10 Best Soundbars Under 200 Dollars to Buy One in 2024

Soundbars are a good alternative to home theatre systems as they help maintain a minimalistic aesthetic to your home theatre systems. While they won’t teleport you back into the jungles of vietnam while watching Apocalypse Now because, A. they’re too small and B. teleportation would be a stupid feature to add to a sound system. However, they make sure your that experience was worth the while.

Soundbars are easy to setup, don’t need drain the electricity from a whole city when you turn them on and look nice sitting under your television sets.

If you have $200 to spare and enjoy an immersive movie watching experience,

Here’s a list of Ten Best Soundbars Just for You:

1. JBL Bar Studio 2.0-Channel Soundbar

JBL has a history of making sound related electronics since 1946. They’ve cemented the mid-range sound products market. The brand is as reliable as they come.

The studio soundbar is an all round performer. It has a small and rounded construction (which is sturdy) and borrows over its plastic meshed design over from its portable-bluetooth-speaker cousins. It doesn’t get very loud but also doesn’t crackle under the load of full volume.

The i/o (inputs-outputs) are well placed, behind the body in one square cut-out on the soundbar. With just four buttons on top, it keeps things rather uncomplicated.

2. VIZIO SB3621n-F8M 36 2.1 Channel Soundbar

This soundbar is an example of how to make sound systems for this price range. Vizio clearly knows what they’re doing. The design is great, the external subwoofer is good and build quality is amongst the best in the list.

It does a very good job at emulating the surround sound experience (DTS virtual X) and the subwoofer does a fairly good job at representing the low to mid range sounds. By the way, this is a big soundbar and I mean BIG! But it still manages to not be a gigantic slab of plastic because of its sleek and slender design.

The remote included goes above and beyond the price range with its options and functionality. It even has a small LCD display built-in. At this point, I’m practically a shill for Vizio and its products. They’re just that good.

3. Yamaha YAS-107BL Soundbar

Yamaha and sound are synonymous with one another at this point. This soundbar stands out in every area possible, but the design just might be the most unique thing about it. Mostly plastic, it is wrapped in a fabric giving it all a well tied together aesthetic. This monster of a soundbar pumps out 120W of power sporting a pair of stereo speakers for each frequency range (low, mid and high).

It provides you with a hand-full of connections. Here, most of all, you will notice the differences in different connection types. The HDMI out will blow you out of your own house window when you press play with its HDCP 2.2 supported sound quality.

It has some bells and whistles as well – HDMI 4.2, High quality optical inputs, 3.5mm analog audio input and several different sound profiles in-built. If you’re an audiophile, this one’s for you. In terms on acoustical quality, this is the best in the list.

4. VIZIO SB2821-D6 28-Inch 2.1 Channel Sound bar

Look who it is again. The SB2821-D6 is like a smaller cousin of the SB3621n-F8M. That’s not to say that its the black sheep in the family. No, its not. For its $60 cheaper price, some corners needed to be cut but VIZIO tried to remove all that it deemed unnecessary and kept what makes their soundbars the best in class. First, the inches, size of the soundbar is smaller because the drivers are smaller.

It comes with a subwoofer but the performance is nowhere near its older brothers. Its well built and designed, going for a more cuboidal aesthetic as opposed to the sleek and slender appeal of the F8M. It’s the same but smaller and lacks a few key features. Also missing is the fancy remote and the DTS virtual X surround sound.

 

5. Samsung HW-M360/ZA 2.1 Channel 200 Watt Wireless Audio Soundbar

Here is an odd-eccentric entry into list and by that I mean the GOOD kind of odd-eccentric not the kind that runs behind you with a kitchen knife because you don’t arrange the sock drawer in the alphabetical order of colours. Samsung is well-regarded in a different market of technology. They somehow manage to do a great job here, as well. This soundbar is a monster with its 200W output.

Yes, I said 200W. It will blow a hole straight through your wall and your neighbours wall if played at full volumes. Not too shabby in the design department with a slender cuboidal design that runs horizontally, like forever, in length. It comes with a subwoofer unit that does a pretty good job (bass-heads will appreciate). It doesn’t hold grounds in terms of acoustic technology like Vizio and Yamaha do.

