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So you get more speakers to get a more powerful sound when the TV is off.” (Vizio declined to comment on whether it plans to expand beyond soundbars to other standalone audio.)īrian Markwalter, SVP of research and standards at the Consumer Technology Association, believes it makes sense for TV manufacturers to expand into soundbars. But when you play back a classical music piece or pop or rock, you can also bring that sound back. “When you watch a movie, that helicopter blade, you want to hear it on the TV. “In the last few years, we realized that a lot of people use the soundbar when the TV is off,” Wang said. Image: VizioĪnd once people hear the difference on their TVs, Wang thinks they’ll start using it for their music, too - and buy better soundbars and speakers in the future. “So people can’t just imagine what the Atmos experience is like, but they can see it,” Wang says. But it’s really hard to explain to people, what does that mean?” The Elevate’s rotating speakers are a physical nod to the distinction between the two tiers of audio, but also a visible reminder the device is made for both. “You can hear a helicopter blade from the ceiling. “Atmos is really hard to describe,” said Wang. He said he couldn’t explain that - he thinks people just need to hear it and need to know that they’re hearing it. I asked Wang why mainstream consumers should want Atmos. Wang says it’s more he intends for it to give mainstream, non-enthusiast consumers a visual introduction to Dolby Atmos. It’s a design that allows the Elevate to be more versatile than other Atmos soundbars, which have fixed, upward-firing speakers.Ĭynics might see the rotating components as a gimmick. The speakers on the left and right ends of the soundbar rotate upward when you’re playing Dolby Atmos content, and point forward when you’re playing anything else (like standard surround sound or music).
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The Elevate, unveiled at CES 2020, is a striking aluminum soundbar with 10 channels, 18 drivers, and a wireless eight-inch subwoofer. That’s why Vizio is trying something this year unlike any product it’s tried before: the Vizio Elevate. The Vizio Elevate can dock with the company’s new OLED TV. “It’s not a commodity at this particular time.” “It’s a slower adoption than we would think the market should do,” Wang said. The result imitates the experience of a theater (which might have speakers built into the walls and ceiling) with just a soundbar, subwoofer, and perhaps rear speakers.īut despite the availability of affordable Atmos soundbars, most people still aren’t buying them home theater remains largely an enthusiast space. To achieve this, high-end products use upward-firing drivers, which bounce sound off the ceiling. Rather than mixing audio into different channels, as traditional systems do, Atmos pinpoints the exact location where each sound should emanate from, making you feel like you’re immersed in the audio. And for several years, reviewers have recommended the company’s affordable Dolby Atmos products as the best budget soundbars you can buy.įor those unfamiliar, Dolby Atmos is essentially the 4K of speakers - it’s really nice, but not all products support it (and neither does all content). It was an early champion of providing 5.1 surround sound at an accessible price, making a splash in 2013 with its $330 Home Theater Sound Bar. That’s because Vizio is trying, harder than ever, to convince its customers to care about audio. But he didn’t want to discuss the affordable, high-value smart TVs for which his company is best known. William Wang, the CEO of Vizio, doesn’t give a lot of interviews.