Pioneer's Figured Out How To Squeeze 3D Theater Sound Into Your Apartment

If you’ve been to a movie theater in the past three years you have, almost certainly, experienced Dolby ATMOS. It’s a complex algorithm/programming solution that allows bigwig Hollywood producers and sound guys to literally draw exactly where the sound is supposed to exist in three-dimensional space. Up until recently, if you wanted a similar experience in your home, you had to sink a ton of money into properly outfitting a room, which included gutting your ceiling and installing a bunch of speakers. 
 

The sexy nerds over at Pioneer have found a way around this with their latest Pioneer Elite home theater equipment. It effectively uses the echo properties of your room to bounce three-dimensional sound from speakers aimed at the ceiling. Theater quality sound, no sheet rocking required.

I had the opportunity to inspect these bad boys at Pioneer’s HQ in Long Beach California. The chap who designed them was on hand to walk me through the intricacies of what was actually going on. I’m a bit of a speaker nerd, so I was surprised when I understood approximately 1/3 of the words he was using. Pioneer’s gone to great lengths to innovate on what we are theoretically allowed to get away with in a home speaker system.

To fully kit out your space, you’ll need approx $5k. It’s certainly a hair higher than your average "Home Theater In A Box" solution, but there’s little chance that any of us are going to find a comparable home theater experience in the price range, especially not one that lets you skip out on calling the carpenter.


Ted Gushue is the Executive Editor of Supercompressor, he is now deaf and loving it. Don't call him, just tweet at him please: @TedGushue