A sound bar is external speaker designed to amplify the audio you get from a TV.
A sound bar will bypass the internal speakers in your TV, giving you better quality audio and a more well-rounded sound.
For those short on space, sound bars are a compact alternative to home cinema systems.
Home-Cinema Replacement
As many consumers are now looking to recreate a cinema-like experience at home, external audio is becoming increasingly popular.
Sound bars are incredibly compact, offering a similar audio experience to a multi-speaker surround sound system, but originating from a single speaker. This allows users to recreate a cinema experience when space is a factor.
Buying one sound bar also keeps the cost down as an alternative to investing in a full surround sound system. Sound bars tend to cost less than the equivalent surround sound systems.
Why should you buy a Soundbar?
As TVs have become thinner, there’s less space within the set to fit internal speakers. Whilst a standard TV speaker can still be impressive, sound bars further increase and enhance the audio, giving you a richer, more immersive sound.
With added Bluetooth connectivity, you have the freedom to use a sound bar with multiple devices. It can be combined with a TV, as an audio boost to laptops and PCs and even to stream music from a tablet or smartphone.
Sound bars are also inherently portable, giving customers greater flexibility to use them in different rooms and buildings. No need to worry about tangled wires and correct cables.
Connections- Bluetooth/Wired etc
Sound bars usually carry a variety of different connections to work with various TVs and devices.
Most sound bars will come with a 3.5mm Line-in, Optical, Coaxial and some use HDMI. Make sure you check your TV to see what connections you have spare.
Wireless technology has also begun to feature in higher-end sound bar models. NFC (near field communication) and Bluetooth allow you to stream music direct from your Smartphone, Tablet or PC without wires.
Size
As with TVs and home cinemas, sound bars come in different shapes and sizes.
Larger sound bars will tend to have sub-woofers for added bass and depth to audio. These are great for those wanting immersive, cinema-like sound.
Smaller sound bars are ideal for moving around the house, or to squeeze onto sleek shelves and cabinets. Many of the smaller bars also offer the option of wall-mounting.
Average costs
Sound bars come in at a variety of price points, ranging from the £30 basic editions with one simple jack connection to the £150 mid-size all round devices right the way up to £300-£400 home cinema replicators, compatible with NFC and Bluetooth.
As rough guide, the greater the power output and better connected the sound bar is, the more expensive the sound bar will be.
A sound bar offering features like NFC, Bluetooth and HDMI will probably cost more than one offering a standard 3.5mm jack or coaxial connections, due to the ease of connectivity. However, generally speaking, the sound quality between wired and wireless doesn’t alter.
Power – How is it measured?
The power and output of sound bars are measured in few ways;
The first key measure of a sound bar is the audio output power, or ‘wattage’ as it’s known – although this bares no correlation to the actual electrical power of the sound bar. It is also worth noting that testing out the sound bar yourself is always preferable as the output power doesn’t equate to the sound quality
You’ll probably see this referred to as “RMS” (Root-Means-Square). This is the collective Wattage of all speakers including the sub-woofer (if it has one). So the RMS gives you a measure on the audio power of the whole sound bar.
