The 6 Best Budget Soundbars - Fall 2019
Reviews

The best cheap soundbar we've tested so far is the Sony HT-S100F. This stereo soundbar performs decently, especially considering its price, and is versatile enough for most casual uses at home. It's a good option for those who mostly watch TV shows or some movies from time to time, and has quite a few different connectivity options for compatibility with different home theatre setups.

This soundbar should satisfy people who are looking for a product for simply improving the listening experience of TV speakers. It has a fairly neutral sound profile and can reach loud enough volumes for most uses. It also doesn't compress when pushed at max volume, which is good for an affordable product. It also features dialogue enhancement, which is great if you have trouble hearing voices in movies and TV shows. They'll be clearer and louder, even at lower volumes. This soundbar also supports Dolby Digital, so if you have your favorite movie on Blu-ray, you'll still be able to play it through the soundbar via HDMI ARC, but know that it won't be a great immersive surround performance due to 2.0 downmixing.

While the soundbar on its own is decent for the price, it doesn't come with a subwoofer. The slightly more expensive Sony HT-S200F has an integrated sub so it can produce deeper bass, but it sounds darker since it doesn't reproduce frequencies in the treble range very well. It's not the flashiest soundbar we've tested, but if you're looking for something cheap that'll do the job, the S100F is the best budget soundbar.

Black Friday deal: The Sony HT-S100 has dropped by $30 on Amazon.com. See all Black Friday deals for Soundbars.

The best budget soundbar under $200 we've tested so far is the TCL Alto 7+. This soundbar set up comes with a dedicated subwoofer for deeper bass, so it's a better choice for movies than some of the cheaper models we've reviewed. It feels surprisingly well-built for a budget soundbar, with a durable plastic and metal build. It also comes with lots of cables and accessories, like a wall-mounting kit, which is quite nice at this price point.

Its sound signature is fairly neutral, but it performs noticeably better in the treble range than the Sony HT-S100F. This results in brighter sounding vocals and dialogue in TV shows. There are a few EQ presets as well, which offer a bit of customization depending on what type of content you're listening to. It even supports Dolby Digital over HDMI ARC, but don't expect a very immersive surround performance, since everything is downmixed to 2.0.

Unfortunately, if you like listening to movies or music at a very high volume, this soundbar might not be the optimal choice. Although it can get loud, it has trouble performing well when pushed to its limits. There's some audible compression, especially in the bass range. On the upside, its quite sturdy for a its price point and will offer decent performance for people who aren't looking for the most premium setup.

The best soundbar under $300 we've tested so far is the Yamaha YAS-207. This soundbar has plenty of connection options, whether you want to use wired to your TV or even wirelessly via Bluetooth. It also has a dedicated app if you plan on using it often with your phone. This setup comes with a wireless subwoofer that offers decent overall performance and should please most users.

This soundbar has a surprisingly well-balanced sound that's bright enough to make dialogue present and understandable while still delivering more bass than most of the budget options we've reviewed. It can get pretty loud without too much distortion, but does compress a bit at max volume. This shouldn't be a problem if you're just watching your favorite shows, though, and you can even enhance dialogue to be clearer at lower volumes, which is nice.

Although the bar is fairly well-built, especially for the price point, it's almost entirely covered by mesh-like fabric that doesn't feel very high-end. It's prone to tearing and can quickly become dirty and catches dust and pet hair. Also, even if it comes with dedicated wireless subwoofer, people might feel like it doesn't perform as well as more high-end products, and results in a bit disappointing low-bass. Nevertheless, this soundbar has one of the best performance to price ratios and will offer a great value for users.