How to Evaluate a Sound Bar?

A simple glance at our TV ratings reveals that while many TVs nowadays offer excellent picture quality, the same cannot be said for sound. Only roughly 80 of the more than 200 televisions in our TV ratings have acceptable sound quality. If you are watching a movie or TV show with a dramatic soundtrack, you will notice the flaws the most. Adding a sound bar such as JBL sound bar is a terrific — and increasingly popular — solution. A sound bar is a tiny enclosure that houses numerous speakers and the electronics that power them.

The majority of sound bar speakers are 30 inches or longer and may be installed on the wall or put on a shelf above or below a television. Some versions, generally from the same manufacturer as your television, are intended to fit between the legs of your television. The primary enclosure of sound bars can feature anything from two to five or more speakers. To provide a bigger sound environment, some include drivers that point outward toward the edges of the room or are situated on the sides of the bar. Many sound bars have a wireless subwoofer that can be placed practically anywhere in the room, including out of sight.

• Do not go crazy with your purchases.

If you are simply going to use the sound bar to listen to your TV, a low-cost, no-frills device with at least average sound quality in our ratings would suffice. It will be a significant improvement over the built-in sound on practically any television. We recommend a model with very high or exceptional sound quality if you wish to use the sound bar for both music and TV.

• Determine the number of channels you require.

If you only want to improve the sound quality of your TV, a sound bar with 2.1 channels would suffice. Buy a multichannel sound bar with a subwoofer and back speakers—preferably wireless—if you want genuine surround sound. Dolby is one of the newest variants which is a modern immersive sound technology that adds the notion of height to speaker systems. This is commonly done with sound bar speaker systems by having upfiring drivers in the main enclosure, and sometimes also in the rear satellites.

• Take into account the location.

If you are going to mount the sound bar on your TV stand, make sure there is adequate space in front of the TV and that the sound bar is not too tall to impede the remote control’s line of sight to the screen.

• Put them to the test.

Because of the way they handle various frequencies and interact with the acoustics in your home, sound bars with comparable scores in our sound quality ratings are likely to sound different from one another. If you have the opportunity, try out sound bars at the store, and inquire about returns and exchanges if the one you buy does not work out after you get it home.