Vizio has unveiled two new additions to its M-Series of affordable Dolby Atmos soundbars, including a 5.1.2 system that uses the company's rotating driver technology, Elevate.
This particular model is the M-Series Elevate (M512E-K6 ) which includes 13 drivers and comprises a soundbar, wired surrounds and a separate wireless sub. The soundbar has height drivers along its front edge that automatically rotate 90 degrees to project sound vertically for Dolby Atmos and DTS:X content or fire forwards for standard stereo and surround audio. Vizio first used this technique in 2020 with its top of the range Elevate soundbar.
Unlike the current class leader, the Sonos Arc, the M-Series Elevate supports both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X immersive audio codecs. It features HDMI eARC, Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, and an unspecified number of HDMI 2.0 inputs with 4K Dolby Vision passthrough.
There's also a dedicated voice assistant input for connecting a Google Home or Amazon Alexa speaker, and when used with a Vizio TV, you can control the soundbar's audio settings using the TV remote.
The second new offering from Vizio is the M-Series All-In-One, a single unit 2.1-channel soundbar with dedicated bass drivers that supports virtual Dolby Atmos and DTS:X and includes the same connectivity options as the M-Series Elevate.
In a statement about the new products John Schindler, Vice President of product management at Vizio, said: "Our new M-Series bars were built around the premise that immersive audio can and should be accessible to everyone, from simple all-in-one solutions to the awesome new M-Series Elevate."
The M-Series Elevate and M-Series All-In-One will be available from July in North America, priced at $800 ( around £665, AU$1152) and $200 (around $166, AU$288), respectively.
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