In This Guide
What’s a soundbar?
A soundbar is a compact, all-in-one box that contains a set of speakers, amplifier and normally some form of mini subwoofer. You connect it into your home theatre, or just your TV. Once set up (which is quick and easy) it replaces your televisions default audio with brilliant, rich and detailed sound, that should fill your room with explosions, gunfire and aliens, and your heart with joy.
Short version: a soundbar is the simplest way to improve TV sound. Match its size to your TV, use HDMI ARC if you can, and don’t pay extra for Dolby Atmos unless you have the room and the content for it. Our best Bluetooth soundbar guide has specific models, and this page explains the terms and choices behind them.
Even if you’re happy with the way your TV sounds, you might be surprised at the difference a decent soundbar can make
Top 6 reasons you’ll want a soundbar
1 – Say goodbye to awful built in TV speakers
There’s some simply jaw-dropping flat screen TVs available in 2026. No doubt about it. It’s a shame that the sound quality is nowhere near the level of quality that the screens are currently.
Flat screen speakers just don’t have the physical room to do the job a speaker needs to do, resulting in mixed up, flat tinny sound that often leaves people wondering, “what did he just say?”. Even if you’re happy with the way your TV sounds, you might be surprised at the difference a decent soundbar can make.
2 – There’s zero setting up required
If you want to enjoy a proper cinema quality sound from your movies and TV shows, a good soundbar has you covered. And you won’t need to set up any surround speakers. They offer a quick and easy all-in-one solution to great sounding home theatre audio.
You can get a nice 3D sound stage, along with things like Dolby Atmos in soundbars today that do a great job of giving a full audio experience.
3 – Short on space? No problem
While some soundbars can run the length of an average TV, they’ll sit quite comfortable under the screen, without taking up much space. Wall-mounting brackets are also available cheaply if your TV is wall mounted. The subtle black box design is easy to forget about, although some soundbars look absolutely gorgeous and you’ll want to show them off.
You can also get smaller, more compact soundbars, like the Sonos Beam on Amazon which will sit happily on the smallest of shelves.
4 – Playing your music over Bluetooth
Imagine having a really good quality Bluetooth speaker that’s always in the living room or bedroom ready to go. Just about every soundbar these days has Bluetooth streaming so you can enjoy your tunes in glorious Hi def sound easily whenever you want.
5 – Alexa and other voice assistants
Another thing you’ll find on a lot of soundbars at the minute is the inclusion of voice assistants like Alexa or Google Home. You can do pretty much anything on your Soundbar that you can do with a smart speaker, with the benefit of all that improved audio. Shouting at some virtual person to turn the TV on never gets old.
6 – They’re awesome for gaming!
Love your games? Yeah, so do we. Games have some of the best sound design and musical scores going. So it makes sense to enjoy them in something other than those default TV speakers. You don’t need to have headphones on to get proper surround sound. A decent soundbar will immerse you in your game and let you hear everything like it should be.
Do you need a subwoofer?
A subwoofer is a separate box that sits unceremoniously out the way somewhere on the floor and produces the deep bass that sounds so awesome in both music and home theatre. Obviously soundbars aren’t that big so it would make sense they’d need a subwoofer to bring in the low end, right?
This really depends on the soundbar! While you can normally splash out on a subwoofer, if the sound isn’t deep enough, many soundbars actually do a good job at delivering a rich, deep low end with some serious punch. Sadly, it’s not normally the ones at the budget end of the spectrum. Think the Bose 700 if you’re serious about your bass.
What’s the difference between an expensive and a cheap sound bar?
There’s some clear margins between prices of some sound bars with prices ranging from about £30 up to £1000 and a lot more if you ad other gear into your bundle. So what’s the difference? Is there any?
Hey, we love a bargain here at Audio Punch, but there’s a definite difference between cheaper product sand the more expensive ones. You’re not just paying for some fancy brand. The main things that are better in the higher priced sound bars are:
- Sound separation – While it’s not noticeable if you’ve never heard a proper sound system, it’s like night and day once you hear it. Cheaper speakers will mash the sound altogether and instruments and voices will all blur into one.
- Sound staging – Hearing where your instruments are is a huge part of your audio experience. Things like left and right separation and how far back different instruments sound is a huge difference between better quality bars and their cheaper copies.
- Distortion – Ever have a pair of speakers that made ‘that’ sound when you played something with a bit of serious bass in it? Cheaper soundbars can’t handle low frequencies at volume and the sound breaks up. Better bars stay clean when the action gets loud.
- Bass quality – the low end tends to suffer on cheaper soundbars, which sound thin, or boomy and unfocused. A bigger cabinet, better drivers and a well-designed subwoofer make a big difference.
