HomePod Home Theater

Source: Apple

I’ll come right out and say it: I love the HomePod. Sure, it was expensive and Siri isn’t quite as good at answering questions as Google’s Assistant, but when considering the overall package, there isn’t another smart speaker on the market that can compete with the HomePod. It’s incredibly easy to set up, it does a great job controlling smart home devices, its microphone can hear your commands from freaky distances, and it sounds incredible, especially when two of them are set up as a stereo pair.

That made it even more heartbreaking when Apple discontinued it. Apparently the original HomePod wasn’t a great seller, and the new HomePod mini covers enough of the same functionality at a fraction of the price. But there’s one particular feature of the OG HomePod that the mini can’t replicate and most people may not have been able to utilize: Dolby Atmos support.

I can tell you, these things are more than capable of acting as a full-fledged home entertainment system.

We recently moved from Orlando to Denver, and it was no small feat. There was a bit of downsizing involved, but while we didn’t sacrifice too much in terms of living space, our new living room doesn’t have quite the same potential for a surround sound setup as the previous one, which I had custom built with speaker wire running through the ceiling to accommodate rear speakers. 

Speaker wire isn’t really an option in this apartment, so I researched various soundbars instead. I nearly took the plunge on the Sonos Arc, but before spending that much money, I decided to pair two of my HomePods together and give them a fair shot. To my surprise, they’re more than adequate at providing full, clear audio, and they even simulate surround sound quite well. We’ve watched a few movies where I swear I can hear noises behind me. It’s kinda freaky.

In order to utilize this setup, you need an Apple TV 4K and two original HomePods in a stereo pair. The Apple TV 4K has two distinct advantages over the aging Apple TV HD: the most important is Dolby Atmos support, but it also allows you to permanently set its audio output to a single or stereo pair of HomePods. You could AirPlay the audio from an Apple TV HD to HomePod, but you won’t get full Atmos support and it won’t remember that setting, so you’ll have to constantly reset it.

To change your Apple TV 4K’s audio output, head to the settings menu, scroll to Video and Audio, then scroll down to Default Audio Output. Select your HomePod or a stereo pair of HomePods, and that’s it. Put on your favorite Marvel movie and crank it up.

This setup may not make sense if you don’t already have two HomePods, but now that they’re discontinued, it’s not too hard to find a good deal. Even at full price, two HomePods are $200 cheaper than the Sonos Arc, and I personally think they look a lot nicer. If you’ve been considering a soundbar and you’re all in on Apple and Siri, this could be a good alternative.

I may eventually decide to shift to a soundbar that allows for a dedicated subwoofer and wireless surround speakers, but for the time being, I’m very much enjoying my stereo HomePod theater.