What Is The Best Soundbar Size For Your TV?

You've finally convinced yourself that you can't live with the soulless audio your TV speakers produce anymore. Fortunately, you can spend a few hundred dollars to upgrade your audio with one of the best soundbars, and most even come with a wireless subwoofer for added bass. But is there a certain soundbar size you should be shopping for when your TV is a specific screen size? Not necessarily, but what you don't want is a totally mismatched TV-soundbar setup, where one piece of hardware is much larger or smaller than the other.

Ideally, you're aiming for a balanced look, which usually means investing in a soundbar that's just as wide as your TV, or a few inches shorter. For 65-inch screens or bigger, a 44- to 55-inch bar should work just fine. If your TV is only as large as 50 inches, you can probably get by with a 37- to 43-inch bar. That said, if you're working with a larger viewing space, you may need a bigger, wider soundbar to project audio properly.

You'll also want to make sure that your soundbar doesn't block any part of your TV screen. If placed on a stand, it should sit a couple of inches below the bottom portion of the panel. Most soundbars can also be wall-mounted, which bodes well for those of us with floating TVs. You can mount the bar directly below or above your TV, and most systems only require a single HDMI or digital optical cable.

Choosing the right soundbar size to match your TV size and viewing space ultimately boils down to personal preference. Still, it pays to be cognizant of the room size that your bar is going to live in. A massive system with multiple speakers and a wireless subwoofer may be too much sound for a bedroom, while a small soundbar could struggle to deliver enough audio if it's placed in a larger room. This is why it's important to be able to hear your soundbar in action before it permanently moves into your home.

Shopping for a soundbar shouldn't be challenging, but there are numerous audio manufacturers on the market, and most brands make more than one soundbar. It's also easy to make some common mistakes when buying a soundbar. Fortunately, it's hard to go wrong with reliable companies like Bose and Sonos, and both brands offer a variety of soundbar models (and sizes) to choose from. While Samsung, Sony, and LG may be best known for TVs, all three AV brands make solid soundbars, too. Samsung and LG even make soundbars that can be wirelessly paired to a compatible Samsung or LG TV.

Being sensible about room size is the best thing you can do for your home theater. Of course, you can always return a soundbar that doesn't make the grade (as long as it's still within its return window), but we want to avoid buyer's remorse as much as possible. That's why it's important to measure more than once, read reviews, and look at user feedback on sites like Amazon and Best Buy.