SOUNDBARS

The best home cinema experience doesn't stop at being a treat for your eyes. Here's our pick of the best soundbars for immersive cinematic sound.

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No matter how stylishly thin and smart TVs become, and no matter how bright and colourful the picture of the latest, most innovative panel technology, the sound provided by a television's built-in speakers is always somewhat underwhelming - especially if you are planning on going large with a home cinema set-up. Ditto projectors: they may provide huge-screen entertainment (see our round-up of ultra-short-throw projectors on the following pages), but they aren't capable of providing the same scale when it comes to sound. Nor should they be expected to.

And let's face it, if you are going to spend hard-earned and not inconsiderable cash on the biggest, brightest, most immersive and cinematic picture, why would you settle for less when it comes to pleasing your ears? Moreover, you don't need the expense and clutter of a multi-box surround set-up to get a cinematic sound - simply adding a soundbar to your set-up is an easy way to get a more engaging, clear and enjoyable viewing experience.

Most soundbars pack impressive audio into a self-contained package. The best are single capable speakers that don't need additional surrounds or subwoofers to fill the room. That said, with many of the soundbars we have included here, there are options to expand to a more extensive surround set-up if you so desire.

What you are really looking for in attempting to replicate the kind of immersive sound you would get from a cinema experience is height as well as width of soundfield. Some soundbars make use of Dolby Atmos processing to provide height effects to make you feel as though those helicopters really are flying overhead, for example. Others use up-firing drivers and reflected sound to simulate the ceiling speakers you find in a movie theatre.