The practicalities of a soundbar can’t be denied, and a good one is always better than a TV’s own sound. What’s more, as technology and, with it, the ambitions of engineers increases, so do the benefits of investing in a soundbar. The best can now give a decent impression of a home theatre speaker system without the need for bulky and possibly inconvenient extra boxes cluttering up the room. The key phrase there, however, is ‘give a decent impression’; having physical speakers doing the surround sound work is pretty much always the best option if you can accommodate them.
That isn’t always easy, especially when you take into account having to place speakers precisely, and find rack space for a home cinema amp to drive all those extra boxes as well. What we have here then is a really neat, just a bit beyond half-way house between those two more conventional options.
formerly Mad Cornish Projectionist.