Don't make this simple mistake if you want to hear your Dolby Atmos soundbar at its best

Soundbars are an increasingly common sight in most homes, and there is a very good reason why.

The small form factor units are a quick and easy way to upgrade your home cinema’s audio that don’t require oodles of space or careful cable management – as a full multi-speaker surround-sound set-up does.

On top of that, while their small form factors mean we’re yet to find one that can go toe-to-toe with a top of the line multi-speaker set-up, soundbars have come a long way in recent years.

There are numerous fantastic soundbars that can deliver a truly immersive home movie experience available right now.

Some modern units can even deliver reasonable Dolby Atmos, with many of the top soundbars we’ve tested recently delivering a sense of directionality and, in some instances and when set up right, height that you simply couldn’t get even a few years ago.

In the past year we've seen the five-star Sonos Arc Ultra, Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 9 and Samsung HW-Q990D pass through our test rooms, which is great in most ways.

More choice is always a positive for consumers.

In fact, the the rapid influx of stellar new soundbars hitting the market is becoming a bit of a first-world problem for our reviews team, as it means keeping our best Dolby Atmos soundbars guide up to date is a truly Herculean task.

Which is why I currently have no shortage of recommendations when friends ask for advice on their AV set-up.

But, before you get too excited, I say “set up right,” because I’ve recently seen first-hand a swathe of friends who’ve bought a shiny new, five-star soundbar only to fall victim to a common mistake that will radically hinder their performance.

Specifically, more times than I care to count I’ve walked into their lounges to find a five-star soundbar awkwardly placed on the shelf below the TV on an AV rack – as demonstrated by the below picture.

To be clear, I understand why so many people do this. It looks neat and many cabinets' lower shelves look bespokely designed for a soundbar. What else are you meant to put down there?

On top of that, if you have a smaller TV then the chances are its stand only has one height option, so putting the bar directly under it on the top shelf may lead to part of the screen being blocked.

Editor’s note: This is why we recommend checking the amount of space you have under your TV and checking the height of the soundbar you are interested in before purchase.

So, why is putting the soundbar there a problem, you ask?

It impacts audio quality

The answer is twofold. First, if you have an Atmos soundbar with up firing drivers, such as the JBL Bar 5.0 MultiBeam picture above, the placement means you are firing your height channels into a piece of wood (or whatever your stand/cabinet is made of).

If the audio is bouncing off the top of the stand a few inches above it, rather than the room’s ceiling as intended, you’re not going to get the intended sense of height.

Second, and as a wider point, remember that speakers in general make sound by moving air around. So if you box them in like that, with too little room to breathe, you’re going to impact their performance fairly heavily to begin with.

This is why we always recommend placing the soundbar with as much room as possible. Even if you’re putting it under your TV on the top of the stand, push it a little forward, so it’s not directly under it – trust me it makes a difference.

MORE:
These are the best soundbars we’ve tested

Our picks of the best surround sound systems

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