In the days of yore, getting surround sound hooked up to your TV was a chore best left to AV pros. A central receiver, tons of weird formats, and miles of speaker wire could intimidate even the hardiest AV geeks. But today, all you need is a sound bar, a pair of wireless rear speakers, and a couple of minutes to set it up.
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The Polk React, an Alexa-enabled soundbar that includes a pair of wireless surround speakers, offers a dead-simple way to upgrade the wimpy audio output from a TV's built-in speakers. And with the addition of a subwoofer and a pair of accessory speakers, this system can compete with a full surround sound setup from a company like Sonos for around the same price.
Polk's patented Voice Adjust feature is effective at boosting the clarity of dialog in TV shows and movies. The system has a good balance between bass and midrange, which makes it well suited to a wide range of content. It does suffer from port noises and compression at higher volumes, though, and it lacks support for Dolby Atmos surround sound.
The React is easy to set up, with one HDMI cable connecting the main unit to a TV. The other HDMI port on the soundbar is used to connect the wireless surrounds and subwoofer. There are also optical and Bluetooth inputs for those who don't have an HDMI ARC connection on their TV. You can even use the included remote to control your TV.