Sony - 4" Dolby Atmos Enabled Elevation Speakers (Pair) - Black

Sometimes upgrading your equipment can have dramatic effects. Do you remember being dazzled when you went from stereo sound to surround sound or from standard definition to high definition 1080p? However, sometimes the upgrade although positive, is more subtle, like going from 1080p high definition to 4K HDR definition video. It’s an improvement and it has benefits, but you have to be a bit of an “Enthusiast” to feel satisfied with the incremental improvement the feature offers. The Dolby Atmos feature that these Sony speakers can add to your home theater is one of those incremental improvements. When I sat my wife down to hear our new 5.2 surround system a few years ago she was dazzled. When I sat her down last week to hear our new 5.2.2 surround system with functioning Atmos, I had to point out to her that the sound of monsoon rain hitting the forest canopy shown on the TV’s screen, really did seem to be coming from the ceiling above. However, because of the way our ears and brains perceive vertical sound direction (compared to horizontal sound direction), she had to tilt her head slightly upwards to really get an impression of where the rain’s sound was coming from. If I hadn’t pointed it out she might have a vague feeling that something was making the experience more realistic, but she might have attributed it to the realistic picture rather than the realistic sound. I’m only giving you this overly detailed description of the Atmos sound experience, so you won’t have expectations that are too high. On top of that, only source video or movies encoded with Dolby Atmos (or the competing DTS:X) running though an Audio Video Receiver that can decode Atmos, into a theater that has properly placed Atmos speakers (like these Sonys), can produce the overhead sound effect. These 4” Sony speakers are what are called “Up-firing” speakers. They allow the easiest installation method for Atmos. Rather than cutting holes or mounting bolts in the ceiling and running wires behind the drywall to feed the signal, Up-firing speakers can be placed right on top of your left and right speakers, as I did in the attached picture. It’s relatively easy to just run the speaker wires from there to the Atmos capable A/V receiver. When the A/V receiver gets the code for sound above the listener, the sound from these speakers is focused and aimed at the ceiling. From there it bounces down to your ears. The downside to that easy installation is that the sound energy from these speakers has to pass though the sound waves emanating from the left and right speakers. Some of sound wave energy from the Up-firing speakers is absorbed or deflected. I tested a preferable Up-firing speaker location by crudely mounting the speakers on 2x4s set against the back wall about 6’ above the floor. This got them out of the sound waves from the left and right speakers and the overhead Atmos sound effect seemed clearer. When I have the time I will run the wires behind the wall and mount the Sony Atmos speakers more permanently 6’ above the floor. Since I have a two story house, I just don’t have the ambition or skill to run wiring across the ceiling and mount speakers into the ceiling cavity between the floors. Up-firing speakers are a good compromise to get the Atmos effect without mounting speakers in the ceiling. PROS: - Comes with hardware brackets, adhesive foot pads and screws for most installation needs. - These speakers are attractive with speaker grills that can be easily removed for that “Naked” look that some prefer. - They allow the two simplest Atmos installation methods, directly on top of front speakers, or mounted higher on the back wall. - The 4” cones and their drivers are well sized for the clear high to mid-frequency sounds that reflect off the ceiling well. CONS: - They can’t deliver the “Ultimate” Atmos experience which requires multiple ceiling embedded speakers. - If you are a stickler for visually matched speakers, the matte finish might not match the shiny piano-key, wood-grain or different fabric grill look of your existing speakers. CONCLUSION: - These Sony - 4" Dolby Atmos Enabled Elevation Speakers will allow you to upgrade your home theater sound with the vertical audio image that Dolby Atmos or the competing DTS:X audio encoding both offer. If you are the type of enthusiast that enjoys experiencing noticeable but subtle incremental improvements, then these speakers are worth the investment of time and money.

