Compact soundbars
Not everyone has a huge telly or a huge budget, so these two teeny soundbars aim to help you save space and cash without sacrificing sound
Give your telly some welly
Yamaha SR-C20A What’s the story?
If anyone knows what’s what when it comes to soundbars, Yamaha knows. The company’s been liberating big, high-quality sound from slim little bars for most of this century. This SR-C20A is small (by anyone’s standards), cheap (by Yamaha’s standards if no one else’s), and designed as a sort of all-round option.
Want to put a rocket up your TV’S sound without finding space for a gigantic slab? Want to improve your gaming experience no end but don’t want to have to rearrange all your gear? This could be the answer.
Is it any good?
Despite its titchiness, this wee Yamaha has plenty of width and even a little height to its soundstage, while bass is properly varied depending on whether you’re listening to instruments or the solid fist-on-jaw impact of a beat-’em-up.
It’s not perfect: Yamaha’s suggestion that the SR-C20A can convince you sound is coming from the side or even the rear is far-fetched; and if you just want a soundbar for one specific purpose, you can probably do better than this without spending any more. But if you want something small and discreet yet able to sound convincing no matter what the content, this should be near the top of a very short list.
Price £229 / stuff.tv/src20a
● 100W, 2x 46mm drivers, 1x 75mm woofer ● Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic II ● HDMI, 2x optical, Bluetooth ● 600x94x64mm, 1.8kg
Stuff says ★★★★★
A little bit of a soundbar that can do a little bit of everything
Panasonic SC-HTB01 Soundslayer What’s the story?
If you’re a movie buff, there are plenty of soundbars at a wide variety of prices ready to bring your audio experience into line with the superb images from your TV. If you’re a gamer, though, there aren’t many inexpensive options that will do the same job for your console or PC.
Companies like Creative and Razer do have pricier bars that can do games justice, but now a proper mainstream brand is getting in on the action. Hands up who thought that would be Panasonic?
Is it any good?
Sure, this soundbar is always ready to get a bit hard and shouty at high volume, and the bassy stuff can overstay its welcome… but overall it’s a far better sonic experience than your TV is capable of delivering. Mind you, if all what you want is a budget bar to improve film night, then your choice is already extensive.
As a music speaker, the SC-HTB01 is a bit of a blunt instrument; but for big gaming audio, this slightly ridiculously named Soundslayer is well worth a listen. It’s better made, better specified and less showy than most gaming speakers, and crucially it sounds better too.
Price £250 / stuff.tv/soundslayer
● 80W, 2x 40mm drivers, 2x 14mm tweeters, 1x 80mm woofer ● Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, DTS Virtual:x ● 2x HDMI, optical, Bluetooth ● 431x132x52mm, 1.8kg
Stuff says ★★★★✩
For big gaming audio without a big speaker, this is a mighty mini choice
BAGUETTES GET READY TO RUMBLE
● The monstrous Sonos Arc and Sennheiser Ambeo soundbars are each the width of a 55in TV. That’s great for packing in numerous drivers and directional speakers, but not so good for the bedroom. Yamaha’s mini bawler would still have room to spare when sitting in front of a 32in screen, and that even puts it in home office territory.
● But wait! If you think that’s small, Panasonic’s Soundslayer could be considered the ultimate space-saver.
It’s 17cm slimmer than Yamaha’s effort – which means not only that it’ll sit in front of a minuscule TV or a gaming monitor, but also that you could conceivably take it with you on holiday or carry it round to a pal’s place when all this is over.