Amazon’s Fire TV Soundbar Plus ($249.99) is a massive improvement over the base Fire TV Soundbar ($119.99). The 3.1-channel speaker sounds much bigger and clearer than its more affordable sibling, and while it doesn’t have much in the way of bass on its own, it’s also available with a reasonably powerful subwoofer for $374.99, or as a 5.1-channel setup with both a sub and rear surrounds for $489.99. It won’t wow anyone, though, and for less than the price of the subwoofer bundle, the LG S70TY ($349.99) offers better audio quality and an upward-firing height channel, so it remains our Editors' Choice for midrange soundbars.

Design: Basic Black Everything

On its own, the Fire TV Soundbar Plus is already much larger than its predecessor, hinting at how much more powerful it is. It measures 37 by 5.2 by 2.5 inches (LWH), which is over a foot longer than the Fire TV Soundbar, and has an all-black design. A grille cloth runs across the front and sides, covering the three full-range driver/tweeter pairs and two woofers. The top panel features a row of small, circular buttons for Power, Input, Bluetooth Pairing, and Volume Up/Down. The back holds a large recess in the center with connectors for HDMI eARC, optical audio input, USB-A, and the power cable. The soundbar should sit securely on any flat surface, but if you want to wall-mount it, a set of metal brackets is included.

(Credit: Will Greenwald)

The remote is a squat black plastic rectangle covered in rubber membrane buttons. It has all of the standard controls like power, source, Bluetooth pairing, and volume, plus several others. You can also play/pause and skip tracks forward/backward when listening to your phone over Bluetooth, cycle through four EQ modes (Movie, Music, Night, and Sports), toggle the surround sound effect, individually adjust bass and treble levels, and tweak the rear satellites’ volume and left-right balance. Because the soundbar doesn’t have an on-screen interface, you’ll have to rely on its voice prompts to confirm what you're adjusting, and there's a small row of LEDs hidden behind the front grille indicating volume levels.

The subwoofer is a typical nondescript black box measuring 13.4 by 10.4 by 10.4 inches (HWD). Four legs built into the speaker’s body lift it about an inch off the ground and give the downward-firing driver room to move. The back panel holds a connector for the power cable and a connection button with an indicator LED.

The rear satellites are similarly unassuming black boxes measuring 5.9 by 5.2 by 5.2 inches (HWD), with cloth grilles on their front panels. They have power cable ports and pairing buttons on the back, plus screw-mounts for attaching them to a wall or stand.

Features: No Fire TV Capabilities, Despite the Name

Like the Fire TV Soundbar before it, the Fire TV Soundbar Plus confusingly doesn’t run Fire TV despite its name. Don’t expect a combination soundbar/media streamer like the Roku Streambar, though. This is a standard soundbar that has no on-screen interface of any kind and thus doesn’t use the Fire TV smart TV platform. It also doesn’t have any unique functions that tie into TVs or media streamers with Fire TV. It’s just the brand. This means it will work with any TV with HDMI ARC or eARC, or an optical audio output.

(Credit: PCMag/Will Greenwald)

The Fire TV Soundbar Plus is a 3.1-channel soundbar with an integrated subwoofer. The subwoofer bundle ($374.99) adds a separate, wireless subwoofer that significantly augments the built-in bass driver’s functions while keeping the 3.1-channel system, and the bundle with rear surrounds ($489.99) results in a 5.1-channel system. The soundbar is compatible with Dolby Atmos spatial audio, though it has no height channels to fully take advantage of it in any configuration.

For comparison, the LG S70TY has a 3.1.1-channel configuration with a subwoofer and an upward-firing driver for better spatial audio than the Fire TV Soundbar Plus. It still won't give you the best spatial audio detail compared with more expensive soundbars that have separate left and right height channels, like the Sonos Arc Ultra ($999), but it's still a step up from the Amazon soundbar's configuration. LG also sells a 5.1.1-channel variant with rear satellites that I haven’t tested, the $499.99 S70TR, for around the same price as the Fire TV Soundbar Plus bundle with rear surrounds.

Performance: Suitable Surround Sound

For this review, I tested the Fire TV Soundbar Plus by itself and with the subwoofer and satellites. On its own, the soundbar doesn’t reach very deep into the lower frequencies. On our bass test track, The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the kick drum hits and bass synth notes lack any serious thump, but on the plus side, they don’t distort at maximum volumes. Adding the subwoofer makes the track much more palpable, putting out enough sub-bass to feel the vibrations through the floor and couch. Don't expect wall-vibrating thunder, but for the size and the price of the subwoofer, it’s reasonably powerful.

(Credit: PCMag/Will Greenwald)

Yes’ “Roundabout” sounds full and generally well-balanced on only the soundbar. The opening acoustic guitar plucks get strong resonance with enough treble response to convey string texture, though the higher frequencies sound just a touch brittle. When the track properly kicks in, all of the elements of the mix come through clearly with a noticeable but not unpleasant high-mids emphasis. Adding the subwoofer to the mix rounds out the lower frequencies a bit, but doesn’t offer unnatural rumble.

With just the soundbar, the flying rubble, sweeping soundtrack, and dialog in the opening chase scene in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness all come through clearly from the low-mids to the highs. The loud smashes don’t have any rumble, and the sound field isn't particularly wide since all three driver channels face directly forward, but it still far outshines the basic Fire TV Soundbar.

The subwoofer gives the smashing rocks some much-needed low-frequency rumble that can be felt, and adding the rear satellites helps make the sound field seem a bit larger and more immersive. Because it lacks height channels and the soundbar's drivers all face forward, not at angles, the system doesn’t give the best directional impression of the film’s Dolby Atmos spatial audio, but it still elevates the experience thanks to the rear channels.