UNBOXING, AND INITIAL IMPRESSIONS: Honestly, nothing “special”, or spectacular, here. The Sony SS-CSE Dolby Atmos speakers are in a plain brown box, with lots of words in black ink over 5 of the 6 sides (the bottom has very minimal print). Unlike some products, which “scream” at you with bright photos, and other glaring graphics, Sony has packaged these speakers in a very subdued way. Upon opening the box, the packaging is straight-forward, and minimalistic, exactly the way it should be. On top of the Styrofoam, you will find 2 pair of mounting brackets (for use in attaching the speakers on top of Sony tower front speakers), as well as a pair of wall mounts (if installing the speakers as “front high” speakers. Technically, which I’ll describe in greater detail, Sony give you three mounting options: on top of Sony front tower speakers (Dolby Atmos); wall, facing up (Dolby Atmos); and wall facing slightly down, towards the listener (front-high). SETUP: There is really only one way to “set up” speakers…simply connect one end of the wires to the receiver, and the other end to the speakers. Ok, joking aside…as mentioned above, there are three ways to set up the SS-CSE Dolby Atmos speakers. The first…and, if you have Sony tower SS-Series speakers, the best…way to “mount” them, is as simple as placing the SS-CSE speakers on top of your tower speakers (Sony’s ‘A1’ option, as they mate perfectly to Sony’s SS-CS5 tower speakers. The second option…and still retaining the Dolby Atmos purpose…is to mount them on the wall (option A2), in the exact same orientation as they would be if placed on top of tower speakers. The final mounting option is to mount them on the wall, facing forward & slightly down (option B). The downside to the ‘B’ option is that, while this configuration should still produce very-good sounding audio for DTS:X, the speakers will no longer provide true/accurate “Dolby Atmos” sound…they will, instead, be “high-front” speakers. The problem in wall mounting (option ‘A2’) is how high from the floor to mount them. The “simple” answer would be 36.3” (ie. the bottom of the speakers) up from the floor (the height of the SS-CS3 tower speakers). The more accurate & (unfortunately) more complicated answer is, “It depends on your ceiling height, the distance of your front speakers to the ‘listening position’, and the distance of the wall to your ‘listening position’. In other words, the answer is just as “complicated” as the placement for all the other speakers, including the subwoofer. If you want “quick & easy”, by all means, wall mount them 36.3” from the floor. On the other hand, if you want “more accurate Dolby Atmos sound”, then it’s time to brush up on your math. In my case, having a standard 8ft ceiling, with the “listening position” slightly LESS than 7ft from the TV, and slightly less than 8ft from the wall, it was decided that 42-46” from the floor should be “optimal”. SYSTEM, CONFIGURATION, & TESTING METHOD: Before I get into the actual “sound quality” tests, I should first describe my system. I’m using a Sony UBP-X800 UHD Blu-Ray player connected to a Sony STR-DN1080 Home Theater Receiver, with video being output to a Sony XBR-55X900E 4K HDTV. On the audio end, with the exception of the new Sony Dolby Atmos speakers, I have been running a 7.1 channel system from Definitive Technology – ProCinema 800 speakers for the front left & right; ProCinema 600 speakers for the center, surround, & rear channels; and a SuperCube 6000 handling the subwoofer duties. For the purpose of testing the Sony SS-CSE Dolby Atmos speakers, I made a couple configuration changes to the setup, which consisted of disconnecting the rear-surround speakers from the receiver, and then connecting the wires to the Sony speakers. Configuration steps after this point will vary depending on your receiver, but, in my case, it meant changing the channel configuration from 7.1-channel, to 5.1 (FD), which is the same as 5.1.2-channel. Next, I enabled the Sony receiver’s “Rear Phantom Surround”, which, to the best of my understanding, does some sort of digital audio trick, taking the side surround speakers, and tricking the listener’s ears into believing they are hearing sound from BOTH side surround AND rear surround speakers. In other words, even though the system is configured as a 5.1.2-channel system, your ears believe they’re hearing movie audio from a 7.1.2-channel system. Finally, I re-ran the speaker Auto-Calibration. After watching/listening to several Dolby Atmos demo videos…ESPECIALLY one in particular, which involves a rain forest…I can tell you that the “phantom” surround audio DOES work, and can be very believable. SOUND QUALITY: Moving onto the actual testing, I watched selected scenes from six different movies, two titles each of the following three media-types: Dolby Atmos-encoded 4K UHD Blu-Ray, Dolby True-HD Blu-Ray (one of which did contain Dolby 7.1-channel audio), & Dolby-encoded DVD. Starting with the DVDs, while there wasn’t a huge improvement (after all, DVDs contained only 5.1-channel audio), there was a slightly-noticeable improvement, as the surround audio also played from the Dolby Atmos speakers. Moving onto the “standard” Blu-Ray movies, there was a considerable improvement, which, while not making me truly believe I was “enveloped in dome-like audio”, made enough of