Article by Marcus Siu

Exciting news from Dolby Laboratories this week, as they just announced their latest innovation in immersive audio – Dolby Atmos FlexConnect. Dolby has partnered TCL, who will be the first to implement Dolby Atmos FlexConnect into its 2024 TV lineup.

This would mean that consumers will actually have the option of not having to buy a sound bar with their new TV’s, which have become almost mandatory since flat panel screens were introduced twenty five years ago, as these TV’s rarely had great sound systems built into them to begin with.

Dolby Atmos FlexConnect is a new feature that seamlessly pairs together a TV’s sound system, with accessory wireless speakers to unlock a more extensive and immersive Dolby Atmos sound experience. It then intelligently optimizes the sound for any room layout and speaker setup, transforming any seat into the best seat in the house. TCL will also launch a line of accessory wireless speakers designed to complement its upcoming lineup of TVs with Dolby Atmos FlexConnect.

What does this mean to your average consumer? To many housewives who prefer a living room, rather than a living room surrounded by mammoth speakers, cables and wires, it means not having to bitch to their home-theater husbands, “it’s either you or your home theater” ultimatum. That can be quite consoling to the average family household.

Consumers no longer need to trade aesthetic appeal for sound performance. Thanks to Dolby Atmos FlexConnect ‘s calibration technology, there is no need to reconfigure existing living spaces. Once calibrated, the system combines each accessory device with the TV’s speakers to unlock the best sound performance and deliver a great Dolby Atmos sound experience tailored to the listener’s home. Sound systems will assume the speakers are set in reference locations.

There will also be no need to move the surrounding furniture equidistant to where your living room sofa, coffee table and TV are located, that your typical home theater setup requires. The freedom of keeping that perfectly designed space before the very thought of adding a home theater, strategically having to deal with speaker placement of the rear speakers or surrounds is no longer an issue.

Also, imagine the luxury of not having to deal with speaker wires or HDMI cables going across the floor that A/V receivers need to deal with. Accidents will be prevented. No more tripping over the speaker wires that you thought were concealed enough not to be noticed. Even the location of power outlets will no longer be an issue.

“Consumers shouldn’t have to move their furniture to experience better audio, but rather audio should adapt to them,” said John Couling, Senior Vice President, Entertainment, Dolby Laboratories. “Dolby Atmos FlexConnect is an entirely new category of experience that offers consumers the freedom and flexibility to choose how they want to arrange their devices while still getting a great immersive Dolby Atmos experience.”

“We are very proud to take a significant step forward on the future of immersive audio with our latest partnership with Dolby. Delivering great experiences for our customers is at the forefront of what we do,” said Frédéric Langin, Chief Commercial Officer, TCL Europe. “With Dolby Atmos FlexConnect, users can unlock incredible immersive sound no matter how they arrange their audio devices. We can’t wait to introduce the world to this new tailored sound experience with our upcoming lineup of TVs and accessory wireless speakers.”

According to Dolby, FlexConnect will be able to adapt to various different types of speakers, even if they’re made by different brands. It gives speaker makers lots of freedom to come up with different device combinations and form factors, Dolby added, so we could see some interesting new audio devices appear in support of the technology. 

With Dolby Atmos FlexConnect, listeners will be drawn deeper into their favorite entertainment, fully immersing them in sound through the simplicity of their TV’s sound system and complementing speakers.