You Can Use It to Build a Home Theatre
The recent discontinuation of the HomePod seemed especially odd when you consider that only a few months earlier Apple debuted a new tvOS feature for its set-top box designed exclusively for the full-sized HomePod — a new home theatre mode.
As Apple explains, this lets you use a HomePod — or even better, a stereo pair of HomePods — with your Apple TV 4K to create a Dolby Atmos surround sound experience.
In other words, you can toss out your big clunky AV receiver and wired speakers and just link up your Apple TV 4K to a HomePod. All the great sound engineering that Apple packed into its original smart speaker, including spatial audio support, will give you a sound stage like no other speaker system in its class — and all without the hassle of running wires to place a multi-channel speaker system around the room.
In fact, the Dolby Atmos sound stage provided by a pair of HomePods is so excellent that it doesn’t even matter all that much where you put them in the room. While you can certainly put a pair of HomePods right next to your TV if that’s your preference, they sound just as great to the sides or even behind you. The only catch is that if you are using a stereo pair, you’ll naturally want to make sure that they’re an equal distance from where you typically sit.
Note that you will need an Apple TV 4K to take advantage of this full Home Theatre setup, but it works just as well on the 2017 Apple TV 4K as it will on the new 2021 model. The original 2015 Apple TV HD isn’t supported, although you can still use one or more HomePods as normal speakers for that older model.
Of course, you can also pair one or two HomePod minis with your Apple TV, however these will just work as normal speakers; the Dolby Atmos home theatre experience only works with the original, full-sized HomePod.