TCL Alto 6+ Soundbar Review

The TCL Alto 6+ is fairly plain with rounded edges. It's mostly made of black plastic with a tight fabric to protect its speakers.

The subwoofer is made from black MDF. It sits on four plastic pegs as the driver is located on its bottom side. If you prefer a standalone soundbar without a subwoofer, check out the TCL Alto 6.

The TCL Alto 6+ is a fairly small bar, and it should easily fit between the legs of a 55 inch TV. It isn't very tall and shouldn't obscure your screen unless it sits flush on the table.

The subwoofer is about the size of a medium-sized desktop PC. It's a little wide, but you should be able to place it anywhere without a problem.

The TCL Alto 6+ has a decent build quality. It's mostly made from plastic, and the front of the bar is wrapped in a tight fabric to protect the speakers. However, the fabric can rip or get dirty. The subwoofer is made from MDF, making it feel a little more robust.

• Manuals
• Optical cable (4.9 ft / 1.5m)
• HDMI cable (4.9 ft / 1.5m)
• Remote with batteries (2x AAA)
• 2x Power cable (4.9 ft / 1.5m)
• 2x Wall-mounting brackets
• Wall anchors
• Wall-mounting screws
• Wall-mounting template

The TCL Alto 6+ has a decent stereo frequency response. It struggles to reproduce the deep thump in the low-bass, so you don't feel the rumble in action-packed movies. You may also notice some port noises coming from the subwoofer. That said, it's better suited for listening to dialogue-centric content like TV shows, thanks to its balanced mid-range, which can reproduce voices clearly and accurately. Higher-pitched vocals can sound a bit flat and dark, however, due to the recessed treble range.

The TCL Alto 6+ soundbar doesn't come with any sound customization features like bass and treble adjustments or a graphic EQ. You can only use its EQ presets to customize its sound. If you prefer a more neutral sound, we recommend using its default 'Music' preset.

The TCL Alto 6+ has an okay stereo soundstage. The width of the soundstage is perceived to be about the size of the bar, and the bar doesn't do any tricks to help widen it. On the upside, the soundstage's focus is good, so objects feel like they're coming from accurate, pinpoint locations rather than a general area.

The TCL Alto 6+ has great stereo dynamics. It can get pretty loud, which is well-suited for a large or crowded room. While there are some thumping and compression artifacts present when you push the bar to max volume, it may not be noticeable to most users.

The TCL Alto 6+ has a very good THD performance. At a normal listening volume, it falls within good limits, so audio reproduction is clean and pure. There's a slight jump in THD at max volume, but this shouldn't be too noticeable with real-life content.

This soundbar's center channel performance is disappointing. Since it's a 2.1 setup, it doesn't have a dedicated center speaker, and it relies on its left and right speakers to create a sound in the center, which results in a more diffused and less clear sound compared to a discrete center. That said, voices should still sound clear and accurate, although a little dark.

The TCL Alto 6+'s surround performance is poor. This 2.1 setup downmixes this content into stereo to play it, which results in less accurate and clear localization of surround objects in the soundstage. It doesn't sound very immersive, and objects are perceived as coming from in front of you rather than from around you.

The TCL Alto 6+ has very limited sound enhancement features. It only has three EQ presets: 'Movie', 'Music', and 'TV'. The 'TV' preset also doubles as a dialogue enhancement feature. However, you can't customize its sound. Compared to other budget models like the Creative Stage, it lacks bass and treble adjustments, and there's no auto-volume mode for listening at night.

This soundbar has a few physical inputs. You can connect it to your TV using either its Optical Audio in or HDMI ARC port. It also has an AUX port so that you can play audio from older devices, as well as a USB port if you have audio stored on a thumb or external hard drive.

The TCL Alto 6+ supports Dolby Digital content via ARC. This is the most common surround sound format, so it's often found on streaming platforms and Blu-ray discs. Unfortunately, there's no support for lossless or object-based audio formats like Dolby Atmos.

This soundbar only supports Dolby Digital over its Optical In port. This format is found on Blu-ray discs as well as on streaming platforms. Unfortunately, DTS, which is the fallback for the higher quality DTS-HD MA format, isn't supported.

The TCL Alto 6+ soundbar has a great latency performance. It has fairly low latency, so the audio you hear is in sync with the video you see on the screen. As a result, it's suitable for watching videos and movies. Some apps and TVs compensate for latency differently, though, so your real-world experience can vary.

This soundbar doesn't have an HDMI port, and you can't use it as a hub between your devices and your TV.

This soundbar has mediocre wireless playback options. It supports Bluetooth, meaning you can stream audio from your smartphone or other wireless devices, but it doesn't support anything else.

The interface is very basic and only uses one light to tell you which input you're on. If you forget what each color means, there's a label on the top side of the bar. The light also turns white when adjusting the volume and pulses when muted.

This bar has five touch-sensitive buttons located on its top side. You can turn the bar on/off, change inputs, pair with a Bluetooth device, and lower and raise the volume.

The remote for this bar is rather plain, but it looks almost exactly like that of the TCL Alto 7+. From here, you can control all of the soundbar's functions. However, you can't use it as a universal remote to control other devices.