Apple's Apple TV 4K 4th generation, announced a little over two weeks ago, can turn a stack of HomePods into a wireless home cinema system. Pair the streamer with four HomePod speakers and it builds a Dolby Atmos surround setup without a single cable running across the living room.
The mixing rules are flexible, but not infinite. According to What Hi-Fi?, which detailed the configuration this week, buyers can run four HomePod 2 units, four HomePod Mini 2 units, or split the difference with two HomePod 2 speakers up front and two HomePod Mini 2 units in the back. Front and rear pairs have to match each other, but front and rear don't have to match the opposite pair.
That puts Apple's system in the same category as the Sony Bravia Theatre Quad and Valerion Thunderbeat, wireless multi-speaker setups What Hi-Fi has tested separately. The appeal is obvious: no soundbar, no wires snaking to rear speakers, just HomePods placed around a room and synced through the Apple TV.
The subwoofer gap
What's missing, per What Hi-Fi? Senior staff writer Lewis Empson, is low end built for film. HomePod speakers already produce bass that's surprisingly deep for their size, Empson writes, but a four-speaker array still lacks a dedicated channel for the kind of explosions and sub-heavy effects that a home cinema setup is supposed to deliver.
Empson's fix would be a HomePod subwoofer, something Apple has never made and, by his own admission, probably has no near-term plans to build. He points out that the HomePod Mini took six years to get a second generation, hardly evidence of a company in a rush to expand the lineup.
The more interesting idea floated in the piece is third-party compatibility. Apple has recently struck a partnership with LG to build smart home hardware together, and LG already sells a modular wireless subwoofer, the W7, as part of its Sound Suite range. What Hi-Fi praised the W7's "deep, powerful bass" in its own review. Letting that speaker, or a Sonos Sub 4 or Sub Mini, bolt onto a HomePod surround system is floated as a possibility rather than anything Apple has confirmed or even hinted at.
There's no indication from Apple that third-party subwoofer support, or a HomePod subwoofer of its own, is coming. Apple has historically kept its HomePod ecosystem closed to outside hardware, and nothing about the Apple TV 4K's launch suggested that's changing.
For now, anyone building the four-HomePod setup gets wireless Atmos surround and nothing underneath it. Whether Apple ever adds a low end to match depends on how well this quad-speaker system actually sells once people start setting it up at home, something no outlet has reported on yet.
GDFiled by The Gadgets Desk
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