Best Wired Sound Systems 2021

The speakers included in TVs are almost always relatively weak. While they’re better than nothing, you can pretty easily improve the sound quality by getting a proper sound system. A simple soundbar offers a lot, though soundbars with a separate subwoofer tend to sound better, and a full surround sound system is best.

One of the issues with some sound systems though is the wireless functionality. You often need to pay for extra hardware, and especially if you live in a dense urban environment interference can be an issue. Wired sound systems just don’t have this issue and are generally easier to set up.

To help you get the best audio, we’ve drawn up a list of the best wired sound systems in 2021.

The Sonos Arc is a high-quality soundbar tuned for TV and movie playback. It features 11 drivers in total with two tweeters, two side-facing speakers, and two upward-facing speakers. The lack of a subwoofer does mean that the Arc is missing some depth to the bass. It’s 114cm wide, so is suited to 55-inch TVs or more.

The Arc can be connected with an HDMI eARC, optical digital, ethernet, and Wi-Fi. It can also be connected to smart speaker systems to enable home assistant functionality. One of the few downsides is that you can currently only configure the positional audio with an iOS device as Android is unsupported.

The Q Acoustics 3050i 5.1 Cinema Pack offers a full 5.1 surround sound system with a total of 14 drivers. The front speakers include a centerpiece and two tall side speakers. This setup can look striking, but may not be ideal if you’re wanting smaller speakers to place on the wall or on a shelf.

Vibrations from the speakers themselves are dampened in two ways. The frame is reinforced with a P2P bracing system, this increases rigidity and helps to dampen vibrations. An HPE system includes a sound dampening tube inside the speaker to absorb internal sounds.

The Sony HT-ST5000 soundbar and subwoofer were an early high-quality Dolby Atmos sound system. They remain high quality but are now a little outdated. This is seen in the connectivity options and the quality of the configuration of the upward-firing speakers. The price is pretty reasonable though, and the wireless options are useful.

The placement of the three tweeters in the centre of three of the woofers is somewhat unusual and leaves them a little vulnerable to damage. The remote isn’t particularly intuitive to use and it’s not possible to attach any other speakers.

The Klipsch Reference Theatre pack is an excellent budget option as the price for new models is significantly lower than when first released. At around the $300 to $400 mark, this 5.1 surround sound system is hard to beat.

The speakers themselves have a stylish appearance with spun copper cones. If they don’t fit your room though, they can be covered with grills which make them much more subtle. The lack of two extra satellites to make up a full 7.1 surround sound system is a bit of a shame. The small size of the speakers does, unfortunately, mean that the overall power of the sound is a bit lower than larger systems, but unless you’ve got a trained ear or can switch directly from one to the other it will be hard to tell the difference.

The Vizio Elevate attempts to shake things up in the soundbar space by adding some movement. The two ends rotate to add verticality to the sound when needed. This gives flexibility between forward and upward facing sound levels depending on the scene. It’s a bit gimmicky and is a potential failure point but it works pretty well.

The Elevate also includes a Subwoofer and two satellite speakers, so you don’t have to give up true surround sound for a soundbar. The total of 18 drivers includes five tweeters which may be a little high, but the output volume and depth doesn’t suffer from it. Unfortunately, the setup process is a little complicated and the remote isn’t the most intuitive to use.

That was our roundup of the best-wired sound systems in 2021. Have you recently bought a wired sound system? What did you go for and what sold you on it? Let us know down below.