2026 has been a particularly good year for surround sound speaker packages. We've tested new systems from Wharfedale, KEF, Paradigm, Dali and Q Acoustics, and while they've not all been perfect, it's been a whole lot of fun testing them out.

Proper surround sound is hard to beat, and while we love the convenience of the best soundbars, the immersion from placing speakers around our home cinema testing room and firing up one of our favourite movies is hard to beat.

Now, I've spent the last month assessing these speaker packages, and in doing so, watching the same clips from Sinners, Blade Runner 2049, F1: The Movie and Thunderbolts* more times than I'd like to admit, and it has led me to an inevitable conclusion: cohesion is the make-or-break of any speaker package.

What do I mean by that? Essentially, if the components don't deliver a cohesive experience, whether that be a tonal dissonance or a change in sonic character between the front, centre and surround channels, then the system has already lost me.

I've tested packages with surround speakers that stick out because they don't sound as full-bodied as the front speakers. Instead of blending in nicely and working together with others to deliver a consistent sound, the speakers make themselves known more than you'd hope, breaking the cinematic bubble in the process.

It's hard to explain, but once you become aware of a surround speaker or centre channel not matching the front speakers, the surround sound magic quickly fades, and there's no real way to combat it. That's why manufacturers need to get it right from the start, or carefully consider which speakers they bundle together.

The best way to achieve this is to keep the drivers, or better yet the speakers themselves, consistent across the package. Take the Wharfedale Diamond 12.1i 5.1 HCP, a What Hi-Fi? Awards 2026 winner, as a prime example.

The front and surround speakers are all the same Wharfedale Diamond 12.1i speakers, and the 12.1Ci centre channel sports the same 25mm woven polyester dome tweeter and 13cm mid/bass drivers as those standmounts.

As a result, the system sounds remarkably consistent, and my attention was never drawn to the surrounds in an unwanted fashion.

Now, cohesion isn't a golden ticket to a five-star speaker package review. Take the Paradigm Premier v2 5.1 speaker package as an example; it features remarkable cohesion between the channels as it too keeps the drivers consistent, which is something we praised in our full review. However, its fundamentally hard-edged sound and lack of natural warmth still make it a tricky system to recommend.

You'll notice that the front left and right speakers are the ones that set the standard, and that's usually because they do the heavy lifting in a speaker package. A majority of sound effects are placed at the front of the mix, and the front speakers bulk out almost all of the sound around the dialogue coming from the centre channel.

That includes soundtracks, atmospheric effects and the general soundscape at large, so the surround speakers really need to follow suit and blend nicely when it comes to delivering surround effects with similar tonal qualities.

That's no easy task, especially as most systems use smaller and cheaper speakers for their surrounds to bring prices down and make these systems more accommodating in terms of size.

However, to reiterate my original point, it can be the make-or-break of delivering quality, immersive surround sound, so getting it right really is important.

MORE:

Read our Wharfedale Diamond 12.1i HCP review

As well as our Dali Sonik 5 5.1 review

And check out the best surround sound systems

Home cinema and sci-fi go together like Han and Chewie, and if you love one, there's a good chance you love the other.

But how much of a sci-fi movie fan are you? Just how broad is your knowledge? Now is the time to find out.

We have put together a 30-question quiz that covers the A-Z of sci-fi movies, both classic and current.

This is about breadth of knowledge: you will be rewarded for the number of sci-fi movies you've seen, rather than the finest of details you can remember.

For a lot of you, that will make it rather easy, which is why we've added a timer.

30 questions, three minutes. No time to ponder, and certainly no time to Google – just pure instinct and ingrained sci-fi knowledge.

There's a leaderboard, too. Let's see if you're light-years ahead of the competition.

MORE:

Can you name all the types of hi-fi and AV cables from the photos?

Can you remember when these pioneering AV products first came out?

Canadian audio brand Paradigm will be a familiar name for many when it comes to home cinema sound. Especially to those au fait with the custom install market, as the company has a wide array of in-wall and in-ceiling speakers for serious home cinema enthusiasts.

We are told by our office's facilities department that, unfortunately, we can’t take a hammer and hacksaw to our AV testing room’s walls, so it’s the new Premier v2 speaker range that has caught our attention.

This 5.1 speaker package opts for a more traditional route, mixing stately floorstanding and standmount speakers for a surround sound experience that you can add to any room – provided you have the space.

With a name like “Premier”, it seems as though these speakers are made for the red carpet and should, therefore, take cinematic sound in their stride. But there is a host of five-star speaker systems from Dali, KEF and Wharfedale that have recently upped the ante in this sector; so can this Paradigm package keep up?

Price

UK retailers aren't currently offering this specific system as a complete package, so you’ll need to purchase the components separately.

For the set-up we are testing here, you will need the Premier 720F v2 floorstanders (£2499/pair), the 220B v2 standmount surrounds (£1299/pair), the 520 LCR v2 centre channel (£999), and the Defiance S12 subwoofer (£1850). This brings the system to a total price of £6647.

In the US, things change slightly as Paradigm sells each speaker separately. The 720F v2 comes in at $1000 each, whereas the 220B v2 sells for $550; remember you’ll need to order two of each. The 520 LCR v2 costs $900, and the Defiance S12 comes in at $1600; taking the full price of the package to $5600.

Things are slightly simpler in Australia, where these speakers go back to being sold in pairs. Here you’ll find the 720F v2 for AU$3799, the 220B v2 for AU$1999, the 520 LCR v2 for AU$1599, and the Defiance S12 sub for AU$2999. That comes to a total of AU$10,396.

There haven’t really been any other speaker packages at this price to enter our AV testing room recently. The Premier v2 5.1 package sits squarely between two Award-winning speaker systems: the KEF R Meta 5.1 (£10,499 / $13,200 / AU$19,400), and the Dali Sonik 5 5.1 (£2199 / $4800 / AU$4596).

The Paradigm package, therefore, has to outperform the Dali to succeed. While beating the KEF would be a pleasant surprise, we certainly don’t expect it, given the considerable price jump for the R Meta 5.1.

Design and build

If there’s one area where Paradigm has hit the nail on the head, it's in the design of these speakers. This is an eye-catching, well-built and premium-looking cohort of speakers which will look suitably stylish in most living rooms and home cinema spaces.

All components match nicely, with a cohesive design across the range. The most notable design element is the spiral-style grille found on the front and surround speakers, which also serves as a visual motif across most of Paradigm’s speaker ranges.

We are also fans of the protruding industrial-looking feet that extend from the bottom corners of the 720F v2 floorstanders. They give these speakers a touch of individuality. And they provide more than just a certain look; these "Outrigger Shock-Mount Isolation Feet", as Paradigm calls them, work to physically decouple the speaker enclosure from the floor, to mitigate unwanted vibrations.

Speaking of the 720F v2 speakers, these sizeable three-way rear-ported floorstanders measure 100 x 32 x 43cm (hwd), making them fairly comparable to the KEF R7 Meta speakers from the Award-winning R Meta system. They are slightly lighter at 26kg per speaker, too.

The 220B v2 are an equally substantial set of surround speakers by standmount standards. These two-way ported speakers measure 37 x 21 x 33cm (hwd) and weigh 9.1kg. These surrounds require a sturdy stand, and there is no keyhole mount for wall mounting.

Moving on to the 520 LCR v2, this three-way sealed centre-channel speaker measures 21 x 59 x 31cm (hwd), and weighs 14kg. It should sit beneath a wall-mounted TV or projector screen without too much hassle, but you may find it a squeeze to fit it within a traditional media unit.

The Defiance S12 subwoofer rounds things out in this hefty system. This sub measures 38 x 40 x 43cm (hwd), and weighs 24kg, making it more substantial than the KEF KC92 subwoofer.

Our review system sports the Walnut finish, although you can also have the system in a Piano Black, Black Walnut or Satin White finish. The Defiance S12 subwoofer, on the other hand, is available only in Gloss Black.

Features

This speaker package is packed full of Paradigm’s proprietary driver technology across all of the components.

You’ll find a 25mm AL-MAC Ceramic Dome tweeter loaded by a heavily dished waveguide on both the 720F v2 floorstanders and 220B v2 standmounts. AL-MAC refers to a rigid, lightweight compound of aluminium, magnesium, and ceramic used in the dome diaphragm of this high-frequency driver.

Paradigm claims that the mix of materials was chosen to produce stable and lifelike high-frequency effects, while the waveguide “precisely shapes output to focus sound on the listening area while reducing unwanted room reflections”.

The centre channel changes things slightly by placing the same tweeter within a coaxial 15.2cm AL-MAG midrange cone. It features a 50mm high-temp multilayered voice coil wound around an Apical (a polyamide plastic film) former designed to handle high thermal stress without deforming.

The fronts and surrounds also share the same midrange driver found on the centre channel, though it sits behind a Perforated Phase-Aligning (PPA) Lens on these speakers. This unique spiral-patterned waveguide is designed to ensure that all frequencies will reach your ears simultaneously for a more harmonious sound.

It also acts as a physical shield and acoustic filter designed to block out-of-phase signals; Paradigm says that we should notice a more three-dimensional soundscape as a result.

You’ll also find two 15.2cm CARBON-X Unibody Cone bass drivers on the floorstanding speakers and centre channel. These unibody cones are designed for “maximum strength and minimal mass”, with Paradigm citing deep and controlled low end even at high volumes. They are placed towards the bottom of each floorstanding speaker, and they flank the tweeter on the centre channel.

Such drive-unit consistency across the speaker package is a good way to maximise sonic cohesion across the channels. It’s also worth noting here that the fronts, surrounds and centres are all bi-wireable.

Rounding out the package, the Defiance S12 subwoofer sports a 30.5cm anodised aluminium cone, which sits within a steel chassis for enhanced rigidity and stability. It is powered by 800W of Class D amplification, and Paradigm claims its frequency range can reach as deep as 16Hz.

This powered subwoofer features support for the company’s ARC Genesis room correction software, which can also be found on Anthem AVRs. The microphone and software are sold separately, and you’ll need a Mac or PC to complete the process. It does mean, however, that the subwoofer can be calibrated separately to the rest of your speakers.

When it comes to connectivity, the S12 offers a range of physical connections, including a balanced XLR, speaker-level inputs or RCA phono inputs for connecting to hi-fi systems, or an LFE RCA input for connecting to an AVR. Unusually, Paradigm includes a wireless transmitter in the box for connecting this subwoofer wirelessly.

Sound quality

While an exhaustive list of proprietary technologies across the drive units is impressive on paper, what really counts is how this speaker package performs.

We have it hooked up to our reference Denon AVC-A1H home cinema amplifier to power the system, and have applied the Audyssey X32 room correction system. We are using our trusty Oppo UDP-230 4K Blu-ray player to play cinematic content.

It is first worth mentioning this speaker system’s strengths, as there are many to note. Playing F1: The Movie, we are met with a big, spacious and powerful sound, with the opening providing a serious soundscape of cinematic audio. Car engines roar, announcers’ voices boom, and tyres screech in a muscular first outing for the system.

This is underpinned by an impressive level of detail, with the Premier v2 system refusing to leave any small sonic detail out of the overall presentation. This extends to voices coming through the centre channel, as both Stack and Mary’s voices during a fraught conversation in Sinners are presented with clarity and directness, which means no dialogue is missed within the greater mix.

Continuing the scene, the medley sequence, which features music from past and present, highlights the sonic cohesion between the components of the package.

Everything gels together with excellent consistency and fluidity, with no noticeable gaps, and the surround channels blend in seamlessly without distracting us. Instead, the system delivers a well-constructed bubble of sound around us, with surprisingly impressive dispersion that even fills out some sound above our seating position, despite the lack of dedicated height channels.

And we have to commend the overall highlight of the package – the subwoofer. The Defiance S12 pumps out rich, deep and controlled bass, meaning it hardly breaks a sweat with the tricky chapter two sequence of Blade Runner 2049.

The subwoofer digs deep without introducing unwanted fuzz or distortion, and its top-notch timing ensures tension is built throughout the sequence effectively.

If there is one takeaway you may have noticed from the Paradigm system, it’s that it's big and powerful. While that’s an asset, the system unfortunately leans a bit too far into the broad, heavy and punchy sound, and doesn't pay as much attention to sonic subtleties.

There’s an immediate sense that low-level dynamics are an issue, as voices are lacking in expression, and emotion isn’t communicated as clearly as we would like.

The hushed and emotional conversation in Sinners that we mentioned previously sounds like it’s being yelled at us, despite volume levels being modest, with Stack’s mic-drop line of “that I love you? That I think about you every day?” coming across as icy rather than vulnerable or heartfelt.

The flattening of voices and a lack of natural warmth means that we lose the character and inflexion of dialogue quite easily. Yelena’s cheeky one-liners in Thunderbolts* can sound dry rather than playful and sarcastic, and voices sometimes pierce through action sequences in a way that’s not wholly natural.

The longer that we listen to the system, the more we find it overbearing and insistent. Despite plenty of run-in time, there’s a hardness to the sound that doesn’t relent regardless of whether it's a bombastic action sequence or a softly spoken dialogue-led scene.

