Soundbars/Soundbases

The Canton DM55 soundbase replaces the terrific DM50, offering some new features and upgraded audio. It’s the smallest of three models from the German brand, alongside the DM75 and DM100, which are both designed for bigger rooms and TVs.

Anyone drawing up a mid-range/premium soundbar shortlist will no doubt be intrigued by Yamaha's YSP-1600. Selling for £500, it shares some of the DNA of the brand's higher-end models (the YSP-2500 and YSP-5600) but leaves more cash in the bank for Blu-rays. There are plenty of other prospect at this price, however, so can the soundbar do enough to make it an essential audition?

Yamaha's YSP-5600SW Dolby Atmos-enabled soundbar system has scrambled my mind. It sounds like a fully-fledged home theatre but clearly isn't; it looks like a soundbar but is something altogether more advanced. Could this be the future of home cinema?

The country that gave us democracy, philosophy and, er, ouzo may be in an economic jam but Greece isn’t finished yet. Native brand Crystal Acoustics has what it hopes is a major contribution to home cinema in the form of WiSound. Developed in conjunction with boffins at the University of Patras, this tech claims to up the ante for audio from a single-box product.

TV manufacturers are thankfully paying more attention to sound these days, particularly in their high-end models. But what if you're happy with your existing telly in all respects bar audio? Here's the Otone SoundBase, a replacement TV speaker system with Bluetooth connectivity.

Roth is a soundbase debutante, and takes to the stage with the impressively-specced Neo 6.2 SoundCore. The name’s a bit of a mouthful but those numbers relate to the number of speaker drivers on board – six full-rangers and two downward-firing subs.

Calling the sound that comes out of a regular soundbar 'surround sound' is like saying that watching the World Cup on TV is the same as being in the stadium. But, judging from marketing literature, it's a good selling feature.