I've tested soundbars for 10 years, and I rate these Black Friday soundbar deals as the ones truly worth buying

'Real' Dolby Atmos sound doesn't have to be expensive, as proven by the Hisense AX5125H. It's a fantastic 5.1.2 channel soundbar with four units – soundbar, subwoofer and rear speakers – delivering a dynamic, punchy sound for a budget price. It's why it's our favorite budget Dolby Atmos soundbar!

Prices have plummeted for the AX5125H and it's available for a super-cheap $249 in the US at Amazon, and a brilliant £299 at Argos in the UK. You won't find many better soundbars than this at this price range.

Hisense AX5125H US deal: was $349.99 now $249.99 at Amazon
Hisense AX5125H UK deal: was £349 now £299 at Argos

Looking for a compact soundbar that's great for both movies and music and comes with a great list of features, including Dolby Atmos and Wi-Fi support? The Sonos Beam (Gen 2) ticks those boxes.

Black Friday is also one of the best times to grab a Sonos soundbar, as discounts are notoriously scarce on Sonos products, with Black Friday being one of the few times they happen.

Sonos Beam (Gen 2) US deal: was $449 now $369 at Amazon
Sonos Beam (Gen 2) UK deal: was £449 now $335 at Amazon

One thing you may be wondering with soundbars from TV brands – think LG, Samsung and Sony – is do you need to have the same brand TV? The answer is no, but in some cases it does help to.

While you can pair any soundbar with any TV provided they have the same required connections, optical or HDMI ARC, some soundbars have special features that unlock when connected to the same brand TV.

Some of Sony's soundbars can use compatible Sony TVs as a center channel for added clarity and Samsung's soundbars, while Samsung's soundbars like the HW-Q990D (pictured above connected to the Samsung S95D) have a Q Symphony feature for optimized listening when they're connected.

So while it's not a necessity, it may be worth checking out if there are bonus features a soundbar the same brand as your TV has!

I've updated this page with a handful of great new deals, and double-checked all the prices of the existing ones – there are some amazing offers out there!

Speaking of Blu-ray discs, if you want to start your collection with some great-sounding and -looking movies, we've got a recommendation of 5 great 4K Blu-ray Black Friday deals that are too good to resist.

Our resident reviewer of Blu-ray discs and players, James Davidson, explains why he thinks each one is a great-value buy.

If you invest in a higher-end soundbar, let alone a full-on home theater system, one thing you need to know is that you'll get the most out of it if you use physical media rather than streaming.

Even when streaming services offer Dolby Atmos sound, they're using a compressed version of it, called Dolby Digital Plus (DD+). If you watch a 4K Blu-ray, you get the uncompressed version of it, called Dolby True HD (DTHD).

DD+ is capable of supporting the object-based 3D data of Dolby Atmos, but uses less data, so is preferable for streamers. But using less data means you lose some of the dynamic range of the sound – which is retained in the DTHD version.

The same goes for non-Atmos movies – comparing a compressed 5.1-channel stream of Interstellar from Apple TV to a DTS-HD full-quality 4K Blu-ray, there's a huge change in how it takes advantage of the subwoofer, and can make complex parts of the soundtrack come across clearer and more defined.

To be clear, getting a great soundbar will be a huge upgrade over TV speakers or a lesser soundbar, but just know they have more power than you might realise, unless you're adding one of the best 4K Blu-ray players too.

A word of warning for the aesthetes out there: soundbars really pick up dust, just like TVs do. Black, hard-grilled soundbars are easy to clean at least – you can just dust them like anything else regularly.

Ones with fabric grilles are harder, naturally. Fortunately, they also show dust up less, but if you're a stickler, you can try either an extremely soft-bristled brush to disturb the dust without wrecking the fabric, or some kind of very low-power vacuum, like a desk vacuum for keyboard crumbs.

Here's a good-value soundbar. The Denon DHT-S216 is an all-in-one soundbar from a great audio brand that's reduced to just £139 at Amazon.

Our Denon DHT-S216 review gave it four stars, and praised how it focused on audio over other features – it's about just boosting your TV with loud and clear audio. You can add a sub to it later if you want – and it can be almost any sub, which is great.

Denon DHT-S216: was £199 now £139 at Amazon

One thing to consider when buying a soundbar is placement – especially if you have an entertainment unit you want to fit it into.

If you're buying a soundbar with side-firing and up-firing speakers, then putting it into an enclosure where all those angles are blocked isn't going to work. The best Dolby Atmos soundbars, in particular, really need to be out in the open.

On the other hand, some soundbars are designed with only forward-facing speakers and are quite happy to be enclosed – Sonos specifically advertises this options with the Sonos Ray, for example.

The soundbar should also be just below your TV, so that the sound can be attached to what's happening on-screen well. That's obviously easy if your TV is on a stand, but if your TV is wall-mounted, you don't want the soundbar on a console a few feet below it. If your TV's on the wall, your soundbar should be as well – they basically all have some kind of bracket option.

Want a five-star soundbar surround system for under $1000? The LG S95TR is what you need – it's a powerful and seriously impressive system, and we gave it full marks in our LG S95TR review.