This experience extends to stereo music when we just have the floorstanders running.

There is plenty of power, rich bass and clarity, but Saviour Complex by Phoebe Bridgers feels aggressive for a softly sung track. Punchier tracks, such as Kiss The Ring from Hans Zimmer’s Dune: Part Two soundtrack, lend themselves better to the full-on sound, but even this can feel overdone.

If spectacle and punch are what you’re after, the Paradigm package may be plenty for you. But when it comes to nuance, finer expression in voices, and conveying emotion, the Paradigm struggles to let go of that punchy, “in your face” attitude, which can compromise the emotive intention of dialogue.

Verdict

Paradigm’s Premier v2 5.1 speaker package sports a refined look and more proprietary speaker technology than you can shake a stick at, but its overly assertive nature lets it down.

That’s not to say it’s a sonic write-off; there’s tons of detail to glean from this system, and the subwoofer is genuinely excellent, but punch and power need a softer edge to create a holistically cinematic experience.

SCORES

• Sound 3
• Design 5
• Features 5

MORE:

Here are all of the best surround sound systems you can buy right now

Check out our Dali Sonik 5 5.1 review and KEF R Meta 5.1 Speaker System review

Black Friday is on the horizon, and with it comes the promise of some excellent deals in the worlds of hi-fi and home cinema.

But if you can't wait that long, there's no need to worry. That's because I've spotted a rather excellent deal on LG's flagship OLED TV, the G6, which is already down to £2159 at Hughes. That's £841 off the £3000 launch price and the lowest price we've seen yet.

You'll have to jump through a few hoops to get it this cheap, however – the code TV200 will take off £200 at checkout, and then you can claim an extra 10 per cent cashback from LG. Full details on how to claim cashback are here.

We put the LG G6 to the test with its predecessor, the five-star G5, used as a comparison. It didn't take long during a viewing of Civil War to see several small refinements that added up to a better overall experience.

“The flames in a burning night-time forest continue to offer an enthralling amount of extra detail as well as higher peaks, but, more crucially, characters’ skin tones look nicely realistic, retaining reds far better, to the point that the G5’s picture makes them look slightly jaundiced by comparison," our LG G6 review reads.

Moving to a daytime scene in a military camp, “balanced” quickly becomes the word that best describes the G6. As a helicopter swoops into the camp over a forest, it’s clear that LG has backed away from its previous focus on aggressively pushing its TVs’ peak brightness at all costs.”

This impressive picture quality is helped, no doubt, by its Primary RGB Tandem OLED panel, new display technology that uses a ‘four-stack’ panel structure to achieve higher peak and operating brightness levels while retaining colour volume and accuracy.

This is coupled with the new Alpha 11 Gen 3 AI processor and LG's Hyper Radiant Colour Technology, which enables higher peak brightness than the already dazzling G5.

Gaming support is also particularly strong. All four HDMI 2.1 inputs support up to 4K/165Hz gameplay with VRR, ALLM, and Dolby Vision Gaming HDR, which is pretty much flawless in our eyes.

Speaking of Dolby Vision, the regular version is also supported for movies and TV shows, along with HDR10 and HLG. LG's WebOS 26 also houses pretty much every streaming service you can think of, including heavy-hitters such as Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video.

Audio quality has also seen a big step forward for LG, with the G6 capable of a fuller, more robust sound than its predecessors. We still recommend pairing a TV this good with a dedicated sound system, but it's great to see LG address one of the biggest weaknesses of its TVs.

The LG G6 was a five-star TV even at full price, so with an £841 discount at Hughes it's quite the bargain. For anyone who can't wait for Black Friday, you won't be disappointed by this saving on such a stunning OLED.

MORE:

Here’s our pick of the best TVs for every budget

Want a cheaper LG OLED? Check out our LG C6 review

For last year’s model, head over to our LG G5 review

There’s some good news for those who consider Die Hard a Christmas movie (and even those who don’t) – the original trilogy is getting a new 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray SteelBook release in early December. It includes Die Hard, Die Hard 2 and Die Hard with a Vengeance.

It's not the first time the original movie has been released in the premium format, but it does mark a 4K debut for the second and third films.

If the film series has somehow passed you by, let us fill you in on the details. New York policeman John McClane (Bruce Willis) flies to Los Angeles hoping to patch up his marriage with his estranged wife. But just minutes into her office’s Christmas party, the building is overtaken by a group of terrorists led by Alan Rickman’s Hans Gruber.

In the second and third instalments, McClane faces similarly perilous situations where he battles military mercenaries in an airport and is targeted by Simon Gruber – Hans’s vengeful brother.

There are more films in the franchise (Live Free or Die Hard and A Good Day to Die Hard), but they won’t be getting the same SteelBook treatment this time. In the latter's case, perhaps that’s for the best, given its 15 per cent Rotten Tomatoes rating.

The SteelBooks include commentary from the directors, with the third instalment also offering visual effects breakdowns and an interview with Bruce Willis.

Disappointingly, though, all of the discs are lacking one major feature. While there is DTS-HD Master Audio support, Dolby Atmos is not on the cards (and neither is DTS:X). That’s a shame for those wanting more immersive surround sound options, especially if your system doesn't have DTS support.

Each Steelbook will set you back £35, cementing its position as a premium option for hardcore collectors. If your budget can't stretch, though, all three films are also getting standard 4K Blu-ray release, priced at £25 each. You can pre-order at HMV and Amazon.

MORE:

Check out the best 4K Blu-ray players you can buy

Here are the best TVs to watch them on

And the best Dolby Atmos soundbars if you're short on space

The headphones category is always one of the most contested at the What Hi-Fi? Awards, and this year has been no different.

While there are a few regulars and old reliables in there, we have had a few shake-ups this year, courtesy of a clever USB-C dongle, the revival of a six-year-old classic, and a surprise £35 budget offering.

Whether you’re after the convenience of wireless, a trendy wired pair or are open to either, there’s an Award winner whatever your budget.

We have found some great deals on several of them too – so why don’t you take a look?

Our budget wireless pick for another year, the Sony WF-C510, continues to impress by nailing the basics for the price of a round of drinks. We have seen them as low as £28 before, but £34 at Smart Home Sounds for an Award-winner is still quite the bargain.

If you want to go wired and can live without noise cancelling, then the Austrian Audio Hi-X15 is unmatched at this price. Austrian Audio headphones rarely go on sale, but they are great value headphones anyway and well worth £87 at Scan.

If you want budget buds but can’t live without noise cancelling, then the Sony WF-C710N are the cheapest headphones that we recommend with the feature. But they also sound rather good and have several impressive features, all for £67 at Amazon.

The Røde NTH-100 are consistently among our top budget recommendations, wired or otherwise, thanks to their eloquent, revealing sound. We’ve seen them as low as £89 over Black Friday, but they are still great value for £115 at Amazon.

Don’t let the 2024 in Bose QuietComfort Earbuds (2024) put you off – their third What Hi-Fi? Award proves they are still the best wireless buds at this price range. We have seen them at £109 over Prime Day, but you won’t be disappointed for £150 at Amazon.

As long as you don’t mind an open-back design, the Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro X remain class leaders and are the finest and most comfortable wired headphones we have heard at this price. Discounts are rather rare, so don’t hold your breath for an imminent drop from £189 at Amazon.

A new entry, the Sony WF-1000XM6 are Sony’s latest flagship earbuds and were well worth the wait, with a wonderfully musical sound, superb noise cancelling and great call quality. Get them now for their lowest price of £209 at Very.

It may surprise you that the best wired in-ear headphones are the £35 Sennheiser CX 80U, but just wait until you hear them. The USB-C buds offer a big, dynamic and surprisingly sophisticated sound, and are available for a new low price of £28 at Amazon.

Another new kid on the block, the Sony WH-CH730N replace their Award-winning predecessors, the WH-CH720N, and add a more premium, folding design, a monster 50 hours of battery with ANC on and an even more engaging sound. They have yet to receive a discount, but you can pick them up for £100 at Amazon.

As much as we loved the Sony WH-1000XM4 from 2020, we never expected them to win a What Hi-Fi? Award six years later. But here we are, with the revamped Sony WH-1000XM4C bringing back an old classic with tweaked tuning and a lower price of £219 at Amazon.

How do you overcome the sonic shortcomings of wireless headphones? With a nifty little USB-C dongle, according to the Sennheiser HDB 630. The result is a new standard of wireless sound at this level, all within a well-built, feature-rich and competitively priced package, available for £399 at Richer Sounds.

If money is no object and you want style as well as substance, may we recommend the Focal Bathys MG. They are undeniably premium for £999 at Richer Sounds, but they will reward you with a wireless noise-cancelling headphones performance that’s on a whole new level.

MORE:

Check out our best wireless headphones buying guide

The What Hi-Fi? Awards 2026 winners have been revealed!

Check out our best wired headphones buying guide

ORIGINAL STORY 22/10/2026: Just when it looked like a 4K Blu-ray revival was in full gear, Sony could be about to bring the occasion to a crashing halt.

Reports suggest the firm is ending production of its final commercial model, the UBP-X700/K, despite only launching it just over a year ago.

Kunkoku, a Japanese blog dedicated to Sony products and a Sony retail partner, reports (via FlatpanelsHD) that Sony has "ended shipments of its Ultra HD Blu-ray player", with sales of the UBP-X700/K ceasing once stock runs out.

Visiting the Sony Japan online store reveals that the player is already out of stock, so it may already be too late for those looking to purchase the Blu-ray player in Japan.

This could leave the PlayStation 5 as the company's final remaining device capable of playing 4K Blu-ray discs.

But that will be of little comfort to physical media fans, as we know from Sony's previous announcement that future PlayStation consoles will not support physical discs.

On a wider scale, Panasonic could be the only remaining mainstream manufacturer to continue producing 4K disc players, with new players, such as Krovatar, and enthusiast manufacturers, including Magnetar, filling in the gaps.

Kunkoku affirms that "no information regarding a successor model has been announced at this time". While the end of production of 4K Blu-ray players is specifically in Japan from this source, we'd be surprised if Sony opts to continue selling them globally despite ending production within its home market.

Stock appears to still be available via Sony's official channels in the UK, and third-party retailers are also showing the UBP X700/K as available. That said, once stock runs dry, we could see a similar situation here.

We've reached out to Sony for comment.

MORE:

Read our Sony UBP-X700 review

Check out our picks for the best 4K Blu-ray players

And read our Sony PlayStation 5 review

When we tested LG’s Sound Suite system, there was a fair bit to like about the soundbar package.

Made up of the H7 soundbar, W7 subwoofer and two M7 speakers, the system offered a room-filling sound with impressive Dolby Atmos handling and deep bass. But its slightly aggressive overall presentation and inexpressive dialogue mean it scored a middling three-star review.

Now, though, LG is adding a big free upgrade that could make it more appealing for some, with the brand claiming to expand “immersive audio possibilities for home theatre enthusiasts".

The most notable of these upgrades is the addition of DTS:X support, as the soundbar system previously offered only Atmos. Even though the latter is much more widely available for both streaming and physical media, there are still a few discs that exclusively support the surround sound format. Anyway, it’s always nice to have both on board for comprehensive coverage.

That is available with both the LG Sound Suite as well as the LG H7 soundbar on its own.

LG is also giving the option to add in two of the W7 subwoofers instead of the one that we used to test the package. The brand adds that this should “improve bass consistency throughout a room, delivering more balanced low-frequency performance across multiple seating positions.”

On top of that, LG has added support for Wi‑Fi 6 GHz networks and 5 GHz DFS channels. You will also now be able to access Google Cast support, which means you can stream music directly from your phone, tablet, or laptop.

While it is not the upgrade we were hoping for in terms of improved audio performance, it’s certainly a welcome addition when it comes to surround sound support and increased flexibility.

MORE:

Here’s our review of the LG Sound Suite H7

Check out the best soundbars

And this is our review of the LG Sound Suite system

We were very impressed with the Samsung HW-Q990H when we reviewed it several months ago, awarding it five stars and praising its detail, nuance and spatial sound effects.

However, it clung rather tightly to the lofty £1599 price we tested at, making its discounted predecessor, the HW-Q990F, the better-value buy.

Not any more. The HW-Q990H has just won a What Hi-Fi? Award, and, almost as if to celebrate, it has been given a lofty discount itself. The refined Dolby Atmos soundbar system can now be picked up for only £886 at Smart Home Sounds, a whopping saving of 45%.

This deal price is part of a £400 cashback deal from Samsung, however – full T&Cs are here.

It didn’t seem as though Samsung had changed a lot for its latest flagship sound system – the HW-Q990H’s exterior is essentially identical to the HW-Q990F. The soundbar, surround speakers and subwoofers are all well-built and premium-feeling, even if the design is a little tired.

However, when it came to testing, it was clear Samsung had made several worthwhile improvements under the hood.

“The Q990H takes everything we love about the last generation, and delivers it with even more nuance, detail and scale,” our Samsung HW-Q990H review reads.

