Pete's Write

Once upon a time, TV speakers were hefty affairs, which could go to deafening levels, with decent bass and allowed the dialogue to be anchored to the screen. You only went to the home theatre route if you wanted a complete surround experience. Then TV panels became wafer thin, and manufacturers found that they could not pack the speakers of the same volume into the panels to make credible sound for movies and definitely not for music. So the soundbar was born. Initially, you needed to connect this via RCA outputs or digital ones like an optical cable. Things have since progressed, and now you have ARC (Audio Return Channel) and eARC, which uses a single HDMI cable to bring sound to and from the TV. Some use Bluetooth for a wireless connection.  Then you have 3 dimensional sound in the form of Atmos, and it become fashionable to get soundbars with this moniker. But today, we are reviewing a 3 channel soundbar, which can eventually be expanded into a full 5.1 experience wi