Speaker Decision has always been about speakers and amplifiers you put together yourself. But a lot of people just want better sound from their TV, and for most of them the answer is a soundbar. So this week I added a whole soundbar section to the site.
Soundbars are now on Speaker Decision
It starts with 60 soundbars from 18 brands, from 219 dollars up to 3,199 dollars. Every one has its own review page with full specs, and you can compare any two side by side. There is also a new tool I am quite pleased with, and I will get to it below.
What is new
- A soundbar home page at speakerdecision.com/soundbars, with the bars grouped by the TV size they suit and by feature.
- A full list you can filter and sort: by TV size, real Atmos height channels, subwoofer, rear speakers, HDMI, streaming, brand, price and width.
- A review page for every bar, with pros and cons, what the channel numbers mean, connections and an FAQ.
- Soundbar comparisons that judge the things soundbars are actually chosen on.
- A soundbar size simulator that draws any bar in front of any TV size, to scale.
The size simulator, and the thing it catches
Here is a question that does not show up on a spec sheet. Will the soundbar block the bottom of my TV?
Most TVs today stand on two feet near the ends. That leaves a gap between the TV stand and the bottom of the screen, and on many models it is only 2 or 3 inches. Put a soundbar that is taller than the gap in front of the TV, and it covers the bottom of the picture. It often covers the TV's remote sensor too.
So I counted. With a 2.5 inch gap, 24 of our 60 soundbars would cover part of the picture. 11 of them are over 3 inches tall. The tallest is the Furrion Aurora at 3.75 inches, and the slimmest is the Samsung HW-S800D at just 1.38 inches.
The soundbar size simulator with the Sonos Arc Ultra and Samsung HW-Q990H under a 65 inch TV
That is why I built the soundbar size simulator. You pick a soundbar, your TV size and how your TV stands (feet at the ends, a centre stand or on the wall). Then you type in the gap under your screen. It draws the TV and the bar to scale, tells you how wide the bar is against the screen, and shades any part of the picture it would cover.
You can also pick a second bar to compare. Here are the Sonos Arc Ultra and the Samsung HW-Q990H under a 65 inch TV. This one is live, so change the TV size and the stand and watch what happens:
The Sonos Arc Ultra (solid) and Samsung HW-Q990H (dashed outline), drawn to scale in front of a TV. Change the TV size and stand to see how it fits yours.
Open in the soundbar size simulator
Both are well inside the screen width, but both are a little taller than a 2.5 inch gap. The Arc Ultra would cover about 0.4 inch of the picture, and the Q990H about 0.2 inch. Small, but you would see it at the bottom of subtitles. Raise the TV a little, or wall-mount it, and the problem goes away.
The same drawing is on every soundbar review page and every comparison. Take a minute to measure the gap under your own TV before you buy. It is the cheapest thing you can do to avoid a return.
What the numbers on the box mean
Soundbars are sold with numbers like 3.1, 5.1.2 or 11.1.4. I explain this on every review page, because it is the first thing people get wrong.
- The first number is the channels at ear level: left, right, a centre channel for voices, and on bigger bars extra channels for width or surround.
- The second number is the subwoofer channel.
- The third number is the height channels. These are drivers that point up and bounce sound off the ceiling.
That third number matters a lot for Dolby Atmos. 49 of our 60 soundbars can play Atmos, but only 34 have real height channels. The other 15 fake the overhead effect with processing. It can work well in some rooms, but it is not the same thing, and the box does not always make that clear. On the list page you can filter for "Height channels" to see only the real ones.
The filters on the full soundbar list
The cheapest bar with real height channels and a subwoofer in the box is the Polk Audio Signa S4 at 449 dollars.
Comparisons built for soundbars
I did not want to reuse the amplifier comparison page for this. Watts into 8 ohms, damping factor and phono stages mean nothing on a soundbar. So soundbar comparisons have their own list of things to judge:
- Channel layout and height channels
- Dolby Atmos and DTS:X
- HDMI eARC, HDMI inputs and 4K or 8K pass-through
- Whether the subwoofer and rear speakers are included, optional or not possible
- Room correction, Wi-Fi streaming, AirPlay, Google Cast and voice control
- Height, because a lower bar is less likely to block the screen
Width, power, driver count and weight are shown but never judged. The right width depends on your TV, not on the bar. And power I will come back to in a second.
Here is the top of the Sonos Arc Ultra vs Samsung HW-Q990H comparison:
Part of the Sonos Arc Ultra vs Samsung HW-Q990H soundbar comparison
The Samsung wins 8 of the 13 things we can judge, and the Sonos wins none. That looks harsh, but look at the price too. The Q990H costs 1,998 dollars and brings a subwoofer and rear speakers in the box. The Arc Ultra is 1,099 dollars for the bar alone. So the comparison shows what the extra 900 dollars buys. Whether you want those things is up to you.
Across all 60: 28 come with a subwoofer, 40 have or can add rear speakers, 47 have HDMI eARC, and 20 have no Wi-Fi at all.
What is not there yet
Some big names are missing. I started with Crutchfield's current US range, because it has consistent specs for every model. So there is no LG, Vizio, TCL or Hisense yet. They are next.
Power figures are not comparable. Soundbar makers add up the watts of every driver and rate it however they like. And 32 of the 60 do not publish a power figure at all. So I show the number when there is one, but I never use it to say one bar is better than another.
Release dates are missing, so the "Newest" sort is rough for now. And the new Sonos Beam Ultra is not in yet, because its dimensions are not published and the simulator cannot draw it without them.
Where to start
Know your TV size? Start on the soundbar home page. Want to filter by features? Use the full list. Already have a bar in mind? Put it in the size simulator first.
If you spot a spec that looks wrong, tell me with the feedback box at the bottom of any page. I read every one.
And now I am curious. Which soundbar would you like to see here next, and did you measure the gap under your TV before you bought yours?