“Starting with Civil War, we watch the section leading up to the climactic final battle, and we find that this soundbar package excels in practically every aspect. As Lee goes to comfort Jessie in a serene woodland area, we’re totally immersed in the environment thanks to the soundbar’s excellent placement of cinematic effects.”

Height effects – such as birds chirping overhead – are placed with impressive accuracy, and a river trickling in the background is packed with sonic nuance.

The Samsung HW-Q990H is an 11.1.4 system, with an impressive 23 individual drivers on board. This includes upward-firing drivers on both the soundbar and surround speakers, which helps explain the three-dimensional sound experience above.

The Samsung HW-Q990H has three immersive audio formats: Dolby Atmos, DTS:X and Samsung’s Eclipsa Audio. It's great to see Samsung embrace multiple formats, even if Eclipsa is adopted only by YouTube for the time being.

One of the new features of the HW-Q990H is Samsung’s new Sound Elevation feature, which is designed to raise the audio upwards to match the position of your screen. We found, in our review, that it overshoots slightly, and placed the audio at the top of our TV, but it’s a feature that may be of interest to those who are wall-mounting with a big gap between the TV and the soundbar.

There’s also an impressive amount of connectivity on offer. There are three HDMI sockets, including an HDMI eARC for connecting to your TV and two full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 passthrough sockets.

The stellar performance of the Samsung HW-Q990H proves that subtle upgrades can make all the difference. As its What Hi-Fi? Award shows, this is the soundbar system we recommend at this price range – especially with £713 off at Smart Home Sounds.

MORE:

Also consider our Sonos Arc Ultra review

Read our Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 9 review

Best soundbars: options for every need, recommended by our experts

I’ve been very open about my love for the Sony Bravia 8 II – some might say nauseatingly so – having done the modern equivalent of shouting it from the rooftops by writing about it on the internet time and time again.

When it launched last year, the Bravia 8 II didn’t so much beat its very accomplished competition; it smashed it, leaving the likes of the LG G5, Panasonic Z95B and Samsung S95F sobbing and nursing their wounds.

Rightfully, it romped to victory in the 2025 What Hi-Fi? Awards, taking the Product Of The Year gong in the TV category.

It’s testament to Sony’s achievements with the Bravia 8 II that even this year, it is still very nearly the best TV available.

Wave after wave of new rivals have appeared, both OLEDs and fancy RGB Mini LED sets, and the Bravia 8 II has stood firm, batting each back while barely breaking a sweat.

With one exception: the Samsung S99H.

Yes, the only TV that we, as a team, and I personally rate higher than the Bravia 8 II is Samsung’s flagship QD-OLED. And, I’ll confess, it isn’t the TV I expected to topple the mighty Sony.

There’s no such thing as perfection

So, the S99H (known as the S95H in most regions outside the UK, where the S95H is an entirely different model) is now perched atop our list of the best TVs, but it isn’t without its controversies.

The most obvious is its wide metal bezel, onto which the main panel is mounted to look as if it’s floating.

It’s a striking design that looks stunning when the TV is wall-mounted, but weird and incongruous when it’s plonked on a TV stand with the (let’s face it, unforgivably cheap-looking) bundled feet attached.

Samsung has done away with the excellent One Connect box of its previous OLED flagships, too. Which means that, rather than having a separate device through which all connections (and power) are routed, leaving just one cable running to the display, the S99H has a typical collection of ins and outs on its rear.

Given that the design encourages wall mounting, that’s a bit of a shame. Yes, the S99H is compatible with Samsung’s new Wireless One Connect Box, but this is an expensive optional extra that is far from widely available (I currently can’t find a single UK retailer that’s selling it).

The final fly in the ointment is a lack of Dolby Vision support. I realise this is nothing new for Samsung TVs, but it remains a major annoyance. Samsung’s own HDR10+ is all well and good from a dynamic metadata point of view, but it doesn’t marry that to ‘as the director’ picture tuning with a single preset in the way that Dolby Vision does when it’s done right.

Even better than the best where it matters

Those flaws, though, pale into insignificance in the face of everything the Samsung S99H gets right.

Picture quality is, of course, the most important factor to any TV. And the S99H is the only TV that has got the better of the Bravia 8 II in this regard.

It very much feels as though Samsung has looked at what makes the Bravia 8 II so good and found a way to beat it at its own game. So, while the S99H has a newer, significantly brighter QD-OLED panel than the Bravia 8 II, Samsung has combined that with the most subtle and cinematically authentic tuning that we have yet seen from the brand.

In other words, this is a TV that is capable of dazzling to an almost unprecedented level, that pairs perfect blacks with the sort of brightness usually associated with a top-end Mini LED model; but put it into its Filmmaker Mode and it will also deliver your movies and TV shows in the manner the director intended.

One area in which the Bravia 8 II was always head and shoulders above its rivals was solidity and three-dimensional depth. The S99H is a match for it here as well. This is an image with a great sense of scale and immersion, without any sense of over-sharpening.

There really is no way in which the S99H’s picture is anything other than excellent, regardless of what it is you look for in a TV. And it has a feature set to match.

The HDMI sockets might be mounted to the rear of the TV, but they are all full-fat HDMI 2.1 affairs (the Bravia 8 II has just two of these) capable of handling 4K/165Hz signals (the Bravia 8 II tops out at 4K/120Hz), VRR and ALLM.

And yes, if you can find one, the Wireless One Connect box can add even more HDMI 2.1 sockets, should you need them.

Pair that specification with the actual gaming performance, which is exemplary, and this really is a gamer’s delight of a TV.

Tizen is rapidly returning to the top of the smart TV platform charts, too, regaining some of the usability it lost in a redesign a few years ago while offering one of the most comprehensive app selections you will find on any TV.

All of those apps are really well optimised, too, delivering all of the resolutions and dynamic range formats they should (Dolby Vision notwithstanding).

The S99H even sounds good by TV standards. Yes, it would still be close to criminal not to pair a TV this good with a dedicated sound system, but if you really must use the integrated speakers, they are at least decent – albeit not quite to the level of the Bravia 8 II’s Acoustic Surface Audio+ setup.

All hail the new flagship TV king

All of which is to say that the Samsung S99H is a magnificent TV. It’s the one model that has finally bested the Bravia 8 II in our testing, and the only TV I would seriously consider swapping my own Sony for.

Given how much I’ve raved about the Bravia 8 II over the past year, that’s about as strong an endorsement as I can give.

MORE:

Here are all of the best TVs you can buy right now

If you buy the Samsung S99H, try to budget for one of the best soundbars or best surround sound systems

Want your hard-earned cash to stretch as far as you possibly can?

Then you might want to consider the TCL C7L. This performance-per-pound champ brings you all the features of a premium Mini LED TV at what is barely a mid-range price.

And that price just got even better. Our review, where we tested the 65-inch C7L at £1199, went live only yesterday. But you can now scoop up the C7L for £1079 at Amazon – just make sure to tick the voucher price box before you head to checkout.

The TCL C7L boasts an awful lot of features, with two big improvements over its predecessor, the C7K.

First up is TCL’s new Super Quantum Dots, an upgrade on traditional Quantum Dots that should result in more stability, better colour accuracy, and improved efficiency.

There are also 10 per cent more local dimming zones than in the C7K – 1152 to be precise, which is very generous at this price level.

But what is the impact on the all-important picture quality? Well, we’re pleased to report that the C7L is a shining star for its price.

“The shining starts quite literally, with levels of both full-screen brightness and small peak brightness that you won’t find anywhere else for the C7L’s money,” our TCL C7L review reads. “The radiance with which the TV can deliver bright HDR content is a phenomenal spectacle in the set’s excellent Standard preset, but also contributes to a really eye-catching light range with the set’s Filmmaker Mode.”

This is thanks to some seriously impressive light control, with bright whites and colours delivered on the same frame as deep, rich blacks without major light haloing. There’s a lovely colour performance too, with the Super Quantum Dots generating impressive subtlety and nuance in the darkest and brightest colours.

The C7L is stuffed with gaming features also – there is support for 4K at frame rates of up to 144Hz, and HD at a whopping 288Hz. This is backed up by VRR, a Dolby Vision game mode, ALLM switching and a respectably low 13.4ms of input lag.

Dolby Vision Game Mode is just the tip of the C7L’s HDR support – Dolby Vision IQ, which adjusts the picture in response to ambient light, is also on board, along with HDR10+, HDR10, and HLG.

Google TV provides the smart features, with TCL going the extra mile to ensure catch-up services for the UK’s main terrestrial broadcasters are included too.

The Bang & Olufsen 2.2-channel, 60W system sound system is rather premium for such an affordable 65-inch TV, and has the power and speaker quality to produce a substantial soundstage. There’s room for improvement when it comes to some harsh treble and unenthusiastic bass, but it’s a decent performance overall.

The TCL C7L is absolutely stuffed with features, then, particularly for gaming; but it also comes with a bright, colourful and contrast-rich display that excels in Filmmaker mode. It’s an absolute bargain for £1079 at Amazon.

MORE:

Read our TCL P8L review

Also consider our TCL C7K review

Best TVs: flagship OLEDs and budget Mini LED sets tried and tested

Every year, when it comes to the What Hi-Fi? Awards, the TV category is always hotly contested, and 2026 has been no different. Our list of winners is packed with new entries, from LG, Samsung and TCL, all of which have managed to knock old favourites off their perch.

It was a great year for LG, with the C6 winning four Awards over several different sizes. Samsung swooped in and took the best premium TV Award, while TCL took home the best budget TV gong.

If you'd like to see them in all their glory, we have all the Award-winning TVs below, as well as their best prices at the time of writing...

If you're short on space, it's LG's mid-range 42in OLED that is our top pick this year. The small-screen wonder delivers contrast and detail in abundance, proving you don't need a huge TV to have a big cinematic impact. LG's usual stellar gaming specs are on offer too, all of which make up for the middling sound. For the best LG C6 42-inch price of £899 at Amazon, claim 10 per cent cashback from LG – full T&Cs here.

For the mid-size 48-50inch category, it's the LG C6 once again. The LG C6 48-inch is arguably the most interesting of LG's new OLEDs, with a surprisingly bright, colourful picture that pushes vibrancy to impressive levels.

Rumours suggest this size sports an RGB Tandem OLED panel, though LG refuses to confirm – either way, though, it's a fully featured TV that's talented in the picture and sound departments. Use the code RSTV50 to bring the price down to £1049, and once again you can claim 10 per cent cashback from LG for a total of £944 at Richer Sounds.

For our budget 55-77inch TV Award, it's a TCL model. For £749 at Amazon, the TCL P8L is an incredible value TV that punches well above its weight in terms of picture quality and specs, and sounds pretty good too. Those with super-bright rooms may struggle with the reflective coating, but otherwise the P8L offers a balanced and authentic picture as well as strong gaming specs.

With our mid-range 55-77inch TV Award, the LG C6 makes it a trifecta. The LG C6 65-inch delivers a bright, rich and refined picture that sets a new benchmark for step-down OLEDs. Sound is very good for this level, while the typically awesome gaming specs return. Save £100 with the voucher code GDTV100, and once again you can claim 10 per cent cashback from LG for an overall total of £1619 at Sevenoaks.

Given how much we've mentioned the LG C6's gaming specs, it may not surprise you to hear that the set has won the best gaming TV Award also. All three sizes sport four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 sockets capable of handling signals up to 4K/165Hz with VRR and ALLM, which, along with its stellar picture, makes it the top choice for hardcore gamers and prospective GTA 6 owners.

The flagship OLED to beat, it's the Samsung S99H, which has surprisingly unseated the Sony Bravia 8 II for our premium 55-77inch TV Award. The punchy, wonderfully three-dimensional picture is hard to beat, while the feature set blows most other TVs out of the water.

Add in a greatly improved sound system compared with last year’s model, and you've got Samsung's best TV to date, and the best premium model of 2026. For the £1749 at Richer Sounds price, use the code RSTV100 and then claim £150 cashback from Samsung to get this price – full T&Cs here.

MORE:

Check out our Best OLED TV buying guide

The What Hi-Fi? Awards 2026 winners have been revealed!

Our pick of the best TVs for every budget, including flagship OLEDs and budget Mini LED sets

Over the past couple of years, one question has been nagging at home cinema nerds, myself included: are giant TVs going to kill off projectors?

There are good reasons to think they might: the average TV is currently capable of producing brighter highlights, deeper blacks and more vibrant colours than a typical projector; they tend to have more robust smart platforms and better gaming specifications; they don’t require the purchase and installation of a separate screen; and prices are coming down at a ridiculous rate.

But there’s a romanticism and cinematic authenticity to projection that a television can’t match, at least in the minds of many. And, while TVs are getting much larger, once you go over 100 inches, projection tends to be much more affordable.

It’s a thorny subject – one that my colleague Lewis Empson and I recently discussed on video.

You can watch that video below, but how does the projector industry itself feel about it? Are manufacturers worried that they are about to be rendered obsolete by their TV-producing brethren? We decided to ask them to find out.

If Sony, Optoma, Anker and Xgimi are worried, they certainly don’t seem it (we also reached out to BenQ, JVC and Epson, but didn’t hear back).

