Dolby 5.1 Sound Test

[Nikia Longino]

Yourbest option is playing this 5.1.2 Dolby Atmos Test Tones MP4 video. Download it onto a USB flash drive and plug it into your TV or AirPlay it from an iOS device to a Roku Ultra or Apple TV 4K connected to your TV. If you AirPlay the video, check the Sonos app to confirm it is playing in Dolby Atmos:

That said, I can see where test tones could be helpful in making sure the rear and height channel volumes are set the way you want them. Not sure if setting volume levels this way would translating into better sound when all the channels are playing though.

I was thinking about that right after I posted. Good point. A test track still may not be terribly helpful since the Arc has a lot more amps and speakers in it then the channels it supports. Some channels split between woofers and tweeters.. And the issue could be amp, not speaker.

Not exactly sure what I expected from Beam/Atmos but somewhat disappointed.... Connected via eARC to latest LG OLED. Sonos App shows "Atmos Content" (Prime, Netflix Premium) connected. TruePlay calibrated. Use area is approx 20 by 14 w/sloping 19->12 foot ceilings, listening 10 foot front-center from Beam.

Another good test is the film Roma on Netflix. At around the 1:03:25 mark, you should hear the trees burning/crackling above you for the next couple of minutes. Be sure you are playing the original Spanish language audio track.

I recently tested the Beam gen2 Atmos setup, and I must say I had mixed emotions about it. I tried a few different methods to get the best demo and determine its capabilities. One approach I found effective was treating it like a 5.1 system, where I emphasized the different speakers (LF, RF, LR, RR, C, SW). This helped to create a more immersive experience.

I also experimented with specific known "Height" points in Atmos content. While the Sonos App indicated "Atmos Content" when connected to Prime and Netflix Premium through eARC on my LG OLED, I was somewhat disappointed with the overall result.

Maybe consider adding Era-300 speakers as surrounds to the Beam Gen2, they really do help provide immersive Atmos surround sound. Those Sonos surrounds, together with a Sub (gen3) really do sound fantastic in our Dining Room.

For better and for worse, Dolby Atmos is everywhere now, from soundbars to TVs, phones and even cars. Of course, certain devices deliver a more convincing Atmos experience than others, so how can you put your kit through its paces?

You probably already know that Dolby Atmos expands upon a traditional surround set-up by adding channels to bring sound from overhead. But Atmos is about more than just shoving some speakers in your ceiling and waiting for a chunky aeroplane sound effect.

As well as adding thrilling movement to action sequences, Dolby Atmos can subtly enhance perspective and immersion in both effects and music. In the hands of a great sound designer, it is a tool that provides the flexibility to build sonic landscapes that can transport, terrify and move you.

A real surprise, this one. After the fairly lightweight silliness of Murder on the Orient Express and the general disappointment of Death on the Nile, Kenneth Branagh's third Poirot movie flips the script by being both very good and very creepy.

This time, Poirot is investigating the death of a medium in a 'haunted' orphanage, hence the creepiness. Sound is used throughout to ratchet up the tension and disorient the viewer as a means to simulate the disorientation of Poirot himself.

The basement scene, the lead-up for which begins at around the 59-minute mark with the singing of a child that only Poirot can hear ("the investigator has poached his egg", as one character puts it), is when the soundtrack is at its best, with its combination of huge, bassy thumps, more disembodied singing, some wild woodwind action and a raging storm contributing to a chaotic, room-filling presentation.

While most Dolby Atmos movies tend to be pretty reserved in how much they use the height channels, 2016's Deepwater Horizon makes judicious use of every channel in the system, filling the room with sound and firing effects around in a magnificent way.

The movie is a retelling of the true story of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which suffered a series of catastrophic explosions, claiming the lives of 11 crewmen and spilling an estimated 210 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

In the style of a computer game sequel in which the developers have expanded the original with new gameplay elements, most of that monstrous budget appears to have been spent on Avatar 2's new underwater scenes, which are genuinely spectacular.

