As flat-panel HDTVs have gotten increasingly thinner, so has their sound quality. The soundbar was born to provide a higher-quality audio experience than your HDTV delivers in a convenient all-in-one box. Most soundbars on the market are active (or powered), combining the speakers, amplification, and audio inputs (sometimes video inputs, too) into one box that sits near your TV.
Some manufacturers offer passive (non-powered) left/center/right soundbars to replace the front channels in a surround sound setup. These days, the configurations are endless: Soundbars can have two, three, five, or even seven speaker channels. Sometimes they’re packaged with separate surrounds and/or subwoofers, and sometimes they’re not.
Check out our review archive below to read about the latest entries to this popular category.
Yamaha’s affordable two-piece delivers good bass and works well for music and movies alike.
One side of the small box containing Roku's Streambar consists simply of six silver words that stand out on an otherwise solid background in the company's familiar shade of...
ZVOX says its AV157 soundbar enhances dialogue clarity. Bill Kanner puts that claim to the test in our in-depth review.
Scott says the SB46514-F6 is a versatile and full-featured 5.1.4 audio system that sounds great, is easy to set up, and seems like a bargain compared to other Dolby...
Theory Audio Design's speaker systems manage the nearly impossible feat of being both lifestyle friendly and unflinchingly high-performance.
Given its small size and price, Denon's no-frills DHT-S216 soundbar delivers surprisingly impressive sound that will dramatically upgrade the audio of virtually any contemporary TV.
Scott Wasser says the Roku Smart Soundbar may not be for everyone, but it's great for anyone shopping for a fantastic media streamer and simple two-channel (or 2.1) soundbar...
I pick up a small remote, press a button, and say, "Hey Google! Turn on the media room lights and dim them to 20 percent." The LG SL10YG soundbar...
As 2019 comes to a close, we at HomeTheaterReview.com look back at all the products we reviewed this year and pick the best of the bunch, from affordable favorites...
In my time covering the CE industry, I've had the pleasuring of reviewing many of the top-performing soundbars in the market, and yet, there's no question that the Bowers...
Is it just me, or are TV and movie sound engineers actually getting worse at making dialogue easily discernable in their productions? Even if your hearing is more acute...
Bob Barrett goes big with Sennheiser's new Ambeo soundbar, installing it in a dedicated home theater to hear how it stacks up against a full-fledged component surround sound system.
Perched in front of my 70-inch television, Vizio's 36-inch soundbar looked curiously diminutive, if not downright puny. By all rights, the SB36512-F6 Dolby Atmos soundbar should have been way...
Can a soundbar ever truly replace a component home theater system?
What's not to like about having a digital voice assistant built into your soundbar? Not much, says Scott Wasser.
Immersive object-based surround sound from a soundbar with minimal setup muss and fuss? Seriously? Scott Wasser says it's totally a thing thanks to Sony's HT-Z9F/SA-Z9R combo.
I have a weird confession to make. Over the past few years, I've reviewed a handful of receivers with HEOS multiroom audio streaming capabilities built in; and, although I've...
Myron Ho auditions Integra's DLB-5 object-based soundbar system, which combines a standalone AV receiver, Atmos-friendly soundbar, and wireless subwoofer to deliver more flexibility and options than your average powered...
It's that time of year again--when the HomeTheaterReview.com staff looks at all of the products we reviewed this year and picks the best of the best. We've tried to...
Sean Killebrew auditions MartinLogan's Cadence three-channel soundbar, which uses a total of nine drivers and features HDMI video pass-through, Anthem Room Correction, Bluetooth, AirPlay, and DTS Play-Fi.
