If you have started switching on subtitles for shows in your own language, the TV’s speakers are usually the reason: voices get lost under music and effects. Amazon’s answer is a soundbar with a channel reserved for dialogue, and the Fire TV Soundbar Plus drops from $249.99 to $139.99 on Amazon for Prime members, 44% off, as an early Prime Big Deal Days offer. This is the newest model, a 3.1-channel bar with a subwoofer built into the cabinet.
A Center Channel for Voices and a Subwoofer Inside
The “3.1” describes how the sound is divided. Three channels sit across the front, left, right and center, and the “.1” is the bass. The center channel is the one that matters for the subtitle problem, because it carries dialogue separately and keeps it apart from the score and the explosions sent to the sides. On a thin TV, where two small speakers handle everything at once, that separation does not exist.
Bass comes from inside the bar, so there is no second box to place on the floor and no extra power cable to hide. That keeps the installation simple in a small living room or a bedroom, and I’d accept the trade-off there. In a larger room a separate subwoofer will go lower and louder than any built-in one, and Amazon sells that configuration too, starting at $234.99, as well as a set with surround speakers from $379.99.
Dolby Atmos and DTS:X are both supported. These formats place sounds in three dimensions, and Amazon describes audio that moves around you. From a single bar with no speakers behind the sofa, I would expect a wider and taller sound than the TV gives, and I would not expect effects that seem to come from the back of the room. For the price, the dialogue channel is the more useful feature of the two.
Setup uses the HDMI cable included in the box, plugged into the TV’s eARC or ARC port, which also keeps sound and picture in sync. Four modes adjust the tuning to the content: Movie, Music, Sports and Night, the last one being the mode to use when someone is asleep in the next room. Owners of a Fire TV get two extras, a single remote for the TV and the bar, and sound settings in the Fire TV audio menu, though Amazon specifies that this applies to select models.
Members only, and for the bar on its own: the Fire TV Soundbar Plus is $139.99 instead of $249.99 on Amazon as an exclusive Prime price, under the Early Prime Big Deal label. Returns are free.