Aurea Sono S100

The S100 exists to fix the thin, boxy sound of a flat television without taking over the room. Two channels, no subwoofer, one cable.

About the power figure. We quote 45 W RMS, which is the continuous output the amplifier actually sustains. Competing bars of exactly this class are advertised at 135 W — that is the peak figure, three times the RMS, and it tells you nothing about how loud the bar goes. We would rather publish the smaller number that means something.

Connection is by HDMI ARC. That matters more than it sounds: with ARC, your television remote controls the volume and the bar switches on and off with the set. Bars that only offer optical or RCA leave you juggling two remotes, and that is the single most common reason people send a soundbar back.

Two limits worth being clear about. There is no subwoofer, so anything below roughly 80 Hz simply is not there — explosions will sound polite. And with no dedicated centre channel, dialogue sits between the two speakers rather than anchored to the screen, which you notice if you sit off to one side. If you want either of those fixed, look at the S200.