During its CES 2020 keynote, TCL announced the Alto 9 Plus Dolby Atmos soundbar, which is among the first to fully integrate with Roku TV televisions. A Roku TV isn’t required to use this soundbar, however. It comes with its own standalone remote for any TV you’ve already got in the house.
What’s interesting for us, the Alto 9 Plus uses what TCL calls Ray-Danz reflector technology to provide a wide soundstage that delivers powerful room-wide sound. Obviously acoustic reflectors are nothing new, but they are not commonly seen in soundbars.
Just look at all of the empty space to the left and right of the main speaker array in the middle. Those curved areas are where audio gets reflected and bounced around your room.
Floor reports from CES seems to indicate that Ray-Danz technology actually works and gives a room wide experience, as well as some overhead. TCL has built in a dedicated center channel that focuses on voices and dialogue to make sure those never get lost in the mix.
The new flagship TCL soundbar will come with a bundled subwoofer; we can expect the Alto 9 Plus to ship sometime in the coming months.
