TV and Soundbar Pairings: What to Buy and How to Connect It

Do you need a soundbar?

If any of these sound familiar, yes:

• You turn on subtitles because dialogue is hard to follow, or keep riding the volume between quiet scenes and loud ones.
• Your TV is 65 inches or larger and the sound feels small next to the picture.
• You watch a lot of movies or sports with a room full of people.
• Your TV is wall-mounted and the sound seems to come from somewhere behind or below it.

eARC vs ARC: use the right port

Connect the soundbar with an HDMI cable to the TV port labeled ARC or eARC. The TV then sends audio from every source — its own apps, consoles, a streaming box — down that one cable, and one remote controls the volume through HDMI-CEC (LG calls it SimpLink, Samsung Anynet+, and Sony Bravia Sync).

ARC is the older version. It carries standard Dolby Digital surround and Dolby Digital Plus, which is how most streaming services deliver Dolby Atmos. eARC, part of HDMI 2.1, adds the bandwidth for lossless formats like Dolby TrueHD (the Atmos format on most 4K Blu-rays) and multichannel PCM. If you stream and have a mid-range bar, ARC is fine; if you play discs or have a premium system, use eARC on both ends.

• The LG C6 and Samsung S90H have four HDMI 2.1 ports, one of which is eARC. On other TVs, check which port carries eARC before planning your connections.
• Sony's Bravia TVs have only two HDMI 2.1 ports, and one of them is the eARC port — tight if you also have two consoles.
• In the TV's sound settings, set the output to the HDMI/eARC device and set digital audio to Auto or Passthrough so the soundbar receives the original format.
• If voices and lips drift apart, use the TV's or soundbar's AV-sync setting before you start swapping cables.
• Optical (TOSLINK) still works for basic bars, but it can't carry Dolby Atmos and doesn't give you single-remote control.

Dolby Atmos in plain English

Dolby Atmos adds height to surround sound: a helicopter can pass overhead instead of only left to right. Soundbars create the effect with up-firing drivers that bounce sound off the ceiling, with processing that simulates height, or both. Up-firing drivers work best under a flat ceiling of ordinary height; vaulted or very high ceilings weaken the effect.

Model names often include a three-part channel code. In "5.1.2," the first number is ear-level channels, the second is subwoofers, and the third is height channels. A dedicated center channel — the "3" in a 3.1 bar — is what does the most for dialogue, so pay for that before height channels.

What to spend, by tier

We don't test soundbars, so treat these as rough, approximate U.S. price bands rather than recommendations. A sensible rule of thumb is to budget around 15 to 25 percent of what you paid for the TV.

• Entry (roughly $100–$300): a compact 2.0 or 2.1 bar, mostly for clearer dialogue. Fine for bedrooms and smaller TVs; Roku's Streambar line is the easy match for a Roku TV.
• Mid-range (roughly $300–$800): 3.1 or Atmos-capable bars, often with a wireless subwoofer — the sweet spot for a 55- to 65-inch OLED. Samsung's HW-Q series, Sony's Bravia Theater bars, and the Sonos Beam are common places to start.
• Premium (roughly $800 and up): flagship Atmos bars with a subwoofer and optional rear speakers, or a receiver-and-speaker system. Worth it at 75 inches and up or in a dedicated movie room.
• Search by family name on Amazon or the brand's site, check the bar's width against your TV's, and confirm eARC support if you want lossless Atmos.

Matching brands: nice, not necessary

Any soundbar with HDMI ARC or eARC works with any TV that has it. Matching brands adds extras: Samsung's Q-Symphony and LG's WOW Orchestra combine the TV's speakers with a compatible bar, Sony's Acoustic Center Sync uses a Bravia TV as the center channel with supported Sony bars, and Roku TVs set up Roku's own soundbars and wireless speakers with little fuss. Sonos bars work with any brand's TV over eARC or ARC.

Don't pay much extra just to match logos. Get the bar that sounds best to you at your budget, then treat the brand extras as a bonus.

Placement and fit

Measure before you buy. A bar sitting on the console in front of the TV has to clear the bottom edge of the screen, and many TVs sit low on their feet, so check the TV's dimension drawings for the gap under the screen; some stands offer more than one height for exactly this reason. If the TV is wall-mounted, a bar mounted a few inches below it — centered, with nothing blocking its front — usually sounds better than one tucked inside a cabinet.

Keep the bar from covering the TV's IR receiver or light sensor, usually at the bottom center of the frame, or the remote and auto-brightness may stop working properly.