Your 4K TV Deserves Better Than Flat Sound – Elevate Your Home Entertainment with a Booming Dolby Atmos Soundbar for Just $175
This soundbar is such good value that I bought it for my own home after testing
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TVs grow wider and more vibrant by the day, but they're also slimmer, so while the picture quality is beyond what we've ever known, there isn't much room for high-quality speakers.
As Homes & Gardens' audio nerd, I'm a strong believer that strikingly rich 4K quality should not be let down by weak sound. That's why I'm touting the Fire TV Soundbar Plus, now just $174.99 at Amazon, which has transformed my home viewings at a wonderfully low cost.
Fix Your 4K TV's Flat Audio With This Budget, Dolby Atmos Soundbar
The soundbar looks super sleek in your set up, too.
Flat, unfulfilling audio instantly lets down the viewing experience. Imagine going to a movie theater and having no semblance of sound direction, or no rumble when the scenes become intense. You'd leave feeling like you missed out.
That's why I treat soundbars as an essential investment if you value the TV and movie experience. While some soundbars can cost upwards of $1,000, the Fire TV Soundbar Plus at Amazon is a rare, affordable option that actually sounds great.
To fit into slim 4K TVs, the speakers have to be tiny themselves, meaning you rarely get the hardware needed to elevate the experience to what it deserves. With limited space for subwoofers and up-firing speakers, you won't feel the deep bass or the spatial sound that are essential when creating an immersive experience.
But surprisingly, at this low price (now even lower thanks to this $75 discount), the Fire TV Soundbar Plus has two subwoofers, two tweeters, and three full-range speakers, a major upgrade to your movie room while on a budget.
It doesn't have up-firing speakers (that would be optimistic at this price), so instead it uses its full-range speakers and virtual audio processing to digitally recreate a height channel for a realistic Dolby Atmos experience.
And on test, I was surprised by how impressive the sound direction is. It isn't on par with the expensive flagships – as the Sonos Arc Ultra and Bose Smart Ultra cost around a $1,000, that's to be expected – but I could get a feel for which direction characters were approaching from, and could hear sound effects travel from beyond the screen.
This is the soundbar I ended up buying for my own home out of the 11 I've tested so far for Homes & Gardens, because when I compared sound quality to price, I couldn't find a better value in any other model.
The crashing waves and swarming animals of Our Planet sounded grand and exhilarating, while the dialogue-heavy courtroom scenes of The Trial of the Chicago 7 had genuine direction to them, where I could hear where characters were sitting, alongside the impact of courtroom sound effects. It was one of the best examples of Dolby Atmos at play with this soundbar.
This is far beyond what many 4K TV speakers can offer. To get a feel for the gravity of a scene you're watching, you need speakers that are dedicated to doing exactly that. And you don't have to fork out hundreds and hundreds of dollars to do so.
The Fire TV Soundbar Plus is discounted to $174.99 for a limited time.
More to Shop
The Fire TV Soundbar Plus is a strong upgrade, but if you can spend a bit more, you can bring even greater sound to your setup.
All prices correct at time of publication.
If you like roars, rumbles, and tremors while watching movies, adding an external subwoofer deepens the bass, as it's dedicated to delivering strong, low-end frequencies. This leaves the soundbar to focus on the mids and highs, creating a more spatial, immersive soundstage.
The Yamaha True X Bar 40A is a huge step-up in terms of sound quality, multi-directional surround sound, and deep bass. It has an app, too, so you don't have to rely on using the soundbar remote and listening to voice prompts every time you change the settings.
Read more in my full Yamaha True X Bar 40A review.
A full setup comprised of a soundbar, subwoofer, and two rear speakers help to create the true home theater experience, and the Hisense AX5140Q is one of the most bass-heavy systems I've ever tested. It was so powerful that it vibrated my walls.
Read more in my full Hisense AX5140Q review.
The Samsung HW-QS750F gives enhanced customization over the sound settings, and you can position the multiple speakers around your room to make it more immersive. It's one of the best-sounding systems I've had the privilege of testing.
Read more in my full Samsung HW-QS750F review.
One of the very best soundbars I've tested, the Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar delivers inspiring sound quality with incredible detail, and its surround sound capabilities are so advanced that it feels like you've been dropped into the scene.
Read more in my full Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar review.
If price isn't an issue, you won't find better audio in a single soundbar than with the Sonos Arc Ultra. It performed near-flawlessly on test, with realistic surround sound, masterful sound balance, and richness in every detail.
Read more in my five-star Sonos Arc Ultra review.
For more tried-and-tested smart home upgrades, browse our guides of the best robot vacuums and the best video doorbells.
