Apple Is Testing a Four-HomePod Surround System, Code Suggests

[Harddrive]

If anyone doubts full surround can not be achieved with 4 speakers they need to demo Sony's flat panel modules at a Magnolia store very impressive and as for dialog for center channel they have managed to put the singers voice in the middle as far back as stereo records with modern logic steering they can have sound appear from almost anywhere another example is a binaural recording you would be amazed at what 2 speakers can do.

 

[DeftwillP]

Now siri can misunderstand you in 4 channel surround sound

 

[tonmischa]

A lot of living room setups are fairly small and have the two front speakers right next to the TV, which will create a pretty solid “phantom” center.

Left and Right should be at a 30 degree angle. If they are a lot closer together, you are correct. They actually create a real Center.
But then you are missing out on a real Left and Right. ;-)

why does this not happen with stereo speakers

It absolutely does happen on a stereo system!
You can hear it very well if your speakers are correctly set up.

 

[johntherazz]

I attempted to use two HomePods as a stereo pair but it was a complete disaster. There were numerous sync issues even when paired with Apple TV. Frustrated, I decided to stick with just one and I’m thoroughly satisfied.

That’s bad luck. I’ve had a stream of software/AirPlay glitches that have driven me nuts ever since I forked out for my first HomePod, but pairing (both originals and Minis) has never caused me any problems - and has always given a huge boost in audio quality over just using a single HomePod (IMO)

 

[darthbane2k]

There ought to be a soundbar with built in Apple TV! Then just enable HomePod minis or fulls to act as satellite speakers. However from a music point of view we need a larger stand alone HomePod, think Sonos Five larger..

 

[turbineseaplane]

I can't even imagine the frustration of troubleshooting this setup when issues and niggles appear.

I have visions of the frustration on a Friday night when the family is just trying to sit down and watch something and one of the pods isn't quite working right and it's a black box (typical Apple fashion) of trying to even know what to do or try in order to hopefully somehow fix it.

"Try updating them all!"
"Like, force an update? How?"

 

[tonmischa]

Quadraphonic did not fail because of an issue with "phantom center." It failed because the industry could not agree on a standard format, leading towards consumer confusion. (Not to mention the high costs associated with setting up a quad system at the time.)

5.1 went through the same troubles. Format wars, high investment costs on the consumer side.
But as we all know, the format succeeded. Because it could be used for Cinema and TV as well. It added a lot more benefit for the average consumer.

 

[Unami]

Sure, pay € 1400 for a surround system that sounds like half the money and probably becomes halfway obsolete after a few years.

 

[Dirk Pieters]

Nothing but bad experiences when Apple tries to "stream" something.

I bought a pretty decent Bowers & Wilkins speaker when AirPlay was first released. Absolute nightmare. Every now and then I would reconfigure the thing, which made it work for a few hours only to stop working again.

Even today sending something from my iPad to Apple TV is hit and miss. Maybe 70% success rate?

My wife bought a Marshall speaker which we connect to our iPhones. That's bluetooth, I think. Even that does weird things during songs. Not a lot, but enough to make you wonder what is going on.

I've learned my lesson, thanks.

 

[johntherazz]

TAKE MY MONEY!!

I’ve been using two stereo pairs (a main front pair of original HomePods and a rear pair of Minis) in the same room and (despite the constant irritation of AirPlay plus various other niggles) totally love the immersive sound they produce. It’s a real improvement on any previous stereo setup I’ve used.

An inability to route the (actual) surround sound from my Apple TV to my Apple speakers has always seemed a very strange omission, so if this rumour is true I guess I’d better start saving up (since I’m 100% sure Apple won’t let us use our existing kit for it) because I already know I want it

 

[HaHaRich!]

All movie and most TV content is mixed in (at least) 5.1 today.

Downmixing this to 4.0 Quadrophonic ( L, R, Ls, Rs ) creates the "phantom center" problem. Move your head just a little and you no longer hear the movie dialogue coming from the center, but from the side, outside the screen.

There is a reason 4.0 Quadrophonic never caught on in the 70s and was completely abandoned by 1980.

There’s something that could change this in software: Apple TV does include direct feed to tv speakers. It could use the built in TV speaker as a center channel, and use the HomePods as satellites, giving a full 5 channel experience.

