Samsung - HW-Q700C

If you truly want a surround experience for under 600 you can try if you can find the Q700C or Q800C on sale. Then pair them with the sperately available SWA-9500S rear speakers. This way you get real surround sound and it should hopefully be within your budget

I can understand your logic. I’ve got a bunch of Apple devices, one HomePod 2, and a Samsung Q700C. Let me give you some perspective. If you’re comparing a HomePod 2 stereo pair vs the Samsung Q800F, it comes down to use case. Objectively, the Q800F is the stronger home theater setup because it has a dedicated sub, a centre channel, and real up-firing speakers. That translates into around 40–60% better performance overall for movies and TV: deeper bass, louder output, and clearer dialogue. HomePods hold their ground in music playback though. In a medium-sized room with Apple TV and Apple Music, a stereo pair sounds very clean, accurate, and integrated. The gap there is smaller, maybe only 10–20%, and in some cases HomePods actually feel more natural. So: For big cinematic Atmos, explosions, and room-filling sound - Q800F wins hands down. For music, simplicity, and Apple ecosystem integration - HomePod 2 pair can be just as satisfying. Basically, if your main priority is movies and immersion, go with the soundbar. If it’s music and seamless Apple integration, the HomePods won’t disappoint.

Upgraded my 10 yr old Samsung soundbar to the Q700c for AU$497 (EOY). Great bass and dialogue are crystal clear. Great value for money

I would say don't go below q700c as it has nice atmos and you can pair with 9500s to have true 5.1.4

If you are playing from 2 meters from the display you can use a soundbar. I don't know what is your budget you can go atmos too. Q700C is a nice soundbar.

I have the q700c model with the latest firmware. It is an amazing soundbar. I paid like 400 usd. Techno music is super good for this price. Fancy Bluetooth speakers like anker x600 cost you like 170 usd lol. Anyways atmos effect is very nice. No need to but the 990D or C for low budget. 200 usd and you can buy the upgrade 9500swa satellites make your system 3.1.2 to 5.1.4 at that is true atmos and surround together...

Yes. It has dedicated height channels. I live in a concrete apartment. And up firing works amazing. People buy discrete up firing satellites. What makes you believe they will perform significantly different than sound bar upfiring drivers? For movies atmos doesn't even matter. 120 mins of the movie and 6 mins atmos scene... 5. 1 is all you ever need for movies. You be like : true 5.1 in soundbar, lol. Well yes satellites exist.. I play with my pc and ps5 on oled TV, arc ed to soundbar. Atmos makes a huge difference on gaming... Just play any call of duty made from 2020 and beyond with maxed atmos channels on q700c... If your ceilings are concrete like mine, you will hear airstrikes,, UAVs, choppers sounds etc coming from above... That is atmos. And when you go 0.0.4 atmos you can hear its direction as becomes surround actually, in its own axis.. Gotta place the soundbar to 70-80 cm off the floor same for atmos/surround satellites. There is a reason why everyone loved 990d/c soundbars. They don't cost a lot but they bring a real atmos bubble effect out of the box. People sold their AVRs. Soundbars have actually improved a lot. You shouldn't have been mocking atmos in a soundbar (up firing tech) but techno genre sounding very decent with an organic feeling bass from a 400 usd soundsystdm. It's more unlikely... There are very expensive atmos upfiring units in the market. And they are there because they work... But not in every house. If your ceiling is dry wall or vaulted etc it won't work..

The most similar thing I had to that soundbar was the Samsung q700c, it was notoriously better in every sense of the word to my LG C1's at the time, my current G4 also sounds like crap so I assume is the same, never expect decent sound from any TV really. I did upgrade shortly after to the q990c because before the q700c, I didn't really trust soundbars at all, so going for the entry-level one was my version of playing it safe. from the q700c to the q990c the difference was very noticeable too, so In case your scenario is the same, I would suggest to go directly to a higher end one if possible.

at the time it was close to 350, but I don't remember if that was normal or discounted. The q700c was less than 400w and the S70TR is rated for 500w, I would still look for reviews, but I would assume is a good one, and for sure better than any internal speaker

If you want high end, a Q930 (a B instead of D is likely cheaper) is good enough for you IMHO. It'll come with the rear surround speakers that also fire from the top. I have a C3 in a small living room and picked up a Q990 and it is definitely overkill. It's great but it's a lot for a small area. Don't get me wrong, it sounds great to me. It beats my older Q70T that I had paired SWA8500 read surround speakers. However, if I managed to find a Q930 at an even better price than what I got the Q990, it would have more than did the job. The Q910 would essentially be I think the same soundbar as the Q930, but the rear surround speakers are not wireless and only fire from the side. The best Samsung model that is only soundbar with subwoofer would be the Q900D. It's the same soundbar that comes with the Q990D (bigger than the Q930's bar). It's huge though. If you want to add the wireless rear surround speakers to the Q900 later, it'll be the SWA9500s. They are NOT the same wireless speakers as the ones that come with the Q990 but work similarly. They are wireless with front, side, and top firing. The most budget Samsung option that can do Atmos is the Q600C. I don't think they released a "D" model for this year so that might be cheaper. I believe the cheapest Atmos capable model this year from Samsung Q700D. However, the Q600 models are NOT compatible with the SWA9500s wireless surround speakers. The Q600 from what I am aware of are only compatible with the SWA9200s surround speakers. The SWA9200s I believe are only side firing. The cheapest bar that will work with the SWA9500 I believe will be the Q700C. It'll also work with the Q800 as well. The Q800D would likely be the "go nicer but not top of the line flagship" expensive.

Brand does not matter a lot if you don't want to use brand specific features (e.g. Samsung's Q-Symphony or Wireless Atmos - I don't know about features like this from TCL). HDMI-CEC supports power and volume controls, and changing source to the TV. I have a Samsung Q800D and it's amazing but it costs around $500. You should check out the Q700 series as those are cheaper but has good score on Rtings.

You could get samsung q700 series, I got one for my parents its decent. Also search on amazon under you budget and compare them in Rtings.

The short answer is no… here’s the deal… option 1: you can’t afford much so you’re really weighing up what the impact is if you value Raman over sound quality then get a solo bar… Option2: you can afford a sub but you’d really love something else… a good bar will do all you need it to for a room that size you can add to it later! I just bought a Samsung q700 for $400 AUD and it sounds 90% as good as my JBL 800… listen to a dozen in the store.. be a pest.. make them hate you… work out what sounds good and what’s on sale where you live…

I'm gonna assume you're in US, you can get Q700 or even Q800 at around $350-$400 depending on your luck. Too bad you just missed out on massive Christmas sale. (Don't bother about the latest D model, unless you absolutely need some minor feature upgrade. You can get C or B model cheaply if you're lucky.) I highly recommend mid range Samsung soundbars just because their surround expansion kit is massively cheaper than any competitors. You can get SWA-9500S rear speaker set later for around $150-$200 depending on your luck. Even if you don't plan to upgrade with surround kit later, they are still solid overall.

Grab a samsung 3.1.2 there around 300$ open box Canadian usa prob like 199$ I forget the model

I’ve had the sennheiser ambeo, Bose smart ultra, and the Samsung q800, in that order. First two were returned for connectivity issues with my newish Samsung tv. The q800 has been great (the ambeo probably had the best surround but only if it connected). Q symphony is amazing. With the first two bars, you could clearly tell the sound was coming from below the TV… q symphony fixes that completely. And the subwoofer is amazing.