Sonos Arc Ultra soundbar + Sub 4 subwoofer + Era 300 Speakers (Pair)

Why it's worth it

This bundle pairs the Arc Ultra soundbar with the Sub 4 and two Era 300 speakers, all connected over your Wi-Fi. You get lateral and overhead channels up front, dedicated rear surrounds, and app-based room tuning, with no speaker wire crossing your floor.

If you rent, or you just don't want to fish wire through a wall, this is the system to get. The Sub 4 connects over Wi-Fi, so you can tuck it beside a chair or under the sofa. The Era 300 speakers go on stands or shelves behind you and need nothing but a power outlet. Everything talks to the soundbar wirelessly, which means the only cable that touches your TV is one HDMI run to the Arc Ultra.

The height effect here is the real thing, not a simulation. Both the Arc Ultra and the Era 300 speakers include upward-firing drivers, so overhead cues get reproduced by actual drivers pointed at your ceiling rather than processed to sound that way. In practice that means a plane passing overhead reads as overhead. Bose and Sennheiser do clever things with virtual processing, but reviewers consistently place dedicated up-firing drivers ahead of it for precision.

From our review of 8 home theater systems

What we like

• +If you rent, or you just don't want to fish wire through a wall, this is the system to get
• +The height effect here is the real thing, not a simulation
• +Trueplay tuning uses the microphones in an iOS device to measure your room and adjust the EQ
• +Setup is genuinely short

What to know

• –This is the most expensive system here by a wide margin, and you're paying partly for convenience
• –You're also locked into one company's ecosystem
• –Owner feedback on this bundle is thin and mixed so far, with some buyers reporting frustration during setup and pairing