You may not realize it, but your TV is sad. It’s sad because it wants to offer great sound to accompany its awesome picture, but it is woefully ill-equipped to do so. You could shop for a multi-component home theater system or a pair of bookshelves to remedy things, but if that sounds like too much hassle, a good soundbar is a great alternative.
Luckily, now is the exact right time to grab one. Below we’ve rounded up the best soundbars on sale for Black Friday and Cyber Monday to help you turn your TV’s frown upside down.
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Soundbar Deals
If you’re just after a simple and affordable audio upgrade, Yamaha’s SR-C20A is a go-to option, now at an exceedingly reasonable price. It doesn’t offer conveniences like network streaming or multi-room connection, but its 100-watt power plant easily exceeds the pale performance your TV is likely to muster. The 2.1-channel configuration includes dual full-range drivers and a built-in woofer for some heft in the low frequencies. You’ll get simplified TV connection over HDMI, standard Bluetooth streaming, and even a 3.5mm analog input so you can even connect a turntable with a pre-amp and some cable finaggling.
The Bar 1300X (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is a sweet audio system that’s even sweeter with this deal. This multi-piece setup provides realistic Atmos immersion with a unique twist. The battery-powered, fully wireless surround speakers can connect to the main bar to play and charge, or disconnect to sit behind you for versatile configurations–you can even take them outside as standalone Bluetooth speakers. It’s a futuristic feature, but my favorite trait of this bar is just how good it sounds, offering an expansive dome of sound with 3D audio, and great musicality for streaming your tunes. I wish the app was a bit more precise for settings adjustments, but the 1300X’s performance makes up for it, bringing cinematic punch to everything you play.
The Sonos Beam Gen 2 provides expansive sound from a pint-size package. It’s not big on bass, but it serves up detailed dialog, an expansive soundstage, and solid music streaming skills from a frame that virtually disappears beneath your TV screen. It provides good Dolby Atmos virtualization, though it’s more limited than bars with dedicated upfiring drivers (see the Bose Smart Soundbar). The Beam’s best trick is its advanced networking skills that let it connect with other Sonos speakers in a surround configuration or whole-home audio system via the Sonos app. Said app has been maligned of late, but it now seems to be mostly back on track. You can also stream music from the app directly from multiple services, or via AirPlay and Spotify Connect. The Beam has long been among the most popular compact bars, and it’s still a top option.
Bose’s Smart Soundbar (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is my favorite new compact soundbar thanks to its excellent sound and innovative new tricks. It all starts with true upfiring speakers, which help provide spacey immersion for Dolby Atmos TV shows and movies. The bar’s new AI dialog mode is just as impressive, providing fantastic clarity in dialog and center-channel effects. Maybe most intriguing, you can now connect Bose’s Open Earbuds to use in concert with the bar as personal surround speakers. The app is easy to use for making basic adjustments or streaming music, and the versatile design lets you connect other Bose speakers like a Bass Module subwoofer, so you can expand the system to suit your needs.
Sonos’ popular Arc (9/10, WIRED Recommends) has gotten an upgrade in the Arc Ultra, which provides revamped sound and some cool new features. But at $1,000, it makes the regular Arc feel like a real bargain, especially on sale. The baseline Arc is still a heckuva bar, offering smooth and detailed sound, great dialog, and expansive Dolby Atmos immersion thanks to multiple speakers and acoustic waveguides that bounce sound around your room. It’s got some fun features, like the ability to connect the Ace headphones (8/10, WIRED Recommends) with its clever TV Swap feature, or link Sonos speakers in a surround or multi-room audio setup with the Sonos app. The app has made headlines lately for all the wrong reasons, but it seems to be mostly back on its feet, andthe Arc remains one of the best standalone bars you can buy.
Klipsch’s Flexus Core 200 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is the most potent and musical standalone soundbar I’ve heard at its price point. Built more like a traditional speaker system than most plastic bars, it uses MDF construction and Onkyo internals for impressive sound and responsive performance. Upfiring drivers provide swirling Dolby Atmos performance, and hefty woofers punch deep into the mid-bass region for cinematic punch. What you won’t get here is Wi-Fi connection, limiting streaming to Bluetooth, but as the bar’s name implies, you can still add surround speakers or a massive sub from the Flexus system. On its own, the Core 200 won’t give you the full boom of bars with a separate subwoofer included, but if you value sound quality above all, this is a great choice.
The Ray (9/10, WIRED Recommends) is a quirky little Sonos offering, but the smallest bar on the list is a great choice for the right buyer. This is the cheapest soundbar I’ve seen with this kind of network skills, letting you connect over Wi-Fi and enjoy all the spoils of Sonos, including linking up with other Sonos speakers in a whole-home audio system. The trade-off is that, unlike nearly all soundbars we test, the Ray connects to your TV via optical connection instead of HDMI. That means it may not automatically work with your TV remote (though most remotes can be programmed) and it doesn’t even come with its own remote, leaving only the Sonos app as an alternative. If you don’t mind those limitations, the Ray is the spunkiest bar of its size, offering powerful, clear, and musical sound in a profile that barely registers.
If you’re after a crazy affordable way to enjoy the thrills of surround sound, Dolby Atmos, and even its rival DTS:X, you won’t find a better deal than Vizio’s 5.1.2 soundbar (9/10, WIRED Recommends). Offering a multi-component setup with true surround speakers, upfiring drivers, and a hefty subwoofer to bring the boom, this system will instantly raise your sound game to cinematic heights. To get this affordable, the bar cuts some corners; it requires wired connection for the surround speakers instead of wireless connection like many competitors, and doesn’t offer Wi-Fi connection for high-quality music streaming. You will get Bluetooth streaming, though, as well as intuitive control via a backlit remote. This may just be the best Atmos deal around, and on sale it’s a guilt-free pickup.
