Sound bars
Does price make a difference to sound quality?
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.
From our test
View allSony
HT-CT790
score
SCOREAvg price
$944
Snapshot: The Sony HT-CT790 sound bar has bluetooth and a wireless subwoofer. But how good is the sound quality?
Sony
HT-NT5
score
SCOREAvg price
$1000
Snapshot: The Sony HT-NT5 sound bar has bluetooth and a wireless subwoofer. But how good is the sound quality?
Sony
HT-RT3
score
SCOREAvg price
$550
Snapshot: The Sony HT-RT3 sound bar has bluetooth but no wireless subwoofer. But how good is the sound quality?
Samsung
HW-J7501R
score
SCOREAvg price
$1299
Snapshot: The Samsung HW-J7501R sound bar has bluetooth and a wireless subwoofer. But how good is the sound quality?
Samsung
HW-M4500
score
SCOREAvg price
$600
Snapshot: The Samsung HW-M4500 sound bar has bluetooth and a wireless subwoofer. But how good is the sound quality?
Samsung
HW-MS650
score
SCOREAvg price
$899
Snapshot: The Samsung HW-MS650 sound bar has bluetooth but no wireless subwoofer. But how good is the sound quality?
Polk
Magnifi Mini
score
SCOREAvg price
$1110
Snapshot: The Polk Magnifi mini sound bar has bluetooth and a wireless subwoofer. But how good is the sound quality?
Sonos
Playbase
score
SCOREAvg price
$1299
Snapshot: The Sonos Playbase sound bar has no HDMI inputs or outputs. But how good is the sound quality?
Klipsch
RSB-11
score
SCOREAvg price
$1464
Snapshot: The Klipsch RSB-11 sound bar has bluetooth and a wireless subwoofer. But how good is the sound quality?
Panasonic
SC-HTB18
score
SCOREAvg price
$299
Snapshot: The Panasonic SC-HTB18 sound bar has bluetooth but no wireless subwoofer. But how good is the sound quality?
Panasonic
SC-HTB685
score
SCOREAvg price
$398
Snapshot: The Panasonic SC-HTB685 sound bar has bluetooth and a wireless subwoofer. But how good is the sound quality?
LG
SH7 Wi-Fi Multi-room Sound Bar
score
SCOREAvg price
$999
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?
Bose
Solo 5
score
SCOREAvg price
$449
Snapshot: The Bose Solo 5 sound bar has bluetooth but no wireless subwoofer. But how good is the sound quality?
Bose
SoundTouch 300 and Acoustimass 300
score
SCOREAvg price
$2397
Snapshot: The Bose SoundTouch 300 + Acoustimass 300 subwoofer have bluetooth. But how good is the sound quality?
Yamaha
YSP-5600BSW
score
SCOREAvg price
$2299
Snapshot: The Yamaha YSP-5600BSW sound bar has bluetooth and a wireless subwoofer. But how good is the sound quality?
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What's a sound bar?
A sound bar is an array of speakers set into a long bar which sits below or above your TV (some are wall-mountable).
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.
Installation
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.
Top Brand
The Top Brand award recognises brands that perform consistently well across product testing, reliability and customer satisfaction.
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.
Reliability
One brand, Sonos, achieved 100% reliability. Unsurprisingly, it also managed the highest number of “very satisfied” owners of any brand (92%) with the same proportion very likely to buy the brand again.
- Above-average: Sonos
- Average: Yamaha, Sony, LG, Onkyo, Philips, Samsung, Panasonic, Pioneer, Bose
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.
Digital Living
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.
More on Technology
Check out more of our tests, articles, news and surveys in our Technology section.
