Powerful Audio In Compact Packages: The Best Home Theater Systems

Configuration: 11.1.4 | Connection: Wired/Wireless | Dolby Atmos/DTS:X: Yes/Yes

Best for: Enjoying your favorite movies, shows and games with high-quality, immersive sound.

Pros:

• Powerful sound across its 22 speakers
• Has a range of wired and wireless connection options
• Supports the latest technologies and AI enhancements

Cons:

• Expensive
• Soundbar takes up a lot of space

The Samsung Q990D soundbar and speaker system is a great home theater system with powerful sound from its expansive array of speakers. It comes with a giant soundbar that takes up a lot of space, but that’s due to the sheer amount of internal speakers it has. Together with the subwoofer and rear speakers, it creates an immersive sound, with Dolby Atmos and spatial audio support creating audio that has verticality, making you enveloped in the sound in ways that less comprehensive home theater systems can’t manage.

Older movies and shows can enjoy AI upmixed audio for greater immersion, too, and eARC simplifies connectivity. The HMDI 2.1 ports also support variable refresh rate and 120Hz refresh rates, with the HDMI pass-through adding no latency for a responsive gaming experience. Setup is quick and relatively easy, despite the range of speakers and components in this system, with wireless connectivity letting you place them without being concerned with additional cabling.

Configuration: 5.1 | Connection: Wired/wireless | Dolby Atmos/DTS:X: Yes/no

Best for: Enjoying quality sound in a small footprint.

Pros:

• Strong bass from the Sub Mini
• Compact size makes it great for apartments and bedrooms
• Easily streamed from other smart devices

Cons:

• Expensive
• Lacks channel complexity of larger home theater systems

For smaller apartments, compact home theater rooms or bedrooms, a compact system like the Sonos Immersive Set is ideal. It combines the excellent, smart Sonos Beam Gen 2 soundbar with a pair of Era 100 rear speakers and the surprisingly powerful Sub Mini for a spatial, immersive sound that offers impressive power, despite its small footprint. The Beam Gen 2 is an awesome soundbar, with great quality sound and strong smart features, making it easy to connect wirelessly with your smartphone or other device to stream music through the whole system. It also accepts voice commands via Google Assistant or Alexa.

The main speakers are wired, but you can setup eARC over the HDMI 2.1 connection to simplify cabling. You don’t have the additional sound channels that you might get from larger soundbars and speaker configurations, but for a compact 5.1 system, the Sonos Immersive Set offers surprising quality and immersion for smaller home theater spaces.

Configuration: 2.0 | Connection: Wired/Wireless | Dolby Atmos/DTS:X: No/No

Best for: Setting up a home theater with good sound, for less.

Pros:

• Decent sound upgrade over standard TV speakers
• Includes 4K streaming support and voice-activated remote
• Expandable with speakers and subwoofers later

Cons:

• Limited bass without a subwoofer
• Lacks surround-sound capabilities
• No Dolby Atmos support

If you’re just setting up your home theater and you want improved sound but don’t want to spend too much, a soundbar is a great way to do it. For us, the best soundbar under $200 is the Roku Streambar Pro. It’s a good audio upgrade over your TV, and with its built-in 4K Roku streaming functionality, you don’t need to also shell out for a streaming stick when kitting out your home theater. That’s an additional savings that can go toward the TV or the TV unit, or just to help reduce your overall setup costs.

The sound from the Roku Streambar isn’t flagship-quality, but it’s a big improvement over your TV’s built-in speakers. It offers impressive volume and, though it doesn’t manage the lowest of frequencies, its bass isn’t bad for a soundbar without a subwoofer. Other frequencies are better represented again, giving it a surprisingly full sound. The included remote is the more advanced one with a built-in headphone jack for private listening and a microphone for vocal searching. The Streambar Pro is compatible with Apple AirPlay 2 and Homekit, making it easy to stream content from Apple devices.

Configuration: 9.1.5 | Connection: Wired/Wireless | Dolby Atmos/DTS:X: Yes/Yes

Best for: Powerful and immersive sound.

Pros:

• Clean, powerful sound with great Dolby Atmos support
• AI room calibration makes setup and speaker placement easy
• “Wow Orchestra” boosts sound with TV speakers

Cons:

• “Wow Orchestra” only works with LG TVs
• Expensive

If you want something close to the pinnacle of pre-packaged home theater systems, then the LG S95TR soundbar and speaker setup is ideal. It offers a comprehensive 9.1.5 channel configuration for a truly immersive sound that sounds fantastic at lower volumes, and powerful and punchy at the higher end. The subwoofer can hit the deepest of low rumbles, while the rear speakers and soundbar offer excellent clarity for dialogue and lighter notes. The Dolby Atmos integration is excellent, making this a home theater system that sounds much more like being at a real cinema experience.

Setup is quick and easy with the AI room calibration tool that gives you tips on where to place your speakers for the best sound quality. The “Wow Orchestra” feature lets you use the TV speakers and the home theater system at the same time for even greater nuance and power to the sound. There’s also a built-in “Night Mode” that automatically flattens out the sound a little to prevent bassier or louder notes from waking the neighbors or your kids.

Configuration: 5.1.2 | Connection: Wired/Wireless | Dolby Atmos/DTS:X: Yes/Yes

Best for: Getting great sound for under $500.

Pros:

• Offers a loud, punchy sound
• Dolby Atmos and Dolby Digital support make it great for surround sound movies
• Works well as a Bluetooth speaker

Cons:

• Lacks support for Airplay, Chromecast
• Not as immersive as higher-end systems

The Vizio M-Series soundbar, speakers and subwoofer make a great home theater system for those looking to spend less than $500. It offers a loud, powerful sound with strong bass and impressive surround sound. It offers good surround sound immersion, and comes with Dolby Atmos and DTS:X support for better object placement. It has upward facing speakers within the soundbar, but not the satellites, so it’s not quite as immersive as higher-end home theater systems, like the Vizio Elevate, but the immersion is still there.

Vocals and dialogue are particularly well-represented in this home theater system, with the option of boosting them further for added clarity. There’s no Chromecast or Airplay support on this system, but it does have Bluetooth, so you can stream podcasts, music or audiobooks from your phone and other smart devices.