For most television viewers, it can be hard to remember a time when screens weren’t flat and thin, but even two decades ago, TVs were big, bulky – and heavy! – cathode ray devices, and the advice of the time was that a 28in screen was pretty much all one needed, and a 32in model was considered a real luxury. These days, a 42in screen is pretty much the minimum, 50in models are almost ridiculously affordable, and TVs of 65in or more are far from rare – all with the benefit that they can be mounted on a wall, rather than lurking in the corner of your room, taking up valuable space.

However, there was a problem with these super-slim screens, in that they didn’t have much room for speakers, so the sound often didn’t measure up to the big, high-definition images on the screen. And while things have improved greatly in this respect, there’s still no substitute for a dedicated speaker system if you want to make the most of both sound and vision – which is where the soundbar comes in.

Slim enough to sit on a shelf or unit, or mount on the wall, beneath the screen, what originally started out as something with a couple of speaker drivers and a compact stereo amplifier, is now all grown up, with wireless connectivity, and advanced signal processing enabling the sound bar to give the full immersive surround sound effect, including that spatial audio available from Dolby Atmos.

The new Klipsch Flexus soundbars are an exemplar of how this technology has moved on: drawing on the AV knowhow of stablemate Onkyo, the two models in the range – the compact Core 100 and the larger Core 200 – use four drivers and digital signal processing to give the impression of sound all around the viewers, all from a single unit just 71cm wide and 7.5cm tall (in the case of the Core 100). What’s more, you can expand the system with real surround speakers and subwoofers, all of which connect to the soundbar wirelessly, to create what Klipsch calls ‘a sprawling audio landscape that brings movies, music, and gaming to life like never before.’ So, you can start with the soundbar alone, and then develop the system as funds allow.

The Klipsch system may be the latest arrival, but it’s far from the only player in this market: multiroom audio company Sonos offers a choice of soundbars all the way up to its Arc model, which uses no fewer than 11 Class D amplifier channels, each powering its own drive-unit, to deliver Dolby Atmos sound from your video sources, as well as integrating with other Sonos wireless speakers to create a multiroom audio entertainment system. You can add on subwoofers and surround speakers – all wirelessly – in your main listening/viewing room, and then extra zones around the house to share both the TV sound and music from your own library or streaming music services. There are even battery-powered speakers to extend your sound system out into the garden.

Similar functionality is available from other systems including Denon Home, which is powered by HEOS technology, and Bluesound’s BluOS, the former also allowing integration with Denon and Marantz home audio components, while BluOS is also available on selected NAD amplifiers and receivers. And the beauty of all these is that they can be operated via clear and simple apps on a tablet or smartphone, or in many cases with voice commands using Amazon Alexa, Apple’s Siri and/or Google’s Voice Assistant.

Finally, if you want to deliver a truly massive sound with just a soundbar, look no further than Sennheiser’s Ambeo Soundbar Max, the flagship model in a three-strong range. Using no fewer than 13 Class D amplifier channels, each powering its own driver, the Soundbar Max delivers 5.1.4-channel sound for immersive 3D listening, and bass down to 30Hz, meaning you don’t even need a subwoofer. Yes, it’s hardly compact, at 126cm wide and 13.5cm tall, and it does weigh over 18kg, but as well as movie sound via an HDMI input, it will also handle local music files and streaming services – it’s a fine example of how soundbars have grown up.

This article originally appeared in the September 2024 issue of Gramophone. Whether you want to enjoy Gramophone online, explore our unique Reviews Database or our huge archive of issues stretching back to April 1923, or simply receive the magazine through your door every month, we've got the perfect subscription for you. Find out more at magsubscriptions.com