In fact, they all pointed to the unique qualities that projectors offer and TVs can’t match – and those qualities are thankfully much more quantifiable than “projectors make it feel like being in the cinema”.

Projectors don’t take over your room

A recurring theme in the responses was that projectors offer greater flexibility when it comes to how a room looks and functions:

“Projection continues to offer something televisions cannot easily replicate: a truly cinematic experience at 100, 120, 150 inches and beyond, without requiring a permanently dominant screen in the room,” says Optoma’s UK sales manager, James Fitzgerald.

“As homes become more multi-purpose and design-conscious, many consumers still value the ability to enjoy a large-screen experience when they want it while keeping their living spaces flexible and uncluttered,” he continues.

That’s a sentiment shared by Anker’s managing director for the UK, Ireland, Italy, Spain, and Portugal, Faraz Mehdi: “Projectors are compact in size, take up no wall space, and become ‘invisible’ once turned off.”

And Apollo Zhong, Xgimi’s Founder and CEO, concurs: “A 100-inch TV is still a large piece of furniture that takes up space all day, every day,” he says. “A projector gives you the same scale when you want it, but doesn’t permanently occupy your room when you don't.”

Unlike the other manufacturers we spoke to for this piece, Sony produces TVs as well as projectors, so it has a foot in both camps. Still, Adrian Bond, Sony Europe’s product marketing manager for home projector and Bravia, agrees with his contemporaries:

“A projector in hidden housing with a retractable projector screen is vastly more discreet and flexible in aesthetics than a monolithic super-large screen TV.”

Projectors offer more flexibility over where you watch

Unsurprisingly, given the lifestyle and portable models they produce, a couple of the manufacturers were keen to point out the flexibility that a projector can offer over a very large TV.

“Many of today’s projectors also offer a level of flexibility that televisions simply cannot match,” says Optoma’s James Fitzgerald, “with compact designs that can be moved easily from room to room, taken to different locations, or set up indoors and outdoors depending on the occasion.”

Anker’s Faraz Mehdi agrees: “They allow portability, being easily moved and used in various settings such as bedrooms, living rooms, and campsites, which TVs cannot offer.”

But it’s not just about portability, argues Sony’s Adrian Bond; there can be benefits for those building dedicated home cinema spaces, too.

“Transporting, manoeuvring and installing a 115-inch TV is far more challenging than hanging a projector and screen, especially for any premium install in a high-rise apartment building,” he says.

Projectors are simply more cinematic than TVs

While a lot of the answers to our questions had a clear practicality argument at their core, Sony’s Adrian Bond wanted to make the point that, in some ways at least, projectors are simply better than TVs.

According to him, “our projectors still offer a different, elevated and more precise experience for the discerning cinephile.”

“A 100-inch+ TV is an epic viewing experience for sure”, he continues, “Our new FWD-115XR95M2 will deliver exactly this. But for the fully immersive experience that engulfs the peripheral vision and has a wider angle, then dedicated home cinema projectors are superior.”

Of course, a suitably large TV screen at the appropriate distance will also fill your vision in the same way, but Bond says there are also changing aspect ratios to consider:

“A TV at 100+ inches will still be fixed in 16:9 aspect ratio due to its form factor,” he says. “To watch in CinemaScope, you will still incur the black bars at the top and bottom of your screen, whereas with a home cinema projector and screen, you can enjoy CinemaScope as intended, on purpose-built screens.”

He makes an excellent point about sound, too: “With premium micro-perforated or woven projector screens, super high-end centre speakers can be placed directly behind the screen, perfectly matching audio with the action/dialogue on screen.”

This is, of course, the sort of sound-from-picture experience that we’re all used to from the local cinema, but it’s very hard for TVs to replicate, thanks to their typically frame- and/or rear-mounted speakers.

As Bond points out, this is the philosophy behind the Acoustic Surface Audio technology of Sony’s OLED TVs, which feature actuators that vibrate the actual screen to make sound. As clever and effective as this solution is in some regards, though, and as good as Sony’s OLEDs tend to sound by prevailing TV standards, it’s not in the same league as having a large, properly calibrated, hi-fi-quality speaker handling centre-channel duties by firing directly through a quality perforated screen.

The final word (for now)

So, are projector manufacturers concerned about the rise of giant TVs? It certainly doesn’t sound like it.

As Xgimi’s Apollo Zhong says, “We don't really see larger TVs as a threat. If anything, they confirm that people want bigger and more immersive screens. We also don’t think it’s a zero-sum competition. TVs and projectors solve different problems.”

I’m not entirely convinced the industry can afford to be quite so relaxed, though.

As TVs get bigger and more affordable, the advantages of projection will inevitably become harder to sell. Modularity, as pioneered by solutions such as Samsung’s The Wall, could also help to overcome some of the practical challenges of installing a truly enormous TV.

For now, though, I am inclined to agree with Optoma’s James Fitzgerald when he says that “projection remains uniquely positioned to deliver scale, flexibility, portability and cinematic impact in ways other display technologies cannot.”

A retractable screen, a portable projector or a dedicated home cinema setup can offer flexibility that a giant TV simply can’t, while a properly designed projection system can deliver the sort of scale and immersion that remain, for now, prohibitively expensive to achieve with a conventional TV.

And then there’s that elusive sense of cinema.

Perhaps it’s the sheer size of the image, the way it fills your field of view, the beam of light travelling through the room before the picture is reflected back from the screen, or simply the ritual of settling down in a darkened room to watch a film. Whatever it is, projection has a particular magic that even the best TVs struggle to replicate.

But I keep coming back to one question: what happens if cinemas themselves move away from projection?

Samsung Onyx LED screens already offer a TV-like alternative in some cinemas. If that approach becomes more widespread, will we still associate projection with that special sense of cinema? Or will we eventually come to regard a wall-sized TV as just as cinematic?

I don’t know the answer. But while TVs continue to close the gap, I suspect the future of projection will depend on more than just how big an image it can produce.

MORE:

Here are the best projectors and the best TVs you can buy right now

Check out this dream penthouse custom install home cinema

Pound for pound, the TCL C7K was arguably last year’s best value TV.

So, with added local dimming zones and TCL’s fancy new Super Quantum Dots on board, you’ve got to hope that this successor, the C7L, is going to be more than up to the job of repeating its predecessor’s success.

Price

The £1199 / AU$1790 price for the 65-inch C7L we’re testing is broadly in line with what last year’s 65C7K cost at the same stage in its life cycle.

That is pretty impressive, given that the newer model introduces a host of substantial hardware and software improvements – not least the step up to new Super Quantum Dots for colour reproduction.

In the US, the equivalent model is the QM7L, which costs $1200. However, while the C7L and QM7L are apparently identical in terms of hardware, we understand that the tuning is different, so this review shouldn’t be considered as applying to the QM7L.

Strangely, in the UK, the 65C7L costs a fairly whopping £700 less than TCL’s step-up 65C8L – a much more significant price gap than we see at other screen sizes (the 55-inch C7L, for instance, is only £200 cheaper than the 55C8L).

Similarly specified 65-inch TVs in the 65C7L’s price ballpark are tough to find. Recent price cuts make Hisense’s 2025 but still widely available 65U8QTUK probably the closest rival, though the 65-inch version of Hisense’s 2026 RGB LED UR8 TV currently costs £1699.

Samsung’s new 65QN80H model also costs £1199, though this doesn’t feature new SQD or RGB LED technologies, sticking with a relatively straightforward Mini LED backlighting system.

Design

The C7L features a premium design distinguished by its metallic finish and the extreme trimness of the bezel around the screen.

It’s not the slimmest TV around the back by today’s svelte standards, though, and the build quality is reasonable rather than fantastic.

You only notice this when you’re setting it up, though; from a normal viewing distance, there’s nothing cheap about the way it looks.

Happily, the C7L avoids the current trend of sitting big-screen TVs on feet placed under their bottom corners, going instead for a square plate stand under the screen’s middle that makes it easy to position the set on even the narrowest cabinets and tables.

The C7L doesn’t ship with the glamorous silver metallic handset you get with the C8L. Its remote instead sports a relatively plasticky black finish and a slightly cluttered-feeling full button count, including a set of numeric keys.

It does helpfully still retain, though, both a dedicated mic button for voice instructions and direct buttons for Netflix, Prime Video, YouTube, Disney+ and TCL’s own TCL Channels service of streamed TV.

Features

We should start this section with the two main areas where the C7L delivers clear claimed hardware improvements over its illustrious predecessor.

TCL’s new Super Quantum Dots might not wear capes, but they do feature no fewer than five different structural layers compared with the two used in traditional Quantum Dots. This results, it is claimed, in more stability, better colour accuracy/purity, and improved efficiency.

The 65C7L also features around 10 per cent more local dimming zones than its predecessor: 1152 versus 1008, to be precise. That’s a very generous number for the C7L’s price level.

TCL claims a peak brightness of 3000 nits for the 65C7L, too – though while this is another very high number for such an affordable TV, it doesn’t represent an increase on the claim of last year’s C7K.

The Super Quantum Dots have been applied to the second generation of TCL’s WVHA panel design. This ushered in a plethora of picture-enhancing features to great effect last year, including increased transient response for improved motion sharpness, advanced blooming controls beyond the mere dimming zone count, enhanced light control for subtler shading and premium shadow detailing, and substantial power consumption savings.

TCL’s AiPQ processing has been optimised for the new colour and backlight system, of course, while the C7L’s panel joins that of the C8L in supporting playback of 4K at frame rates up to 144Hz, and HD at frame rates up to 288Hz (thanks to Direct Line Gate technology).

These excellent gaming features are backed up by support for VRR, including in the AMD FreeSync Premium Pro format; a Dolby Vision game mode; ALLM switching; a respectably low 13.4ms of input lag in the screen’s fastest response Game mode; and a dedicated game menu screen offering a mix of graphics information and gaming aids.

The only disappointment from a gaming perspective is that only two of its four HDMI ports support the full range of cutting-edge gaming features, but at this price, that feels fairly forgivable.

The Dolby Vision gaming mode is just a small part of the C7L’s extensive HDR support. It also supports Dolby Vision IQ, where the picture adjusts in response to ambient light conditions, as well as the alternative HDR10+ premium HDR system, and, of course, the core HDR10 and HLG formats.

Smart features come courtesy of Google TV, but TCL has gone the extra mile to make sure that the C7L carries all of the catch-up services for the UK’s main terrestrial broadcasters that Google itself does not cater for.

The 65C7L’s startlingly advanced picture technology for its price is joined by a sound system that’s the result of another collaboration with premium AV brand Bang & Olufsen. This 2.2-channel, 60W system is short a few watts and a channel versus the 65C8L’s system, but it’s still a premium design for such an affordable 65-inch TV.

Picture quality

The first thing to say about the C7L’s picture quality, albeit rather unfairly, is that this year it falls some way short of the more expensive C8L. This is absolutely fair enough, of course, given the price difference between the two models. But we mention it because last year the C7K’s pictures arguably outperformed those of the C8K, at least in some areas.

Crucially, though, the bigger picture difference this year is down solely to the C8L improving so much; there’s certainly not been any sort of drop-off in the C7L’s performance. On the contrary, it’s still a shining star for its price.

The shining starts quite literally, with levels of both full-screen brightness and small peak brightness that you won’t find anywhere else for the C7L’s money. The radiance with which the TV can deliver bright HDR content is a phenomenal spectacle in the set’s excellent Standard preset, but also contributes to a really eye-catching light range with the set’s Filmmaker Mode. This is despite Filmmaker Mode understandably adopting a much dimmer baseline brightness to ensure it matches today’s most common video mastering values.

The 65C7L can deliver such compelling pictures in both its screen-tech-showcase Standard mode and accuracy-based Filmmaker Mode because it possesses some seriously impressive light control to go with the brightness. Intensely bright whites and colours can be delivered by the new SQD screen at the same time – as in, literally in the same image frame – as the screen is producing deep, rich blacks without generating major light haloing around the bright highlights. The resulting contrast is a marvel for a TV at the C7L’s price point.

The exceptional brightness and light management feeds into another lovely TCL colour performance, too. In fact, presumably thanks to the new ‘Super' Quantum Dots, there’s even more subtlety and nuance in the darkest and brightest colours than there was with last year’s C7K. That’s despite the fact that the screen’s contrast is even more extreme.

While the C7L’s Filmmaker Mode delivers a beautifully nuanced, accurate and cinematic image, where colours still look rich and HDR highlights still look punchier than they do with any other LCD TVs we can think of at this price, the 65C7L’s colours still look balanced and believable even when you’re watching the TV in its much brighter, bolder Standard preset. So whether you fancy a lights-down movie night or you want a picture that still looks spectacular in a bright living room, the C7L has you covered.

The C7L also serves up an impressively vibrant, responsive, crisp and clean video game performance (provided you use one of the two full bandwidth HDMIs), as well as crisp, detailed images with both native 4K and upscaled HD sources.

