Haas Entertainment Systems

Top 10 Best Soundbars in 2020

Everyone has different needs with regard to soundbars. Some people need great imaging while others want something incredibly slim. Still others insist upon a wireless solution. Some installations call for a wide soundstage while some call for better intelligibility. Not listed in any particular order, here is Haas Entertainment’s pick for the top 10 soundbars in 2020. If I missed your favorite please leave a comment. To have us determine the best soundbar for your personal situation please contact our design engineers.

James Loudspeaker

James Loudspeaker is dedicated to raising the bar of entertainment system integrated audio. Their soundbars are completely customized for every project to ensure that each and every client gets exactly what they’re looking for. Ranging from low-profile soundbars with only 1.5 inch reveal to large format bars that integrate large woofers for maximum impact, there is a bar for every application. Each bar is custom fit to the TV and includes custom mounting brackets to seamlessly integrate the bar for an elegant low-impact appearance.

All their different size bars come in a variety of different formats from just a center channel, to a stereo or LCR bar, or even a dual monaural design using James Loudspeaker’s centergy technology to split the center channel between a pair of bars mounted to either side of the display. Coming in a variety of standard colors as well as an infinite number of custom options, there is sure to be a speaker that perfectly suits your home entertainment needs, and if there isn’t, they’ll make one. Apart from their variety of standard sound bar options, they offer a number of truly custom solutions as well. Whatever your home entertainment needs, you’re sure to find exactly what you’re looking for at James Loudspeaker.

James Loudspeaker QX5LCR Soundbar

The QX5LCR speaker raises the bar of home entertainment systems, setting new levels in sound output and wide frequency response. The LCR format of this bar features two individual systems to provide left, right, and center channels in a single enclosure. Perfect for any home entertainment system, this versatile sound-bar can be custom built to match each individual TV, providing seamless integration and elegant design as well as high quality audio.

Equipped with high output, low-profile woofers and the signature ultra-wide dispersion QX style quad aluminum tweeter array, this low-visibility sound-bar packs a powerful punch in a small package. Capable of reaching frequencies across a broad range down to below 65Hz, the QX5LCR offers full range response with an impressive 89dB sensitivity. The in-wall cabinet design features all aircraft grade aluminum for strength, sonic performance, and suitability for outdoor/marine applications. Complete with a matching borderless aluminum perforated grille which sits only 3/16” (5mm) off the wall or completely flush with the addition of a pre-construction board, this speaker is both study and reliable as well as elegantly integrated into each system, providing a subdued visual effect, designed to be as unobtrusive as possible. Paintable grille available by request only. Matching in-wall surrounds are available as well, model numbers QX520 and QX530. For outdoor/ marine applications, order the QX5LCRM.

James Loudspeaker SPL6LCR-BEQ Soundbar

The SPL6LCR-BEQ is James Loudspeaker’s premier full range, high output LCR sound-bar for large format video displays. Representing the ultimate home entertainment sound system, this bar offers a powerful punch in an elegantly designed package. Using the same quad-tweeter technology as the BE reference series, as well as James’ low profile high output aluminum woofers, the SPL6LCR- BEQ delivers unrivaled audio performance. With an impressive 96dB sensitivity with bass down below 60Hz, this sound bar comes custom fit to each TV, providing seamless integration to any environment. This combination of elegant design and high quality sound makes the SPL6LCR-BEQ the perfect no-compromise solution for designers and audiophiles alike.

The cabinet design features all aircraft grade aluminum for strength, sonic performance, and suitability for outdoor/marine applications. Complete with a custom fit and colored aluminum perforated grille, this Bar mounts directly to any TV. Also available for wall mounting or configurable for other custom applications, this ultimate sound bar is perfect for any home entertainment solution. For wall mounting, optional Z-brackets or U-brackets can be purchased separately. Blind through holes are incorporated into each bar for wall mounting.

https://www.jamesloudspeaker.com/categories/38

Sonos

Sonos is the ultimate wireless home sound system company. They’ve perfected a whole-house WiFi network that fills your home with brilliant sound, room by room.

