Dolby Atmos FlexConnect Lets You Place Speakers Anywhere

For years, there have been just two options for better TV sound: A traditional, AV receiver-based home theater system or a soundbar.

The AV receiver route is undeniably the best way to go for a truly cinematic experience, but only the most diehard audiophiles are willing to deal with hulking metal boxes, yards of speaker wire, and a minimum of five speakers (plus a subwoofer) that must be placed just so. That’s before you delve into the often arcane settings needed for peak performance.

Soundbars, with their lure of simplicity—just plug a single speaker into your TV and walk away—have enticed many. But few single-speaker systems live up to the promise of Dolby Atmos, and if you buy a model with additional satellite speakers and subs, the placement of these speakers remains crucial to getting that dome-of-sound experience we associate with movie magic.

Starting this summer, however, there’s a third choice: Dolby Atmos FlexConnect. FlexConnect is a new platform developed by Dolby that lets you place wireless speakers anywhere you like. The system automatically detects the speakers’ capabilities (power, frequency response, etc.), then maps their position in the room. From there, it calibrates the audio to maximize the system’s ability to deliver a Dolby Atmos experience (including height and surround channels).

In its launch guise, Dolby Atmos FlexConnect uses a smart TV as its central hub. This means you’ll need a FlexConnect-compatible TV and wireless speakers. However, future FlexConnect products may embed that hub function in soundbars or even smart speakers—opening up more options for those who don’t want to replace their TV. I got a chance to give a Dolby Atmos FlexConnect system a listen earlier this month at an invite-only event in Santa Monica, California, and came away impressed with the possibilities.

Wireless Dolby Atmos

As Dolby’s launch partner, TCL is the first to embed FlexConnect into a TV. All of TCL’s 2025 QD-Mini LED TVs are FlexConnect-compatible and can be paired with up to four wireless TCL Z100 FlexConnect speakers, which TCL sells for $400 each. Optionally, you can replace one of these Z100 units with a wireless TCL Z100-SW subwoofer ($500).

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’s choice of processor determines what’s feasible.

What you can’t do is use any other company’s wireless speakers—whether they’re 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’s family of products? Dolby says this kind of brand lock-in isn’t built into Dolby Atmos FlexConnect, but neither does it require compatibility between FlexConnect products.

TCL Exclusive (for Now)

Unfortunately for now, TCL’s implementation of FlexConnect is proprietary. I’ve repeatedly asked Dolby’s reps which companies have signed up to be a part of the Atmos FlexConnect world, but they’ve steadfastly refused to comment, choosing instead to let TCL own the limelight during the initial launch.

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.

TCL doesn’t say how low the Z100’s woofer can go, saying only that “low frequencies are optimized and gained, lowering the extension frequency to deliver more thrilling and powerful bass performance.”

You can’t configure the Z100 to be part of a multiroom audio setup like you can with a Sonos or Bose soundbar, 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’t managed by Dolby Atmos FlexConnect, so you may want to think carefully about speaker position if you use it frequently.

Flexin’

Unlike soundbars and AV receivers, which typically override a TV’s 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.

Our brief demo paired a TCL QM8K (9/10, WIRED Recommends) with three Z100 speakers and a single Z100-SW subwoofer. Two Z100 units were positioned on either side of the TV, slightly toward the main seating area, with the third placed behind us, on the right side of the room. Each sat on an end table, a little lower than shoulder height when seated. Setup and calibration were performed onscreen via the remote control (Dolby’s 2024 demos used a smartphone app) and took less than two minutes.

The TV’s onboard microphones detected the presence and position of each speaker. We had to be careful not to stand between the speakers and the TV during this phase, otherwise the system couldn’t complete the setup. The only manual part of the process was telling the TV how far away it was from the main listening position.

Dolby’s demo playlist included one of its own Atmos trailers called “Nature’s Fury,” a movie scene designed to show off the system’s reproduction of dialog (The Two Popes) and its immersive surround sound (Top Gun: Maverick), plus two Dolby Atmos music videos (Billie Eilish’s “Bury a Friend” and Elton John’s “Rocket Man”).

Overall, the system sounded good. There was plenty of dialog clarity, and the Z100 speakers provided a strong sense of surround sound. Height effects were harder for me to detect, but in fairness, I’m not super-familiar with what the Top Gun: Maverick scene should sound like (the one where Maverick’s squadron comes under missile fire following its successful destruction of a target).

Low-frequency effects were pronounced—the dedicated sub no doubt helping out a lot—but they weren’t especially nuanced or defined. It made me wonder if the Dolby Atmos FlexConnect calibration is focused more on speaker placement than room correction.

In the end, it was the two music tracks that impressed me most. Dolby Atmos Music, thanks to its 3D soundstage, is inherently immersive. You can get some of that flavor via headphones through binaural rendering, but nothing beats listening to discrete speakers in an open space.

The system did a fantastic job with both tracks. If you’re on the fence about Atmos Music, you owe it to yourself to hear it from a setup like TCL’s implementation of Dolby Atmos FlexConnect.

Spendy Start, Bright Future

Unfortunately, we didn’t hear the TCL FlexConnect system without a subwoofer. We also didn’t get to experiment with a variety of speaker placements and numbers. The one change I was able to ask for moved the rear Z100 from the side of the room to directly behind our seating position. It had the desired effect of balancing out the surround channels—but was this the result of FlexConnect’s algorithmic magic or simply moving the speaker?

This wasn’t meant to be a full test of the system’s capabilities, so I won’t try to render a verdict. What I can say is that if you bought our demo system, it would run you $1,700. For that kind of dough, you could pick up one of several excellent soundbar alternatives from Sonos, Bose, LG, JBL, Sennheiser, or Samsung.

On the other hand, TCL is famous for street prices that fall well below its “official” prices. If that pattern continues, you could find this system for a lot less—a potentially compelling deal, especially for aesthetic folks who hate cables and big speaker systems.

I think Dolby has a winning formula with Atmos FlexConnect. Being able to choose the number and placement of your home theater speakers, set them up in under five minutes, control it all through your TV remote, and still get a decent, immersive experience? That’s going to appeal to a lot of folks, even if it turns out to be not quite as immersive as the alternative. Everybody likes options.