Hardcore home cinema thrills

The debut Dolby Atmos soundbar from French manufacturer Devialet is a sensational performer, says Steve May

- Steve May

French hi-fi auteur Devialet has a knack for delivering seismic bass from compact boxes, as seen in its celebrated Phantom speakers that rock like enclosures three times the size. Now comes the Dione, the brand's first Dolby Atmos soundbar, and it punches even lower.

When Elsa Pataky, as Captain J. J. Collins in Netflix actioner Interceptor, unloads her sidearm into a hulking terrorist early into the attack on her isolated marine station, the gun sounds like a cannon going off. Yummy.

This is because the Dione has no fewer than eight SAM-powered (Speaker Active Matching), bass drivers, onboard, which allow it to drop down to a claimed 24Hz. For the end user, this results in a soundbar that lands its low blows with homogeneous, gut-punching skill. Nor does it take long to realize that Devialet's Dione is a devastating Dolby Atmos debut by the brand.

Enter the Orb

Wide at 1.2m (and reassuringly hefty at 12kg), this soundbar is best matched to screens 55in and up, and it promises a 5.1.2-channel performance, courtesy of 17 drivers in total - nine 1.6in diameter full-range aluminium units, plus those eight aluminium woofers, which adopt a 5.25in racetrack driver design.

The Dione's forward-facing array is fabric cloaked, the end modules having Dolby Enabled height drivers similarly clad. The real eye-catcher, though, is the spherical centre channel, named the Orb.

This comes in a default position for horizontal use. However, if you choose to wall mount the 'bar, the Orb can be re-orientated and locked into an alternate forward-facing orientation. An internal gyroscope tells the soundbar how it's been positioned, also resulting in the Atmos drivers becoming front firers, and the front L/R becoming heights. Clever.