Polkreact

All bar one

SOUNDBAR ❘ £249 from Amazon www.snipca.com/37709

There seems little point in buying a speaker for your home that doesn’t have a voice assistant built in, because the ability to turn lights off around the house, play music or send messages hands-free will always be a handy option to have (either now or in future). With this in mind, if you’re looking to upgrade the sound on your TV or home-entertainment centre with a soundbar, the Polk React is well worth considering.

This particular model only supports Amazon’s voice assistant Alexa, though Polk offers access to Google Assistant in some of its other models (see our Alternative below).

This soundbar is relatively compact, measuring 57x121x864mm and looks sleek, with dark grey fabric covering the front and top sides, only interrupted by the simple control panel (pictured above). This has just four buttons: volume up and volume down; an action button used to wake Alexa; and one to mute the mics when you want a bit of privacy. Connections on the rear are limited to an HDMI port and an optical port.

In terms of wireless connectivity, the React needs to be connected to your

SPECIFICATIONS

Amazon Alexa built in • Supports Dolby Digital • HDMI port • Optical in • 2x 25 mm tweeters • 2x96x69mm mid-range • 2x110x100mm (passive radiator) woofers • 57x121x864mm • 2.9kg • Two-year warranty www.snipca.com/37709 home’s Wi-fi network to use Alexa, but also offers Bluetooth streaming should you want to play audio directly from your phone, tablet or laptop.

The speaker has three main sound profiles to choose from: music, movie and sport. There’s also a night mode, which reduces bass while boosting dialogue. This is useful for watching programmes whose audio levels vary and means you can maintain a relatively high volume without the risk of waking the rest of the house when there’s a sudden on-screen explosion. At the other end of the scale, movie mode boosted a soundtrack’s low-end thumps and rumbles without obliterating dialogue and other higherpitched sounds.

Alexa is seemlessly integrated and lets you control the soundbar’s functions without having to use the remote control, as well as any other Alexa-supported devices in the vicinity. It also lets you make phone calls or send messages around the house, and supports Multi-room Music, so you can pair it with other Alexa speakers.

High-quality audio for your TV – all controlled by Alexa

Good sound quality and well-implemented integration of Alexa make this a great home-entertainment upgrade for Alexa fans

VERDICT

Polk Signa S3 £279 For those who’d prefer Google Assistantstant instead,, Polka offerss a Chromecast-chromecastpowerederred soundbar and subwooferwo oofer combination

ALTERNATIVE