If your Dolby Atmos soundbar sounds bad, check this immediately

Dolby Atmos is my favorite audio format available today, and I give it a wholehearted recommendation to anybody who asks about it. The format is more accessible than ever, with most streaming services offering a tier that supports it, modern game consoles offering it, and what feels like most 4K Blu-ray discs having a mix of it. Dolby Atmos is everywhere, and the only thing you need to do is make sure you have a way to listen to it.

What makes Atmos special is its spatial audio capabilities. It goes above and beyond what traditional surround sound offers by creating a more immersive experience with overhead sound effects. This is done by properly placing speakers in their correct positions, such as putting height speakers in for the overhead sounds. Now, there are ways to get around this, and I’d say soundbars prove that to a certain degree. You might notice that most people place their soundbar below their TV, which is what they’re designed for. However, that doesn’t make sense for Dolby Atmos-branded ones because I just said that you need overhead speakers to pull off the Atmos effect.

Soundbars do this through upfiring speakers that are designed to bounce off the ceiling and redirect toward your listening area. When it works, it works. When it doesn’t, it doesn’t. What you might not know is that your room might be the problem, not the soundbar itself.

Upfiring Atmos works, if you have the room for it

Measure your ceiling

Ceiling height is a major factor in whether your upfiring speakers will sound great or leave you wanting more. I don’t think upfiring speakers can ever fully replicate properly placed height speakers, but it can come close if you dial in everything correctly. The big thing you need to do is ensure that your ceilings are the right height. According to Dolby, upfiring Atmos is optimal with ceilings between 7.5 and 14 feet tall, but the company notes that the ideal height is between 7.5 and 12. On top of that, you should make sure your ceiling is made out of something that reflects sound instead of absorbing it. This includes drywall, plaster, and hardwood, so I imagine most ceilings would be fine in this regard.

What this means is that most home ceilings fall into the optimal heights for upfiring speakers, but fewer hit that ideal height. There are some ways to make it sound nicer, like putting some sound-absorbing materials on your walls, but that means you’re sort of inching into the home theater realm, something you might not be open to doing.

The thing with a soundbar is that there’s not a whole lot you can do with Atmos if you don’t meet these requirements. You can always change the speaker placement on a traditional surround sound Atmos setup if you aren’t happy with the sound, but a soundbar is what it is. That’s a big part of why they’re so convenient for people to have, but it’s also one of their biggest downsides. My advice would be not to hate on upfiring Atmos speakers until you try them out for yourself. You might be surprised by how close to the real thing they can get. The worst-case scenario is that you’ll still get Atmos-quality sound, just not as good as it can be.

Don’t overthink it

Treat Atmos as a bonus

If you measured your ceilings, and they don’t fit the bill, I would say you should just drop your soundbar idea entirely. A soundbar, with or without Dolby Atmos, still represents a massive upgrade over what TV speakers have to offer. Even if you can’t get the Atmos to sound as good as it can, I’d still rather have some Atmos than no Atmos. I don’t think it’d ever sound bad enough to be distracting, and many things don’t have a lot of overhead noise to begin with.

I like to think of overhead sound effects as a nice little bonus instead of the main selling point. Atmos gives me a nice, immersive soundscape that overhead sounds only build on. Even if you don’t have those Atmos speakers, the Atmos mix still represents good quality. The nice part about a soundbar is that it’s very easy to move one from room to room, so maybe you can get one set up in a room with some lower ceilings and really test out what those upfiring speakers are capable of. I have TVs in multiple rooms, but my living room is where I do most of my viewing, so it’d be a bummer if my ceiling wasn’t up to snuff there, but it’s actually the room in my house with the tallest ceilings.

At the end of the day, Atmos is Atmos, no matter the form you get it in. Some versions are better than others, and even the same format is better under certain conditions. If your ceiling is too tall or too short, I say don’t sweat it. If the audio sounds horrible, obviously, you should do something, but I don’t think that’ll be the case.