The best cheap soundbars can perform the exact same role as the overallbest soundbars, just with a much lighter strain on your wallet. That role? Instantly upgrading the weak sound of built-in TV speakers, giving movies, TV shows and music the sonic power they need to shine.
There are plenty of great soundbars that won’t entirely break the bank, such as the $199Polk React, but you can save even more money with the models we’ve selected here. We’ve chosen them not just for their low prices, but because they’ve impressed us in testing — though considering all of them cost less than $150, and in some cases less than $100, such affordability is definitely part of their appeal. Read on to find out more about the best cheap soundbars you can buy.
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Back to School: TV deals to match the best cheap soundbars
We’ve launched ourBack to School guidefor 2021, bringing you an all-in-one list of the finest laptops, Chromebooks, headphones and a huge range of other top-quality tech. That includes guides to thebest TVs, so check them out if you want to pair one of the best cheap soundbars with an affordable but good-looking television.
What are the best cheap soundbars?
The best cheap soundbars are usually made by Vizio. It's fair to say Vizio has cracked the code on how to make soundbars with the best performance for the price.
If you have a larger TV, go for the Vizio SB3820-C6. It’s 38 inches long and uses its size well to create a wide sound. It delivers full bass and crisp treble, making it easy to hear details in movies and TV shows. It’s well built and compares well even against more expensive soundbars. If you have a smaller TV or need to save a little more money, pick up the Vizio SB2920. It’s 29 inches long but still manages to create an impressive sound.
However, this isn't a one-horse race. The Creative Stage V2 is an outstanding budget soundbar and subwoofer combo, capable of pumping out heavy bass and crisp, clean dialogue alike. We also like the LG SK1, which is super-affordable even by the standards of the other soundbars on this list.
Here's our full list of picks for the best cheap soundbars.
The best cheap soundbars you can buy today
的Vizio SB3820-C6是最好的廉价soundbar你can get, hands down. It's a single penny under $100, and you'll have a hard time believing you only spent that little on it — it neither looks nor sounds cheap. Thanks to its two 2.75-inch drivers, it produces clear, resonant dialog and good bass for a unit without a subwoofer. The 38 x 3 x 3-inch unit is a good match for larger TVs, and the width helps it create a wide soundstage. It has plenty of power to fill your room with sound. In addition, It doubles as a very capable music speaker, too — something few soundbars under $100 can claim.
The SB3820-C6 has just about every way to connect to your TV or monitor that you could need, except HDMI. The included remote is also well built and handy — again something few cheap soundbars include. More expensive soundbars will produce more encompassing sound and come with a subwoofer, but the SB3820-C6 will meet the audio needs for most people.
While not quite as dirt-cheap as the Vizio SB3820-C6, the Creative Stage V2 still offers incredible value for money. In addition to a sleek soundbar with a relative bounty of connectivity, including HDMI ARC, the small outlay also gets you a dedicated subwoofer to help pump out impactful bass.
Sound quality is very good overall, and can be tweaked to match what you're watching. For instance, you can choose to boost the bass or treble at any time, and there are "Dialog" and "Surround" to try out as well. The latter doesn't provide digital surround sound per se, but does widen the soundstage for more exciting action scenes.
Read our fullCreative Stage V2 review.
The Alto 6 Plus is even cheaper than the Stage V2, and it also has its own dedicated subwoofer — only this one is wireless. It’s powerful, too, proving more than capable of filling out movie action scenes or music playback with deep, rumbly bass.
The downside is that this low-end isn’t as tightly controlled as it is on pricier soundbar/sub combos, and your options for adjusting the sound profile are relatively limited. But we were still impressed with how forceful the Alto 6 Plus sounded in our testing, and its simplicity means that home theater beginners might actually appreciate how easy it is to complete setup.
Read our fullTCL Alto 6 Plus review.
If you’ve got a smaller TV, the Vizio SB2920 is the best cheap soundbar to get. It’s a real bargain. While on the small side for a soundbar, the 29 x 3 x 3-inch unit doesn't sound diminutive — it creates a wide soundfield that gives the illusion of a much bigger speaker. It gets loud enough to fill a large room with and performs well on a variety of types of audio. It has solid bass performance — without a subwoofer, though you can add one for even more oomph — and clear, resonant vocals that make it easy to understand dialog happening on the screen. It's also built solidly.
The main downside is that music streamed over Bluetooth is average at best, with the vocals getting lost in the mix. It also lacks HDMI, so you can’t connect your video sources directly to it.
Another good option for smaller TVs is the LG SK1. Its compact design only includes two speakers for a modest 40W output, but that's still enough to provide a tangible boost to lower-spec TVs.
The plug-and-play setup, simple interface and included remote also help streamline everyday usage, which might be ideal if you just want a better TV speaker without a ton of extras. Still, we'd recommend turning on the Bass Blast mode for some extra low-end punch, and you can connect a Bluetooth device if you ever want to use the SK1 as a music speaker as well.
Read our fullLG SK1 review.
如果你想要更好的声音,但是没有一个好的place to put a soundbar, a soundbase — which goes under your TV stand — could be the solution. Pyle's 20.6 x 12 x 3-inch PSBV600BT is one of the few soundbases you’ll find for such little cash. The PSBV600BT uses its 12-inch depth to its advantage by including a woofer in the unit, which results in big, booming bass. It also has enough power to fill a large room with sound. With optical digital, 3.5mm and stereo RCA wired connections, along with Bluetooth for wireless, this Pyle soundbase is likely to be compatible with your TV. (However, it lacks HDMI.) The unit can support TVs up to 110 pounds.
The bass can overwhelm the treble and midrange, though, and dialog and vocals can get lost in the mix. The included remote is quite small and not very useful.
The 10.8 x 2.4 x 2-inch Torpedo Plus has something other cheap soundbars don't: a 5.5-hour battery, which makes it convenient to take it anywhere you want to watch TV. The unit also has a sharp design, making it stand out from the field. The Torpedo Plus serves up clear dialog, but lacks any bass to speak of. The crisp treble tones help provide details in music and movie soundtracks. The Torpedo Plus creates a wide soundfield when you engage 3D surround mode.
Due to its small size, this soundbar is a better complement to a laptop or tablet than a full-sized TV. The soundbar suffered from interference when connected via Bluetooth and only features one wired connection option for 3.5mm. It also lacks a remote so you have to adjust the volume on the unit itself.
How to choose the best cheap soundbar for you
The best cheap soundbar for you depends on the features, connections and size that will help you most enjoy watching movies and TV. None of these cheap soundbars come with a subwoofer, but some deliver more bass — a key feature if you like the tactile rumble that comes when watching action scenes. Think about if you need a remote; only some of these include them.
You’ll also want to pay attention to the audio outputs on your TV or monitor. Since none of these cheap soundbars comes with HDMI, the next best option is optical digital or coaxial digital audio. If your set doesn’t offer those, look for a soundbar with stereo RCA or 3.5mm inputs. Another important consideration is the size of your TV — larger TVs look and sound best when paired with larger soundbars. But if your space is limited, a small soundbar is better than no soundbar at all.
How we test the best cheap soundbars
We test soundbars for vocal clarity and low-end effects by watching a variety of movies and TV shows, including video in action and drama genres. We also listen to various songs ranging from rock to hip hop to acoustic to evaluate music performance. We benchmark volume using an app that measures decibels.
Ease of use depends on how quickly and simply we can connect the soundbar to the TV and how easily we can make adjustments to the sound quality. We'll let you know if this process is particularly easy or difficult, though cheap soundbars pretty much never require specialist audio knowledge to set up.
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