Sonos Playbar

Looking for cinematic sound in a mountable soundbar for TV, movies, music, and more? You can enjoy crisp dialogue and impressive bass from wall to wall with the Sonos Playbar. Control it with the Sonos app, your remote, and more.

Whether you mount it on the wall or place it below your TV on a stand or console, Playbar automatically tunes itself for the best possible sound.

With a team of world-class experts in acoustics and engineering, Sonos meticulously designs speakers from the inside out, combining custom woofers and tweeters with proprietary software.

Fine-tuned by Oscar and Grammy winners

Sonos balances the science of sound with creative input from renowned producers, mixers, and artists, including Rick Rubin, Chris Jenkins, Nigel Godrich, and Manny Marroquin. Working with Sound Experience Leader Giles Martin, they provide feedback throughout the product development process to ensure our speakers preserve the emotional intent of their work.

https://www.sonos.com/en-us/shop/playbar.html

Sennheiser

Sennheiser is shaping the Future of Audio – a vision built on a 70-year history of innovation and a continued drive for excellence that is woven into the company’s DNA and culture. Around the world, Sennheiser employees share this passion in the pursuit of the perfect sound, creating products that exceed expectations and set new benchmarks in audio.

Sennheiser AMBEO Soundbar

Hear the future of home cinema in one beautiful bar. Harnessing the power of a multi-speaker home cinema system in one sleek, state-of-the-art device, the AMBEO Soundbar delivers a 3D home audio experience like you’ve never heard before.

Incredibly immersive 3D sound – Powered by 13 high-end drivers, the AMBEO Soundbar delivers a 5.1.4 sound experience while also producing extremely deep 30Hz bass without the need for an extra subwoofer. And thanks to advanced room calibration, it immerses you in studio-grade sound adapted to the specifics of your living room for an unforgettable 3D experience.

Engineered to produce more realistic highs and lows, more dimension, and more nuanced detail than you ever imagined possible. The AMBEO Soundbar lets you tailor your listening experience with a built-in equalizer and three bespoke AMBEO 3D technology modes where you can adjust the output to your own individual tastes. Engineered to produce more realistic highs and lows, more dimension, and more nuanced detail than you ever imagined possible. The AMBEO Soundbar lets you tailor your listening experience with a built-in equalizer and three bespoke AMBEO 3D technology modes where you can adjust the output to your own individual tastes.

You’ll feel it. You can’t help but feel it. It features five dedicated high-fidelity tweeters delivering studio-quality sound, six long-throw woofers producing extreme 30Hz bass, and midrange vocals recreated with breath-taking precision. AMBEO Soundbar delivers a 3D home audio experience like you’ve never heard before.

https://en-us.sennheiser.com/ambeo-soundbar

Martin Logan

Truth in Sound is the guiding philosophy of Martin Logan. Their mission is to use this unique and astonishing technology to render the most complex musical passages as faithfully to the original source as possible. If breathtaking, lifelike audio accuracy is important to you, you owe it to yourself to hear Martin Logan.

Martin Logan Cadence Soundbar

The State Of The Art Martin Logan Cadence features nine full-range drivers and nine channels of amplification, combined with Anthem Room Correction (ARC®) technology, advanced digital signal processing, and industry leading Dolby® Digital and DTS® Digital Surround decoding to reproduces multi-channel recordings with unflinching accuracy, resolution, and detail—delivering exceptionally deep, well-balanced bass and an immersive home theater surround sound experience in a sleek, easy to operate system.

https://www.martinlogan.com/en/product/cadence

The slender, Martin Logan Motion SLM® X3 soundbar features three advanced resolution Folded Motion tweeters, six 4-inch high-excursion fiber cone woofers for maximum controlled low-end bass extension – all in an ultra-slim, 3-channel soundbar design for super-thin TVs, giving you a complete stereo and center soundstage.

