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How to pick
Even a modest soundbar beats the speakers inside any flat television, because there is simply no room in a thin panel for a decent one. The feature that matters for speech is a dedicated centre channel, or a mode called dialogue, speech or clear voice. Look for that before anything else, and do not be talked into a large surround package if what you actually want is to hear what people are saying. A separate subwoofer is not really about explosions: it takes the low frequencies away from the main bar so voices have more room to come through. Connection is simple, one HDMI cable into the socket marked ARC or eARC.
What I recommend
Fixing TV dialogue
Even a modest soundbar beats the speakers inside any flat television, because there is no room in a thin panel for a decent one. The feature that matters for speech is a dedicated centre channel, or a mode called dialogue, speech or clear voice. Look for that before anything else.
Budget soundbar with a dialogue mode
The single biggest improvement to a television for the money. Look specifically for a speech or clear voice mode rather than a big surround specification. TCL and Vizio both do well here for the money.
- Transforms TV dialogue immediately
- Connects with one HDMI cable
- Cheaper than most people expect
- Arrives on the wrong settings, needs tuning
- Takes up space under the TV
- Another remote to lose, though most learn your TV remote
Soundbar with a separate subwoofer
The step up is a bar with a wireless subwoofer on the floor. Not really about explosions: it takes the low frequencies away from the main bar so voices have more room to come through clearly.
- Voices get clearer, not just bass louder
- Sub can go almost anywhere in the room
- Fills a larger room properly
- Subwoofer is a bulky box to place
- Can annoy neighbours through walls
- More expensive
- Adds
- A wireless bass box on the floor
- Real benefit
- Frees the bar to handle voices
- Best in
- Larger or open plan rooms
- Placement
- Sub can go almost anywhere
Premium
Worth it if you actually watch films properly rather than having the TV on in the background.
Sonos Beam or Arc
Consistently top rated for dialogue clarity as well as film sound, and the setup calibrates itself to your room. Expensive, and the ecosystem pulls you towards more Sonos over time.
- Among the best for dialogue clarity
- Room calibration genuinely helps
- Expands to multi room later
- Very well built
- Expensive
- Pushes you towards buying more Sonos
- Requires the app for setup and settings
- Overkill if you mostly watch news
Related reading
Soundbar sounding worse than expected?
They almost always arrive on the wrong settings. Ten minutes of tuning makes a bigger difference than spending more would.