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More Home Theater Soundbars

Sonos Beam Gen 2 Soundbar: $449

With the Beam Gen 2 soundbar, Sonos added Dolby Atmos surround processing to expand the sense of immersion over the original Beam, recipient of a Sound & Vision a Top Pick in 2018. Atmos builds upon the proven beamforming technology Sonos employs, which uses advanced signal processing to create an enveloping audio experience from an array of drivers — in this case, five active drivers and three passive radiators — and no additional speakers.

Like its identical looking predecessor, the next-gen soundbar is remarkably full-featured and a cinch to set up. There’s only one input — an eARC-compatible HDMI port — but Sonos provides an optical-digital-to-HDMI adapter for use with your TV’s optical output. The system supports voice control through Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant and is equipped with Sonos’ proven Trueplay automated tuning system, which greatly improves sound quality by compensating for room acoustics. The Sonos app works with a variety of popular music streaming services out of the box and can be used to control the soundbar, though volume and other key functions can be adjusted using the TV’s remote.

Reviewer Mark Henninger was very impressed with the overall spaciousness and sound quality while listening to music and movie soundtracks, but expressed some disappointed with the Beam Gen 2’s inability to create a realistic sense of height with Atmos processing engaged. Even so, the bar excelled at reproducing TV sound, especially live sports broadcasts, and did a “remarkably decent job delivering bass” and played clear with a “fullness one normally wouldn't expect from a standalone soundbar” — especially one costing less than $500.

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Compact, with exceptional build and sound quality
Built-in Google Assistant and Alexa voice control
Expandable with Sonos speakers and subwoofer
Minus
Modest bass output
Single HDMI input
No display for volume level or sound mode

Full Review Here (posted 12/15/21)

Denon Home Sound Bar 550: $649

Recording-engineer-turned-reviewer Leslie Shapiro is an audio purist with little patience for audio trickery, which is why she was surprised to experience convincing simulated surround sound from Denon’s all-in-one Home Sound Bar 550. Add to that, excellent overall sound quality, simple setup, wireless multiroom music capability through the brand’s HEOS platform and you have a winning combination from a respected audio brand best known for its stellar AV receivers.

At 3 inches tall and just over 2 feet wide, the 550 is designed to tuck neatly beneath the TV screen and equipped with Dolby Atmos and DTS:X processing, Alexa voice control, a 4K-capable HDMI input and output (with eARC), an optical input, and the ability to stream hi-res music from Tidal, Amazon Music HD, and other services supported by the HEOS app. The bar also boasts a three-position dialogue enhancer that Shapiro called one of the best she’s heard.

The 550 handled movies and music equally well. “Looking for a movie with snappy dialogue and great sound design, I cued up Deadpool 2,” Shapiro wrote. “Denon's Bar rendered Deadpool's deadpan voice-over in a crystal-clear manner, even over the massive explosions and pounding music. More impressive was the 3D immersion.” Switching to music, she reveled in the clean sound of Noah Kahan's "Someone Like You (feat. Joy Oladokun)" and singled out the walking bassline in “Love for Sale,” featuring Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett: “The plucked notes were precise with a sharp attack. It was also evident that the Denon was delivering vocals in a natural manner, along with plenty of musical detail.” Now is as good a time as any to supercharge the lifeless sound coming from your TV. (Editor’s note: Since the original review, Denon has increased the price from $599 to $649.)

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Convincing DSP-based surround
Excellent sound quality
Compact footprint
Minus
Built-in Amazon Alexa
Limited front panel feedback
Requires HEOS app for best results

Full Review Here (posted 11/16/21)

Klipsch Cinema 1200 Soundbar System: $1,899

Klipsch to the rescue for anyone who wants to get in on a little 5.1.4 Dolby Atmos action without the complexity of a receiver-based theater setup with seven or more speakers. The Cinema 1200 is a 5.1.4 system featuring wood construction and comprising a 54-inch-wide Dolby Atmos-enabled soundbar with discrete left/center/right driver complements and an up-firing driver at either end, a pair of Atmos-enabled wireless surround speakers, and a wireless subwoofer rated down to 22 Hz that mates a 12-inch driver with 500 watts of system power in a beefy 16 x 20 x 16-inch (W x H x D) cabinet. This system rocks in more ways than one.

The soundbar supports Bluetooth streaming and includes a generous helping of connections: Analog and (optical) digital inputs plus four HDMI ports, one of which supports eARC (enhanced Audio Return Channel) and allows pass-through of video signals up to 8K in resolution. Setup is dead simple: Run a cable between your TV’s HDMI ARC (or eARC) connection, which lets you use your TV remote to adjust volume, and sit back while the wireless subwoofer and surround speakers automatically connect with the soundbar. The system provides six sound modes — Movie, Music, Game, Party, Standard, and Direct (for passing discrete stereo or multichannel audio through unprocessed).

Reviewer Rob Sabin described the system’s music chops as very good to excellent but was really taken with its ability to reproduce movie soundtracks. “Movies proved to be the Cinema 1200’s real sweet spot, and Atmos soundtracks in Movie mode were a total treat due to excellent ceiling placement of the four virtual height channels (confirmed with Atmos test tones) and the backbone provided by the subwoofer on action flicks.” As one of the least expensive high-end soundbar systems available, the Klipsch Cinema 1200 over-delivers on value and sound quality. (Editor’s note: Between the time the review was conducted and when it was posted on September 22, 2021, Klipsch increased the system price from $1,699 to $1,899.)

AT A GLANCE
Plus
All-in-one 5.1.4 Atmos system
Stupendous dynamics
Great sound quality with music and movies
Class-leading 12-inch subwoofer
Minus
Ineffective surround processing of stereo music
No mic on remote or bar for Alexa and Google Assistant
No DTS decoding

Full Review Here (posted 9/22/21)

Stereo Speakers with Home Theater Potential

Speaker pairs around which you could build a full-fledged surround-sound speaker system.

Canton Chrono 70 Loudspeaker: $1,995/pair

In early 2021, the 50-year-old German brand Canton made its way back to the States after a decade-long hiatus. Among the first wave of products to arrive on these shores is the impressive looking — and sounding — Chrono 70 floorstander, the smallest of three towers in the Chrono series and one of the few speakers made in Europe, not China. The speaker is a rear-ported two-and-a-half-way design that mates an aluminum-manganese tweeter with two 6-inch aluminum woofers in a stately 37-inch-tall cabinet offered in black or white.

Running through his arsenal of demo tracks, reviewer Michael Trei confirmed the Chrono 70’s ability to produce deep, tuneful bass while shrugging off massive orchestral crescendos. On the Philip Glass score for Mishima, the 70s conveyed a spacious soundstage while preserving the tonal clarity and fine detail of the track’s percussive elements. And when it was time to crank it up and get the party started, Trei loved how effortlessly and cleanly the speakers handled “Tied Up” by Yello while maintaining a neutral tonal balance. Whether you’re looking for a set of floorstanding speakers for music or want to build a surround-sound system around them, the Canton Chrono 70 is a speaker that, as Trei put it, punches way above its weight class. (Editor’s note: As of this writing, tmraudio.com is selling the speakers in black for $1,495/pair plus $135 shipping in the continental U.S.)

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Impressive bass output
Plays loudly without stress
Matching center, surround, and Atmos speakers available
Minus
No wood finish option
Needs to be pulled out into the room for best sound

Full Review Here (posted 2/2/22)