Soundbar vs home theater speakers: Which is Best for Your Home Theater?

Torn between soundbar vs home theater speakers?

The soundbars today

A soundbar is a one-piece elongated speaker designed to deliver better enhanced audio quality than a TV’s built-in speaker. It’s a simple-to-install audio system with an amplifier and multiple channels enclosed in a nice box. 

These channels can have two to seven channels, each corresponding to a specific source, direction, or pathway to create a spatial audio experience. 

With this ability, soundbars today can emulate the surround sound produced by home theater speakers. Small, but versatile, right?

One thing we love about soundbars available today is you can easily place one near your TV without compromising the aesthetic value of your entertainment setup by having too many wires.

With only two cables to manage, or sometimes none, a soundbar blends well with your interior. Thanks to its sleek and slim design.

Some soundbars with Bluetooth connectivity have a dedicated mobile app to explore their features better. Some soundbars can also have additional subwoofers for more bass.

With our audio technology advancing faster than ever, a new soundbar can carry just the right audio quality compared to dedicated multiple speakers.

Reasons to own a soundbar

• For small-mid-size rooms
• Easy installation
• Budget-friendly
• Portable and lightweight
• Great aesthetic value
• Minimal wiring management
• Saves space
• Replace crappy TV inbuilt speakers fast.

A few issues with soundbar

• Do not produce the best surround sound
• Small speaker cones
• Not ideal for loud base heavy music

What does having a home theater speaker system mean?

A home theater speaker system is a set of speakers strategically placed in a room to create an immersive theater audio experience.

Professional systems work with a dedicated amplifier or receivers to pick up and reproduce the audio from TVs or other media sources.

A set of home cinema speakers can include different types of speakers, including subwoofers and front, center, and rear speakers.

Having a home theater speaker system means allowing separate speakers to do their own jobs.

• Front speakers distribute the majority of the sounds, including dialogues and music.
• Center speakers focus on picking up and distributing vocal audio and dialogues.
• Rear speakers are positioned at the back of the viewer or listener to create surround sound.
• Height or ceiling speakers create a more immersive 3D sound by producing heightened sound effects from overhead. (Do you want to hear the chopper flying above you in Rambo?)

In our ceiling speaker installation guide, we enumerated the different speaker configurations you can try in your home theater design. 

When using home cinema speakers, you allow an amplifier or receiver to take control of the sounds picked up and distribute them for a surround sound experience.

What do we like about home theater speakers?

• Produces better sound quality than soundbars
• Customization
• Option to upgrade at a later time

My problems with movie theater speakers

• Complex to advanced installation
• Pricier
• Takes more space
• Floor-mounted speakers take up more space in a room

Do you have the space?

One of the first questions to ask before choosing a speaker type is – how much space are you able to allocate for speakers?

From this question alone, you should have already decided if you will get a soundbar or media room speakers.

Clearly, soundbars take up a smaller space near your TV. If you want to save more space, you can purchase a mounting attachment for your TV bracket for soundbars, too.

These mounting attachments go well with extendable TV mounts.

Some soundboard mounts can be attached directly to mounting holes at the back of the TV. Or you can also opt for wall-mounting soundbar mounts.

In any case, mounting soundbars will take up less space than bigger home theater speakers. 

On the other hand, movie theater speakers need strategic placements of the speakers. And you will need cabling channels to keep up the neat look. The more speakers, the more space they will take.

Do you have the budget?

The next thing to ask yourself is your budget. Here’s one thing you must know. Buying a soundbar could mean it is your first and last purchase. However, when you buy your first set of movie room speakers, you will constantly upgrade if you want to add more. 

If your budget is $100, you can get a pretty decent soundbar with exciting features. This decision is a wise investment if you’re watching TV or listening to music in a small or mid-sized room.

You do not have to add more speakers unless the soundbar sounds thin and you deem it needs more bass. You can add subwoofers.

But that’s the last addition you can have when choosing a soundbar. And it’s not as costly compared to surround sound speakers.

You can start with a pair of house speakers at a couple of hundred dollars and a receiver to complete the set.

This equipment starts at $300 dollars. From there, it is up to you when and how much you want to add more in the future. But starting with a good amplifier and front speakers is the best way to start achieving your dream movie theater system.

How do they perform?

Obviously, home theater speakers have much better audio capacity than soundbars. You need a few more hundred dollars for added quality and features for a soundbar.

Although, a $500 soundbar may come closer to the quality of 4.1 channeled systems and up. It is still not enough.

And for that amount of money, it is much wiser to get a quality set than to have great features contained in an enclosure.