an improvement that I started to believe. Finally, in regards to the 4K Ultra-HD discs, the audio was truly amazing, as it seemed like I was sitting on the floor, in the center of a dome, with sound coming from every direction. I’m not say8ing the audio was like this 100% of the time, as there’s always times where audio is only coming from in front of you…but, in those moments where the Dolby Atmos is supposed to be “doing its thing”…well, it’s “doing its thing”. CLOSING THOUGHTS: I went into this thinking I might be “mildly” impressed, and, while not completely “blown away”, I was impressed enough to say the Sony SS-CSE Dolby Atmos speakers are well worth it. If these tiny $200 speakers can do what they do, I can only imagine what higher-priced Dolby Atmos speakers can do. More importantly, I can only imagine what in-ceiling Dolby Atmos speakers are capable of. FINAL VERDICT: Honestly, I didn’t have high-hopes for these speakers. “Quality” Dolby Atmos speakers typically run $400/pair, or more, with high-end, in-ceiling models costing considerably more…so, how could these compare? Truth-be-told, they are quite good. If I consider only their level of performance, without considering the price, I’d probably give them a ‘7’ on a 1-10 scale. However, adding the price into that consideration, that ‘7’ would jump to at least an ‘8’, and possibly a ‘9’. Am I saying these are outstanding speakers? Hardly. But they do do exactly what they were designed to do, and they do it for a very reasonable price. If you’re an audiophile, they look elsewhere, as you will be sorely disappointed with the Sony SS-CSE Dolby Atmos speakers. For those, you should probably consider something like the Klipsch R-14SA ($320), the Klipsch RP-140SA ($400), or in-ceiling speakers (priced even higher). However, if you’re a movie-lover on a budget (like me), and you happen to have a Dolby Atmos-capable receiver (or are planning to purchase one), then the Sony SS-CSE speakers will work quite well for you. Disclaimer: This product was provided free, or at reduced cost, for the purpose of reviewing the product. Nevertheless, the above review, be it positive, negative, or anywhere in-between, is a 100% honest review, and the price paid played absolutely no part in my review.

25+ years ago I bought my first "5.1" surround sound receiver. The technology was awesome but wiring up rear speakers was such an ugly pain. No matter how neatly I tucked wires around the room (open floor plan, basement and ceiling runs were not an option) I despised my setup--eventually bailing on surround enhancements completely. Flash forward 25 yrs to give "Atmos-enabled" speakers a try with my new Atmos capable receiver (Sony STR-DN1080) and I am thrilled have "surround sound" effects back in my life. To be clear, these are wired speakers. They sit nicely atop my ~42" tall JBL front speakers so no more need to run wires to the back of the room for surround effects. Obviously you still could but as mentioned previously, I like all my audio devices "up front." Once I had the speakers properly configured in the receiver (I did have a surprisingly difficult time getting the Sony receiver to identify my setup properly using the calibration tool and ended up configuring everything manually) I essentially ran two different speaker tests based on my tv/movie listening preferences: 2-channel and "all channels" (for me, I prefer 3.0.2: left/right front towers, center, and the left/right Sony Atmos upward pointing speakers). First I noticed increased vocal clarity from 2-channel to all channels. The Sony SSCSE speakers (coupled with the magic of Dolby) clarified vocals in movies significantly. Second, I immediately noticed what I would call 365° effects. Was it as perfect as having rears in the mix for a 5.x.2 setup? No, but it was still good enough (and loud enough) to capture effects I would hear in a theater. If you run a 5.x.2 or 7.x.2 you are definitely going to fill your room with sound--especially from above and the sides. I did plug my rears back in for one final test but again, I don't have a good way to deal with the wires. Including the rears makes a difference but I could be content to live without them and just rely on the SSCSE speakers for effects. Additionally, I ran some music through these speakers. Again, I am primarily a fan of "loud and from the front" for my music experience. I was concerned that leaving the Sony SSCSE speakers on for musical enjoyment would wreck the acoustical balance and/or blow the SSCSE speakers. I was pleasantly surprised that neither happened. Again, these little guys can handle the power and given the amount of bass my JBL speakers put out, the SSCSE added some nice mid-range enhancements. Lastly, I was impressed by the weight of these speakers. Honestly, I expected them to be lighter...which in the world of audio is usually a bad thing. Traditionally more weight means better sound. These have nice sound and power. Would I recommend? Yes, but not necessarily to just a movie audiophile. I think they are great for someone who wants to "get into Dolby effects" without breaking the bank and without having to commit to a 9-speaker setup right off the bat. Whether a 3.x.2, 5.x.2 or 7.x.2 setup, these speakers are a great, cost effective way to add fullness and effects to your movie/tv experience.