One of LG's tricks here is to add a fifth upfiring channel for Dolby Atmos sound, which is just a repeat of the center surround channel, but it means it helps to add clarity to dialogue no matter how big and chaotic the soundtrack gets.

And with 9.1.5 channels in total, you're getting amazing Dolby Atmos immersion overall, and all for a really low price consider the capabilities on offer.

LG S95TR soundbar: was $1,4999 now $999 at Best Buy

So, you've got yourself a great new soundbar with a meaty matching subwoofer, and you want to test that bass. In that case, may I direct you to the movies First Man and Insterstellar. Both contain tense space vehicle scenes that will absolutely show you what you that woofer is capable of.

First Man has a few of these, but it literally opens with one, so you won't be waiting long. For Interstellar, you want to fire up the spinning docking sequence towards the end.

When you're measuring up to see if a soundbar is the right width for your setup, don't forget to check the height too! Some TVs have a very low-slung stand to make them look very cool and minimalist, but this can be a problem if you then want to put a block of plastic in front of them…

Most TVs these days are made with soundbars in mind – and some have adjustable height stands for this reason – but even just a few years ago, not all models thought about this. So just check before you cut off the bottom of your picture!

If you're doing research around soundbars, you might notice that Samsung gets talked about a lot. A lot of quarters of the internet will just answer any question about soundbars with directions to the Samsung that fits into your price bracket. Are they really that good?

Basically… yes. When it comes to quality, bang-for-buck sound, Samsung just nails it year after year. At the very cheaper end, it's a little less certain – it depends on the exact deal – but it's still a very safe pair of hands if in doubt.

The trick is the amount of clarity and scale of sound that Samsung gets out of its soundbars, for seriously great prices after discounts. You often need to spend nearly twice as much to hear an improvement. That's why we recommend the likes of the Samsung HQ-Q990D and Samsung HW-Q800C so strongly.

The fancy new Sonos Arc Ultra is out now, and that means that the original Sonos Arc has fallen to a record-low price for Black Friday. It's now $699 in the US, and just £619 in the UK.

It might be older, but it still delivers really well-balanced sound with great range for a single-unit soundbar (ie, with no separate subwoofer), and has a great sense of scale to the sound for this price. And it works with Sonos' multi-room music system, and as an AirPlay 2 speaker, of course.

While the Sonos app has been slammed a lot recently, Sonos has been updating it twice a month, and it's largely back to performing how it was before it was updated – certainly, I've had no trouble with setting up multiple Sonos soundbar system during my time testing the Arc Ultra and Arc soundbar together.

Sonos Arc US deal: was $899 now $699 at Walmart
Sonos Arc UK deal: was £899 now £619 at Amazon

I've just updated this guide with new deals, re-checked every price and deal, and tweaked my picks accordingly – we're really getting into the Black Friday spirit now!

If you're buying a cheaper soundbar, you'll see that some promise two channels of sound, and some promise three. What's the difference to what you'll hear in practice?

Three channels will mean left and right for width, plus a center channel that's focused on speech. This is, obviously, beneficial for speech clarity – so if that's a big factor in why you're looking for a soundbar, looking for a three-channel speaker is a good ideal. The Sony HT-S2000 is a perfect example of one, and comes recommended by us.

Sony HT-S2000 US deal: was $499 now $298 at Amazon
Sony HT-S2000 UK deal: was £399 now £299 at Currys

Sometimes, you're not ready to buy a soundbar with rear speakers right now, but you're hoping to be able to make that jump in the future – so if you buy smartly, you can choose an bar that has the option of adding rear speakers in the future, for a smaller outlay than buying a whole new system.

There are plenty of great bars that offer this! Sonos is the obvious one – the Sonos Ray, Sonos Beam 2, Sonos Arc and Sonos Arc Ultra can all take two Sonos speakers as wireless rears. This isn't a very cheap way to do it (two Sonos Era 100s is not a small outlay), but it sounds good.

Samsung also offers a great option here – buy the immersive and powerful Samsung HW-Q800C or the newer Samsung HW-Q800D, and you can add either the small Samsung SWA-9200S rear speakers, or the larger Samsung SWA-9500S speaker that include extra Dolby Atmos height channels as well as surround sound. This is probably the best-value way to eventually build a really powerful system.

You can also add speakers to Sony's soundbars – they're more expensive than Samsung's option, but if you don't want a subwoofer, this is my pick.

One of our favorite budget soundbar buys is the Amazon Fire TV Soundbar, which is just a smart-looking, no-nonsense TV sound upgrade that's ideal for the cheaper or smaller TVs, as we explain in our full Amazon Fire TV Soundbar review.

It provides a broader and better defined sound than TV speakers can manage, in a compact package, for a great price. With no subwoofer, you're not getting room-shaking cinematic sound, and probably some people will be happy with a more chill sound, as long as it's clear.

It has some features that work specifically with Fire TV models, but it works totally normally with any TV, and is a good option no matter what you have.

Amazon Fire TV Soundbar US deal: was $119 now $89 at Amazon
Amazon Fire TV Soundbar UK deal: was £119 now £99 at Amazon

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.