Does a Sound Bar Work with a Receiver?

Sound bars utilize stereo channels to create a sense of left and right audio separation. This configuration helps simulate a wider soundstage, which enhances the immersion and realism of the audio you’re listening to. Typically composed of multiple drivers strategically positioned within a single enclosure, the speakers inside of a TV sound bar work together to produce audio across the stereo spectrum.

Most sound bars have built-in amplifiers to power the speakers. Integrated into the sound bar’s design, these amplifiers are usually matched to the specifications of the speaker drivers. This eliminates the need of purchasing and connecting separate amplifiers. A passive sound bar, however, doesn’t have any built-in amplification or signal processing capabilities. However, passive sound bars are still a good option if you want to avoid the complexity of a traditional multi-speaker setup.

Dolby Atmos sound bars incorporate audio processing algorithms and digital signal processing techniques to help optimize sound performance. For example, a surround sound bar utilizes virtual processing that replicates the effect of a multi-speaker setup. Other features might include room calibration capabilities to tailor the audio to the acoustics of your room, as well as equalization settings to adjust the sound balance.

Think of a receiver as the central hub of an audio or video system. It receives signals from various sources, like streaming media players, gaming consoles and cable boxes. A TV audio receiver decodes these signals and then distributes them to your speakers or TV.

For audio, this involves decoding formats like Dolby Digital or DTS and converting them into analog signals that can be sent to speakers. For video, the conversion process may also include upscaling or downscaling the resolution to match the capabilities of your display device.

The best home entertainment receivers often include amplification features that boost the power of the audio signals before they’re sent to the speakers. This increased strength and fidelity helps maintain clear and consistent volume levels. So, whether you're enjoying a quiet scene in a movie or the thunderous beats of your favorite album, the sound remains balanced and immersive throughout.

Although it depends on the specific models and connection options available, you can technically connect a sound bar to a stereo receiver or an AV receiver. However, sound bars are designed to be standalone audio solutions and are not intended to be integrated into a larger, multi-component audio system with a receiver.

Sound bars usually include multiple speakers housed within a single enclosure. When this is combined with other speakers, the resulting audio will be messy, especially in movies when the sound moves from the left to the right. So in this scenario, you’re much better off not integrating your sound bar with your speakers and just using the sound bar separately.

It’s also worth noting that, even though both Bluetooth sound bars and Bluetooth audio receivers exist, you cannot connect a sound bar to a receiver using Bluetooth.

There are a couple of reasons why you might want to connect your sound bar to your TV receiver and speakers. First, you can potentially use the TV sound bar as the center audio channel with another left channel speaker and a right channel speaker. However, this can be problematic because the left speaker and right speaker will sound very different than the audio produced by the sound bar.

If you do still want to combine your sound bar with your other speakers and use it as the center channel, here’s how to help minimize potential audio issues:

• Make sure your receiver has preamplification outputs (pre-outs). You’ll also need a dual RCA cable with two male connectors on each end or an RCA auxiliary cable, depending on your sound bar’s inputs.
• Take the RCA cable and plug it into the center channel pre-out on the receiver and then take the same cable and plug it into the sound bar’s RCA or auxiliary port.
• Now, the sound bar is only outputting the center channel of audio instead of the full spectrum, letting you use your other speakers as the right and left channels.

Another reason why you might want to connect your sound bar to your receiver is that, in theory, it seems like you can utilize surround sound receiver speakers while using the sound bar normally. In this scenario, the sound bar acts as the left, center and right channels while other speakers can serve as rear left and right surround channels. However, there is no way to actually do this properly because it is impossible to send all three channels from the receiver directly to the sound bar.

Receivers are not meant to only output three channels digitally and sound bars usually can’t accept an input from a receiver. And, even if you could mix multiple channels of audio into a single cable and send it to the sound bar, the sound bar’s auxiliary input only supports two channels.