Set up the ultimate home theater with Dolby Atmos

What is a multichannel home theater?

A multichannel home theater is a room typically with a top-of-the-line TV and a highly optimized, multi-speaker setup that delivers the best immersive sound experience possible. They generally include at least five speakers and a subwoofer to bring the drama and intensity you experience at the movies into the comfort of your home. A multichannel speaker system enabled with Dolby Atmos takes it to the next level, with spatial sound including overhead or upward-firing speakers to place you at the center of the story.

What should I consider before I build my home theater?

Before you start thinking about the devices that you’ll need to bring your home theater to life, there are some practical bases to cover first. These include mastering the acoustics of your space with some simple hacks, like placing a rug on the hardwood floors where you’ll place your speakers, ensuring you have the right cables, and setting up a clear line of sight from your speakers to your listening seats. Check out more insights on how to optimize your home theater. 

 

It’s also important that you consider what you’d like to have in terms of the size of the room you’ll be working with, your budget, the type of setup you’re interested in (is a soundbar enough or do you need more?), as well as the content you’ll be most often enjoying (gamers may have different needs than someone who just wants to watch reality TV). For some help with this, see our guide on planning your home theater. 

 

To elevate your living room into a stylish, high-impact home theater, there are a number of options you can choose from. For the full effect, we recommend a TV with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, a Dolby Atmos speaker setup, and/or a soundbar enabled with Dolby Atmos.

Choosing the right audio setup for you

There are three main ways to bring a cinematic, overhead audio experience into your home theater. You can do this with: 

• Ceiling speakers 
• Speakers enabled with Dolby Atmos 
• A soundbar enabled with Dolby Atmos

 

A multichannel speaker setup complete with ceiling speakers is the best way to get Dolby Atmos sound that moves you. A speaker setup like this fires sound in every direction, in detail that grabs your attention and immerses you in the experience. You can also replicate this sound with upward-firing speakers enabled with Dolby Atmos. These speakers direct the sound upward, so it reflects off the ceiling to create crisp, clean sound that you can hear from every angle.

 

The most budget-friendly way to get Dolby Atmos into your home theater is with a soundbar enabled with Dolby Atmos. Soundbars are made up of multiple loudspeakers housed in a long, wide enclosure and are commonly used with your TV or home entertainment system. They are also ideal for smaller homes and home theaters, as they take up a lot less space than multichannel setups.  

 

For everything you need to know about choosing a soundbar, take a look at our buyer’s guide. Once you’ve found the soundbar that’s right for you, we have a setup guide that walks you through setting it up and answers frequently answered questions.

Your multichannel speaker placement guide

There are a number of different levels to multichannel speaker setups, based on the number of speakers that you place in your home theater. You can choose from a 5.1, 7.1, or 9.1 speaker setup. In each, the first number indicates how many speakers it includes.

 

A 5.1 speaker setup will provide an incredible, immersive audio experience and is supported by most DVD and Blu-ray™ media — as well as many streaming sources. For the optimal speaker placement, follow the diagram below.

 

 

A 7.1 speaker setup, with the addition of two speakers, improves the directionality of the audio and sound effects to help you feel more of the sound around you. For the best placement, see the diagram below.

 

 

A 9.1 speaker setup is the premium multichannel experience, adding front height to let you take advantage of Dolby Pro Logic® IIz, which gets height information from the signal, adding vertical and overhead dimensions to the soundscape. To take full advantage of the possibilities for a 9.1 speaker setup, use the speaker placement guide below.

 

 

To learn more about how to configure your multichannel home theater, we have handy guides on how to set up and configure your speakers to give the best possible experience.

Choosing a TV for your home theater

It wouldn’t be a home theater without one vital ingredient: your screen. To truly transform your entertainment at home, we recommend a TV enabled with Dolby Vision. If you haven’t  the experienced the mind-popping colors of Dolby Vision yet, you can read all about what makes it so unique here or see for yourself by checking out what’s available at your local electronics store. Be sure to ask the shop assistant for TVs with Dolby Vision. 

 

Once you’ve decided to get a TV enabled with Dolby Vision, it’s time to go window (or screen) shopping. There are a wide variety of brands offering TVs enabled with Dolby Vision, including Philips, LG, TCL, Vizio, and more.  
 

If you’ve ever wondered what the difference is between LED, OLED, or QD-OLED TVs we’ve broken down the difference for you in this guide. Our article will help you choose the right TV for you and your space.  

Be sure to use our interactive home setup guide to build a home theater enabled with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos and experience home entertainment you can feel. When you’re done, we'd love to see your home theater setups. Snap some pics and share with us @dolbylabs on IG and @dolby on TikTok and Twitter with #BringDolbyHome.