 

[hybrid_x]

While I love the idea of this, it's going to be VERY expensive. I'd rather have a HomePod soundbar with true up-firing speakers and a subwoofer. My media room is very small, so having four powered speakers is overkill.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

I can't even imagine the frustration of troubleshooting this setup when issues and niggles appear.

I have visions of the frustration on a Friday night when the family is just trying to sit down and watch something and one of the pods isn't quite working right and it's a black box (typical Apple fashion) of trying to even know what to do or try in order to hopefully somehow fix it.

"Try updating them all!"
"Like, force an update? How?"

Self-repairing with Siri AI... 😉

 

[JeffPerrin]

5.1 went through the same troubles. Format wars, high investment costs on the consumer side.
But as we all know, the format succeeded. Because it could be used for Cinema and TV as well. It added a lot more benefit for the average consumer.

Yeah - No doubt the home movie/cinema aspect helped Dolby 5.1 take off whereas (at the time) quadraphonic was solely about music only.

 

[Bananaogre]

Remember that quadraphonic is 4 channel audio, using 4 speakers.

A HomePod have the advantage that it contains 5+1 (or 7+1 for the original) speakers. The ability to control every individual speaker in each of the four HomePods is a totally different ballgame than 4 plain speakers.

 

[k1121j]

This is cool..... Why on earth stop at 4? 5.1 is literally the minimum these days.

 

[HaHaRich!]

There ought to be a soundbar with built in Apple TV! Then just enable HomePod minis or fulls to act as satellite speakers. However from a music point of view we need a larger stand alone HomePod, think Sonos Five larger..

There was a note in the article about an unknown part number. 🤔

 

[MicahB]

Given the absolute disaster that Sonos has become, unfortunately and I say that as a former fan, I have long thought that Apple should jump into this market with HomePod but also bass and a centralized TV speaker. I also think they should consider getting into the TV business. The idea I have to keep buying a separate AppleTv box when I would just gladly purchase an Apple manufactured television with TVOS built in is a missed opportunity because I know I am not the only one.

 

[ikramerica]

Wow, I have two OG HomePods that I bought right after the release and several first gen minis scattered around the house and I've had no issues at all during all the years I've had them. Shame your experience with them is so bad.

I don’t find mine as useful as I thought, but wifi connectivity has never been an issue. Sounds like a problem with his network

 

[MacsRgr8]

No thanks, will stick to a decent AV receiver with decent cabled 5.1 speaker set.

 

[Harddrive]

I had the Quad set in the 70's and it was a mess QS,SQ and CD-4 just like today with the room correction and different varieties as DTS and Dolby and they wonder why Stereo is making a comeback simple it works and less headaches no special anything L and R.

 

[HaHaRich!]

This is cool..... Why on earth stop at 4? 5.1 is literally the minimum these days.

Bandwidth could be a problem to get to 6.0, but the missing center channel and bass could be the unknown part number listed in the article, or some software that uses a TV’s stereo speakers as a center channel

 

[rensuchan]

The idea I have to keep buying a separate AppleTv box when I would just gladly purchase an Apple manufactured television with TVOS built in is a missed opportunity because I know I am not the only one.

If the price was right I'd certainly be interested. TvOS would be a lot better than the bloated spyware that ships with the major brands today and I imagine the image processing most TVs do could also be sped up and made better using Apple Silicon. It would be interesting to see what they could come up with.

 

[richpjr]

Aren't you assuming that will be the logic? 1980 was 46 years ago. Some things have made advances.

I do however like your Casio calculator watch.👍

There are some 4 speaker systems like the Sony HT-A9M2 that sound really good and dialog is not an issue with them. I will withhold judgment on something like this until it's an actual released product that can be evaluated before dismissing it because things used to not work well.

 

[SRQrws]

At one point, I had five Homepods, but I became increasingly frustrated with issues when pairing them. In particular, one would stop working or would operate at a different volume level than the other. The only fix was to uninstall/reinstall. When used as singles, they generally worked okay, though. About a year ago, I sold them all and switched to Sonos. My main system has the Arc Ultra and Sub 4 with a pair of Era 300s as rears. In my office, I have a pair of Era 100s with the Mini Sub. I know Sonos had some pretty big app issues for a while, but in the year I've had them, they have been rock solid. I've had to reboot them maybe twice in that time. Sound quality is head and shoulders above the HPs (but yes, the systems I have cost more).