Best Home Theater Systems For Your Budget and Room Size 2023

Over the last two decades, SVS has grown into one of the most respected brands in the industry. Initially known for their sternum-vibrating / room-shaking / award-winning subwoofers, today’s new SVS systems can compete with anyone – and the SVS Prime Satellite 5.1 home theater package is a great example. Its compact and easier to fit in a smaller room but turn it up and boom: your small room becomes the Hollywood Bowl.

Each SVS Prime Satellite speaker is about the size of a loaf of bread and contains a 4.5-inch midrange driver and a one-inch tweeter. Small, yes, but they punch like Roberto Duran. The 12-inch driver in the already legendary, 300-watt powered SVS-1000 subwoofer will, on the other hand, have you holding on to your seat. It’s small, too, and neatly tucks into any corner. The system is wired as opposed to wireless, but for the price, the SVS Prime Satellite 5.1 Package may just be the biggest “little” 5.1 system on the market. (Want something a little bigger? Check out SVS’s “Ultra” series line of speakers. We carry those, too.)

Another big SVS advantage: gaming. A lot of our customers keep their gaming systems in small dens and spare bedrooms. And if you really want to put yourself in the middle of a Gears of War or Call of Duty battle, sans headphones – and you don’t want to spend a fortune to do it – the SVS Prime Satellite 5.1 Package is for you. SVS rocks.

Check out our full SVS Prime Wireless Speaker review.

In our “Best Sound Bars of 2023” article, the Bose Soundbar 900 won smartest sound bar for surround sound. Now here as the core component in the Bose Smart Wireless Home Theater System, Bose does it again. The Bose SB900 won because we turned it on and were promptly blown away by a sound field that A) seemed much wider than any other pre-packaged system we tested, B) made dialogue – even soft or whispered dialogue – crystal clear, and C) was equally effective no matter where we sat.

Every component in this system is part of Bose’s family of smart wireless speakers. Start with this system, and place a Bose Home Speaker 500 in the kitchen and the smaller TV Speaker in your bedroom for a multi-room audio experience throughout the house. And with Amazon Alexa built-in, you can control it all with simple voice commands.

This affordable system gives you sound and functionality that defies comprehension when you know how inexpensive it is. The Polk Audio React system provides astonishing 5.1 surround sound, has the simplest wireless setup imaginable, gives you complete voice control, and integrates with all your home devices. At the heart of the system is the React Sound Bar, which amazed bloggers, reviewers, and even audiophiles with its excellent sound, slim profile, and comprehensive Alexa implementation. This model provides a significant upgrade to its sound and Alexa functionality (and say goodbye to that distracting light ring), while still maintaining its compact size.

Besides the React Sound Bar, the set includes the React Subwoofer and a pair of SR2 Wireless Surround Speakers. Even with its booty-shaking 7" downward-firing speaker, the subwoofer doesn’t hog floor space. The surround speakers aren’t much bigger than a video game console — they take up hardly any space when you put them on a table or shelves — but they’ll fill your room with real 5.1 sound. Once you’ve powered them up, setup requires less time than it takes to make breakfast. Just scan the QR code on the back of the sound bar, and your Alexa app handles the rest, giving you very clear instructions and confirming when everything is ready to go.

Even by itself, the React Sound Bar is a tremendous upgrade to the sound quality of your TV’s built-in system — with DTS, it can deliver 3D sound for games and movies that is quite impressive. Once you connect the other components, the system reconfigures its EQ settings to give you an immersive sound surround experience that we find immensely satisfying.