Bose releases its first Dolby Atmos speaker, the Smart Soundbar 900

(Image credit: Bose)

Bose has announced the release of the Dolby Atmos-enabled Smart Soundbar 900, marking the company’s first foray into immersive cinema audio.

Superseding the Smart Soundbar 700, the new speaker is designed for 50-inch screens or larger and has a similar aesthetic to its predecessor, with an oval-shaped design and wraparound metal grille, but adds a polished, impact-resistant tempered glass top.

There are a total of nine drivers underneath the hood: four racetrack woofers taking care of the left and right channels, a central tweeter and two further upward-facing dipole transducers at either end of the glass surface. These work in tandem with two further transducers that use Bose's PhaseGuide technology, which it says will beam multi-directional sound to distinct areas in your room, further enhancing the immersive effect of Dolby Atmos content. Furthermore, when listening to non-Atmos soundtracks, Bose's TrueSpace technology can provide virtual upmixing to add height to the soundstage.

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Featuring HDMI eARC, the Soundbar 900 also offers wi-fi and Bluetooth 4.2 connectivity and Spotify Connect and Airplay 2 for streaming. There’s also ADAPTiQ, Bose’s proprietary room calibration technology, on board. This analyses your listening space and automatically optimises the Soundbar 900’s performance accordingly. As you would expect from Bose, this soundbar can be grouped with any other of the brand's smart speakers over wi-fi for an integrated multiroom set-up.

For voice control services, there’s a choice of Amazon’s Alexa and OK Google. The built-in Alexa lets users make and receive intercom calls to Bose smart products and Amazon Echo devices, or make hands-free calls to anyone from within your contacts list. Meanwhile, Bose’s Voice4Video technology expands Alexa’s capabilities by enabling users to turn on and control their TV, cable, or satellite box.

The Smart Soundbar 900 comes in black or arctic white, and the system can be expanded by adding Bose's existing rear speakers and subwoofer from the 700 range. It will be available on September 20th, priced at £850 ($900, about AU$1600) but can be pre-ordered now from Bose.

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Mary is a staff writer at What Hi-Fi? and has over a decade of experience working as a sound engineer mixing live events, music and theatre. Her mixing credits include productions at The National Theatre and in the West End, as well as original musicals composed by Mark Knopfler, Tori Amos, Guy Chambers, Howard Goodall and Dan Gillespie Sells.