We have a next-gen wireless Dolby Atmos system in for review – and there’s one big thing I’m going to check first

Working at What Hi-Fi? has a lot of benefits. Access to our overlord Future Publishing’s infinite holiday scheme, occasionally getting paid to watch movies in our windowless test room (known internally and affectionately as the dungeon), and, of course, access to all the latest and greatest home cinema hardware money can buy.

On that final point, I was particularly excited this week when a key piece of hardware I have long been waiting for arrived in the dungeon. To be precise, a next-generation wireless Dolby Atmos surround sound system with the firm’s swanky FlexConnect tech.

Editor’s Note: We can’t reveal which specific product, but I will be on hand, dishing out good Karma prizes to any reader who successfully guesses which one it is.

What is Dolby FlexConnect, you ask? Well, eager beavers, it’s a cool, sort-of new technology that was unveiled by Dolby all the way back in 2023 at the IFA tradeshow in Berlin.

It may have been baking in the oven for quite a while now, but it still looks like a tasty treat that, if it delivers on the firm’s marketing claims, could make Atmos far more accessible, in two key ways.

First and foremost, it aims to do this by making Atmos a platform where you can mix and match speakers from different brands, or even use your TV’s speakers as a central channel in lieu of a soundbar, to make a wireless system.

So, in theory, if you had a mishmash of FlexConnect-compatible speakers from different manufacturers, you could turn them into a Frankenstein Dolby Atmos surround sound system.

We have covered why this makes us, as a team, nervous – you want speakers to have a complementary sonic character for decent results. And, because the system we have in our test room is from one manufacturer, I won’t be able to ascertain if those concerns are warranted yet.

The second benefit or the new tech, which in theory would also help with the above, is its claimed more accurate and powerful calibration powers. These are mainly being marketed as being designed to help systems, even those mixing speakers from different lines and companies, play nicely together.

But an equally important benefit of these set-up improvements is how they also aim to allow you place your speakers wherever you like, without destroying the cinematic experience.

I have highlighted before the difficulties many people will face getting a full-fat Dolby Atmos 5.1.2 system into their home (for optimal results, as is the case with any audio system, placement makes a big difference).

But the truth is, even a wireless soundbar system, which doesn’t have ceiling speakers, such as the Award-winning Samsung Q990F from last year, can be a struggle for many people.

This is because most “normal” living rooms aren’t laid out so that the satellite speakers can be placed in their optimal position (which is usually just behind the left and right sides of the intended viewing area/sofa). Many people place their sofa flush against a wall, of course. And even if they do have space behind it, they don’t have stands, or furniture naturally placed in the optimal position or at the right height for the rear left and right channels.

FlexConnect aims to fix this common problem by offering intelligent new “calibration” powers that will allow them to deliver a decent experience even with “unorthodox” positioning. And I mean unorthodox.

In FlexConnect’s marketing material, and based on the conversations I’ve had with companies, it is designed to work in extreme scenarios.

Extreme as in, for example, if the speakers are set at different heights and distances from the viewer. I’m talking the left channel being on a bookshelf nearly directly behind the sofa, with the right speaker set horizontally to it.

In my experience, no system, at least of the many I have helped test, sounds good in arrangements such as this – even the five-star products with excellent room correction powers.

So, momentarily putting aside the laws of physics, that’s a pretty bold claim. And it's definitely a major selling point for FlexConnect, if it works.

Which is why, as much as I’m excited to test a FlexConnect system in general, the first thing I’ll be doing when I get into the dungeon next week is playing a game of move the speaker. Then I can discover just how powerful the tech’s calibration and optimisation powers really are.

It’s going to be fun…

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