Listening
Contents
Sennheiser supplies its own remote control with the Ambeo, but it can also be operated via an app. With this app you can also perform firmware updates, very convenient. In addition to source selection and volume, you can choose from various modes: film, music, news and the night mode that mutes the heavy bass
With the Ambeo button you can activate the custom configuration. On the soundbar, the Ambeoletters go on in the lower right corner
We start with music via Bluetooth, for the simple reason that the owner of the test house wanted it. Bluetooth pairing is easy and fast and it’s striking how pleasantly neutral the music sounds. There is a stereo image and smoothness that we have not heard so often from a sound bar
During the demonstration in the Sennheiser-headquarters it was already noticeable how good music sounds on the Ambeo. That was a Dolby Atmos soundtrack and this was a stereo Bluetooth track, but still. The Ambeo turns out to be perfectly capable of filling the living room with music. A nice side effect is that the Ambeo mode also works with stereo. The sound bar then turns it into an ‘immersive soundscape’ itself. And that’s not at all wrong either. The sound becomes room-filling and even when we stand on the side of the spacecraft, we hear music coming towards us.
Illusions
It continues to amaze how the technology of digital sound processing has evolved. With 13 (!) speakers in a cabinet, two of which face up, and 250W of amplification, a surround system can be simulated with 5 speakers (left, centre, right, two behind) and a subwoofer. During testing we noticed several times that the sound seemed to come from everywhere except the Ambeo. Handsome
Sennheiser has arranged music playback so that it also looks as if two speakers are playing. It sounds pleasantly neutral, basses are not emphatically present.
Movie
We’re going to film. We watch action films, nature films and animation. Strangled and through blu-ray. It’s as if a completely different system is playing when switching to movie mode
We experience an enormous dynamic, spatial effect and are drawn into the film. In movies, the sub-bass is noticeable, signals that normally come from the subwoofer. The Ambeo delivers the sound pressure you want to hear (and feel). And without losing control. Because of the relatively small drivers, the bass reproduction is also fast and precise
The sweet spot’s fine, too. Of course it is best right in front of the sound bar, with a clearance of approx. 1.50 meters. But in fact, the sound and its distribution can be heard throughout the entire width of the sofa on which we watch TV. With film we really hear the difference between Ambeo setting and without. If we switch it off, we hear the sound coming out of the sound bar; with Ambeo added, the space fills up with sound and the sound bar ‘disappears’.