The Natural Cinema motion processing mode TCL provides does a good job, too (a better job, strangely, than it seems to on the C8L), of retaining sharpness and clarity over and around moving objects, without causing excessive unwanted processing side effects or the soap opera effect.

We mentioned above, though, that there is a clear gap between the C7L and the C8L in performance terms, so we now need to get into the cheaper model’s (relatively tiny) limitations.

First, extreme contrast content does reveal a little more backlight blooming than the C8L exhibits, especially in the black bars that are present above and below wide aspect ratio content. Blooming becomes much more noticeable, too, if you’re viewing the TV from a wide angle.

The Dolby Vision Dark and Standard HDR10 presets can both cause a few subtle shading details to become lost in the blackness of extremely dark scenes, too – though with HDR10 sources you can improve this artefact of the TV’s slightly over-enthusiastic dynamic tone mapping system by nudging up a provided Black Level setting. You can’t go too far with this, however, as the feature also raises black levels.

While some AV fans will like the glossy finish of the C7L’s screen compared with the matte look of some of this year’s key rivals, it can leave some quite obvious reflections if you have a direct light source anywhere opposite the TV.

Finally, TCL’s implementation of its new Eco features is a bit obscure and complicated, leaving us worried that at least a few C7L buyers will end up leaving their shiny new TV delivering pictures with only a fraction of the impact the screen is capable of with its Eco features turned off.

None of these issues, though, are remotely serious or common enough to stop the C7L from being, like its predecessor, arguably the best all-round value TV we’ve seen all year.

Sound quality

The C7L’s Bang & Olufsen audio co-production is good in some ways, but also not without its flaws.

The best thing about it is the way it has the power and speaker quality to produce a substantial soundstage that spreads right across your room from left to right, rather than remaining locked in the TV’s bodywork. There’s even a reasonable sense of height to the C7L’s sound ‘wall’, helping it get more benefit than most mid-range TVs from Dolby Atmos’s overhead effects.

There’s lots of detail in the spacious soundstage, too, making the world of whatever you’re watching feel busy and involving, and for the most part, effects – including individual voices during dialogue sequences – are placed with decent accuracy. Or, to be more precise, they’re placed quite accurately within a soundstage that mostly seems to be happening behind the screen, as the C7L doesn’t push its sound forward as much as we’d like.

Treble sounds, though, while clear, can sound a little harsh and brash at times, and bass doesn’t reach as deep or get as actively involved in the mix as we had hoped. In fact, low frequencies can drop out almost completely during the heaviest movie rumbles.

Overall, the sheer scale and clarity of the C7L’s sound, together with its ability to get seriously loud, ensure it’s a decent performer overall. We just can’t help but think, though, that TCL’s collaboration with B&O is capable of more – especially given the obvious quality of the core speaker components being used.

Verdict

The TCL C7L’s picture quality is really unfathomably good for a 65-inch TV that costs just £1199 / AU$1790.

It is bright, colourful and rich in contrast, but also balanced, subtle and natural, regardless of whether you’re watching it in its spectacular Standard preset or its more cinematically authentic Filmmaker Mode. It’s an excellent gaming display, too, provided you don’t need more than two full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports.

SCORES

• Picture 5
• Sound 4
• Features 4

MORE:

Read our review of the TCL P8L

Also consider the TCL C7K

Read our TCL C8L

Best TVs: flagship OLEDs and budget Mini LED sets tried and tested

The Sony Bravia 8 II might have missed out on a What Hi-Fi? Award this year, but as a 2025 Product of the Year, it's still an excellent buy.

And the Bravia 8 II's age means it's available much cheaper than many of our current Award winners – the 55-inch model is currently at a new low of £1549 at Smart Home Sounds, a whopping £950 off our 'tested at' price.

There are a few steps you need to go through to get this price, though – the code SHSTV150 brings the price down to £1649, and then you can claim £100 cashback from Sony. Full T&Cs are here.

We'd advise not updating the system software once it's out of the box, though – a recent Bravia TV software update has caused problems on several Sony TV models. The issue appears to be related to HDMI passthrough, with our very own TV & AV Editor, Tom Parsons, experiencing audio dropouts when using an external source and a sound system.

If you're not planning on connecting any HDMI-equipped sources in the short term or you're fine with holding fire on that update, you'll have a wonderfully cinematic TV on your hands.

When we first tested the Sony Bravia 8 II, we found it delivers an epic cinematic picture and backs it up with great sound quality.

"The Sony Bravia 8 II is a truly exceptional TV," our Sony Bravia 8 II review reads. "Its combination of sizzling brightness, vibrant colours through all degrees of light, terrific shadow detail and razor-like sharpness combine to produce an image with regularly astonishing dynamism, depth and realism."

Colours are vibrant, even in low-light areas, and there's far more shadow detail than any other Sony TV we've tested at the time of writing.

One of the Bravia 8 II’s greatest strengths is its presets, with no tinkering required to get a supremely authentic picture. We recommend Dolby Vision Dark for Dolby Vision content or Professional for everything else.

Sony's Acoustic Surface Audio+ setup also helps make the Bravia 8 II one of the best-sounding TVs we've ever heard. The sound is balanced, weighty and dynamic, and even manages to sound impressively spacious too.

Picture quality this good deserves a dedicated sound system if you have the funds, but this is very impressive audio by flatscreen TV standards.

Features are just as impressive as the audio and sound quality. Dolby Vision and Atmos are both on board, as well as HDR10 and HLG. The Bravia 8 II is also IMAX Enhanced certified for cinema-grade picture and sound.

Gamers can also enjoy 4K/120Hz, VRR and ALLM support, as well as a Dolby Vision Game mode. Beware that there are only two HDMI 2.1 sockets, one of which doubles as an eARC port, which may be an issue if you have multiple high-speed gaming consoles.

Current Award winner or not, the Sony Bravia 8 II remains one of the best value premium TVs out there right now. We'd advise against updating the system software right now, but otherwise £950 off at Smart Home Sounds is a phenomenal bargain.

MORE:

Read our full 55-inch Sony Bravia 8 II review

Sony has released new Bravia TV software, and it’s good news for some (but unfortunately not all)

Also consider reading our Samsung S99H review

We rate the best gaming TVs available right now for all budgets

Projector brand Xgimi has added three RGB triple-laser models to its collection, promising to bring the “big-screen experience home without the need for a dedicated home cinema space”.

The Horizon 30 Series comprises the Horizon 30 Pro, 30 Max, and 30 Ultra Max. All of them offer 4K resolution and have a 120Hz refresh rate, with Xgimi claiming that the latter results in “smooth, natural motion”.

This follows on from Xgimi’s Horizon 20 Series which came out last year, but the China-based company says the new models will deliver an “upgraded viewing experience with vivid images in rooms with ambient light, greater depth in dark scenes, and smoother motion for fast-moving content”.

There is a Dual Intelligent Iris system built into each model, which Xgimi claims can adjust light output as scenes change. Like its predecessors, all three projectors also support Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10, and HLG, plus IMAX Enhanced content.

On top of the projectors’ 4k/120Hz offerings, gamers will be pleased to hear that they support variable refresh rates (VRR), and auto low latency mode (ALLM) for "faster, more responsive play".

According to Xgimi, the models can project an image up to 300 inches, which should make for an immersive viewing experience.

There are a range of features built-in to make set-up easier, including optical zoom, lens shift, automatic keystone correction, and autofocus. There are also obstacle avoidance and screen alignment features on hand. This easy set-up is helped by each projector’s built-in stand, which you can tilt vertically and rotate horizontally if you need to adjust manually.

The 30 Ultra Max offers the highest claimed brightness of the bunch at 6000 ANSI lumens. Then the 30 Max comes in at 5300 lumens, and the 30 Pro claims to go up to 4800 lumens.

Google TV is on board, which gives you access to the usual streaming apps, including Netflix, Apple TV and Disney+. The projectors also come with their own built-in sound system, consisting of two 12W Harman Kardon speakers.

So, how much will the new range set you back? The most expensive of the bunch is the Horizon 30 Ultra Max, which comes in at £2799 / $3199 / around AU$5366. Next is the Horizon 30 Max, setting you back £2399 / $2699 / AU$4599. Finally, the 30 Pro will cost you £2099 / $2099 / around AU$4025.

We tested Xgimi's older Horizon 20 Max and gave it a solid four-star review in our test room, praising its extreme brightness and room-filling sound by projector standards. We said in our review that the black levels aren’t the best so, if the new models can fix this issue, we could be getting an even stronger entry to the market.

MORE:

Check out the best projectors

Here is our review of the Xgimi Horizon 20 Max

These are the best soundbars you can buy

Been curious to jump on the OLED bandwagon to see what all the fuss is about? Perhaps you are finally taking the plunge ahead of a certain video game launch next month?

Whatever your reasons, if you are taking the first step on the OLED ladder, then the Samsung S85H is an excellent choice. It’s one of the best entry-level OLEDs we have tested – and it is currently available at a new lowest price of £1074 at Richer Sounds. That's £426 off the price from when we tested the TV in July!

To get this price, use the code RSTV50 to save £50 off the already discounted price and then claim £75 cashback from Samsung – full details are here.

A good, cheap OLED is hard to get right – but Samsung has made a lot of good decisions here, particularly with brightness. The brightness is particularly good for an entry-level OLED, which is ideal if your room has a lot of ambient light.

“Switching to Pan, our standard peak-brightness stress test due to its atypical 4000 nits mastering, it’s immediately clear that the S85H burns brighter than previous entry-level OLEDs we’ve tested and its main rival, the LG B6,” reads our Samsung S85H review. “The setting sun offers a wider range of reds and oranges that show up as pure white on its rival.”

Colours are a tad bombastic compared with the B6, but the solidity and three-dimensionality of the S85H’s picture meant it was the set our eyes were drawn to during a race scene in F1: The Movie.

The S85H comes with the latest-gen version of Samsung’s Tizen operating system, which is easy to navigate and automatically arranges apps based on your usage habits. As usual, all the major apps and services are present and running correctly, including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV and more.

Gaming specifications are surprisingly impressive for the price, with four full-speed HDMI 2.1 inputs capable of carrying a 4K/120Hz signal, as well as VRR and ALLM. Even some flagship OLEDs have only two HDMI 2.1 sockets!

Dolby Vision Gaming is missing, however, as is the regular version of Dolby’s HDR standard. No Samsung set supports Dolby Vision, however, and HDR10+, HDR10 and HLG are all on board.

Our main gripe with the S85H is with the audio. The 2.0-channel, 20W Dolby Atmos system noticeably lacks bass, even though there’s a reasonable sense of direction and separation. It’s fine for daytime TV viewing, but you will probably want a soundbar for any form of movie watching.

The LG C6 and Samsung S90F offer a little more nuance, extra finesse, and a more natural picture if you do have a bit more money for a mid-range OLED.

But if you are restricted on price, then the Samsung S85H is one of the top options currently available. Its punchy, immersive and three-dimensional picture is a cut above most similarly priced rivals, and it is now enjoying a good £426 discount at Richer Sounds.

MORE:

Read our full Sony Bravia 7 II review

And our full Samsung S90F review

Our pick of the best TVs for every budget, including awesome OLED models

We blinked, and suddenly it’s been more than a year since we got KEF’s premium XIO soundbar into our test room.

And, despite a very busy 12 months in soundbar land, the KEF XIO has clinched a What Hi-Fi? Award for the second year in a row.

One of its biggest direct competitors was the awesome Focal Mu-so Hekla, which has a much higher price tag (£3000 / $3600 / around AU$5695) than the XIO (£1999 / $2500 / AU£3600), but a 7.1.2-channel configuration compared to the XIO's 5.1.2 system.

As you would expect from a much more expensive sound system, the Hekla is more detailed, refined and dynamic than the XIO, which is why it very much deserves its five-star rating.

So why isn't the Hekla our Award-winner?

Primarily, it's because while the Hekla is excellent, the 'soundbar' label doesn't fit it entirely comfortably.

That's a lot to do with its design, which is less 'bar' and more 'slab' – albeit an extremely classy, attractive slab. Ultimately, It's not really suited for placement in front of a TV, and it can't be wall-mounted. Instead, it looks more at home on a side table, much like an all-in-one hi-fi system akin to a super-sized Naim Mu-so.

So, while on a performance-per-pound basis it's a relatively close call between the XIO and Hekla, KEF's entry makes more instinctive sense than the Hekla if you are looking for the premium soundbar experience.

The Samsung HW-Q990H also served as competition of sorts for the KEF XIO. Again, it's a slightly different proposition, as the Samsung model is a soundbar system with a wireless sub and surrounds, compared with the KEF's solo soundbar design.

These products are really designed for different people and use-cases, with the Samsung prioritising cinematic scale and immersion and the KEF taking a more hi-fi-quality approach to TV sound.

And because their markets are so different, they ultimately ended up in different sub-categories, with the Samsung taking the Best Soundbar System Award in the £500 to £2000 price bracket, and the KEF being assessed as a solo bar.

As well as the XIO's top-notch audio performance, its impressive hardware under the hood helps it stand out from the crowd.

