Soundbars are a sleek way to fill a room with high-quality sound. All it takes is setting up the speaker, and you are essentially done, but what if you want to enhance your sound experience even more?

Can you connect wireless speakers to a soundbar?

Most soundbars cannot connect to wireless speakers as this option is seldom provided by manufacturers. A soundbar is designed to offer a great sound experience while taking up minimal space, and additional speakers can actually ruin the listening experience.

In this article, we will be going over why most soundbars don’t include wireless connectivity for additional speakers. But we will mention ways you can improve your listening experience! If you would like to learn more, we encourage you to read on!

Also read: 3 Easy Ways to Connect Sonos to TV Wirelessly

What Is a Soundbar?

Many people value sound quality but are now thrilled with the idea of a massive sound system in their living room/bedroom taking up space. What do you do in this instance?

In this case, turning to a soundbar makes a lot of sense. They don’t take up much space, they can be quite affordable, and they distribute sound quite well given their length.

It’s no secret that modern televisions have weak speakers most of the time due to insanely thin bezels. Where do they put the speakers anyway? It is usually either on the sides or worse, near the back.

There are multiple ways you can go about significantly improving the sound quality of your content, but one of the more popular methods is to simply use a soundbar.

They are easy to fit in most places, don’t have to cost a lot of money, and produce much better sound than a TV speaker. Essentially, the point of a soundbar is minimalism.

But with sound only coming from one source, there are many people wanting to improve their audio experience and upgrade to a surround sound experience by including additional speakers—but can you do this, and is it a good idea?

The Problem With Soundbars and Additional Speakers

The short answer to if you can wireless connect speakers to a soundbar is that it depends on which soundbar you have.

Usually, soundbars with this feature will have recommended manufacture specific speakers to pair with it for optimal audio quality.

But the cost of buying a good soundbar + good speakers will be as, if not more expensive, than a dedicated surround sound setup, making it more of an option for someone who already owns a soundbar.

However, there are soundbars that come with additional speakers and are designed to provide a surround sound experience without the space requirements of a larger setup.

One such example is the JBL Bar 5.1 (see it on Amazon), although, this is an entirely different thing from using your own speaker, which can be counterproductive in terms of improving your audio experience if you happen to use a soundbar that allows this.

Why is using your own third party speaker a bad idea? Each speaker is tuned to output sound differently. A soundbar is designed to produce consistent audio quality, and many of the more expensive models incorporate surround sound to the best of their abilities.

If you add a third-party speaker to the mix, your content will likely sound different across multiple speakers creating a distracting experience.

What You Can Do to Improve Soundbar Audio Quality

First, see if your specific soundbar can pair with manufacturer recommended wireless speakers. Not a lot do, but there are some out there, and you might be lucky to happen to have one. If not, here is what you can do to help improve your audio experience.

Consider Getting a Subwoofer

If you wish to enhance your listening experience with a soundbar you currently have, likely your best option would be to add a subwoofer to your setup if you haven’t done so already.

Check out my top recommendations for subwoofers.

A subwoofer will allow you to “feel” sound by playing low frequencies, otherwise known as bass. This is great for bass-heavy music and action movies/games and can really take your audio experience to the next level without much effort.

Be careful, though, as not all soundbars can work with a third party subwoofer specifically because they don’t have the connection for one.

So when shopping for a subwoofer, ensure that your soundbar is compatible. There is a chance that your soundbar can use a proprietary subwoofer. Samsung soundbars, for instance, use their own subwoofers.

Adjust Equalizer Settings

If you find that you aren’t getting the sound you want out of your soundbar, check to see if you can adjust the equalizer settings.

These days, many soundbars can connect to a mobile app where you can adjust the sound to your preference. Even if not, check to see if you can still adjust the sound—it can make quite the difference.

Move Your Soundbar

The optimal positioning of a soundbar is that it should line up with the tv as in it should be directly above or below it—not off to the side or crooked in any way.

A soundbar is designed to evenly distribute sound directly in front of it, and so if it isn’t emitting sound directly at you, then your audio experience is going to be compromised.

If you are struggling for space, consider how you can make room. If the TV and soundbar can’t fit on the stand at the same time, you can either mount the TV or the soundbar on the wall above it. Just ensure that the soundbar remains close to the TV to avoid any audio delay.

This video below explains where to properly position speakers in general.

Upgrading Your Soundbar

If you are still not happy with your current sound setup, consider an upgrade. There are many dirt-cheap soundbars that do the trick but won’t wow in terms of audio quality.

Fortunately, you don’t have to spend $600+ for your content to sound good. Below we have our recommendations for a better audio experience at a moderately affordable price.

Sony HTX8500

In terms of offering fantastic sound while staying outside the extremely expensive territory, the Sony HTX8500 is perhaps one of the best out there in the soundbar landscape.

Thanks to Dolby Atmos combined with DTS:X and Sony’s proprietary vertical sound engine, this soundbar sounds fantastic and provides a sense of true immersion as sound placement is accurate to what is going on.

For example, if there is a plane overhead in a movie, you’ll hear the plane above you in your room. The technology is quite impressive and is usually reserved for much more experience equipment. If you want surround sound out of a soundbar, this will offer it.

Furthermore, it features built-in subwoofers for dramatic bass—no need for a separate subwoofer taking up space!

This is a legit home theatre sound system wrapped up in a sleek, easy to install package that we think you will really enjoy.

JBL Bar 2.1

JBL offers soundbars at multiple prices. The Bar 2.1 is a great middle option that offers powerful, clear sound with a dedicated wireless subwoofer to further enhance the audio of your content.

It isn’t just a speaker for your TV either; thanks to the Bluetooth capabilities, you can pair it to your phone to listen to music, and we think you’ll want to with such fantastic audio quality.

Also, consider the JBL 5.1 we mentioned earlier if you’d like a true surround sound experience. It features detachable wireless speakers that you can place where you see fit. This is likely the type of setup you were thinking of coming into this read!

Conclusion

While the vast majority of soundbars don’t offer expandability, you can still get a great listening experience with them and possibly add a subwoofer for more intense sound.

If you’d like a total upgrade to your audio setup, your best bet is to look for a soundbar that features surround sound as a selling point or at least excellent audio quality in general.

Check out: 13 Best Soundbars Without Subwoofer

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