The secret to the Motion SLM’s outstanding performance is the innovative dual 4-inch, ultra-slim fiber cone woofers and dual 4-inch high-velocity passive bass radiators, paired with a Folded Motion tweeter to create stunning acoustical alchemy typically found in much larger speaker systems. Hidden discretely underneath the grille, the drivers are held securely in place by a solid, black-anodized brushed aluminum baffle. The high-gloss black SLM cabinet is only 1.45-inches thin, for a total wall protrusion of 1.83-inches with magnetic grille and included wall mount bracket.

https://www.martinlogan.com/en/product/motion-slm-x3

Leon

Leon is “Benchmade American Audio”. At Leon, they mix art with audio and design with technology. They’re a group of artists, designers, engineers, and craftsmen who are dedicated to producing the finest quality benchmade American audio. For almost 20 years, They’ve been meticulously handcrafting a full palette of custom speakers, sound sculptures, and audiovisual treatments, all designed and manufactured in the US.

Leon Horizon Series Soundbar

Each Leon Horizon Series speaker is handcrafted and custom-tailored to match the exact width and finish of any TV, providing a high-performance audio platform with a discreet design.

Working with musicians, producers, acoustic engineers, and leading manufacturers around the world, Leon custom designs a suite of audio components that provide an immersive listening experience in any space, from luxury living rooms to dedicated home theaters.

Leon’s flagship Horizon SEVEN soundbar celebrates a 20-year history of American craftsmanship, acoustic engineering, and timeless aesthetics. Each speaker is handcrafted from 1” solid MDF and features world-class 7” aluminum cone woofers and 25mm cloth-dome tweeters for an unrivaled listening experience—captivating the casual listener, and indulging the discerning audiophile. Ideal for any Living Space Theater® or filling a dedicated space with high-output, theater-quality sound. Here are the highlights:

• Custom built to match the exact width and finish of any display
• Handmade 7” aluminum cone woofers and 25mm cloth-dome tweeters
• 1” solid MDF cabinets provide unparalleled structural rigidity while decreasing unwanted resonance
• Unrivaled high-fidelity sound experience that captures all the nuances and character of any performance
• Easily mounts to articulating TVs or to the wall with Leon’s brackets
• Sonically-matched to Detail SEVEN surround sound speakers for home theater applications.

https://www.leonspeakers.com/horizon/

Ariatechnik

At Ariatechnik you will find a company that is committed to designing and producing the finest audio equipment in the world. Designed and manufactured in the U.S.A., they specialize in digital amplifiers and digital loudspeaker systems utilizing Wave Synergy (point Source) drivers. From the most advanced home cinema to the most cutting edge screening room, their core technologies will deliver sound with clarity and impact you have not yet experienced. With over 25 years of engineering and manufacturing expertise, they have shipped thousands of units globally through our industry partners.

Ariatechnik Sound Bar Reference

The Ariatechnik Sound Bar Reference (SBR) offers the ultimate in sonic reproduction in the form of a soundbar. The SBR will take a soundbar based system to the level one would expect from much more costly theater systems. The SBR is designed to work in conjunction with the AT 12 IR woofer, the AT 115 LFE or any higher output subwoofer. Deep bass is directed away from the soundbar to limit vibration induced or vibration borne distortion from the TV panel and possible long-term damage to the television electronics while placing the bass where it has much better and more predictable results near a room boundary such as the floor or a corner.

The SBR utilizes three of Ariatechnik’s five-inch Wave Synergy drive units which eliminate the biggest fundamental problem of conventional designs. Such designs often referred to as woofer, tweeter, woofer designs suffer from a problem of self-cancelation or “picket fencing” in the sound field which results in lower fidelity and a different sound at each place in the room. The Wave Synergy™ driver design does not suffer from the faults of traditional designs while simultaneously offering much greater intelligibility, dynamics and much reduced distortion by having the same frequency response (or consistency of sound) anywhere within a 90-degree window of each driver.

