home theather sound system from Walmart?

[ShayOh]

Hi guys, im an average Joe when it comes to watching movies/home setup, but I was thinking since we upgraded our living room recently to maybe add some speakers/home theater.
I know it depends a lot on the room set up on how it will sound and im not looking into doing anything special like that, just to add a surround effect to our movies.
we currently have a $100 TCL soundbar+subwoofer combo from the local Walmart, I don't mind replacing it completely or just wireless speakers if that will be more cost-efficient,
any recommendations?

Thanks.

[QuantumRand]

What kind of budget are you looking at? There are a handful of pretty good soundbar options out there under $1000USD. The biggest downside to "Home Theater in a Box" solutions is that they usually lock you into an ecosystem and/or aren't very expandible, but for a plug and play solution, they're pretty great. I personally have the Sony HT-A9 with optional subwoofer (the small one) and it does an amazing job with positional audio and has some really punchy bass. Since its successor (the Theater Quad) came out, they've gotten cheaper, but still over $1k with the sub.

 

Rtings is a great place to start for home theater reviews.

 

I doubt your current soundbar supports adding additional speakers, though you can share the specific model number to confirm.

 

 

[saintlouisbagels]

Definitely give a budget. I'm convinced a few of my friends to go "KEF Q150 + some cheap integrated amplifier" and they're all tremendously happy. Significantly better than any soundbar you'll find in a similar price range.

 

https://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/kefq150wht/kef-q150-pair-5.25-2-way-bookshelf-speakers-white/1.html

https://www.amazon.com/LOXJIE-MA12070-Headphone-Amplifier-Bluetooth/dp/B08J7Z8TN6

 

Great stereo is much much much better than cheap surround.

[aggie113]

No shame in starting with a Home Theater in a Box setup.  If that fits your requirements right now then go for it.  My home theater journey started with an Aiwa home theater in a box setup from Target   The great thing about them is they usually let you upgrade piecemeal as you go along (stay away from proprietary stuff) and before you know it you've got a kick ass setup.

[Blue4130]

Rather than a home theater in a box, I'd go used if you don't care about the newest high tech audio like atmos. You can get screaming deals on 5.1 and 7.1 recievers now that are a few years old. Lots of people are jumping to atmos and ditching their old gear.