SWANKY SOUNDBARS

Raise your telly's audio game with a strip of speakers

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If there's one grumble you'll see in pretty much every review of a flat-screen television ever, it's this: the thin speakers are not great, and you really should get a soundbar.

Thankfully for those planning on taking this advice, there's a huge range of under-screen bars around these days, truly offering something for every budget. This one, produced in partnership with Japanese audio specialists Onkyo, sits somewhere in the middle of the price spectrum... but there's nothing middling about it.

Roughly the same width as a 50in TV, the Flexus Core 200 is a 3.1.2-channel sound system in a single MDF cabinet. The speaker array includes two built-in bass woofers and two up-firing drivers for the height channel-essential for Dolby Atmos, giving supported audio an extra dimension that makes games and films more engaging and expansive.

On the downside, there's no auto-calibration mode to optimise settings for a room's acoustic profile, so you'll have to tailor your own sound via the app's EQ controls.

There's a meaty weight to the bass. It certainly felt big enough to fill my living room.... and if you want even more low end or better surround effects, Klipsch offers easy ways to expand the system. The RCA output means it'll also work with pretty much any wired sub.

I would have liked better connectivity, however. There's just the one eARC-compatible HDMI and no analogue audio input. You do get S/PDIF and USB-C for inputting sound, though, plus Bluetooth (but no Wi-Fi) for wireless streaming.

₹64,800/cinebels.​com

Key specs