As the five-inch Wave Synergy™ drivers are also much more efficient than traditional driver designs (91 dB 1 watt @ 1 meter) the power from a typical receiver is more than enough to offer high level dynamics and as a result, each speaker is much easier to drive. When used with the AT 12 IR woofer, the SBR offers a bandwidth of 30Hz to 30Khz, a true reference soundbar system.

WAVE SYNERGY™ DRIVER

Characteristic of the Ariatechnik Wave Synergy™ design is that it presents a large ‘sweet spot’ both vertically and horizontally with an exceptionally even response throughout the listening area, as well as a extraordinary transient response. The Wave Synergy driver is effectively two drivers properly merged into one where, unlike ordinary drive units, the high frequency unit is positioned on the back of the low frequency driver and in the proper phase alignment with the high frequency driver. As a result they are on the the same axis, so ensuring that sound energy is effectively propagates from the same point and delivered through the center of the low frequency cone as true point source.

Such integration optimizes reproduction quality by providing a constant time delay over the frequency spectrum, exceptional transient performance, wide dispersion and superior harmonic alignment, all of which delivers to the listening position a natural, clean and integrated sound with greatly enhanced intelligibility, sound staging and dynamics.

http://www.ariatechnik.com/atsbr.html

SONANCE

When it comes to the custom installation industry, no other company has consistently received more recognition and accolades than SONANCE. Celebrating 35 years in the industry as a recognized leader, SONANCE is proud of its six CEDIA (Custom Electronics Design and Installation Association) “Hall of Fame” awards and continues to strive for innovation excellence.

The Sonance Soundbar

Sonance Soundbars feature an exclusive patent-pending adjustable width design that perfectly matches the dimensions of any 50” to 80” flat screen display. The minimalistic black perforated metal grille provides a seamless aesthetic that complements modern television designs, while the true 3-way speaker configuration and state-of-the-art driver materials deliver best-in-class sonic performance, with clarity, wide sound stage, and extremely natural sound.

Sonance Soundbars utilize the same cutting edge technology and state-of-the-art materials developed for its award winning Visual Performance Series. This has resulted in best-in-class performance and what is widely considered to be the world’s best sounding soundbars.

World’s only true 3-way design

Each of the three speaker chambers feature a coaxial 1” powder-coated aluminum tweeter and a 4” laminated Kevlar and Nomex midrange, paired with dual 4 ½” laminated Kevlar and Nomex woofers. This combination delivers crystal clear vocals and defined channel separation, creating sound which is both natural and sonically accurate.

Extruded aluminum chassis and perforated steel grille

Sonance Soundbars are constructed from the highest quality materials including aircraft grade extruded aluminum and powder-coated perforated steel. This provides extraordinary durability preventing deforming and discoloration over time.

https://www.sonance.com/home-theater/soundbar

Crestron

Crestron Electronics has carved the path for technological innovation since 1971. They are at the forefront of cutting-edge technology, constantly offering faster, better solutions that address the needs of customers the world over. With Crestron, you aren’t just buying top-of-the-line electronics, you are investing in scalable and customized solutions, gaining 24/7 global service and support, and sponsoring products that are designed and manufactured in America.

Crestron UC Smart Soundbar

Simple. Sleek. The new Crestron UC Smart Soundbar is the front of the room solution with exceptional audio and image quality that brings out the best in every meeting, in any size room, with a single USB connection.

The Crestron UC Smart Soundbar series delivers decades of audio engineering expertise in every device. Every Crestron UC Smart Soundbar:

• Combines Digital Signal Processing–including Acoustic Echo Cancellation, amplification, speakers, and microphones
• Employs adaptive beam forming technology to pick up whoever is speaking with pinpoint precision
• Goes beyond simple voice amplification supporting full range audio, so the richest content has the fullest sound

The new Crestron UC Smart Soundbar series lets you pick up on every visual cue and gesture. Choose the camera option that best suits your needs. Both cameras give you big picture views with as close to real life quality as you can get. If you want to zero in on speakers or count attendees, then the Crestron UC Soundbar with the enhanced 4K camera is made for you.

https://www.crestron.com/Products/Featured-Solutions/Smart-Soundbar