- Choice of materials – metal or solid plastic cabinets don’t vibrate or buzz, whereas thin plastic does. A solid build also tends to mean a longer life.
Soundbar types explained
The numbers in a soundbar’s description tell you how many speakers it has and how they’re arranged.
- 2.0 and 2.1 – a stereo soundbar, with or without a separate subwoofer (the “.1”). The simplest and most affordable type, and fine for small rooms.
- 3.1 – adds a dedicated centre channel for dialogue, so voices are clearer and more solid.
- 5.1 – a full surround layout, using a bar with separate rear speakers, giving a more convincing surround effect.
- Dolby Atmos (such as 5.1.2 or 7.1.4) – adds upward-firing speakers to bounce sound off the ceiling, creating a sense of height, so aircraft and rain seem to come from above.
Soundbar connections: what you need to know
- HDMI ARC – sends TV sound to the bar down one HDMI cable, and lets your TV remote control the volume. The easiest option for most people.
- HDMI eARC – a newer version that carries much higher-quality audio, including lossless Dolby formats, and is the best choice for Atmos.
- Optical – a reliable connection that works on nearly every TV, but limited to standard Dolby Digital and stereo.
- 3.5mm aux – a basic analogue option, useful as a backup.
- Bluetooth – great for streaming music from your phone, but not ideal as your main TV connection because of a slight delay.
- Wi-Fi – lets a soundbar stream directly from services like Spotify and join multi-room systems.
Sound features you’ll see on the box
- Dialogue or voice mode – makes speech easier to hear.
- Night mode – reduces the loudest sounds, so you can watch late without waking others.
- Virtual surround – uses processing to widen the sound. It varies in quality, but the best ones are impressive.
- EQ or bass and treble controls – let you tailor the sound to your room.
- Room calibration – uses a microphone (often in your phone or the remote) to measure your room, and adjusts the sound for it.
Choosing the right size of soundbar
Choose a soundbar about as wide as your TV, or a little shorter. Check the height too: a tall soundbar can block the bottom of the screen or your TV’s remote sensor, particularly if the TV sits low on a stand. If your TV has feet at the edges, a bar can sit between them, but with a central pedestal, you may need a shorter bar or a wall mount.
Getting the best sound from your soundbar
- Centre it below the screen, with nothing in front of it.
- Leave some space behind the subwoofer, and try different positions, since bass sounds different in each part of a room.
- Set the TV’s audio output to external speakers, and turn off its own speakers.
- Set the TV’s digital audio format to Auto or PCM if the sound is missing.
- Use Dialogue and Night modes when you need them, but leave the bar in a natural setting most of the time.
Troubleshooting common soundbar problems
- No sound: check the input, cable and TV audio setting.
- Sound is out of sync with the picture: look for audio delay or lip-sync settings on the TV and soundbar, and avoid Bluetooth as the main connection.
- Remote volume doesn’t work: turn on HDMI-CEC (“Anynet+”, “Simplink” or similar) in the TV settings, or programme the soundbar’s remote to control the TV.
- Voices are quiet: use the dialogue mode, and check the centre channel level if the bar has one.
- Sound is boomy: reduce the bass level, or move the bar or subwoofer away from walls and corners.
Soundbar FAQs
Here’s some of the questions we see on soundbars the most. Got something that’s not covered here? Let us know in the comments!
Will it work with my TV?
One thing that people worry about is if they buy a Samsung Soundbar will it work with their Sony TV? The answer is yes – you don’t need to buy ‘matching’ brand devices. Any soundbar will work with any TV perfectly happily. The best way to connect is usually HDMI ARC or eARC if both your TV and soundbar have it. Optical works on almost every TV, and all soundbars provide a number of ways to connect. See the connections guide below.
How do I choose between a soundbar and a home cinema system?
A soundbar is simpler, tidier and cheaper. A home cinema system gives you real surround speakers but takes more space and effort. See our home cinema guide.
Is a more expensive soundbar always better?
Not always, but the differences above (sound separation, bass and distortion) do usually improve with price. Beyond a point you’re paying for features like Atmos and multi-room. Compare models on the features you’ll actually use.
Can I use a soundbar with a projector?
Yes. Connect it to the projector’s audio output or, more reliably, to the source device (such as a streaming stick or Blu-ray player) with HDMI. Projector speakers are usually weak, so a soundbar is a big improvement.
Do I need to turn off my TV speakers?
Usually the TV does this automatically when it detects a soundbar over HDMI ARC. If you hear an echo, switch the TV’s speakers off in the audio settings.
Find out more
That’s all. Thanks for checking out our little buyer’s guide for soundbars. Did you pick one up? What do you think of it? Let us know in the comments!
