Does Soundbar Size Matter? How Big a Soundbar You Need

Does soundbar size matter? It does, for three reasons you’ll notice on the first night: how it looks under the TV, where the voices seem to come from, and whether it can fill the room.

Buy one far wider than the screen, and the sound can seem to spread past the picture instead of coming from it.

Buy one too small for an open-plan living room, and even a good bar can sound thin at the back of the room.

The width part has a simple rule of thumb, and the room part takes a few more minutes.

Below are the makers’ sizing guides, a width chart for common TV sizes, and the cases where the room matters more than the TV.

Does Soundbar Size Matter for Sound or Just Looks?

That first night covers both, and the makers treat size as more than decoration. What Hi-Fi’s advice is that a soundbar too big for the TV won’t just look awkward, it will skew the sound: soundbars are designed to project sound from just below the screen, so a bar that extends well past the TV can throw the staging off (What Hi-Fi).

Bose adds the other half of the answer. Buying the largest soundbar available may overwhelm a small space, it says, while a small soundbar may not have the power and projection for a large, open area (Bose).

So size matters twice: the width should suit the TV, and the bar’s power and speaker count should suit the room.

How Big of a Soundbar Do You Need for Your TV?

For the width, the answer is roughly the same width as the TV, or a little narrower. Samsung’s sizing guide says the soundbar should be either the same length as the TV or just a bit shorter, for a balanced look under the screen (Samsung).

Samsung pairs its bars with TV sizes like this, and the TV’s own width (calculated from its 16:9 screen size) shows how close the fit is:

In other words, Samsung’s picks run from about 85% of the TV’s width up to roughly its full width. A bar a few inches narrower than the screen is the safe middle.

The width of a TV is about 87% of its diagonal size, so you can work out your own. A 55-inch TV is about 48 inches wide, a 70-inch about 61 inches, and a 75-inch about 65 inches.

What Size Soundbar Fits a 55, 70 or 75-Inch TV?

Those widths turn Samsung’s rule into a shopping list. Aim for a bar no wider than the TV and not much narrower than about 85% of it:

What Hi-Fi’s examples roughly line up with this. It suggests the 55 cm (about 22-inch) Creative Stage Pro for a 32-inch TV, and calls the 114 cm (about 45-inch) Sonos Arc ideal for TVs around 55 inches.

Smaller bars aren’t wrong under bigger TVs, as long as they have the power for the room. What Hi-Fi says the compact Sonos Beam Gen 2 can still serve bigger TVs well.

Which Soundbars Suit Small TVs?

At the small end of that table, the bar has to be compact without sounding thin. What Hi-Fi’s picks for small TVs start with the 55 cm Creative Stage Pro, small enough for a 32-inch TV but with a separate subwoofer to find room for.

For a 43-inch TV, What Hi-Fi suggests the Sony HT-SF150, an affordable bar with Bluetooth for playback from a phone and Sony’s S-Force Front Surround processing. Its top small pick is the Sonos Beam Gen 2, which it says handles Dolby Atmos without upward-firing drivers.

Which Soundbars Suit Very Big TVs?

At the other end, a very big TV usually sits in a big room, and the soundbar needs to scale up with it. What Hi-Fi’s picks for the largest screens include the Samsung HW-Q990F, which comes with a subwoofer and two surround speakers, and the Sonos Arc Ultra, which it says has enough scale to do even huge TVs justice.

Its biggest example, the Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar Max, stands 127 cm (50 inches) wide, the widest bar in its roundup. What Hi-Fi’s point about those packages is that a big TV demands a big room, which is exactly where extra speakers earn their space.

Bose makes the same case for large rooms: a big soundbar ideally paired with other speakers for a full home theater system. Its Smart Soundbar 600, it adds, can be paired with surround speakers to bring a mid-sized setup up to that level.

Does Room Size Matter More Than TV Size?

For how the bar sounds, the room often decides. Bose’s guide puts the tipping points in square feet: rooms of 500 square feet or more, especially open-plan spaces with high ceilings, need a powerful soundbar, ideally with extra speakers, because sound gets lost and bounces off windows, bare walls and uncovered floors.

The average US living room is around 340 square feet with 9-foot ceilings, according to Bose, and a midsize bar suits it, since rugs, curtains and art soak up some of the reflections. Small bedrooms and offices of 200 square feet or less are full of soft, sound-absorbing materials, so a compact bar with a few speakers works fine there.

Bose’s own range follows that logic. Its Smart Ultra Soundbar is just over 41 inches wide, which Bose calls roughly the width of a 50-inch TV, with nine speakers for big rooms, while its TV Speaker is 23.4 inches wide for small spaces.

If your room is large, the channel count matters as much as the width. Our explainer on the difference between 3.1 and 5.1 bars covers what the extra channels add.

Does Soundbar Height Matter?

Width gets the attention, but height causes the most practical problems. What Hi-Fi warns that a soundbar mustn’t block the bottom of the screen, and says it’s vital to measure the bar’s height before buying, even though many premium TVs let you raise the screen to make room.

Bose flags a related snag: if there’s little or no gap between the soundbar and the TV, the bar can block the TV’s infrared sensor, so the remote stops working reliably. Leave a gap below the screen.

Height also matters for the sound itself. Bose recommends keeping the soundbar at the same height as your ears when you’re seated, so the sound has a clear path to you.

Does Soundbar Size Affect Where You Can Put It?

Beyond the TV, the bar has to fit the furniture, and bigger bars have more constraints. Samsung says a soundbar on a stand should be centered in front of the TV and smaller than the TV console in both size and width, and a wall-mounted TV should get a wall-mounted bar, slightly below it.

Big Dolby Atmos bars add another limit. What Hi-Fi and Bose both warn that bars with upward-firing drivers don’t work as intended on a shelf or recessed into a cabinet, because the height channels fire into the surface above.

Weight is the last check for wall-mounting. What Hi-Fi’s example is the Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar Max, which is 127 cm (50 inches) wide and weighs 18.5 kg (about 41 pounds), so make sure the wall can hold it.

Our guide to the best spot for a soundbar covers shelves, mounts and heights in more detail.

Is a Bigger Soundbar Always Better?

That depends on what “bigger” buys you. A wider bar usually has room for more speakers, and Bose’s largest bar uses that space for nine speakers and up-firing drivers, but width alone doesn’t make it sound better in a small room.

In a bedroom or a small living room, a compact bar that fits the TV is the better buy, and the money saved can go on a subwoofer. In a big, open room, the extra speakers and power of a larger bar, or a bar with rear speakers, are worth the space.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a soundbar be wider than the TV?

It can, but What Hi-Fi warns that a bar extending well beyond the TV can throw the sound staging off, and Samsung recommends the same width or slightly shorter.

What size soundbar do I need for a 55-inch TV?

A 55-inch TV is about 48 inches wide, so a soundbar of roughly 41 to 48 inches fits Samsung’s rule. What Hi-Fi calls the 45-inch Sonos Arc ideal for TVs around 55 inches.

Is a small soundbar enough for a big TV?

It can be in a small or medium room. What Hi-Fi says the compact Sonos Beam Gen 2 can serve bigger TVs well, though a large, open room benefits from a bigger, more powerful bar or from added rear speakers and a subwoofer.

Does a longer soundbar sound better?

Not by itself. A longer bar has room for more speakers, but Bose says the room’s size and surfaces, the number of speakers and the audio formats matter as much as the width.