X

Dolby Atmos at home (pictures)

Dolby Atmos is the big thing in cinema sound right now, and it might be the next big thing in your home theater. We take a tour of Dolby's studios to see some Atmos-friendly gear.

Geoffrey Morrison
Geoffrey Morrison is a writer/photographer about tech and travel for CNET, The New York Times, and other web and print publications. He's also the Editor-at-Large for The Wirecutter. He has written for Sound&Vision magazine, Home Theater magazine, and was the Editor-in-Chief of Home Entertainment magazine. He is NIST and ISF trained, and has a degree in Television/Radio from Ithaca College. His bestselling novel, Undersea, and its sequel, Undersea Atrophia, are available in paperback and digitally on Amazon. He spends most of the year as a digital nomad, living and working while traveling around the world. You can follow his travels at BaldNomad.com and on his YouTube channel.
Geoffrey Morrison
img100.jpg
1 of 15 Geoffrey Morrison

Dolby

Dolby has facilities all over America, and indeed the world. For its latest Atmos event, we spent time at two buildings in Burbank, California. One housed a small demo cinema, which you'll see next, and the other had a home-theater setup.

Read more about my visit to Dolby studios here.

img101.jpg
2 of 15 Geoffrey Morrison

Two-in-one

In addition to working as a small cinema, it doubles as a mixing stage.

img102.jpg
3 of 15 Geoffrey Morrison

A few seats and a mixing board

Note the long slab of the mixing board behind the second row of seats. There are 35 speakers in this room.

img103.jpg
4 of 15 Geoffrey Morrison

Mixing board

Dolby says it is building near-field Atmos mixing rooms, not too dissimilar to this one, for the major studios as a way to hasten take-up in the home-cinema environment.

Dolby says that while film-makers and disk authors can use the original Atmos file and put it untouched on the Blu-ray disk, many soundtracks will need some intervention.

It's not quite as substantial as what you see at places like Abbey Road, but it doesn't need to be. The several computer screens are used for much of the work.

img104.jpg
5 of 15 Geoffrey Morrison

Old school

Around the office are relics from the past, like this reader from the days of...what was it called? Flim?

img105.jpg
6 of 15 Geoffrey Morrison

As ya do...

Dolby has won numerous Emmys and Oscars.

img106.jpg
7 of 15 Geoffrey Morrison

Home-theater demo

This is the room they set up for the Atmos home-theater demo. Note the ceiling speakers (there were two more out of frame). It was what they call a 7.1.4 setup, the last figure being the number of ceiling speakers.

img7107.jpg
8 of 15 Geoffrey Morrison

Speaker proto

Note the upward-firing driver of this Atmos-enabled speaker prototype.

Dolby says in addition to dedicated speakers, users will be able to add up-firing "Atmos modules" to their existing speakers, and some manufacturers are even planning to bundle these with Atmos receivers.

In a few clicks you'll see what some production models will look like.

img7108.jpg
9 of 15 Geoffrey Morrison

More wires

The top drivers are effectively a different speaker, so you need to run an additional set of speaker wires to them.

pioneer-atmos-speakers.jpg
10 of 15 Pioneer

Pioneer SP-EBS73-LR

Two bookshelf speakers, designed by Andrew Jones for Pioneer. Likely inexpensive, and good, if the non-Atmos versions are any indication.

onkyo-tx-nr636-receiver-product-photos06.jpg
11 of 15 Sarah Tew/CNET

Onkyo TX-NR636

The Onkyo TX-NR636 is a receiver that promises an upgrade to Atmos compatibility later in the year.

integra-dtr-506-back-panel.jpg
12 of 15 Integra

Integra DTR-50.6

The back panel of the Integra DTR-50.6, one of the new Atmos-enabled receivers. There are also models from Integra's sister company Onkyo, along with Denon, Marantz, Yamaha, and Pioneer. Expect others soon.

sc-85back.jpg
13 of 15 Pioneer

Pioneer SC-85

The back panel of the Atmos-enabled SC-85 from Pioneer. Note the speaker connection labeled "top middle."

sp-efs73large.jpg
14 of 15 Pioneer

Pioneer SP-EFS73

The tower versions off the SP-EBS73-LR. To give you a sense of size, the woofers are 5 inches in diameter.

yamaha-rx-a2040.jpg
15 of 15 Yamaha

Yamaha RX-A2040

The Yamaha RX-A2040, which has nine amp channels.

Read more about my visit to Dolby studios here.

More Galleries

My Favorite Shots From the Galaxy S24 Ultra's Camera
A houseplant

My Favorite Shots From the Galaxy S24 Ultra's Camera

20 Photos
Honor's Magic V2 Foldable Is Lighter Than Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra
magic-v2-2024-foldable-1383

Honor's Magic V2 Foldable Is Lighter Than Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra

10 Photos
The Samsung Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus Looks Sweet in Aluminum
Samsung Galaxy S24

The Samsung Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus Looks Sweet in Aluminum

23 Photos
Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra Now Has a Titanium Design
The Galaxy S24 Ultra in multiple colors

Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra Now Has a Titanium Design

23 Photos
I Took 600+ Photos With the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. Look at My Favorites
img-0368.jpg

I Took 600+ Photos With the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. Look at My Favorites

34 Photos
17 Hidden iOS 17 Features You Should Definitely Know About
Invitation for the Apple September iPhone 15 event

17 Hidden iOS 17 Features You Should Definitely Know About

18 Photos
AI or Not AI: Can You Spot the Real Photos?
img-1599-2.jpg

AI or Not AI: Can You Spot the Real Photos?

17 Photos