It's deeper than many soundbars when standing on its feet, but it can be reoriented for wall-mounting so that it sticks out just 7cm. The smart chassis houses 12 drive units, each with a dedicated Class D power amplifier.

KEF’s Velocity Control Technology (VECO) is also built into the drive unit. Here, a flexible PCB with a sensing coil replaces a traditional former (the component the main coil wraps around) and measures movement speed. This allows the soundbar’s ‘brain’ to compensate for any errors detected.

In our review, we concluded that the KEF XIO “is one of the best soundbars we have heard”, and, another year on, it remains the best soundbar in its class.

Our only disappointment is that KEF hasn't yet launched a step-down model with a more compact design and lower price, but perhaps it will do just that before the 2027 What Hi-Fi? Awards. It would be fascinating to see a smaller XIO take on the excellent Sonos Arc Ultra.

MORE:

Check out the full list of What Hi-Fi? 2026 Award winners

Here's our review of the Focal Mu-so Hekla

And this is our review of the KEF XIO

Way back in 2023, as I hunted for a living room-friendly sound solution for my new home, I replaced a Sonos Arc with a pair of HomePod 2s, and what I discovered was a surprisingly accomplished Dolby Atmos performance in a super-neat package.

One of my criticisms, though, and a key reason I ended up with the Sony HT-A9 system long-term instead, was that “there’s currently no way to extend the Apple system beyond two speakers, so you can't add dedicated surrounds.”

Now, more than three years later, Apple has finally removed that limitation.

This new Apple TV 4K model, with its powerful A19 chip, can be partnered with four HomePod 2s, four of the new HomePod Mini 2s, or a pair of each, to create a full surround sound experience.

As before, there is no dedicated, manual calibration involved. You simply plonk the speakers where they are most practical, and their combination of integrated microphones will work out where they are and adapt the sound to each other and the environment. Very neat – assuming it works as well as it does with a pair of HomePods.

For those not already familiar with how an Apple TV 4K + HomePods combination works, the HomePods don’t play audio just from the Apple TV 4K itself. Thanks to eARC support, they can also handle sound from other devices connected to your TV, such as a games console or Blu-ray player.

There are other things I’m excited about with the new Apple TV 4K, of course.

Far-field mics for totally hands-free operation via Siri AI are actually rather appealing, I think, as long as Siri can play content from all streaming apps; and AV1 codec support is potentially a big deal for picture quality in the long run.

As someone who misplaces the tiny Siri Remote on a near-weekly basis, the new version’s audible Find My feature should prove very useful, too.

But it’s this ability to turn a HomePod setup into a proper Dolby Atmos home cinema system that has really piqued my interest.

The downside? Cost, of course.

The new Apple TV 4K is launching at £299 / $299 / AU$449, which is a massive price rise on the previous model, and each HomePod 2, which, from a sound quality perspective, I think you will need as the front speakers at least, will set you back £349 / $349 / AU$549.

So a full package that includes a new Apple TV 4K and four HomePod 2s will cost a hefty £1695 / $1695 / AU$2645 – though you could of course save some money by using HomePod Mini 2s instead of HomePod 2s as surrounds.

And, actually, now I think of it, that is very similar to what Sony charged for the HT-A9 system I still use at home, and a lot less than it charges for the Bravia Theatre Quad (£2499 / $2500 / AU$3699).

A Sonos Arc Ultra with two Era 300 speakers as surrounds will set you back £1797 / $2002 / AU$3232, too, so perhaps this Apple TV 4K home cinema isn’t quite as startlingly expensive as it first looks.

Of course, the real test will be how this system sounds. I was impressed by what a pair of HomePods could do on their own, so I am particularly keen to find out whether adding dedicated surrounds can deliver the kind of fully immersive Dolby Atmos I’m after – and how it compares with the Sony HT-A9 system I still use at home.

The new Apple TV 4K is due to go on sale on 13th November, so you can expect our test results around then.

MORE:

I replaced a Sonos Arc with two HomePod 2s – and I might not go back

Here are the best Dolby Atmos soundbars and best surround sound systems you can buy right now

• Check out our main best surround sound systems buying guide

• Check out our best AV receiver buying guide

• Check out our best projectors buying guide

• Want more choice? Check out our best soundbars buying guide

• Check out our Best OLED TV buying guide

• Check out our best Blu-ray players buying guide

Building a speaker package around two different five-star models doesn't guarantee success, but it's certainly a promising start.

And that's what we have here. The Dali Sonik 5 5.1 package, which replaces the Award-winning Oberon 5 5.1 Speaker Package, uses a pair of five-star Sonik 5 floorstanders at the front and a pair of equally acclaimed Sonik 1 standmounters as surrounds.

They're joined by the Sonik Cinema centre speaker and Dali's long-serving Sub E-9 F subwoofer, which first launched back in 2013.

We already know the Sonik 5 and Sonik 1 are excellent, and the Sub E-9 F has proved its worth over the years. But how well do they work together, and can the Cinema centre maintain the same high standard?

Price

Buying the components separately in the UK would cost you £2396, but retailers such as Richer Sounds are doing a package deal that drops the total price to £2199. As we’ll see, that’s excellent value for the performance on offer.

While we’ve not been able to find any such packages in Australia, the total cost to buy the components separately is AU$4596, which again looks like very good value, essentially being a close-to-direct currency conversion from the UK price.

It’s a different story in the US, where again there are no pre-bundled packages, and the cost of buying the speakers separately will set you back $4800. If we were to simply do a currency conversion on the UK price, the US price would be around $3000.

While the package is still a compelling option at $4800, such is the level of performance it offers, it’s not the no-brainer bargain that it is in the UK and Australia.

Design

The first thing that strikes you about this package is how compact each component is. The Sonik 5 floorstanders are delightfully dinky, measuring just 83cm once the spikes are attached.

They’re relatively narrow, too, and while their surprisingly diminutive form might immediately make you question their ability to produce satisfying cinematic scale (something we’ll get to in the Sound Quality section), it also makes them vastly more living room friendly than typical floorstanders.

The Sonik 1 surrounds have the same 16cm width as the floorstanders, but they’re just 21cm deep and 28cm tall. They’re not so small as to be confused for ‘lifestyle’ speakers, but for proper hi-fi speakers, they’re decidedly bijou.

These compact dimensions make the Sonik 1s easy to find space for on a shelf, and there are even eyelets on the back so they can be hooked onto wall screws, though a pair of solid stands will get you the very best performance.

The E-9 F is very small by subwoofer standards, too, which is great for flexibility over positioning, if mildly concerning from a bass depth point of view. We’ll get to the sound it produces below, but it is worth noting that the E-12F, a larger subwoofer with a larger driver, is available in the same range, should you have the space and bass demands to warrant it.

Given the sizes of the other speakers, we were slightly concerned that Dali might have gone tiny with the centre. Instead, proportionally speaking, it feels like the most substantial speaker in the system.

This is a good sign as far as we’re concerned: with so much audio going through the centre channel, most notably the all-important dialogue, it’s vital that the centre speaker is a serious bit of kit, rather than the afterthought it occasionally appears to be in some packages.

Unusually, the centre speaker uses a pair of elongated reflex ports on the front, flanking the trio of drivers, whereas the Sonik 5 and Sonik 1 use the conventional circular variety on their rears.

The front-facing ports make the Cinema centre more comfortable right up against a wall, which is where it may well find itself. The rear-ported speakers, though, benefit from having just a little room to breathe – about 10cm from a wall in the case of the little Sonik 1, and around 40cm for the Sonik 5.

If they’re much closer, you may find that bass is a little exaggerated – a good AV amplifier will be able to compensate for this at least to a degree, but it’s best to get the placement as correct as possible.

Speaking of which, Dali recommends that the Sonik 5 are positioned facing directly forwards, rather than toed-in a little as is the norm for stereo speakers. We found this advice to be well worth following when testing them as a stereo pair in our hi-fi room, but in our AV room, where we tend to position front left and right speakers a little further apart, we find that a minor amount of toe-in provides an excellent stereo image with music without compromising the width and openness of the cinematic soundstage.

As well as having living room-friendly dimensions, the Sonik speakers have a very living room-friendly design, with straight edges and a smooth MDF finish.

Four colours are available – white, black ash, walnut and the natural oak of our review samples – with the wooden speakers having a clean front panel that complements the subtle grain of the rest of the cabinet. The slightly beige colour of the front panels of the speakers in our oak package won’t be to everyone’s taste, but in the right room the speakers will look lovely.

The one shame is that the E-9 F subwoofer is only available in black or white, so if you choose the walnut or oak finish for your speakers, you will have a subwoofer that doesn’t match. That won’t be an issue for those who plan to hide their sub out of sight, but a consideration for those who expect to position it on show.

Features

Every speaker in this package uses the same driver technology, which is a good starting point for achieving a cohesive surround sound presentation.

Each has a 29mm woven-fabric soft-dome tweeter, while the 13cm mid/bass drivers use a combination of paper pulp and wood fibre. The Sonik 5 floorstanders and Sonik Cinema centre each have two of these mid/bass drivers, while the smaller Sonik 1 make do with one.

Those mid/bass drivers also incorporate Dali’s patented Soft Magnetic Composite (SMC) technology in the motor system, which the company says reduces distortion by combining very high magnetic conductivity with very low electrical conductivity.

Each speaker uses a two-way crossover, and sensitivity is relatively consistent across the range: 88dB/W/m for the Sonik 5, 86dB/W/m for the Sonik 1 and 89.5dB/W/m for the Sonik Cinema. All have a nominal impedance of 6 ohms, so the specifications suggest no obvious obstacles to partnering them with a suitable AV amplifier.

There’s just one pair of speaker terminals on each model, so bi-wiring isn’t an option.

The E-9 F subwoofer has a 23cm driver powered by a Class D amplifier rated at 170W RMS, with a quoted frequency range of 37-200Hz.

Sound

It’s hard to resist the draw of Sinners when testing a new piece of home cinema kit, but we skip past the usual genre-bending performance by Sammy and kick off with the intoxicatingly wild Rocky Road To Dublin section.

There’s excellent detail as Stack and Sammy drag another poor soul out of the club, while the first lines of Remmick’s song echo airily across the room, as if travelling over open fields. There’s no sense of individual speakers producing the sound; instead, the perfectly matched speakers place effects exactly where they should be.

Despite the lack of upfiring or ceiling speakers, the Sonik package manages to place effects such as rolling thunder high in the space, while sending sounds convincingly behind the listening position, too. Adding dedicated height speakers and additional rears for a full Dolby Atmos system would increase immersion further, but this cohesive, room-filling 5.1 package already delivers impressive scale.

That cohesion isn’t just spatial; it’s tonal, too. When the song kicks in fully, the subwoofer does a terrific job of integrating the thumping drums while giving them plenty of power and texture. Unsurprisingly, given the size of its driver, the E-9 F doesn’t produce the deepest bass, but it compensates with impressive rhythm and expression. It never sticks out in the way some larger, less sophisticated subwoofers can, either.

These qualities are further illustrated by our usual bass stress test: the opening of the second chapter of Blade Runner 2049, which can turn many a subwoofer into a sobbing, distorting mess. The E-9 F again doesn’t dig as deep as a larger sub might, but it produces more depth than you’d expect from its size, remaining composed while gamely delivering the rhythm within the dense low end.

The Sonik Cinema centre speaker is excellent, too. Like the other Sonik speakers, it combines dispersion and directness expertly, giving dialogue a lovely focus without drawing attention to the speaker itself. Dialogue is detailed, with the low-level dynamic subtlety needed to convey emotional inflection and the tonal expression to make each character’s voice sound clear and natural.

Subtle, refined and composed it might be, but the Dali Sonik package is also capable of thrilling dynamic shifts. The opening race in F1: The Movie is packed with bombastic moments, which the system reproduces with terrific authority while remaining composed throughout.

We already know the Sonik 5 floorstanders are excellent with music, and they prove it again when we switch from surround sound to lossless stereo.

Playing Feeling Like a Stranger by Midnight Faces, we’re struck by how the speakers combine spaciousness with stereo focus. The instrumentation has room to breathe, while the vocals remain clear and direct. The gentle sax is a delight, too, with a lovely balance of airiness and tangibility.

My Curse by Killswitch Engage demonstrates the speakers’ ability to marshal a bludgeoning metal composition without letting it become mushy or suppressing the soaring vocals. The Mother, from Nick Cave and Warren Ellis’s haunting score for The Road, meanwhile, is delivered with all the subtle detail of the analogue-style recording intact.

Verdict

The Dali Sonik 5 5.1 package is a superb all-rounder.

Regardless of the movie we’re watching or the track we’re listening to, it delivers a beautifully cohesive performance, combining smooth openness and detailed directness with impressive scale. Nothing sticks out, nothing feels out of place, and the system handles everything we throw at it with effortless composure.

Few speaker packages offer such a comprehensive blend of talents, and the fact that the Sonik 5 does so at this price only adds to the achievement.

At this level, it’s among the very best we’ve heard – and it gives packages in the class above a serious run for their money.

