Are you specifically talking about the height channel effects or the overall 3D object-based sound? I agree that the upward firing speakers and height effects are pretty subtle from the Arc, but I personally think a Dolby TrueHD/Dolby Atmos-encoded Blu-ray disc sounds fantastic.

Which specific Dolby Atmos movies have you tested? Do you have high or vaulted ceilings?

Hi. I guess both. It is a great sound and I don’t necessarily regret my purchase but I’m not thrilled by either the height or 3D effect. It just sounds like a good 5.1 soundbar to me. The ceiling is about 2m from the upward firing speakers. I’ve tried it with and without Trueplay and it has lots of space around it. I guess my reference Blu-ray is Blade Runner 2049.

Blade Runner 2049 is definitely a good reference disc. Another good one is Gravity on Blu-ray in Dolby Atmos. It’s a rare and expensive disc, but it’s definitely one of the best Atmos soundtracks available. I think Apple TV+ has it available in Atmos to stream.

If it helps, my Arc is about 6 ft away from my 8 ft ceiling. My Atmos “sweet spot” for the best audio experience is sitting about 7-8 ft from the Arc.

Yeah I agree with this post, 5.1 on the ARC sounds good, Atmos doesn’t seem to add anything more for me. I think the ARC could do with some rear upfiring speakers to give it some help, maybe some sort of level control for the upfiring speakers on the ARC also. I had a Samsung Q90r soundbar before the ARC and you could really feel the wrap around effect with that soundbar.

Where is your arc positioned and wall mounted or not? Are you using rear speakers or just the arc?

I've found that having the rear speakers exactly 12 inches above your head from your seating position and having the arc 20 inches from the ground produces the best effects. 

My ARC  is wall mounted and I have Sonos ones on flexson speaker stands, this give a good 5.1 sound for me not atmos tho

Yeah I had the same setup and would agree it gave good 5.1 but not so much directional sound. Couldn't really find any videos or stuff on different placements, so spent hours myself testing different heights etc. Due to changing furniture, I ended up putting the TV and Arc on a unit instead and it's now much lower. The unit is 20 inches tall and the Arc sits on that. I also found the rears need to be 12 inches above your head, so that someone elses head doesn't get in the way rather than being ear height. 

It's completely transformed the set though. Really fills the room now with sound and while it looks so much cleaner and nicer wall mounted, I'd rather have the better sound for the price of the setup with a LG oled TV. 

Unless your TV is sitting ultra flush against the wall, I think Sonos should have made the mount so it comes away from the wall more. You really need it so absolutely nothing is restricting the upfiring speakers and ideally the ceiling being about 6/7 feet max above the arc for the best sound. 

Hi - thanks all for your comments. I don’t have rears with the Arc, I was hoping a ‘one box’ solution would do it. I must admit I thought it was a big ask, I don’t really see how it can bounce sound off a ceiling at least 6ft away. I’m stuck with where it’s positioned and where I sit though, All the rave reviews though..what’s happening there! I’ve just exasperated the situation by putting the Beam upstairs (which I replaced with Arc downstairs) and hooking up some Symfonisk from IKEA for rears and it sounds fantastic to my ears and makes me want to watch more movies upstairs in my ‘man cave/home office’ now than in the lounge! (First world problem I know!) I’m new to the surround thing and doing it properly downstairs isn’t an option, hence the Arc. I suppose I just wanted to check I wasn’t missing something but I think Atmos on the Arc is a bit of a red herring. Pity cos I had to but an HD Fury Arcana too! Still love it though!

It's never gonna sound full cinema style, it's just meant to be a bit more immersive and to get true Atmos you would need ceiling speakers. 

Try the first scene from Toy story 4. Listen to it on the beam first, then try the arc. Usually my go to scene where it feels like it is raining above your head and works quite well. 

Ha, yeah I’ve done the Toy Story 4 thing too! On Disney+ though, not Blu-ray. I don’t actually know good the steaming services Atmos offering is. Maybe it’s heavily compressed which won’t help. I think you’re right though, ‘a bit more immersive’ is about it….it’s not stunning by any stretch. Toy Story 4 does sound great, just not getting the directional thing to any significant degree. Massive improvement on the Beam without a doubt.

The streaming platforms are fine. Won't be as good as true hd but there's not a massive difference. 

Shame you can't add the rears even the IKEA ones downstairs just for that bit extra. 

Yep - I would probably add One SLs if I had the option although I’m really impressed with Symfonisk. IKEA suggests cheap and cheerful but they are nice little units. I must admit I’m selling my One to pay for the Symfonisks. Sacrilege I know but the Alexa integration is ******** awful, it stops playing after a few songs unless on AirPlay and again the sound is OK but doesn’t blow me away. I’ll still miss it though, nice build quality.

