If you are a lover of good quality entertainment, then you probably know the importance of owning a soundbar and a television set. While television brings out excellent quality pictures, sound bars focus on the sound. This combination of pictures and sound ensure that you get optimum entertainment, whether at home, office or any other place that you can enjoy yourself from.
But again, does Sony sound bar work with Samsung TV? Your sound bar and television may be of different brands and you wonder if the two will work together because of compatibility issues. Well, this article tries to answer this question in the best possible way.
Why do you need sound bars?
Although most televisions come with in-built speakers, there is need to improve on this. How about some quality sound bars for such an upgrade? Sound bars are rectangular audio devices that transmit sound from a television, game console or PC through multiple loudspeakers over a single enclosure like a cabinet. This in turn creates both a surround sound and stereo effect.
Notably, sound bars are smaller than a home theater system and so many people who have limited space settle for them. They may not be as good as the latter but they have a great effect on the sound produced by your TV after connecting the two. You may place them on a shelf just below your TV; mount it on the wall under your TV; on a table or lastly on a shelf.
Benefits
- Compact size thus saving on space
- Budget friendly
- You can operate them wirelessly
- Simple to operate
Sound bar channels
Basically, sound bar channels describe the sources of sound and in this case, all the channels sit in one unit. Below are examples of different sound bar channels;
- The 2-channel sound bar has two speakers; one on the left and the other on the right.
- 3- Channel sound bar has three speakers; left, right and center.
iii. 5-channel sound bar has 5 speakers; left, right, center and two at the back.
- 7-channel sound bar has 7 speakers and is just the same as the 5 channel one but more advanced.
- Dolby Atmos sound bar is the superior of 5 and 7 channel sound bars. This sound bar has upward firing speakers that create a 3-dimensional sound stage.
Sound bar connections
Because of technology advancement, sound bars have a variety of ways of connecting them to other devices.
1) Wireless connectivity
You can easily connect your smartphone or tablet to your soundbar wirelessly and stream whatever audio you want. This is possible through;
- Bluetooth- Sound bars have in-built Bluetooth that enable you to stream media wirelessly via your phone or tablet as long as there is a valid Bluetooth connection.
- WI-Fi- In recent times, you will find sound bars that come with Wi-Fi thus making it easy for them to connect with the internet network in your home.
2) HDMI- ARC
This happens if you have a HDMI cable. All you need to do is identify the audio return channel input on your television and you connect it to your sound bar using the HDMI cable. This is best for sound bars with more than one channel.
3) USB inputs
This is not really necessary because USB are necessary for firmware updates while sound bars occur through software updates.
4) Optical port
You can use an optical cable to connect between your sound bar and television to enjoy maximum entertainment. Not only is it a reliable connection but also easy to implement. It’s only downside is the fact that its bandwidth cannot carry over a signal of 5.1.
Does Sony sound bar work with Samsung TV?
It is not likely obvious that you will buy the same brands of TV and sound bar. So what happens when you get different brands like a Samsung TV and a Sony sound bar? This is not a cause of alarm really because the answer is yes. A Sony sound bar can work well with Samsung TV but under some conditions that we mention below.
First things first, you must have a HDMI cable to make this connection possible. In case you do not have this, you can settle for an optical digital audio cable. If you are into analogue methods, use the RCA cable which has red and white indicators. In summary, you can use HDMI (ARC), RCA, HDMI and optical digital audio cable and optical digital audio cable only to connect your Sony sound bar to Samsung TV.
Connecting Sony sound bar with Samsung TV using ARC HDMI
- Turn on your TV.
- Power on your sound bar.
- Go to settings on your TV then select audio settings. Alter the audio output setting from TV to audio system.
- Identify the HDMI IN (ARC) port on your TV and connect one end of the HDMI cable.
- On your sound bar, look for the TV OUT (ARC) port and connect the other end of HDMI. You are good to go.
Connecting HDMI and Optical Digital Audio Cable
- Connect one end of HDMI cable to your television’s HDMI IN port.
- The other end of HDMI should connect to the TV OUT (ARC) on the sound bar.
- After connecting the two, connect your TV’s optical audio cable to Optical digital audio out to Optical IN on your sound bar.
Bluetooth connection
- Power on your TV and sound bar.
- Locate the home button on your remote control and press on it.
- Then go to settings then Bluetooth settings.
- Select Add device and choose the ones that appear on the screen, preferably the sound bar.
- Finally click “pair”.
Conclusion
Connecting Sony sound bar with Samsung TV is very practical. There are a variety of connection options that you can choose from including; HDMI (ARC), HDMI and optical digital audio cable, Analog cable only and optical digital audio cable only. Any of those will enhance your TV’s sound system by connecting you to the sound bar.
