[baerrie]

I recommend getting a used receiver from pre to early 2000s and getting some used passive speakers and a sub to go with it. I spent $100 on my setup and it sounds better than any sound bar and can be endlessly adjusted to match my room’s acoustics

[smolder]

Agree with this, lots of sound bars are crap and even the ones that aren't are very constrained by their form factor. Good speakers can actually make very dynamic audio be less annoying as well, by virtue of being less distorted. Same volume, more signal, less noise.

[baerrie]

Yep and they are maintainable. I replaced the foams on the drivers and the tweeters when they gave out, $30 worth of parts and easy to do