Soundbars with Atmos for under $1000?

The world is staying home more and realising they have the opportunity to enjoy movies in the comforts of their homes. However as TVs get thinner, so does the kind of sound coming out of their in built speakers.

So there is a new demand for good quality sound and not everyone wants a fancy 5.1 surround system with cabling and large speakers. Here is where the soundbar steps in. A decent soundbar can give allow you to enjoy better dialogue and in an ideal environment, even some kind of surround experience. 

There are a few things one should look out for in a soundbar and I've previously posted about it here:

https://peteswrite.blogspot.com/2021/02/what-do-you-look-for-in-soundbar.html 

As more streaming platforms offer Atmos, allowing a more immersive and 3D surround experience, buyers of Home Theatre systems are now more aware of this and asking for it. Atmos is now not just the preserve of those who own large surround sound systems. Even those who are buying soundbars are also asking for this in their purchases. However can one really get a full 3D immersion with a soundbar?

As I have previously written in the article above, a proper surround experience requires sound to come from the sides or rears for a basic surround experience, and from the top for Atmos. How you get this can be via direct radiating speakers located at the ideal locations of the rear or sides of the listening position, and from the ceiling for Atmos, or from reflected sound, bouncing off walls or the ceiling. Most soundbars will rely on the latter to give that perception of surround sound. This relies heavily on the premise that the room where you are listening to the soundbar in has such an ideal room format, with square walls and a solid flat ceiling. Such an ideal environment usually does not exist.

Then the other issue is that now, even basic entry level soundbars are offering the Atmos moniker on their boxes. Will they be able to give you this experience? Looking at the more expensive models, they offer detachable speakers that can be placed at the sides or rear to offer the surround experience. They also include specific speakers that shoot upwards to allow sound to bounce off the ceiling to give the listener the feeling that there is sound radiating from the ceiling. 

However when one examines the basic soundbars that being sold for less than $1000, or even half that in some cases, whilst they can accept a Atmos equipped sound signal, these soundbars may not have the pre-requisite number of speakers. Some only have left and right speakers, tightly sited in a narrow soundbar. They then use some delay to simulate a surround experience. The same methods are used in the built in speakers of TVs.

The other thing that happens when you have only two speakers, you may not get much improvement in dialogue and definitely less sound separation. What that means is that even for a sound transition from left to right, you will not get as the sound immersion that a proper sound system will offer. In such a system, the left and right speakers are often at least 2m apart, and there's a centre speaker. This allows the system to provide a better and more direct sound experience. 

Some basic soundbars also boast of a solid bass experience, and the reality is that physics cannot really be overcome. A separate sub will still perform better and one should to get that.

So when one pays less, try to reduce the feature requirements. Even two good speakers simply playing back right and left sound is better than forcing the same soundbar to do that, and playback dialogue as well as Atmos. Then imagine asking the same soundbar to give you good bass.

Reality bites, so decide what matters, sound quality or the quantity of features..