If you can add them I highly recommend it. Really does make it miles better as does adding the sub, but then it does get pricey. Best demo for testing rears if you ever do add is get the movie Gravity with the Dolby Atmos true HD sound track. Probably one of the best sounding movies ever made. The difference of that movie without the rears is really huge. 

I dont own a sonos arc but i have demo’ed it. It’s also threads like these that steered me away from the ARC because i was heavily considering buying it. I went the Ambeo route, and i have a 15x12 room with 8ft popcorn ceiling (bad kind of textured ceiling for atmos) and the Ambeo dances all over it and my room with no problem. 

Another option to consider is the Ikea Symfonisk lamp speaker which is a One SL speaker unit for the rears. Sounds pretty good but I agree, not blown away by Atmos although the Arc is a pretty good soundbar

For me the ARC is nice to look at and ease of use is the best. Sound wise it’s suffered due to design I think, I’ve not been blown away with it since I’ve had mine, it’s just an ok sounding soundbar, Sonos need to bring some overhead rear speakers and allow control of the upfiring speakers on the ARC to give it some help.

Yep, I agree with the above comments which concur with my original post. The Arc is a nice product in the usual Sonos way...but Atmos it ain’t. It looks good, sounds good and is a joy to use but Atmos is a bit of an oversell. You need the grunt of something like the Ambeo I suppose (Garnetts43 - lucky you, it’s 3x the price, I couldn’t stretch to that!) Bit annoyed at Sonos though for mis-marketing this.

A sound bar all by itself can only do so much. If you want to experience full audio immersion with any home theater system, you must also include a subwoofer and a pair of rear surround speakers at the very least. And if you want to experience convincing height effects from Dolby Atmos, invest in a system with actual ceiling speakers. I think some people’s expectations are way too high using a piece of equipment that is very limited. 

Whilst I agree and did say earlier in the chat that I thought it might be too go to be true, I think responsibility also falls with the manufacturers to not over promise. Bear in mind too that folks have said they are getting quite good results with one box systems from other brands so it seems it can done to a degree. Just seems to me the Arc was bad choice on my part in some respects.

I would expect very little from a one box “solution”. When combined with rears and bass unit it sounds very good. The sound is far superior to the previous Sonos soundbar.

I guess it depends upon room placement and all the settings on the TV being correct (what fun that can be! - fortunately I have moved from the mess that Samsung persisted in being to LG which is a dream.

P.S. i listened to the most expensive in-store Samsung surround “system”. It sucked compared to the in-store Sonos setup.

I love Sonos stuff and you’d have to do something extremely nasty to get me to part with my Beam. I have invested in a lot of high-end audio gear over the years but got sick of the clutter and general obsessing but I don’t find the Beam to be anything like the compromise I thought it would be. I love the sound! But my last word on the Arc, as I’m aware I’m going round in circles...dissatisfied with both movie and music I’m afraid.

I understand the price is hefty, 100% agree and it’s not for everyone. room acoustics are important for any soundbar even with rears  (especially when it come to atmos).  I’ll be honest, even my room is not perfect for ambeo - it falls short with sounds coming from behind me but it gets close. i have a demo i recorded on my youtube channel to give you a simple demonstration if you want to hear the quality, albeit not the best through a phone.

either way, i don’t want to make this about me and my possessions on this thread.

if anything, try re-calibrating again. I heard if you calibrate the ARC sitting in the listening position, and only moving the phone around at arms length (or a few feet) in all directions (for the ceiling reach as high as you can) this can work out better then test atmos again. if you have disney+, the beginning of the Revenge of The Sith has Obi-wan and Anakin in spaceships flying around. There is a part where these little robots start walking on top of obi-wans ship and i can hear them walking right above my head. I don’t know what time to skip to, but just watch the entire beginning scene when they are flying. Raise the volume up, it may help. 

Thanks for that...I’ll give it a try

If anything, try re-calibrating again. I heard if you calibrate the ARC sitting in the listening position, and only moving the phone around at arms length (or a few feet) in all directions (for the ceiling reach as high as you can) this can work out better then test atmos again

 

Hi, thanks so much this really seems to have improved things lot! Ended up watching 5 episodes of Netflix Formula 1 Drive to Survive Series 3 last night back to back. Having Hamilton’s Mercedes coming straight at me was really quite fun! Even if it’s a placebo it’s doing it for me!

That Ambeo soundbar looks a great piece of kit!, not a bad price if you can get away without buying a Sub either.