How to Choose the Best Studio Monitors for Dolby Atmos

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Music Industry is now shifting to Dolby Atmos and studios that comply with Dolby Atmos standards have an edge over those who don’t. It’s a great time to invest in a Dolby Atmos setup but remember to invest carefully. Make sure your audio interface supports surround sound (eg. Apollo X8) and your subwoofer and studio monitors are all compatible. In this article, we’ll focus on choosing the best studio monitors for Dolby Atmos. At the end of this post, we’ll also provide a list of the best studio monitors for Dolby Atmos.

How to Choose the Best Studio Monitors for Dolby Atmos?

Analyze the Room Space & Woofer Size First

First of all, you need to decide the woofer size for your studio monitors. A studio monitor with an 8″ woofer in a 16 feet room is perfect for stereo configuration. But that might cause a problem in a surround sound setup. Because you’ll have more than 5 studio monitors and a subwoofer as well, you may experience a lot of boominess. As you start adding more sources of sound (studio monitors), frequencies start fighting with each other for space. For Dolby Atmos setup, you’ll be fine with 6″ studio monitors in such room.

Don’t mix match one brand with another

Studio monitors of different brands have different crossover points and respond differently throughout the frequency spectrum. If you’ll use studio monitors of different brands in a surround setup, you’ll not hear a balanced audio output which will result in a poor mix. So make sure all of your studio monitors and subwoofer are of the same brand.

Choose compatible subwoofer/studio monitors

Even if the brands are the same, compatibility issues may still arise. For eg. The subwoofer may not have enough power to drive the studio monitors. Or maybe it can overshadow the studio monitors if it’s too powerful.

Make sure to set up your speakers in at least 5.1.2 configuration to utilize the spatial potential of Dolby Atmos. For this setup, you’ll need 7 studio monitors and 1 subwoofer. Below is an example that explains the 5.1.2 speaker setup for Dolby Atmos:

  • 5 in 5.1.2 speaker setup pertains to 5 studio monitors in surround setup (front left, front right, center, rear left, rear right)
  • 1 in 5.1.2 speaker setup pertains to a single subwoofer.
  • 2 in 5.1.2 speaker setup pertains to 2 overhead studio monitors

Best Studio Monitors and Subwoofer for Dolby Atmos Setup in a music studio

Now let’s take a look at the best studio monitors and subwoofer combinations for Dolby Atmos setup:

Option 1 (Best Studio monitor and Subwoofer Combination for Dolby Atmos):

Studio Monitor: Neumann KH 120 A

Subwoofer: Neumann KH 810

Option 2 (Best Studio monitor and Subwoofer Combination for Dolby Atmos):

Studio Monitor: Genelec 8341A SAM Studio Monitor

Subwoofer: Genelec 7380A SAM Studio Subwoofer

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Ishaan Sarna
Ishaan Sarna

Founder of AUDEMPIRE (Pro Audio Equipment Store), SOUNDELICIT (Music Industry & Pro Audio Blog), TECHNOISER (Tech blog), and ISOLAPSE (Motion Industry & Photography Gear Blog). Music Producer by profession and also a Tech Enthusiast.