Video: Dolby Atmos Surround Sound

The most immersive home theater sound ever

by Crutchfield's Video Team

Dolby Atmos takes traditional surround sound to new heights by adding sound overhead. This height layer of sound gives movie soundtracks a more three-dimensional effect so you can enjoy them more than ever. You'll need a few things to enjoy Atmos in your home, which our expert Eric explains in this short video.

Shop for things you'll need for Dolby Atmos:

Atmos enabled receivers

In-ceiling speakers

Atmos enabled speakers

Read video transcript

Dolby Atmos is a new audio format for creating and playing back multi-channel movie soundtracks. Atmos takes traditional surround sound and adds sound overhead to create the most immersive movie sound ever. We asked our expert Eric to explain how to add Atmos to your setup and what you can expect.

If you wanted to hear something like a helicopter taking off and then landing, that helicopter would start in a front speaker, travel around you and land behind you. But in an Atmos setup, that helicopter will start in front of you, take off, travel overhead, and land behind you. Dolby Atmos has been in the theaters for a couple of years now and this gives us the opportunity to bring that full movie theater sound experience into our homes.

So in a typical surround sound setup we look at that as maybe a 5.1 or 7.1 setup. That first number represents how many speakers that you have. The second number represents a subwoofer channel. In a Dolby Atmos setup, you'll have those same two numbers, but that'll be followed by another number. So for example, you'll have a 5.1.2 setup. That .2 represents your height speakers. That could also be a .4 as well.

You'll need a few things to get Dolby Atmos in your house. First off you'll need a home theater receiver that has Dolby Atmos processing. And you'll also need some height speakers. So you can do this one of two ways. You can either add in ceiling speakers, or you can get Dolby Atmos speakers that actually reflect sound off of your ceiling.

Raymond Hatton from Yuma, AZ

Posted on 8/15/2021

I've been enjoying Dolby Atmos for several years now thanks to Dolby enabled modules and equipment purchased from Crutchfield. Much like making a bank shot in pool, I've found the reflected angle from the ceiling to be critically important for optimum effect. That is, experiment and try to ensure that this reflection reaches the prime listening location as much as possible. In addition to raising the volume slightly of the modules relative to the ear level speakers, placing acoustically reflective material such as thin, paper covered foam board from craft stores or other reflective material on the ceiling at the reflection point seems to help in the case of sound absorbing ceilings.
Helen from Cape Coral

Posted on 10/9/2020

I've heard so much about the Sonos Arc. I have a large (18x30) open family room/kitchen with Cathedral/Vaulted Ceiling. Will the Sonos Arc give me that impressive sound?
Robert Taylor from Shirley

Posted on 7/24/2016

I'm considering purchasing the A90 speakers from definitive line , My question is can I attach those to my BP-8060 towers , the A60 didn't get rave reviews and I'm hearing the upgrade definitive did was worth waiting for .

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