Let me describe my setup: Dedicated media room with 120” screen, 4K projector, flanked by a pair of Polk audio floor speakers, in-wall speakers for the surrounds, and a single SVS sub for the low stuff. Sony STR-DN1080 receiver. For a while now I have been wanting to “complete” my setup by adding in-ceiling speakers for Atmos...but that requires a lot of work to wire them up and quite frankly I’ve just been putting it off. These Atmos enabled speakers from Sony are meant to be placed on top of your existing front speakers, not replace them, and fire sound upwards, bouncing it off the ceiling and thus simulating the effect of sound coming out of an in-ceiling speaker. They also come with brackets and hardware to mount them to your wall, thus the sound will be coming directly at you but from a higher point. It's also worth noting that in addition to Atmos they work just fine for the competing DTS-X format as well. You'll find most 4K blurays are encoded with Atmos but a few (like Harry Potter) are in DTS-X. I simply put the speakers on top of my existing fronts, hooked up the wires, and tested a few things. First, I ran the auto setup on my stereo to make sure the speakers were installed correctly and let the stereo properly set the sound field. Next, I tried the Atmos demos available in the Dolby Atmos app on the Xbox One. These included the Leaf and Amaze demos. I was more impressed with the Leaf demo than the Amaze. There was definitely some additional sound that I wouldn't have heard before without the Atmos speakers. I was the most impressed when I put the 4K disc for Blade Runner The Final Cut in. There's lots of rain effects, thunder, and flying-cars zipping by and you can actually hear the difference. A lot of people describe Atmos as "sound coming from above you" and that may be true if you have a speaker above your head. However, with these, I never felt like the sound was truly anywhere above my head, but you do get the sense of height to the sound effects that the sound engineers want you to hear. There's one scene in particular where there is a lot of dialogue with rain and I realized the rain effects are about the same volume as the dialogue which in stereo would make the dialogue hard to hear. In this case, I felt like I was right there with the characters chatting in the rain. It's hard to explain but the flying cars zipping by sound so much more realistic when the engineers are able to place them in spatial space, rather than being limited to the discrete surround channels of a traditional Dolby Digital track. Overall, I would recommend these if you can't for whatever reason install speakers into your ceiling. These are the next best thing.

Overall score: 4/5 Appearance / initial impressions These speakers certainly feel top notch, good weight, great packaging. They include wall mount brackets, but I just put them on top of my front towers. I'm disappointed that they don't use binding posts, but rather have spring clips on the back - this is the only reason I rated these 4/5. It's possible they chose to do this to make wall mounting easier, but it just screams "cheap" to me when I see that. Plus I love the convenience of banana plugs. Setup I've got these sitting on top of my front Pioneer SP-FS51's. The rest of my system is a SP-C21 center channel, a pair of SP-BS21's in surround, and a Denon AVR-X1200W 7.2 receiver. Once I had the Sony's wired into the receiver (via the Surround Back L/R posts), I had to enable Atmos. In my case it was selecting "7.1-channel (front Dolby Atmos Enabled)". I then ran through the full Denon Audyssey, where the receiver does automatic speaker leveling. Testing I first tested with the 4K remaster of the Fifth Element. During the opening five minutes of the film I switched Atmos on and off to try and get a feel for what the difference was. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but the best way I can describe Atmos is that it "fills in" gaps I didn't even notice were there. It really helped the audio sound like it was coming from the TV and not from the speakers. Action sequences later in the film didn't really seem to benefit as much. My guess is that any scene that needs to express space is really going to benefit from these. Next I played Black Panther. I'm not sure if it's because it's a much newer film or what, but Black Panther really benefited from the extra speakers. Everything seemed much more detailed and encompassing. Music, background noise, all very immersive. Summary Certainly a worthy addition / upgrade for any home theater system, especially if you already have a full surround setup. This is really the next step in home cinema.

