sounds like rain is falling on my head and it's amazing 

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My current TV have limit for ATMOS experience and currently 5.1 at the moment.. I wonder if change TV only can elevate this experience too. 

You don’t necessarily have to change the TV. Look at the threads about the HD Fury Arcana device, which can split out the Atmos signal before it reaches your TV set. 

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Thanks for your sharing. But Im connecting to Netflix only through TV connection, how to use it ?  It is suppose to connect with other devices maybe then to soundbar and TV. But interesting stuff. 

Reread the FAQs on the HD Fury website. It’s possible, based on the diagrams, to get output from the TV into the Arcana device. Convoluted, but if you’d rather not buy a new TV….

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I purchased a Chromecast with Google TV. Not only do I love the interface and how it brings all your steaming services together, it also supports Dolby Atmos. I can get Dolby Atmos with Netflix as well as Amazon Prime and Disney+. If Atmos is your is your only concern there may be better options for you but I had a few others issues that it also solved. Not bad for $50 in my opinion. 

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Was reading on material https://hdfury.com

kindly enlighten as my source to Netflix is Sony KDL W904A. 
 

 

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Newbie here. Sorry for my poor communication. Actually my existing TV don’t have EARC KDL w904a from Sony. However currently connected with Sonos ARC and received 5.1 Dolby Digital only. 
 

im not sure how to connect for HD Fury or Chromecast Ultra as read this morning. It is possible? I think so far Apple TV 4K is possible because this device can receive Netflix signal and direct connection to soundbar. 
 

kindly advise me further if I miss out some essential information too. 

Newbie here. Sorry for my poor communication. Actually my existing TV don’t have EARC KDL w904a from Sony. However currently connected with Sonos ARC and received 5.1 Dolby Digital only. 
 

im not sure how to connect for HD Fury or Chromecast Ultra as read this morning. It is possible? I think so far Apple TV 4K is possible because this device can receive Netflix signal and direct connection to soundbar. 
 

kindly advise me further if I miss out some essential information too. 

This diagram below shows how the arcana fits into a ‘typical’ setup with a HDMI switch and it connects to both the TV and Arc, which allows the Apps on the peripheral devices to bypass the TV and provide you with Dolby Atmos audio. Hope that assists.

 

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Thanks for your sharing. It still require external devices apps to have a input source to convert audio to soundbar and Video signal to TV. It is a nice stuff. 
because my TV can connect to Netflix so was not consider another devices. 
 

 

Thanks for your sharing. It still require external devices apps to have a input source to convert audio to soundbar and Video signal to TV. It is a nice stuff. 
because my TV can connect to Netflix so was not consider another devices. 
 

Yes, you need to use Apps (Netflix etc.) on devices like Apple TV 4K, Fire-TV 4K, Nvidia Shield etc.

The Apps on the ‘old’ TV will not support Atmos audio, but will still work okay with whatever audio the TV supports (either PCM stereo or Dolby Digital). The Arcana though is geared to use Apps on connected devices and to bypass the TV altogether with the Atmos audio from those Apps instead.

I haven’t tried Arcana myself, but I’m told it works really well and often saves having to buy a new TV.

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Thanks for all for this input. 

I really learnt many interesting information from this exploring. 
 

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I'm hoping they pull their finger out now and release Atmos rear speakers or some sort of 360 sound speaker.  Managed to get a demo in of Sony's new HT-A9 system which only uses 4 speakers but absolutely pisses all over Sonos in terms of creating a sound bubble. Had I not had invested in my current gear, I would have bought that instead. 

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