If you start with a 2.1 system from a trusted brand, it will throw sounds from left and right. However, the experience is not the same when you have speakers – from behind.

With separate channels shooting sounds and speakers placed in different directions, you will experience the true surround sound experience.

Soundbars can have multi-channels and will have them tilted to different angles.

The soundwaves will travel from that direction and hit the wall, so they bounce in your position. This is how the soundwaves emulate a surround-like sound. But for people thirsting for an inclusive experience, this output is not enough and could have a delayed effect in bigger rooms. 

With movie theater speakers, the sound comes from separately facing speaker cones. Dialogues become direct, clear, and crisper.

The sound effects will have more immersive impacts. Footsteps, explosions, and raindrops will sound like they are nearby in your seat. And music backgrounds are better.

Speakers can provide a better experience when you set adjustment features like equalizers, room calibration, or audio modes by a professional.

Check your choices.

You have probably decided by now. If you think soundbars are right for you, it could just be because you only need a single unit and do not want to spend the time, effort, or money installing multiple speakers for extra volume that you dont need.

And if the effects of a louder surround sound excite you, then you’d probably want a home cinema speaker system. 

So you are now ready to see your choices of a soundbar or choose the appropriate soundbar or channel system type for home speakers. 

Here are your choices for soundbars:

• A 2.1 soundbar with two speakers, one on the left and one on the right- You can upgrade this by adding subwoofers if you need more bass.
• A 3.1 soundbar, including center speakers for vocal sounds and left and right speakers.
• A 5.1 soundbar – adding rear channels to the left, right, and center channels- This one can already emulate surround sound. 
• Advanced soundbars with more channels (7.1 and 9.1) are available too.
• A dedicated gaming soundbar with low-latency audio processing designed specifically for gaming.
• A smart soundbar with voice assistants you can connect with other smart devices and other rooms.

For home cinema speakers, you will have more choices. 

• Start from the 2.0 setup. It is the most basic setup with left and right separate speakers.
• The 2.1 setup has added a subwoofer for more bass.
• The 3.1 system has left, right, and center speakers, including one subwoofer.
• The 4.1 setup is composed of two front and two rear speakers, including a subwoofer.
• The most complete basic setup contains one upward-firing speaker to the five channels set up.

The speaker configuration may have more than the number of speakers mentioned above.

The first number indicates the number of standard speakers, including the center speaker.

The second number indicates the number of subwoofers included in the setup. The last digit indicates the number of upward-firing speakers.

A clutter-free look

There are many ways to achieve a clutter-free look. A soundbar will only have two wires attached unless it is wireless. To hide the wires, you might only need a few clips or cord organizers to hide them discreetly.

Compared to movie theater speakers, you must establish a cable channeling system to keep the speakers and TV wires hidden.

It will take more effort to route home theater speaker wires. You also have the option to mount the speakers on the wall to save more space.

For every speaker placement, you must consider the length of the cables and the cable management if you are going for a clean and minimalist look.

Some systems utilize wireless technology for cable-free surround sound systems.

A soundbar is good for…

• Casual TV viewers
• Rooms without too much space
• People who prefer a minimalist setup
• Those without much budget
• Casual gamers
• Those who want a straightforward audio solution with less complexity
• Users who love to listen to music and attach it to their devices
• Smart home users
• Schools and offices that use a wall-mounted TV for visual and audio education.

Set up home theater speakers if…

• You are an audiophile or cinephile who enjoys high-fidelity sound from movies or music.
• You have more space for multiple speaker placements
• You plan to upgrade a media room
• You are willing to spend more
• You are a serious gamer who wants to immerse into the gaming world.

Your other options

Wireless headphones

If you want to enjoy clear sound but prefer quiet or more personal sound entertainment, some TVs offer connectivity via Bluetooth jacks for ear pods.

Power speakers

Power speakers stand between soundbars and home theater speakers.

The loudspeakers enclosed in a box have a built-in amplifier, making them self-sufficient speakers emitting better sound quality.

Portable Bluetooth speakers

You could use a portable Bluetooth speaker connected to your TV for better TV sound however you might need two portable speakers that are compatible with each other if you want both left and right sound.

Soundbars vs. home theater speakers: Which one is best for your room?

Choosing between soundbars and home theater speakers is like choosing between convenience and quality.

One of the things we appreciate about soundbars is that they can also provide excellent sound quality no matter how compact the rack is.

Meanwhile, home theater speakers are proven to deliver audiophile-grade and home versions of cinematic sounds.

No matter if you maximize a small space or fill it with powerful base, one thing is certain: your device’s audio output will be richer than before if you do it today.