SCORES

• Sound 5
• Design 5
• Compatibility 5

MORE:

Read our review of the Bowers & Wilkins 606 & 607 S3 speaker package

Also consider the KEF Q Concerto Meta 5.1 Speaker System

Read our Dali Oberon 5 5.1 Speaker Package review

Best surround sound systems: home cinema speakers and soundbars put to the test

While it’s always a thrill to review the latest and greatest flagship TVs, there’s something really satisfying about discovering an affordable model that punches above its weight.

That’s precisely what we have here. Having tested myriad budget sets as part of our Awards judging process, one model stands head and shoulders above its rivals: say hello to the TCL P8L.

Price

The 65-inch TCL P8L we’re testing launched with a price tag of £849, but it can now be bought for an even more attractive price of £749.

If you want to go a little smaller and/or cheaper, there’s a 55-inch P8L with a price tag of £649, and the range goes up to a whopping 98-inch model, although pricing for that one has not yet been revealed.

The P8L series is designed to offer a more budget-conscious alternative to LG's C-series, but the specs still look very attractive for the price, with Mini LED backlighting, Quantum Dot colours and 4K/144Hz gaming all on the menu.

If you’re wondering about US and Aussie pricing, there isn’t any, as the P8L isn’t available in either of those regions. We understand that the US QM6K model is at least very similar, but the potential for differences means this P8L review shouldn’t be considered as also applying to the QM6K.

Design

The TCL P8L is a pretty good-looking TV for its price. Plastic features heavily, of course, but it’s been largely successfully disguised to look like metal.

The thin bezel is black on three sides, with a slightly thicker silver lip at the bottom. There's a TCL logo at the centre of this bottom lip, and another badge that says ‘Premium QLED’ close to the top of the right edge. It looks rather like a cuff at the top of someone’s ear, and it really bothers some of our reviewers.

In the box are two silver feet that can be positioned either fairly close together, giving the TV a footprint that’s just 56cm wide, or further apart to make more room for a soundbar. The amount of clearance beneath the bottom of the screen is just 6.5cm, though, so do bear that in mind.

At its thickest point, the TV is a not inconsiderable 7cm, but this tapers at the edges in a fairly attractive way. This thickness serves a purpose, too, as in the centre of the rear of the TV is a large Onkyo-branded ‘Ultra Bass’ subwoofer that will hopefully give the TV’s audio some low-end heft.

Features

Also on the back of the P8L is a recess for the physical connections, which include four HDMI sockets, through two of which the TV can handle 4K/144Hz (and 4K/120Hz) gaming. VRR, ALLM and Dolby Vision gaming are all supported, too, even via the two 4K/60Hz ports.

Dolby Vision is of course supported for movies and TV shows, too, but so are HLG, HDR10 and HDR10+, which means the P8L scores a clean sheet of high dynamic range format support – something that no TV from Samsung, Sony or LG offers, regardless of price.

As is the norm for TCL TVs, the P8L runs the Google TV smart platform, which brings with it a huge app selection. TCL has also gone out of its way to support all four of the UK’s terrestrial catch-up apps.

In fact, of the 32 apps we check every TV for, just four are absent from the P8L: the Amazon Luna and Xbox cloud gaming apps, Apple Music and Amazon Music. Not only is everything else on board, but every app that should support 4K, HDR and/or Dolby Atmos does so.

In terms of core panel tech, the P8L is of course an LCD set, but it features Quantum Dot colours and a Mini LED backlight with, according to our count, 72 independent dimming zones.

The P8L also boasts one of TCL’s HVA panels, which launched last year and have quickly garnered a reputation for providing better viewing angles and less blooming than typical VA panels. TCL says that this is backed up by a ‘Bionic Lighting Algorithm’ that is designed to optimise details of light and dark scenes.

‘Transient Response’, meanwhile, is designed to reduce ghosting caused by backlight lag, and there are, as is the norm in 2026, umpteen AI picture processing features on board, though we elect to avoid these in favour of a more authentic picture that’s truer to creative intent.

It’s worth noting that the P8L’s panel features quite a reflective glossy coating that can prove a little troublesome in very brightly lit rooms. Of course, that also means it doesn’t have the raised black issue that is common with TVs with matte coatings.

For sound, TCL has teamed up with Onkyo, which has produced a 2.1-channel system comprising the aforementioned rear-mounted, 15W subwoofer, and two 10W speakers built into the TV's underside. Dolby Atmos is supported via this speaker system and the HDMI eARC port.

Picture quality

At the P8L’s level, we still see lots of TVs with no local dimming, and yet more with very poor local dimming. The TCL’s Mini LED backlight, though, is a breath of fresh air.

While blooming around bright objects on black or very dark backgrounds (studio logos at the start of movies, for example, and the spotlights during the bomb test scene of Oppenheimer) certainly isn’t non-existent, it’s subtle and diffuse enough not to distract, and while blacks certainly aren’t OLED-deep, the P8L skillfully avoids producing the flat, grey image that’s typical of similarly priced rivals.

In fact, this is a pleasantly dynamic performer that delivers punchy highlights and impressive depth for the money. It skilfully balances the requirements for sparkling stars and deep, dark space in the opening of Alien: Romulus, for example.

This knack for balance is evident in the way the P8L handles colours, too. The reds and oranges of the recovery ship’s cockpit lights are punchy and vibrant against their dim, metallic housings, but character skin tones are rendered in natural hues and shades.

This balance is achievable with very little user input required, too: the Filmmaker Mode has been really well tuned to deliver impressive cinematic authenticity without the lifelessness that can afflict this same preset on other budget-oriented TVs.

That said, if you prefer a bit more pop, the Standard preset provides a crisper, cooler, brighter picture that’s still surprisingly nicely judged – just remember to reduce the Motion Clarity setting to Low or Off if you choose this preset, as the default Medium setting over-smooths motion in that soap opera fashion we all know and loathe.

On the subject of settings to watch out for, be sure to delve into the TV’s Energy Dashboard to switch off Dynamic Brightness, as this can artificially dim the picture.

Even when uninhibited, the P8L isn’t the brightest TV. It’s bright enough to deliver the benefits of HDR, but in a very bright room, it can struggle somewhat to punch through, even in its brighter presets.

And while we’re talking flaws, while the P8L’s black levels are satisfyingly deep considering the price of the TV, there’s also a little black crush, with some fine details lost to dark shadows. Raising the Black Level setting just a touch can resurface this lost detail at the expense of some depth, but it’s tricky to find the perfect balance. We find 53 to be the sweetest spot, but it still doesn’t quite provide the perfect blend of depth and shadow detail.

These really are minor niggles considering the price of the TV and the overall picture quality it provides at that price, and that remains true when we drop from the 4K HDR movies used so far to an HD SDR stream of The Turkish Detective from BBC iPlayer, which once again demonstrates the TV’s considered approach to colours and contrast while also proving it to be capable of clean, detailed upscaling.

The P8L is a strong option for gamers, too, with those impressive specs being backed up by a punchy, responsive performance. Gamers looking for a big, budget TV to accompany their PS5 or Xbox Series X should put this TCL to the top of their lists.

Sound quality

Considering the down-firing nature of the drivers, the sound they produce is impressively well anchored to the screen, with the dialogue of The Turkish Detective appearing to come directly from the characters. And while voices aren’t projected particularly far out into the room, they’re still clear, relatively detailed and reasonably emotive by the standards of affordable TVs.

That said, there’s a bit of a lack of lower midrange that can make deeper voices sound a little more lightweight than they should.

Switch to a Dolby Atmos movie, and the P8L has a surprisingly successful stab at supplying cinematic width and height, with effects stretching reasonably far to the left and right, and even a little way above the TV. And while the lower-midrange might be a little lacking, the subwoofer provides a useful bit of upper-bass that gives the presentation some additional solidity.

Of course, while the P8L sounds pretty good for a TV in its price range and will do the job with everyday content, you really need to budget for a dedicated audio system if at all possible. One of the best budget soundbars will boost your overall movie enjoyment substantially.

Verdict

The TCL P8L is a rare find. It’s not the cheapest TV, but it punches well above its weight in terms of picture quality and specs, and it sounds good by general TV standards, too.

Those with super-bright rooms might find its unspectacular brightness and reflective coating a slight issue, but for everyone else, this is the new benchmark for large, sub-£1000 TVs.

SCORES

• Picture 5
• Sound 4
• Features 4

MORE:

Read our review of the Amazon QL65F602U

Also consider the TCL C8L

Best TVs: flagship OLEDs and budget Mini LED sets tried and tested

As part of our testing for the imminent What Hi-Fi? Awards, our experts put TVs of all sizes through their paces.

This includes huge TVs of 65 inches and above. So one could be forgiven for worrying that ‘small’ 42-inch TVs might be at a disadvantage when it comes to a cinematic experience.

That’s not the case with the LG C6, though. As soon as we turned off the lights and started Blade Runner 2049, I was immediately treated to a bit of movie magic. The excellent contrast and punchy highlights are evident from the very first scene, giving me a cinephile experience that never once had me thinking about screen size.

So if you have a small room but still want a top-of-the-line picture experience, the LG C6 42-inch comes highly recommended. We only reviewed the set yesterday, but it's already down to £899 at Amazon.

That’s a nice £401 discount off the £1399 launch price. You’ll need to claim 10 per cent cashback to get this discount, however – full T&Cs are here.

The 42-inch C6 ticks every box in our picture testing process, and isn’t held back by its modest display size.

There’s an impressive sense of depth, solidity and richness to the picture as Dave Bautista’s Sapper Morton walks to his farmhouse in Blade Runner 2049. And, once he’s inside, the bright windows and dark interior are a great showcase of the C6’s excellent handling of contrast.

The C6 takes motion in its stride also, with Officer K’s flying Peugeot hurtling over solar farms with no artefacts or flickering motion.

As our LG C6 42-inch review reads: “The C6 delivers a seriously impressive experience, underpinned by a composed approach to contrast and sharpness, resulting in oodles of cinematic depth.”

LG’s C-series line has long won over gamers with its all-encompassing feature selection, and this model is no different. The 42-inch C6 sports four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 sockets with support for signals up to 4K/165Hz with VRR and ALLM. There are also several cloud gaming apps on board, with LG also claiming the C6 is the first TV capable of 4K/120Hz game streaming via Nvidia GeForce Now.

Speaking of apps, the built-in webOS 26 also has a strong array of non-gaming-related streaming apps, from BBC iPlayer and Channel 4 to Disney+ and Apple TV.

That impressive picture quality and those features go a long way to making up for the middling sound. The 2.0-channel sound system produces clear and detailed sound, especially with voices, but there's a noticeable lack of oomph in both bass and volume. A compact Dolby Atmos soundbar is recommended for serious movie-watching sessions.

A huge TV isn't necessary for genuine cinematic impact, and the LG C6 42-inch proves just that. If you're short on space, on a budget, or lucky enough to be able to consider a second-room OLED, then this C6 size comes highly recommended for £899 at Amazon.

MORE:

Read our LG C6 48-inch review

Also consider our LG C5 42-inch review

Best TVs: flagship OLEDs and budget Mini LED sets tried and tested

LG’s 42-inch OLEDs have remained our top choice for space-conscious cinephiles for quite some time. They prove that you don’t need to sacrifice a large amount of space for a 65-inch (or larger) set to achieve a top-of-the-line picture experience.

While there haven’t been huge performance leaps between generations, we have found subtle improvements occur each year, and we expect to see a similar affair with the 42-inch C6 that we have before us today.

This compact OLED aims to deliver a large-scale cinematic experience that suits smaller rooms, which is a mission we’re more than familiar with after reviewing every generation of this TV since 2022’s C2; the first 42-inch OLED to hit the market.

The real question is, does it continue the legacy of the acclaimed series that’s been championed by cinephiles and gamers alike? We certainly think so…

Price

Originally launching at £1300 / $1399 / AU$1999, the OLED42C6 can now be found for around £999 / $1000 / AU$1695 thanks to months of discounts. Going back to that launch price, LG actually undercut the outgoing 42-inch C5, which launched at £1400 / $1399 / AU$2199, making it cheaper in the UK and Australia.

Speaking of which, there are still some C5 stragglers to be found for around £849 here in the UK. That’s a decent discount, but we could certainly make a case for spending the additional £150 to score the latest and greatest C-series TV.

Looking at the competition, LG’s main rival is, perhaps unsurprisingly, Samsung. The Samsung S90H is available in all the same sizes as the LG C6, with the equivalent 42-inch model currently available for £999 / $1000 / AU$1466.

Panasonic also offers last year’s Z90B, which we awarded five stars at 48 inches, in a 42-inch option. It costs slightly more than the C6 at £1099, but the Z90B’s front-firing speaker bar may appeal more to audiophiles.

Design

Place the 42-inch C6 next to the C5, C4, C3 and C2 from the previous five years, and you’d have a nearly impossible game of Where’s Wally on your hands. The C6 looks identical to its predecessors, although that’s no great shame as LG is sticking with a well-built and smart-looking formula.

