Positioning the Ambeo Plus is fairly straightforward, either wall mount it above the TV or place it below it on a table/stand. The dimensions make it ideal for a 55in TV in terms of width, but of course, there is no such compulsion. We used it with our reference 77in Sonly OLED TV, placed directly ahead of and under it, while the subwoofer was kept a couple of feet away. Quick word on the subwoofer though, it may not sound the best, even with calibration at the first spot you plonk it. So listen to your favourite piece of music or movie clip while keeping the levels at the 0 position and move it around the soundbar. In our situation, the best place was just a foot away from the soundbar and not tucked away in a corner. Keeping the sub too far from the soundbar will reveal its location, making it audible and it won’t integrate well with the mid/bass from the soundbar.
With everything set up just right, we sank into our recliners with Made in Heaven, Prime Video’s latest series on dysfunctional Delhi families. The e-Arc port worked seamlessly, delivering a Dolby TrueHD bitstream from the TV to the Ambeo Plus. The presentation was impressively full scaled, large and easily sounded like a pair of floorstanding speakers on either side of the room instead of emanating from a single chassis speaker! The rich mix of foley sounds, sync sound and a great original soundtrack all come together to make this for a fetching watch and listen. Even though its just a 5.1 mix, the Ambeo Plus placed sounds around the room in a way that far exceeded expectations. The Smart Control app also has a variety of demo material that makes for a great party trick to impress unassuming friends. The carefully recorded soundscapes are designed to highlight the efficacy of the Ambeo Plus’ phantom surround effect created by reflecting sound off the ceiling and walls. Nestled between our usual Focal speakers, the Ambeo Plus projected a soundstage wide and deep enough to fool most into thinking that the larger floorstanding speakers were playing! It does phenomenally well at creating the illusion of front height channels and if the material has an aggressive surround mix, it does a decent job at creating phantom side surrounds too. You will be convinced that your room has speakers at various locations and that itself is a victory for Sennheiser. The only area it really struggles with is creating the illusion of having back surrounds and top height channels, which our reference 7.2.4 system did better. Phew!