While Dolby imposes no hard limit on the number or type of speakers (or subwoofers) you can use in a single FlexConnect system, each manufacturer\u2019s choice of processor determines what\u2019s feasible.<\/p>\n
What you can\u2019t do is use any other company\u2019s wireless speakers\u2014whether they\u2019re FlexConnect-compatible or not. Naturally, this raises the question of compatibility. When other companies eventually make their own FlexConnect TVs, speakers, or soundbars, will they only work within that brand\u2019s family of products? Dolby says this kind of brand lock-in isn\u2019t built into Dolby Atmos FlexConnect, but neither does it require compatibility between FlexConnect products.<\/p>\n
TCL Exclusive (for Now)<\/p>\n
Photograph: Simon Cohen<\/p>\n
Unfortunately for now, TCL\u2019s implementation of FlexConnect is proprietary. I\u2019ve repeatedly asked Dolby\u2019s reps which companies have signed up to be a part of the Atmos FlexConnect world, but they\u2019ve steadfastly refused to comment, choosing instead to let TCL own the limelight during the initial launch.<\/p>\n
Each TCL Z100 is rated at 170 watts RMS, which is delivered via three front-facing drivers (woofer, midrange, and tweeter) plus an up-firing driver for height effects. TCL says it uses a 1.1.1-channel layout, which means it can receive and reproduce one front\/surround\/rear channel, plus height and low-frequency effects (LFE) channels.<\/p>\n
TCL doesn\u2019t say how low the Z100\u2019s woofer can go, saying only that \u201clow frequencies are optimized and gained, lowering the extension frequency to deliver more thrilling and powerful bass performance.\u201d<\/p>\n
You can\u2019t configure the Z100 to be part of a multiroom audio setup like you can with a Sonos<\/a> or Bose soundbar<\/a>, but you can switch it to Bluetooth mode for direct audio streaming from a phone. Two Z100s can be stereo-paired. Unfortunately, the Bluetooth mode isn\u2019t managed by Dolby Atmos FlexConnect, so you may want to think carefully about speaker position if you use it frequently.<\/p>\n Flexin\u2019<\/p>\n Photograph: Simon Cohen<\/p>\n Unlike soundbars and AV receivers, which typically override a TV\u2019s internal speakers, Dolby Atmos FlexConnect incorporates them, channeling content and frequencies in a way that works with the rest of the speakers in the system. Presumably, most of that content will be center channel (dialog, key sound effects), with the wireless speakers filling in as needed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While Dolby imposes no hard limit on the number or type of speakers (or subwoofers) you can use…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[1735,18,13033,19,17,7566,82,29730,31044],"class_list":{"0":"post-40839","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-home-entertainment","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-speakers","14":"tag-technology","15":"tag-tvs","16":"tag-wireless-audio"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}