But, I can bet you a dollar that the sound engineers at Samsung already knew that so they decided to go with something that would make your eyeballs do cartwheels in their sockets when you press the play button. This one might not be the best in class for acoustics but surely makes a helluva blast radius when you watch films on your flatscreen.

 

6. Wohome TV Soundbar S9220 Pro

It is truly odd to see a brand like Wohome in this category, they are mostly known for their low range options in soundbars. Honestly, it is here solely due to a small technicality. It is priced at $5 above the $100 range.

That’s not to say that its a bad soundbar by any means, it pretty good for its price. However, with its low range tag it carries over some of its problems to this side of the aisle – it looks cheap, feels cheap and quality of accessories (remote, wires, etc) are also pretty cheap. In fact, it looks so cheap that if someone stole it in the darkness of the night, they would surely return it by next morning.

Judging the book beyond the cover, it does have a few bells and whistles. The connection port options are quite varied, gives you a lot of accessories and connectors (provided in-box), supports surround sound (great for the price), has 6 stereo drivers (4 speakers, 2 tweeters and 2 additional bass tubes). If you look beyond the cheap aesthetics, this is a pretty sweet deal.

 

7. VIZIO SB3821-C6 38-Inch 2.1 Channel Soundbar

If and when you have a look at this soundbar, you will get a strong sense of Deja-vu. Not to imply that its a carbon copy of other designs but…it kinda is. To be completely honest, it actually slots in-between the lower range SB2821-D6 and the slightly higher range SB3621n-F8M. Looks exactly like the D6 but its a bigger bulkier version of the same. It both contains more features but is lacking at the same time.

I don’t really know where it belongs but if you have a price range that adamantly  doesn’t extend beyond $150-160 this one’s for you. Not much else to say. It is like the sibling that no one asked for but also at the same time, don’t mind having.

 

8. Polk Audio – 2.1-Channel Soundbar – Signa S1 AM9214-A

Here’s a device that is weirdly well placed in the list. It is not particularly good at creating a immersive film audio, at the same time it is quite good for listening to music. I don’t know if it has a place in your living area (under your television) but should it be thrown out of your area of consideration? For starters, this one is pretty cheap in price-tag but not in its design and build quality. It comes paired with a subwoofer, which is half decent.

The remote looks decent, it has two pairs of stereo speakers (2 speakers and 2 tweeters), supports Dolby digital via optical cable and a nifty Voice adjusting software inbuilt for dialogue audio optimisation. Plus it comes with multiple audio related features (night mode voice adjust, movie mode, music mode, etc).

 

9. Meidong TV Soundbar with Sub – KY 2022

Medong is full of surprises. There is much to offer here at a $140 price tag. Its i/o has rich and varied options.. Design isn’t half bad. Included subwoofer is actually good. The soundbar itself is pretty big at 37 inches. Remote control included is pretty decent.

Cables out of the box leave something to be desired when it comes to quality but are provided nonetheless (RCA, AUX, Optical-in and 3.5mm line inputs are given free of cost). It doesn’t support Dolby digital but does a decent job at emulating surround sound. A decent bid for the price perhaps but still a risky gamble.

 

10. Pyle 3D Surround Bluetooth Soundbar PSBV200BT

Not to sound complacent, but technically, this is less of a bar and more of a box. Its a ‘soundbox’ because of its boxy design. Which works well for a unique aesthetic that makes it look less like a ‘Soundbar’ and more like a juiced up VCR (very retro).

It looks like an FM tuner that starts playing ominous 50s jazz by itself when you’re alone at home with it. It looks like it was pulled right out of a console aboard the USS enterprise. So, ‘soundbox’ here is pretty well priced at $104, officially making it the cheapest priced and only soundbox on the list.

Unique aesthetics aside, it does pack some power under the hood with Dolby 5.1 surround sound support, 5 drivers in total (2 full range, 2 tweeters and one inbuilt subwoofer), lots of connections (AUX and 2 RCA inputs) and an inbuilt amplifier with EQ audio configuration.

In the front, a retro looking panel with an old LCD display and a lot of buttons, again. And yeah, they HAVE thrown in a FM tuner, into the soundbox (if the design didn’t scream retro at you). This is a music lovers dream. Doesn’t hold up well against the competition in terms of cinematic immersion. It has bluetooth but the technology like its design – is ancient.