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The unit offers built-in WiFi, Bluetooth, support for Blu-ray discs and 3D content, and the ability to access online apps for streaming music, movies, and more. Image and sound quality are both good for the money, and the included remote control is easy to use. Overall, this home theater system is a good choice for those who want simplicity and ease-of-use. The subwoofer is just as big a star as the soundbar in this system, producing powerful, floor-shaking bass when the depth charges went off in U-571, and strong deep bass notes when we played pop and R&B tunes. This subwoofer doesn’t boom annoyingly like a cheap soundbar sub—it has the punch and clarity of a small dedicated subwoofer. (The woofer size isn’t specified, but it appears to be about 8 inches in diameter.) Our CTA-2010 measurements showed that its output averaged 114.2 dB in the mid-bass and 95.1 dB in the low bass.
Nakamichi’s Shockwafe Ultra 9.2 is less a soundbar option and more a home theater system that omits the separate AV receiver. In our tests, its dynamic output was fantastic for larger rooms, and its low-end presence was great. High frequencies were a little muted—not quite as crisp, clear, and airy—so this system didn’t perform as well on music. The Vizio V51-H6 carries an amazingly low price for a 5.1 soundbar, and it had excellent dialogue reproduction and a big, enveloping sound in our tests. But because it uses basically the same tiny subwoofer as the V21-H8, the crossover frequency between the soundbar and the subwoofer is very high. And because the rear surround speakers had to be connected to the subwoofer, we needed to position the subwoofer in the back of the room—as a result, we heard bass and lower midrange notes coming from behind us, which drove us crazy.
Polk MagniFi Mini AX
The Samsung HT-F9730W uses two large tower speakers to act as four speakers, creating an effective 7.1-channel surround sound experience. Output offers plenty of power with 1330 watts total and the resulting sound quality is very good. The system allows for connecting and controlling up to six HD video and music sources (such as your own 3D Blu-ray player or a gaming console), and offers HD video upconversion. For those willing to pay extra for the added convenience of this system, it produces excellent sound quality and overall performance.
It measures 41.2 inches long (6.8 inches shorter than the original), and the soundbar and rear surround speakers are wrapped in charcoal-shaded fabric. The subwoofer is one of the shortest we’ve tested—just 9.5 inches high—so it should be able to tuck under many end tables. The M-Series Elevate doesn’t have holes for wall-mounting, but it can be wall-mounted using soundbar wall-mount brackets. Almost all of them support some method of wireless audio streaming over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. This feature allows you to stream music from mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, and computers.
Easy TV viewing via a single HDMI cable
The BDV-N7200W includes almost all the features you'd expect with built-in WiFi, both DLNA and AirPlay support, built-in Bluetooth, and easy installation that walks you through the set up process. The rear speakers and subwoofer are wireless cancelling the need to run wires across the room. The HT-S9400THX includes analog inputs for older components and multiple connectivity options for customization and expansion of your setup. Although this system focuses primarily on high-quality output over features such as built-in WiFi and Bluetooth, it does have DLNA support for music streaming and a powered Zone 2 output for multi-room capability. The Onkyo HT-S9400THX delivers quality and performance difficult to find at this price point, making it an excellent overall value for a home theater system.
For soundbars, we asked manufacturers whether the packaging and/or the soundbars use recycled materials, and whether the packaging and electronics are recyclable. The latter should be a plus, ideally, because most electronics contain many recyclable materials, but the methods of recycling them may have their own adverse impacts. We asked whether the firmware can be updated by the consumer; updatable firmware can extend a product’s life because it can allow bugs to be fixed or new features to be added.
Upgrade pick: LG S95QR Atmos soundbar
Firmware on the M-Series Elevate can be updated using downloaded firmware installed through a USB stick. The SR-C30A’s remote has dedicated buttons for every function and doesn’t require you to navigate a menu system. Despite being simple, small, and affordable, the MagniFi Mini AX outperforms many larger, more complicated competitors. The Polk MagniFi Mini AX is our top pick, the Vizio M-Series Elevate is our runner-up, the Yamaha SR-C30A is our budget pick, and the LG S95QR is our upgrade pick. Choose a room and location that lets you easily block out ambient light and minimize sound transfer. It should also have enough room to comfortably seat the number of people you may want to join you for movie viewing.
