I'm a home theater obsessive, and these are the Black Friday soundbar deals I recommend

What's the cheapest soundbar surround option that we recommend? That would be the Ultimea Poseidon D50, which forgets fancy features like Dolby Atmos and just focuses on providing decent 5.1 channels of sound for a low price, and does a great job of it.

It's down to just $89.99 in the US right now (if you apply a coupon at Amazon), or £109 in the UK. For that price, nothing will give you as nice simple, small surround sound – here's our full Ultimea Poseidon D50 review.

Ultimea Poseidon D50 US deal: was $119 now $89.99 at Amazon
Ultimea Poseidon D50 US deal: was £169 now £109.99 at Amazon

Let's follow up the last post that offered some showcases of Dolby Atmos' spatial effects, with another movie list – but this time focusing on movies with seriously impressive Atmos musical scores and soundtracks.

It's one thing to enjoy the whizzy sound effect placement of Atmos, but it can also be used to present just fantastic musical stagings, and these movies take advantage of that. The good thing is that these don't rely on you having surround sound in the same way as the other list – this is more about the overall soundstage than the channels.

Here's our list of 7 movies to make your soundbar or home theater sing.

If you're thinking of getting a soundbar with a full surround effect and Dolby Atmos, and you want to experience what it can really do, then take a look at this list of 10 impressive home theater movies.

These are about experiencing all the advantages of surround, and Atmos' precise sound placement' in particular – there's some big blockbusters that you'll be expecting, plus some quieter movies that just make great use of the sound.

Dolby Atmos is one of the hottest things to have in a soundbar these days, but what is it, and do you really need it?

Dolby Atmos is an 'object-based' 3D sound format. Basically, in previous surround systems, sound is assigned to one of the 'channels' – so, it comes from the front-left, or rear-right, for example. This means your speakers need to be in specific places to hear the soundtrack right.

In Atmos, each sound in the mix is its own object, existing in a mapped 3D space, meaning that if you have more speakers, they can take advantage and add more specificity to where a sound should be coming from. And in Atmos, that includes height as well as surrounding you – it's supposed to create a dome of sound.

High-end soundbars have many channels to make the most of this, such as the Samsung HW-Q990D with its 11 surround channels and four height channels, or the Sonos Arc Ultra with its nine surround channels.

You will also see that many cheaper soundbars support Dolby Atmos, even those with just a stereo two-channel setup. It is possible for these soundbars to process 'virtual' channels to create a good 3D effect, but the cheaper the soundbar, the less you should expect this to work. At the very cheap end, you're probably better off getting one the same price without Atmos, so that money is put into better speakers instead of Atmos processing.

So Dolby Atmos is not really essential at the cheap end, and pretty much everything from the mid-range up will include it anyway, so you shouldn't have to think too hard about it.

Want a super-cheap Sonos soundbar that's perfect for small or mid-size TVs? The Sonos Ray is the company’s most basic, budget soundbar, and it’s now selling for just $169 at Amazon US and £135.67 at Amazon UK.

Those are both great prices for a soundbar that will give you a big and clear upgrade over the built-in sound, adding far more bass, width and speech clarity. And as a bonus, it works as a Sonos multi-room speaker for music too., but gives you entry to the multi-room, networked Sonos ecosystem. In our Sonos Ray review, we found that its impressive sound quality for the price extended to music.

This doesn't use HDMI to connect to the TV (it's optical only), so it's great for TVs with a limited number of ports, and will suit TVs from 32 to 55 inches.

Sonos Ray US deal: was $279 now $169 at Amazon
Sonos Ray UK deal: was £279 now £135.67 at Amazon

The most common connection for high-quality soundbars today is HDMI ARC or HDMI eARC. This means they connect to your TV over an HDMI port, and take all your TV's sound over this connection.

What are the advantages and what are the differences between them? We have a guide to explain all, my friend. Read our in-depth HDMI ARC and HDMI eARC explainer.

Getting a small soundbar doesn't have to mean missing out on mod cons such as real upfiring speakers for Dolby Atmos height channels and Wi-Fi music streaming – the Bose Smart Soundbar 600 proves that.

And it's pretty inexpensive to begin with, and is even better value in today's deals. Small size, high features – it's very impressive, and got a glowing write-up in our Bose Smart Soundbar 600 review.

Bose Smart Soundbar 600: was $499 now $399 at Best Buy

Want the option of big, cinematic surround sound, but can't have speakers set up behind you the whole time due to space or aesthetic preferences? Let me introduce you to the JBL Bar 1300X.

It's a great-sounding, very powerful soundbar that's extremely wide… because the ends detach to become battery powered wireless rear speakers. Just put them behind you when you want surround sound, and attach them to the bar to recharge or when you don't want them floating around. They form part of the bar's sound profile when attached.

JBL Bar 1300X US deal: was $1,699.99 now $899.99 at Amazon
JBL Bar 1300 UK deal: was £1,299.99 now £999.99 at Amazon

A key thing that people don't always think about before buying a soundbar is whether the dimensions are a good fit for your TV. Really, I'd love to see soundbar manufacturers put suggested TV sizes on the descriptions of the soundbars.

Smaller soundbars, like the Sonos Beam Gen 2 or the Ultimea Poseidon D50 are good for TVs from 32 inches to 55 inches. They won't quite match the scale of the pictures beyond that size.

There are mid-size soundbars, like the Sony HT-S2000 or the Samsung HW-Q800C that will work from 48 inches to 65 inches nicely – probably just about to 75 inches in the Samsung's case.

And then the premium soundbars – the Sonos Arc Ultra, Samsung HW-Q990D or Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar – are all designed for TVs of 55 inches and up. They'll stick out well beyond anything smaller, which will just look odd.

For those who want a huge, all-encompassing Dolby Atmos sound, the Samsung HW-Q990D is the five-star soundbar system to beat. It gives you 11.1.4 channels of sound spread over a big bar, two rear speakers and a meaty subwoofer – and it's so impressive.

It's also practical – it has two HDMI 2.1 inputs, as well as a connection to your TV, so it can pass 4K 120Hz video through. That means it actually adds an HDMI port to your setup.

When anyone asks what the ultimate soundbar home theater system is for a realistic price, we go straight to the Q990D.

Samsung HW-Q990D US deal: was $1,997 now $1,100 at Walmart
Samsung HW-Q990D UK deal: was £1,699 now £985 at Amazon

The first thing you might be wondering when shopping for a soundbar: do I need one with a subwoofer, or will one that's just the bar itself work for me?

Basically, it comes down to the cinematic power you want. A single bar obviously takes up much less space in the room and so might be preferable for your setup overall. You can expect a soundbar like this to add more range to the sound overall, more clarity to speech because the mid-range will stand out more from other frequencies, and better width to the sound so it feels big has a difference from left to right. Some expensive models can produce pretty impressive bass.

But adding a subwoofer will add far more bass, and this means you'll get the impact of explosions, the hum of an ominous soundtrack, or the tone of a musical score all coming through much more like was intended for the movie.

It's really just about what you want from a soundbar – clarity in a compact frame, or a much bigger and more cinematic sound.