Let me start out by saying that, yes, it Dolby Atmos is best experienced with normal, in-ceiling speakers. When that isn't possible, though, the next best thing are elevated, upward-firing speakers. The Sony SSCSE, or Core Series Elevated speakers, match the excellent quality of the whole Core line, and look good doing it. To set these up, they're made ideally to sit on top of floor-standing speakers, but if you don't have those in your setup the can be wall-mounted and include the hardware to do so. They're heavier than they look, at about 17 pounds each. After plugging in and letting your receiver do the rest, you're setup to a great cinema experience. The two movies I watched this past weekend, Saving Private Ryan and Blade Runner 2049, both in 4K, highlight what Atmos brings to the sound. After the opening beach scene from SPR, you'll never want to go back to old audio formats again. The bullets were whizzing around the room in areas I never thought I'd hear, and the immersive experience is nothing short of spectacular. Quality seems high overall, and they go perfectly with my Sony CS floor-standing (CS3) speakers. The also look better with the grills off, in my opinion. My only gripes are that, like the other Core series speakers, there isn't anyway of using banana plugs, or any plugs, on the speaker wire to attach on the back. Also, while they do their job, anyone with less than a 12-foot long room may not see the best out of these, as they really work wonders on bigger rooms due to the inflection points. All in all, these are a great introductory pair of Atmos for anyone on a budget, looking to up their audio game. Recommended.

If you love surround sound in your movies and you have good ears, then pick yourself up a pair of Atmos speakers. I really like the added dimension these speakers provide. By design they are intended to sit on top of a pair of floor speakers. For my room and taste that didn't seem to work real well. I do have a popcorn ceiling so that might have something to do with it but from what I've read that should be OK. After listening to a variety of Atmos movies I was disappointed that I didn't seem to hear the sound coming over my head. I confirmed that I definitely had good sound coming out of the speakers but all it did was to make the sound more full/rich. My plan all along was to hang the speakers on the wall so the sound comes directly at you instead of bouncing off the ceiling. Technically they would be considered high speakers not Atmos. Once I put them in that position though it was a game changer. The sound being generated definitely gave more of an elevated feel. I was able to find the Atmos demo trailers. Two 1 minute clips from Dolby that exercise the speakers. Seek them out! After playing those videos you'll know whether you have them positioned correctly or not. I've watched about 6 movies now. Some use the Atmos soundtrack better than others. For example, Blade Runner The Final Cut had multiple rain scenes and you can hear it falling all around you. Other scenes had thunder going off while they were indoors and it sounded high and distant. These are some of the places Atmos shines. It may take some time and effort to get them in the right position for your room and taste but the payoff will be worth it when the editors do their job correctly.

If you love great sound in movies and music, you know it takes great equipment to produce great results. These 4 inch Sony Dolby Atmos enabled additions are meant to help fill your room with sound. The packaging for these speakers is in a word, plain – brown box, very tight with simple black writing all over. Inside you will find the speakers, snug in foam, along with mounting brackets and pads for either wall or speaker top mounting. The speakers are a bit bulky, but not large. They have a slant which seems to be a design decision to aid in the Dolby Atmos delivery. Installation is simple enough. These are wired speakers. Connect the wiring and you are ready for sound. As for mounting, this can be a difficult decision if you don’t have a system with large left and right speakers. Large enough speakers allow you to easily mount them on top of the speakers, facing up. The true Dolby Atmos experience probably favors ceiling or high mounted speakers. The slanted orientation of the speaker box for these aides in the directional projection of sound. With all of that, I still found it a bit difficult to add them subtly to my existing system. I had to go with wall mount, and that was not very pleasing to the eye. This is one of the hard truths about these speakers: it’s not easy to add them to your system if aesthetics is important. Well, the most important thing is how they sound. The speakers sound great. The sound is clear, crisp, and full. I’m not sure there is a huge effect experienced, and that could be because of speaker location. I already have a 7.2 surround system, and these elevation speakers, while adding sound, aren’t really game changers. I believe ceiling mounting (or high wall) or speaker top mounting would be preferred for the biggest experience boost. Also, you may have to adjust mid-range ohm and cutoff levels to get the right sound blend. I don’t have a Sony system, speakers, etc. – a little mismatched. I was able to achieve good, quality sound, and the quality of sound along with the Atmos technology is definitely present here, and worth a try. It’s just important to remember that setup and fit should be taken into consideration to get the best experience. I would definitely recommend these elevation speakers. They are welcome addition to any home theater.