If you’ve tried to get Dolby Atmos sound in your living room, you’ll know it’s like playing surround sound Tetris. You’ve got to find some spare outlets, line up your speakers, and then fiddle with the calibration. It’s definitely not the easiest of tasks.
That’s why Dolby started working on FlexConnect for Atmos. It’s some clever tech that actively adapts the sound based on where the speaker is plonked in your room, so you don’t need to line things up precisely. And TCL’s newest Dolby Atmos speakers are the first to support FlexConnect, which means they’re headed straight for my living room.
Each of the Z100 speakers has a 170W four-driver set-up, with two at the front, one at the back, and one subwoofer. They’re compact metallic black units, so should fit nicely in any room.
TCL’s Z100 speakers are designed to pair with Dolby Atmos FlexConnect-enabled QD-Mini LED TVs from TCL – specifically the QM8K, QM7K, or QM6K models. Support for the C6K, C7K, C8K, C9K, and X11K models will come later. You can start with one speaker and scale up to four, and the system will adjust itself accordingly. It’s a bit like building a LEGO set, only it makes your TV sound like an cinema theatre.
Now, don’t get too excited if you’ve already got a decent TV or speaker setup. Dolby’s FlexConnect won’t work with legacy kit, and the Z100s won’t pair with anything outside of TCL’s new FlexConnect-enabled TVs. It’s all very proprietary. But, you will be able to connect to the speakers with a regular Bluetooth connection to play content from your phone.
Dolby first announced FlexConnect in 2023, but this is the first time we’re actually getting speakers ready to buy and shove into our homes. Performance details are still a bit thin on the ground, and while no one’s expecting these to dethrone a professionally tuned 7.2.2 setup, that’s not the point. These are for those of us who want immersive Atmos sound without faffing with AV receivers.
Pricing for the TCL Z100 speakers hasn’t been confirmed yet, and neither has the exact release date. TCL says the Dolby Atmos speakers arriving in France first this July, with other regions to follow. Surprise, surprise, there’s also no word yet on pricing.
