A sound bar is a middle-of-the-road option if you want to improve the sound of your TV but not fork out for a home theatre system.
Snapshot: The Sony HT-CT790 sound bar has bluetooth and a wireless subwoofer. But how good is the sound quality?
Snapshot: The Sony HT-NT5 sound bar has bluetooth and a wireless subwoofer. But how good is the sound quality?
Snapshot: The Sony HT-RT3 sound bar has bluetooth but no wireless subwoofer. But how good is the sound quality?
Snapshot: The Samsung HW-J7501R sound bar has bluetooth and a wireless subwoofer. But how good is the sound quality?
Snapshot: The Samsung HW-M4500 sound bar has bluetooth and a wireless subwoofer. But how good is the sound quality?
Snapshot: The Samsung HW-MS650 sound bar has bluetooth but no wireless subwoofer. But how good is the sound quality?
Snapshot: The Polk Magnifi mini sound bar has bluetooth and a wireless subwoofer. But how good is the sound quality?
Snapshot: The Sonos Playbase sound bar has no HDMI inputs or outputs. But how good is the sound quality?
Snapshot: The Klipsch RSB-11 sound bar has bluetooth and a wireless subwoofer. But how good is the sound quality?
Snapshot: The Panasonic SC-HTB18 sound bar has bluetooth but no wireless subwoofer. But how good is the sound quality?
Snapshot: The Panasonic SC-HTB685 sound bar has bluetooth and a wireless subwoofer. But how good is the sound quality?
Snapshot: The LG SH7 Wi-Fi Multi-room Sound Bar sound bar has bluetooth and a wireless subwoofer. But how good is the sound quality?
Snapshot: The Bose Solo 5 sound bar has bluetooth but no wireless subwoofer. But how good is the sound quality?
Snapshot: The Bose SoundTouch 300 + Acoustimass 300 subwoofer have bluetooth. But how good is the sound quality?
Snapshot: The Yamaha YSP-5600BSW sound bar has bluetooth and a wireless subwoofer. But how good is the sound quality?
Join more than 100,000 members today and you’ll get:
Sound bars trick your ears into believing that sound is coming from all around you, eliminating the need for annoying speakers and cables. The speakers are angled so that the sound will bounce off the walls of the room and create a virtual “surround sound” environment.
Obviously the effect won’t be as good as what you’d get from a real home-theatre system. However, the sound’s much better than from a TV by itself.
Because of their shape, sound bars are perfect for placing in front of your TV. You should get a good stereo “image” and reasonable surround-sound simulation in a room of 4 to 5 metres square. (Your viewing and listening position should be no more than a few metres from the TV screen and sound bar.)
Tip: Sound bars won’t work if you have large open area. While it’ll still give you good sound, the virtual-surround-sound effect will be less. A subwoofer should give you decent bass sounds.
We have awarded the Top Brand award to Bose for sound bars, home theatre systems, wireless speakers and headphones. Bose sound products tested very well and returned exceptional owner satisfaction.
Total number surveyed: 988
After Sonos, Yamaha and Bose products had the most very satisfied owners (82% and 79%), whereas fewer Philips and Panasonic owners were very satisfied (29% and 51%) despite the products having similar reliability. This is also reflected in the likelihood of buying the brand again, with 84% of Yamaha owners very likely but just 53% of Panasonic owners and 42% of Philips owners.
For more on brand reliability, see our survey.
Want your home to be a digital wonderland but not sure where to start? Don’t worry, you don’t need to be a technical genius. Our guide will take you through all the steps you need to get your devices connected and working.
Check out more of our tests, articles, news and surveys in our Technology section.
This information is available to Consumer members only.
As a member you'll get access to: