Aurea Sono S600

The S600 is the only system we sell where the sound actually comes from behind you. Most soundbars that advertise surround are doing it with processing, bouncing sound off your walls and hoping. This one puts two real speakers behind the sofa.

Those rear speakers are wireless and run on internal batteries, so there is no cable to run around the skirting board. Be aware of the trade-off: the batteries last about four hours at maximum volume. That covers a film comfortably. A film followed by two episodes of something will need a recharge, and we would rather you knew that now.

The centre channel is the part people underestimate. With a dedicated speaker for dialogue, voices are anchored to the screen instead of floating between the left and right channels. It is the single biggest improvement over a 2.1 bar, and it is why people stop reaching for the subtitle button.

One point where we differ from much of the market. This system decodes Dolby Audio — that is Dolby Digital 5.1. It does not decode Dolby Atmos, and there are no upward-firing drivers. Plenty of systems at this price advertise Atmos on hardware that cannot reproduce height at all. If Atmos matters to you, the S400 has genuine upward-firing drivers.

The bar is 90 cm wide, so check your stand before ordering. The subwoofer is wireless and pairs itself at power-on.