Soundbars/Soundbases

The category has been around for more than a decade, but the Beosound Stage is the first dedicated soundbar to come from the Bang & Olufsen stable – and it arrives with a sonic maturity that makes you think B&O has been making these things for years.

Bose has to be different. You can’t call the Cinemate 1SR a soundbar, it’s a sound array. Likewise, the sub is not a sub, it’s an Acoustimass module. Bose is also coy about giving out technical specifications, so I know not what the power output is of either component. What I do know is that the ‘array’ has five drivers and connects by cable, or wirelessly, to the Acoustimass module.

The Bose Solo is more of a soundbox than a soundbar, having been designed by Bose to sit underneath your screen rather than in front of it. This cunning approach, where the TV stand is plonked on top of the unit, eliminates the problem of the soundbar encroaching on the screen (or the remote control receiver at the very least), which can happen with shallow stands and/or tall 'bars. From a distance the box looks like a PVR or deck, upon which one would never dream of placing a TV.

The LED-inspired move towards wafer-thin TV screens means there’s no room inside their cabinets for powerful speakers. The result? Weedy, strained sound quality. Little wonder, then, that sales of soundbars have gone through the roof and audio brands are falling over themselves to get a slice of the pie. One such brand is Bowers & Wilkins, which in 2009 launched the Panorama – an expensive, luxurious soundbar that delivered stunning sound quality but lacked crucial HDMI connections.

The aptly-named Cambridge Audio Minx TV is minimalist in several senses, with an absence of controls and displays on its body and a form factor that’s not much larger than a briefcase. It has, however, been stress-tested to support televisions up to 30kg, so its meagre 49cm width could prove the main limiting factor in terms of logistics.

The Canton DM 50’s design and build are sturdy and unassuming, especially in its black livery (a white option is also on sale). It can bear a 40kg load and has dimensions of 54 x 30cm. There are no HDMI inputs so hi-res BD audio cannot be decoded but digital optical and coaxial inputs provide a pathway for PCM signals with Dolby Digital decoding and DTS TruSurround playback. Wireless Bluetooth audio is compatible with the CD-quality apt-X codec.

All soundbases pretend they're ready for the task of doubling up as a plinth for your flatscreen TV, yet some tend to be quite narrow, making them inelegant – and sometimes impractical – partners for larger-sized screens. The introduction of Canton's lengthy DM100 is therefore a welcome move.