Bose - 550 Dolby Atmos Wi-Fi Bluetooth Soundbar

 Our store had it in clearance for $199 and was reduced to $149.  I bought it. It took me awhile to figure how to set it up with the music app. I replaced my Bose 2.1s series 3 speakers (that were over 10 years old and distortion were creeping into the bass) with this soundbar. A bass module would go a long way in bringing this along. I didn't notice much of a change between the center, treble, and bass changes. For the money, I can't complain. 

That is not true. 550 has atmos.

I have the Bose Ultra and it is indeed excellent for dialogue. It’s a bit more than what OP is willing to spend though. The lower model (550/600/Smart) is also quite good. I think for Black Friday the 550 was selling for about $200. I tried the 600, Ultra, Q990C, Arc Ultra, Beam 2 and ultimately kept the Bose Ultra mainly for the dialogue clarity.

I got the Bose 550 https://electronics.woot.com/offers/bose-550-dolby-atmos-wi-fi-bluetooth-soundbar-2 Can anyone speak to how this compares?

I got the Bose S550 soundbar with Atmos on sale for $150 and for that price.... I'm really impressed by the sound. It's got just enough bass for my 2nd floor apt. So the sound is rich, but I'm not pissing off my neighbors. I know it doesn't compare with full setups, but for my small space I feel it's ideal. Also upgraded from an 11 year old Samsung soundbar so the difference is night and day.

Just for reference, I got used Bose TV Speakers for my parents at $50 a pop with eARC support. These are bad. Minor upgrade to your TV at best. They are worth $40 itself. Yamaha ATS soundbars from eBay are $40 refurbished and they have better sound + subwoofer out. IMO better to get premium soundbars used since they hold value like copper infused gold.

I don’t really follow the market . But for compact speakers Samsungs/LGs do have speakers with center channels (3.0 or more) which help tremendously with dialogue, something that most TV speakers struggle with. I like to get Bose for my parents just purely because they are dead simple to use, well built, and go pretty loud without the risk of permanently damaging them. Hope that helps. eBay refurbs with 20% coupons, Amazon resale clearance when they run extra % off, if you’re not too keen on hitting up facebook marketplace. But you do pay a hefty fee for convenience.

Sonos arc ultra butnit is over the budget. The old arc is another good option for the budget. Bose 550 is pretty good for music. Sennheiser ambeo are really good with music as well. Samsung has it in the tv department with atmos. But the music is ok.