Soundbar vs Speakers: Which One Is Better for Your Home Theater Setup?

So you just bought a new TV. Congrats! While the picture looks great, the built-in speakers are trash. Dialogue is hard to hear. The bass sucks. And the sound is just too quiet, even when you crank it. Luckily, it’s an easy problem to fix but you’re not out of the woods yet. You still need choose between a few solutions.

First, you could buy a soundbar. Or you can buy a speaker system that plugs right into your TV. Finally, you could go the traditional route of buying an AV receiver and a pair of passive loudspeakers. All three options can be done affordably and with very little setup. But which one should you choose?

Naturally, there are advantages and disadvantages to all three. How much space do you have in and around your TV? Is your TV wall mounted or it sitting on a media console? How easily does installation have to be? Do you want to deal with a ton of wires? Do you value ease of setup or sound quality? Do you eventually see yourself expanding your system in the future?

Let’s break it down.

Option A: Buy a soundbar

Amazon

Editor's Choice

Samsung HW-S60B

The Samsung S60B is a compact soundbar that’s best for smaller rooms. It has 3.1 channels, streams over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and it even supports Dolby Atmos. However, you need a Samsung TV to take advantage of the latter.

• $348 at Amazon

Sonos

Editor's Choice

Sonos Arc

The Arc is the company’s first (and only) soundbar to support Dolby Atmos. You can add a Sub and two Eras or Fives to create a full surround system system.  

• $899 at Sonos

Pros

• Easy installation
• most affordable solution

Cons

• Less flexibility to build-out your system

A soundbar is the easiest of the three options, as it’s just one speaker and a plug-and-play operation. It’s the most affordable option, too.

There are a lot of different options out there, but you should get at least a three-channel (3.0) soundbar. This means that the soundbar will three separate drivers in it — for left, right and center — and sound significantly better and more immersive than just your TV.

You also want to buy a soundbar that supports HDMI ARC. This means that the soundbar plugs directly into your TV through the HDMI ARC port, allowing you to change the volume of the soundbar (and TV) with one remote. It simplifies things. (For reference, many older soundbars hook up to your TV via an optical connection, which doesn’t as high resolution audio or as immersive technologies.)

The last thing to consider is whether or not you are going to want to built out your soundbar system down the round. Many soundbar manufacturers also sell wireless subwoofers and rear-channel speakers, so you can add to your system later on to make it more immersive.

Some soundbars don’t allow you to build out an immersive surround sound system, so it’s worth thinking about your long-term plan ahead of time. If you think you’ll want to do this, skip ahead to Option C.

Option B: Buy powered speakers

Klipsch

Editor's Choice

Klipsch The Fives

The Fives is a powered bookshelf speaker speaker that can connect directly to your TV via an HDMI-ARC connection. No AV receiver needed.

• $469 at Amazon
  $580 (19% off)

KEF

Editor's Choice

KEF LS50 Wireless II

The KEF LS50 Wireless II are one of the best active speaker systems you could buy. They have a HMDI eARC connection so you can hook them up right to your TV.

• $2,500 at Amazon

Pros

• Wide soundstage
• Easy installation

Cons

• Requires extra space
• Fewer options to choose from
• Expensive

If you want the true stereo sound that a pair of loudspeakers delivers, but you don’t want to deal with the extra component that is an AV receiver, powered speakers are the play. There’s a new breed of powered speakers that have an HDMI or optical connection. This means that can hook up your speakers directly to your TV — no AV receiver required.

The biggest advantage of this dual speaker system is audio quality. The positioning of the speakers — one on either side of the TV — will naturally make the system sound more immersive.

The other advantages match many modern soundbars, including a plug-and-play installation, built-in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for easy music streaming, as well as subwoofer outputs so you can build out the system later on down the road.

The downside to active powered speaker systems is that they tend to be expensive. Also, there aren’t that many of these system out there. Klipsch’s The Fives, which were just released in 2020, were the first powered speakers to have an HDMI-ARC connection.

Option C: Get passive bookshelf speakers and an AV receiver

Klipsch

Editor's Choice

Klipsch R-41M

The Klipsch R-41M are solid entry-level bookshelf speakers. So solid, in fact, that Klipsch actually sells them in larger home theater systems.

• $128 at Amazon
  $160 (20% off)

Q Acoustics

Editor's Choice

Q Acoustics 3020i

The 3020i are some of our favorite bookshelf speakers in the mid-price range. They’re available in white, black, walnut and graphite finishes.

• $449 at Amazon

Pros

• Wide soundstage
• More flexibility to build out your system the way you want

Cons

• Requires more room
• Generally more expensive
• Installation is more complicated

A great pair of passive bookshelf speakers can also make great TV speakers. And you can buy a great pair of loudspeakers for right around $300. ELAC, Q Acoustics, Fluance, Kanto and Wharfedale are just a few audio companies that make speakers in this price range.

The catch is that you’ll also need to buy an AV receiver, which will connect the TV and the speakers. Yamaha, Denon, Onkyo and Sony all make affordable options, but gear adds up.

Cost aside, this option does have some distinct advantages. It gives you more flexibility to add to your system later on down the road — say, if you want to add a center channel speaker or a wireless subwoofer. And you’re not as tied to a brand’s singular ecosystem. You can mix and max future speakers by different brands together because they all can talk to each other through the AV receiver.

The last thing bit of buying advice, at least as far as the AV receiver is concerned, is that you might want to buy one with the future in mind. If you think you’re going to eventually want to build a more immersive surround sound system, you want to buy an AV receiver that supports somewhere between five to seven channels.

You also want to make sure that it supports surround sound technologies, like Dolby Atmos or DTS:X. If the AV receiver supports them, you can build out a speaker system that supports them, too.

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