These are interspersed throughout the movie (which runs to an exhausting three hours and twelve minutes) but begin around the 58-minute mark with a fairly gentle scene full of weird and wonderful aquatic beasties. If your system is capable and set up correctly, you'll be audibly transported to beneath the sea and surrounded by the the muffled sounds of bubbles and characters swimming. This is accompanied by siren-like singing that should be clear and dynamically subtle, and twinkly treble that should appear in precise spots in the three-dimensional soundscape.

But the true strength of the upgraded audio presentation is its bass. The soundtrack is packed with sofa-shakingly epic hip-hop tracks by the likes of Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg and Cypress Hill, and gunshots are thrown out in thunderous style, particularly during the exhausting, action-packed finale. Your subwoofer is going to love it; your neighbours, not so much.

Dolby Atmos is also frequently used to create breathing room within the dense soundscape, allowing the heavy, liturgical score (often pulled off the screen to the sides), rich tapestry of effects and hushed voices to co-exist without competing.

Nowhere is this better demonstrated than in the car chase as Batman is pursuing the Penguin. The Batmobile rips through the middle of the soundfield while passing trucks, falling crates and sheeting rain bombard the viewer. But, the narrative of the sequence remains thrillingly clear, even with the persistently building music, guttural gunshots and spectacular sub-bass. As the camera switches from the car interior to the bumper to mid-air vehicle flip, it feels as though the potential of every possible plane is being wrung out of the speakers to exhilarating effect.

An intense psychological period drama with a slow-burn plot, The Power Of The Dog is set primarily on a remote ranch in rural Montana. the film has a particularly stark and minimalist sound design to reflect the isolating impact of the landscape while Dolby Atmos is used throughout to subtly heighten the emotional stakes in this stifling setting.

The macro of the wide vistas and the micro of the strained familial relationships are represented throughout the film in a soundtrack that frequently flits with limits of audibility and offers a real dynamic test for your speakers. There's a spectacular palette of winds to enjoy, with close breezes in the grass used to both highlight and play against the expanse of the terrain, while the lack of privacy in the family home is implied by the gusts that rattle throughout its thin walls.

The characters in The Power Of The Dog are all in some way repressed and so signature sounds are used almost as leitmotifs to represent their emotions. The film opens with hyper-macho bully Phil striding across the ranch, and the sound of his weighty boots and ringing spurs indicate his strength and domineering presence.

The boots become an unconscious device to help convey to the audience his ability to torment others. In a wordless two-minute scene in which Rose is practising the piano so she might later impress her new husband's dinner guests, Phil begins playing along on his banjo, deliberately trying to put her off. It's an incredibly intense scene to watch even in stereo, but with a Dolby Atmos system we are given Rose's perspective so we not only see how cruel Phil can be, but we feel it too.

In the spectacular chase through Matera that follows, there are plenty of wonderful details to be found, particularly if you get the opportunity to listen on a Dolby Atmos system. After swinging off a bridge and flying into the air on a motorbike, it's a moment towards the end of this scene that we think yields the greatest sonic dividends.

The sound team aren't always literal with their soundscape, instead giving the audience subtle hints that what we are hearing is being interpreted through a child's ears. Voices of authority figures are pitched down to appear scarier, and unrealistic sound effects that Buddy would have only heard in films are sometimes used, such as the Western-style American freight train in the opening scene.

As Belfast doesn't have a traditional score, it opens up space for the filmmakers to be freer with featured sound effects and dialogue, weaving them together to form a rich, hyper-real tapestry that bubbles around Buddy. There's always a sense of something going on just out of shot that filters into Buddy's consciousness through his ears. Voices are frequently moving off centre while helicopters pepper the skies overhead, creating a soundscape that matches the story in being both epic and narrow. The general absence of music means that when it is used, it has all the impact of a massive great needle drop, providing many of the film's most joyful moments.

The film starts in spectacular sonic style, particularly if you get the opportunity to listen on a Dolby Atmos system, with a hectic summer afternoon of neighbours and children buzzing around the street. This scene will really highlight how well integrated your system is, with complex moving dialogue, every syllable of which should be audible.

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