This flagship soundbar bundle delivers a convincingly immersive sound
Soundbar package| £1399| whf.cm/Q990C
In an idealworld, a full-fat AVR and surround system would be the obvious way to enhance your TV set’s audio for movies and TV shows. But let’s be realistic – many of us don’t have the space to accommodate this, or even the desire to entertain the idea.
This is partly why alternative solutions such as soundbars have become so popular. However, even a decent soundbar can often benefit from a little support. Sure, many standalone bars produce impressive Dolby Atmos audio but they can’t compete with genuine surround sound coming at you from all angles.
Enter the Samsung Q990C, a soundbar joined by a pair of wireless surround speakers and a wireless subwoofer ready to lend a helping hand.
The Q990C currently costs £1399. This puts the package up against standalone soundbars such as the Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar Plus (£1299) and Sony HT-A7000 (£1199). These bars are, of course, very different propositions to this Samsung bundle as they don’t come with surrounds or a subwoofer, but both bars received five-star reviews from us, while the Sony is also an Award-winner.
The Sonos Arc soundbar (£799) paired with a couple of surrounds, such as the Sonos Era 100 (£448 per pair), would come just shy of the Q990C’s price tag. Adding a subwoofer such as the Sonos Sub Mini (£430) would tip the Sonos system to the more expensive side.
The large soundbar included in this package measures 123cm in width and sports a blocky, angular design. Weighing just short of 8kg, it’s a fairly heavy unit, feeling well built and solid.
On the inside
Behind the front grille you will find the centre, left, and right channels, which each use a 110 x 52mm racetrack driver and a 52mm tweeter. On each end of the bar, there are ‘side’ and ‘wide’ drivers – full-range drivers which work in tandem with the surrounds to fill the physical space between the units with sound. Finishing off the soundbar’s drivers are 50mm full-range up-firing drivers, one on either end.
The subwoofer houses a 20cm driver and weighs 7.7kg. At 41cm high (and deep) and 22cm wide, it’s not enormous and so isn’t a nightmare to move. While subs are not usually picky about position, we would nevertheless recommend placing it as close to the soundbar as you can to help integration.
The surrounds are pretty compact, though
