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Which soundbar should you choose?

Femke24 NOVEMBER 2025
A TV is mounted above a blue and gray floating cabinet on a gray wall in a room.

Soundbars and soundbases not only give your TV sound a boost, they can also be the foundation of an audio experience throughout your entire home (a multi-room system). It’s important to bear this in mind when making your choice. MediaMarkt is happy to help you get started.

What should you choose: a soundbar or a soundbase?

A black television is mounted above a black and silver Sonos soundbar on a white wall.

There are different types of TV speakers on the market that vary in shape and placement: soundbars and soundbases. A soundbar is a rectangular speaker that you place in front of the TV on your TV unit, or mount underneath it. The latter is possible if your TV is mounted on a wall bracket. Soundbases are designed to be placed in or on a TV unit; the television then stands on top of the soundbase. A soundbase hardly takes up any extra space, which is an advantage if you have limited room around your television.

These are the best soundbars

Streaming and multi-room: what else can you expect from a TV speaker?

Before buying a soundbar or soundbase, it’s important to consider whether you want to listen to more than just TV sound. Many soundbars and -bases offer multi-room options. This means you can stream the same or different music throughout your entire home.

A living room scene with a TV showing a guitar player above a white cabinet with a soundbar. Speakers and a window are visible.

These speakers are connected wirelessly via your Wi-Fi network. Streaming audio from an online music service or your NAS (a storage device that lets you create a personal cloud) is also possible. In addition, various TV speakers allow you to stream music via Bluetooth or NFC from your smartphone or tablet. Of course, it’s also possible to play music via a USB stick or hard drive. When choosing a specific soundbar or soundbase, pay close attention to the extras.

View all wireless soundbars

The subwoofer: what are the options?

A living room features a TV on a dark cabinet with lattice doors, alongside a white side table and abstract art.

Low tones can be a challenge for the compact speakers in a television. Fortunately, the solution is quite simple: some TV speakers feature an integrated subwoofer. A number of soundbars come with a (wireless) subwoofer, or you can buy a separate subwoofer that matches the brand of your soundbar or soundbase. The big advantage of a wireless subwoofer is that it doesn’t need to stand directly next to your soundbar or soundbase. This makes it easy to place the subwoofer out of sight. To sum up, there are several different subwoofer options:

  • Integrated: no separate subwoofer; the subwoofer is built into the soundbar or soundbase itself.
  • Separate subwoofer with speaker cable: the soundbar or soundbase is connected to a separate subwoofer via a speaker cable.
  • Wireless subwoofer: the subwoofer can be connected wirelessly to a soundbar or soundbase.

Wireless rear speakers and Dolby Atmos

Many soundbars and soundbases feature virtual surround sound. This simulates surround sound (sound all around you). If you want to make the surround sound even more realistic, or even want sound above your head, there are 2 ways to achieve this.

A person sits on a gray couch in a living room with a TV, sound system, stairs, and framed art. Blue lines show sound.

By using wireless rear speakers, you don’t have to run a cable from the soundbar/soundbase through the room. You will still need a socket to power these speakers. In any case, with separate rear speakers you create true surround sound. To further improve the sound quality, you can choose a DTS-certified speaker, which delivers near-cinema quality. DTS is therefore very suitable for watching films and TV series.

With Dolby Atmos you bring the cinema into your home – at least in terms of audio. This surround sound technology has been used in cinemas for several years, but with the latest audio equipment the 3D sound of your films at home is just as grand and immersive. With Dolby Atmos you sit right in the middle of the sound that comes at you from all sides – even from above. If there’s a storm in the movie, it feels like there’s a storm in your living room too. And when Schwarzenegger shouts “Get to the chopper!”, you’ll hear the helicopter blades whirling in your own home. Be blown away by spectacular Dolby Atmos sound!

Connectivity options: how do you connect the speaker to the TV?

Close-up of the back of a black television showing HDMI, LAN, audio in/out, and various connector ports.

There are several ways to transfer sound from your TV to a soundbar or soundbase: via an optical connection or via an HDMI connection. A third option is analogue, though this delivers lower quality. When connecting via HDMI, you can choose to use the HDMI ARC connection on your TV (if available), where ARC stands for Audio Return Channel. In that case, you only need one HDMI cable to the HDMI input of your TV speaker to hear all the sound – including the TV sound. The biggest advantage of HDMI ARC is that you only need one remote control to operate both your TV and your soundbar or soundbase.

This is how to connect the soundbar to your TV

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