We’d rather step up to the Vizio M-Series Elevate, but if you want to save a couple hundred dollars, the M512a-H6 is a great choice. The Samsung HW-S800B is a super-slim soundbar that’s only 1.5 inches high but is sonically competitive with larger models. All of our listeners loved the subwoofer, but only one liked the sound of the soundbar itself; the other two thought it didn’t sound as clear as its competitors with dialogue, and felt its immersive Dolby Atmos effects weren’t as strong. The Polk MagniFi 2 is a powerful, Chromecast-equipped, 4.1-channel soundbar with a 3D mode that’s intended to simulate Atmos, but we found that it had a weird, echoey sound that didn’t work well for movies.
Panasonic SA-BT228 = BT230 5.1Ch 1000W BD/DVD Home Theater System Player (only)
However, unless you have a newer TV with eARC rather than standard ARC, you can’t get the full, lossless audio fidelity available on Blu-ray discs if you connect your Blu-ray player to the TV, then run the sound from the TV to the soundbar. On a soundbar, it’s unlikely you’d hear the difference between lossless audio and data-compressed formats such as Dolby Digital and DTS. If you need an HDMI input, consider our runner-up pick, the Vizio M-Series Elevate. Clients can receive full audio and video installaton without seeing any equipment, universal remote controls, TV wall mounting, surround sound, and all cables discreetly run behind walls.
Even with 3D mode off, it tended to sound echoey and weirdly swishy when playing music. Unlike with the Polk MagniFi Mini AX, there’s no option to add surround speakers to the SR-C30A. Our CTA-2010 measurements showed that the M-Series Elevate’s subwoofer output averaged 107.0 dB in the mid-bass and 89.9 dB in the low bass. That’s about the same as the Polk MagniFi Mini AX in the mid-bass, but 3.7 dB less in the low bass, so the Elevate’s sub might deliver a tiny bit less kick on explosions in action movies. Unlike many Vizio soundbars, the M-Series Elevate’s factory-preset subwoofer level isn’t overly loud, and you can turn it up or down if it doesn’t suit your taste (or your neighbors’ tolerance).
The MagniFi Mini AX still can’t match the powerful mid-bass punch of the S95QR, but for a soundbar in this price range, this is extremely impressive bass performance. The MagniFi Mini AX has four preset sound modes labeled Music, Movie, 3D, and Night, all of which are easily accessible from a button on the remote control. The 3D mode gave us that big, enveloping sound we loved for movies; but with music, it seemed to add some extra reverberance that we didn’t like. In Music mode, the Mini AX produced some of the cleanest, most natural sound we heard from any of the soundbars we tested. In this mode, there’s not as much stereo spaciousness as the larger soundbars produced, but the Mini AX also didn’t produce the vocal-mangling tonal shifts we heard with so many other soundbars when they tried to reproduce music.
There’s also a Voice Assist mode intended to make dialogue sound clearer, which can be activated and adjusted from the remote. It doesn’t produce the kind of voice boost that hard-of-hearing people will probably find helpful, but it does make dialogue easier to understand for people without hearing loss. This 5.1 channel home theater system from Sony offers 1200 watts of total power for strong audio performance.
Separate components usually provide better performance, but they also take up more space and require additional cables, and their operation is more complicated. A good soundbar strikes a balance between performance and convenience, delivering improved sound quality in a package that’s easier to set up and use. A soundbar can provide quality audio in a smaller space, but more speakers may be needed to create a surround-sound effect in a larger theater room.
Although we had to turn the bass all the way down to get it sounding good, this system did have smooth voice reproduction on movies and music, and it played pretty loud for the price. The SR-C30A has one HDMI eARC port, two optical digital audio inputs, and one 3.5 mm analog audio input. We tried them and found that, while they don’t really make the sound of the MagniFi Mini AX more enveloping, they do let you hear specific sound effects from the rear channels more clearly.
Can a Good Soundbar Rival a True Surround-Sound System in a Blind Listening Test?
The remote control is the same capable but complicated one that Vizio has been supplying with its more advanced soundbars for the past couple of years. For each new round of soundbar testing, we conduct brand-concealed audio tests with a listening panel. Concealing the identities and configurations of audio devices is essential; studies have shown that listening results can be greatly skewed when listeners know the identities of the devices. The Yamaha SR-C30A sounds much more natural than most inexpensive soundbars, even if it can’t match the volume and envelopment of more expensive models.
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