A Sound Bar Explained…

As television sets have become increasingly thinner in recent years, the loudspeakers in TV’s have also become thinner and smaller. As these changes in TV’s evolved, so did the speakers used in them. It is no surprise that smaller speakers tend to lose the low frequency response, a characteristic of larger loudspeakers. This, coupled with the fact that your typical TV has the loudspeaker mounted at the back of the set, further diminishes the sound quality in addition to loudness. With the speakers mounted at the back of the TV set there is less accuracy in projecting higher frequencies to the listener.  The sum total of the combination of smaller, thinner and back mounted loudspeakers in your TV sets is diminished sound quality. Now for the audiophiles or even for those with decent audio awareness sound quality is not something to sacrifice so easily. Out of this need for enhanced audio quality the sound bar was born. A decent sound bar would overcome both diminished fidelity and loudness found in your typical TV set.

In simple terms, a sound bar is an array of loudspeakers arranged so they fit into one acoustic chamber. Generally, the speakers are front firing, that means the sound emanates from the front of the sound bar and is directed to the listener. This alone presents a vastly improved audio experience over the traditional TV speaker, as the high frequency content can be channeled directly to the listener.  With a sound bar there are more degrees of freedom to enhance sound quality. For example, sound bars can be active which means they have their own built in amplifiers and signal processing capabilities to simulate a surround sound experience usually achieved from the traditional 5.1 surround sound system. Further sound bars can be strategically placed for best reproduction of content from your TV or any sound source.

Now sound bars are not to be associated only with TV sets. They can be used in association with smart boards, teleconferencing units, projectors and the like. In other words, because of the versatility of sound bars as far as size and function are concerned, they can be used in a multiplicity of applications.

Stetron specializes in designing loudspeaker drivers and enclosures for sound bars.  Contact us for your next audio project where a sound bar is considered.