Sound bars look like one long speaker in front of your TV. Within this are a number of individual speakers. The sound bar uses a complicated process to "trick" your ears into believing that sound is coming from all around.
The idea is you get surround sound (aka 5.1 stereo) without five speakers and a lot of wiring.
How they work
Sound bars use a number of techniques to emulate surround sound. The models in our test fall under one of two broad categories.
Beam-forming technologies
These create narrow beams of sound that bounce off your walls and ceiling. You hear these sounds only after they have "bounced" and this gives you the impression of noises coming from various parts of your room.
Best results are heard in rooms with hard surfaces - too many noise-absorbing furnishings (such as curtains, wall hangings, and carpet) can result in the sound beams not appearing in the right places. Sound bars with this technology usually have a large number of small speakers.
The two Yamaha models in our test use beam-forming technology.
Head-related transfer function (HRTF)
HRTF sound bars have comparatively fewer speakers. These models use digital filtering to create noises that we associate with different sound locations. This tricks our ears into thinking, for example, that a certain sound is coming from behind us. HRTF sound bars are also less reliant on the surfaces of your room for a better surround-sound experience.
The Denon and Samsung models use HRTF.
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