The compact set rests upon two blade-style feet at each end; usually we prefer a central stand (as found on the C6 from 48 inches upwards) for maximum furniture compatibility, but the small footprint of this TV means that it’s not too wide and should fit on a majority of media units with ease.

And with 72cm between these feet, there is enough room to squeeze a soundbar between them; the Sonos Beam (Gen 2), for example, measures in at 65cm, meaning it should easily fit.

However, we should note that the feet can only be attached at one height, that being 3.7cm. That’s not loads of clearance; going back to the Sonos Beam (Gen 2), that soundbar stands at 6.8cm tall, so there is a chance that your soundbar may encroach on the C6’s bezel.

Assembly is simple thanks to the feet attaching with just two screws each, and the “small” screen size is easy for a single person to get into position provided they possess the appropriate wingspan.

Rounding things out with the remote, LG continues to offer just one button-heavy handset in the box. Its Magic Remote has some nifty features, such as a scroll wheel and Nintendo Wii-style motion pointer, but we’d still like to see a backlight and the return of a dedicated source select button, which has unfortunately been sacrificed for a general smart home-focused connected devices button.

Features

The 42-inch C6, much like the 48- and 65-inch versions, is a feature-packed OLED TV that’s equipped for cinephiles and gamers alike.

This TV sports a 4K WOLED panel, as has been the case with all previous iterations of LG’s 42-inch C-series TVs. While that may seem somewhat obvious given LG’s track record, it is worth highlighting this year, as LG seems to be mixing in Primary RGB Tandem OLED panel technology depending on the screen size.

Officially speaking, the 77- and 83-inch options tout LG’s Brightness Booster Max feature and Hyper Radiant Colour system, which require the Tandem OLED technology to work. On a more speculative note, we recently reviewed the 48-inch version of this TV, and its unexpectedly high brightness led us to believe that it too is using the more advanced panel technology, although LG will neither confirm nor deny whether that is the case.

Regardless, our main concern is how this TV performs, as panel technology and on-paper specifications are not always indicative of picture performance.

Moving on to the processor, the OLED42C6 sports the same Alpha 11 AI Processor 4K Gen3 as its larger siblings, which handles picture processing and runs the webOS smart platform. New for this year is a 12-bit processing pipeline, which reportedly enhances brightness and colour.

There are also countless AI picture and sound features, which are handled by this processor. Dual AI Super Resolution, for example, is a two-layer upscaling system (one for sharpening edges, the other to refine textures and details), which enhances lower-resolution content as well as 4K content.

AI HDR Remaster, another AI-backed persistent picture feature, enhances contrast, sharpness and colour using a frame-by-frame process. SDR content takes on a more HDR-like appearance, and HDR content should look “more vibrant and realistic”, according to LG.

AI Picture Pro serves as a hub for many of these picture features, and it also uses content recognition algorithms to tweak the C6’s settings depending on the content you’re watching. Alongside this is AI Sound Pro, which works in a very similar way, albeit for the audio settings instead.

For those hoping to add a more personalised touch to their AI experience, Personalised Picture Wizard and Personalised Sound Wizard allow you to choose from a range of preset image and sound samples to adapt the settings to best suit your taste without having to dig into the system settings menu.

That said, we find that LG’s AI settings can be a bit heavy-handed and usually don’t preserve picture and sound authenticity. Switching to Filmmaker Mode in the picture settings is a much more effective and equally easy way to dial this TV’s picture in.

Stepping away from AI and back to the realm of AV, the 42-inch C6 supports HDR in the HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision HDR formats. HDR10+ isn’t supported, which isn’t a surprise considering the format was created by Samsung.

Dolby Atmos immersive audio is also supported via the 2.0 channel sound system and through connected HDMI eARC audio devices.

Speaking of HDMIs, LG’s established formula for winning over gamers remains, as the OLED42C6 sports four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 sockets capable of handling signals up to 4K/165Hz with VRR and ALLM. For those without a console, the C6 also supports a wide range of cloud gaming apps, including Xbox, Nvidia GeForce Now and Amazon Luna. LG claims that the C6 is also the first TV capable of 4K/120Hz game streaming via Nvidia GeForce Now.

webOS 26 is also home to plenty of non-gaming-related streaming apps too, including a strong array of regional and global offerings, from BBC iPlayer and Channel 4 to Disney+ and Apple TV. Our biggest criticism is how advertisement-heavy the operating system is, but sponsored content can be switched off in the settings menu.

Picture quality

While the 48-inch C6 surprised us with its bright, rich and punchy performance, the 42-inch C6 follows in the footsteps of its 65-inch sibling by acting as a subtle but appreciated improvement over its predecessor. That’s to say it's a refinement on a five-star formula in the picture department, which is fine.

As has been the case with several previous C-series OLEDs, we gravitate towards Filmmaker Mode as our preferred picture setting, although we do switch to Cinematic Movement in the TruMotion settings as we feel this irons out judder effectively without introducing the soap opera effect.

LG’s Cinema Home setting – which is essentially its version of the “movie” preset found on other TVs – is also a setting that’s worth exploring for those who crave a touch more punch, or who are viewing the C6 in environments with abundant ambient light.

With these settings dialled in, the 42-inch C6 serves up a superb cinematic image that never reminds us that we’re watching a “small” TV.

Much like the 65- and 48-inch versions of the C6, the 42-inch excels when it comes to contrast. The opening of F1: The Movie features impressively punchy highlights, including stadium lighting and fireworks, which juxtapose the inky-black night sky effectively.

There is an impressive sense of depth, solidity and richness to the picture as Sonny Hayes waltzes towards the garage and pit lane during the opening of the film, which, when paired with the sharp outlines of subjects and strong detail levels, develops an excellent sense of immersion.

Switching to Civil War, the C6 proves it can deliver a balanced, natural image during the military base sequence. Foliage looks crisp and verdant without straying into over-vibrant shades of green, and there is a real sense of three-dimensionality to the picture too.

As fighter jets soar over the camp, we find that the 42OLEDC6 takes fast-moving objects in its stride, with no apparent judder. Switching to Blade Runner 2049 affirms this, as a sequence in which Officer K’s flying Peugeot hurtles towards the LAPD and passes behind a handful of buildings in the foreground reveals no artefacts or flickering motion.

Simply put, the 42-inch C6 ticks every box in our picture testing process, and its large-scale cinematic picture isn’t held back by its modest display size.

Sound quality

LG’s small OLED TVs have never blown our socks off when it comes to sound performance, and the C6 isn’t really an exception. That said, it’s not a total disaster either; it’s more of a mixed bag, if anything.

We do like that the sound presets are pleasingly simple, and things become even easier with our guidance: skip the AI-labelled sound modes and stick with standard. While they aren’t without use (the dialogue setting will certainly be handy for those who struggle to hear voices, for example), they do compromise the overall mix and apply a synthetic finish to the sound. Our advice is to stick with “standard”.

With that in mind, we use the opening sequence of F1: The Movie to assess the C6’s performance. Overall, there are a few strengths to note here; the C6 produces quite a clear and detailed sound, which especially extends to voices. While they don’t project all that well, there is certainly definition and a touch of tonal variation, which is appreciated given dialogue really is the most important factor.

Furthermore, the sound of race cars soaring around the track (and, from our perspective, across the screen) flows nicely from right to left, and there is a sense of spaciousness and openness that is quite impressive given the size of the set. The sound doesn’t fill our testing room, but we have to commend the sense of space it is able to muster given its speaker configuration.

While there isn’t a huge amount of height to the fireworks that burst over the race track and shower sparks onto the cars below, the C6 presents them with satisfying snaps, crackles and pops; although, much like Rice Krispies, there isn’t much weight behind them.

And that brings us onto the overarching issue with the 42 C6’s sound: there just isn’t much oomph. Given that this is a 2.0 channel, subwoofer-less system in a relatively small chassis, that’s to be expected, but it isn’t helped by the shortfall of absolute volume. When cranked to 100 per cent, it remains easy to talk over the C6 without having to raise your voice, and there is a dip in the midrange that leaves the sound (especially voices) feeling a bit hollow and lightweight.

Paired with a somewhat drab approach to dynamic expression, which leaves Led Zepplin’s Whole Lotta Love sounding flat, the C6 is best accompanied by a compact Dolby Atmos soundbar for serious movie watching sessions.

Verdict

The 42-inch LG C6 once again proves that you don’t need a huge TV to score genuine cinematic impact.

Middling sound aside, the C6 delivers a seriously impressive experience, underpinned by a composed approach to contrast and sharpness, resulting in oodles of cinematic depth.

While we’re used to sets 55 inches and above, we’d happily spend hours watching movies on this compact OLED.

SCORES

• Picture 5
• Sound 3
• Features 5

MORE:

Read our review of the LG C6 48-inch

Also consider the LG C5 42-inch

Read our Panasonic Z90B 48-inch review

Best TVs: flagship OLEDs and budget Mini LED sets tried and teste

Back when we reviewed the Bravia Theatre Trio, Sony’s soundbar-in-three-parts, we also tested it with the optional Rear 9 surround speakers and Rear 8 subwoofer.

We found the system to be excellent in both guises, but we theorised that an upgrade from the Sub 8 to the Sub 9 might solve the one remaining niggle (very occasional buzzing from the subwoofer) and elevate the system from excellent to truly exemplary.

Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve been testing that theory, and at the risk of tooting our own horn in an undignified fashion, we were absolutely right. Although we think there’s a way it could be made better still…

Price

The Bravia Theatre Trio alone is a premium product with a £1999 / $2000 / AU$2999 price tag, and the Rear 9 speakers and Sub 9 will set you back £699 / $750 / AU$1299 and £899 / $900 / AU$1299 respectively when bought separately.

However, in the UK, you can get the extra components for half price when they’re bought with the core system, taking the total price to £2798. In the US, meanwhile, we’ve found everything bundled together for a not-quite-as-discounted price of $3250.

No such discounting currently exists in Australia, so Aussies will currently have to pay AU$5597 to put this complete system together.

Alternatives at this level aren’t terribly common, but the Sonos Ultimate Immersive Set with Arc Ultra (£2516 / $2446 / AU$4366) is a strong option, while the LG Sound Suite Immersive Suite 7 Pro (£2300 / $2150 / AU$3996) is a much less appealing one.

Another alternative, particularly for those who don’t want the soundbar component, regardless of how compact it is, is Sony’s own Bravia Theatre Quad, which is also compatible with the new Sub 9. That pairing will set you back £2949 / $2496 / AU$4998.

Design

As we said in our original review, the Bravia Theatre Trio is an unusual proposition from a design perspective, replacing the traditional soundbar with three separate speakers.

The centre speaker is essentially a very narrow soundbar, while the left and right speakers are substantially larger cylindrical units with fabric coverings, metallic top rings and up-firing drivers. They're attractive and reassuringly solid, if a little imposing.

The centre speaker's low-profile design means it’s unlikely to obstruct your screen, and Sony supplies spacer feet if you need it to straddle your TV's pedestal stand. The left and right speakers have flat backs and can be wall-mounted using suitably positioned screws.

The two Rear 9s have a strong resemblance to the Trio's front left and right speakers, but they're a little shorter and lack the extended, flat back.

They can still be wall-mounted directly using a suitable screw, though, or attached to the supplied brackets if you want to angle them towards the listening position, which, thanks to Sony's calibration system (which we'll get to shortly), isn't really necessary unless your placement is particularly unusual.

Then there's arguably this system's centrepiece, the Sub 9, which is quite a different proposition. This is a huge, almost cube-shaped subwoofer that looks rather like two Sub 8s that have been fused together.

At 23.3kg, it's also almost twice the weight of a Sub 8, so you'll want plenty of space for it and a bit of muscle to get it into position. Measuring 39 x 40 x 35cm, it's not something you can casually tuck behind a sofa, either.

All five speakers are wireless, of course, so there are no cables to run between them, but each obviously needs a mains connection.

One omission is the lack of a display. The Trio relies on status lights and the Bravia Connect app to tell you what it's doing, which is fine for changing volume but less convenient if you simply want to check that you're correctly receiving, say, Dolby Atmos.

If you don't have a recent Sony TV that can display this information for you, you'll need to pick up your phone, unlock it and open the app to find out. That's more faff than there really should be for such a simple task.

Features

The Bravia Theatre Trio is a 3.0.2-channel system on its own, with a claimed 405W of amplification.

Add the two Rear 9 speakers and Sub 9, as we have here, and it becomes a full 5.1.4-channel system, with a further 180W claimed for the rear speakers and a substantial 600W claimed for the Sub 9. That’s a hefty 1185W of claimed total system power.

The system supports Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, and the addition of the rear speakers and subwoofer means it’s also fully IMAX Enhanced certified.

Sony's 360 Spatial Sound Mapping technology remains at the heart of the system, using the physical speakers as the foundations for up to 24 phantom speakers around the room. With the Rear 9s adding physical speakers behind the listening position, the surround field should be considerably more convincing, with Sony's processing continuing to fill in any remaining gaps.

The Rear 9s also broadly mirror the driver arrangement of the Trio's front left and right speakers, with a woofer, tweeter and up-firing driver, and while the rears use slightly smaller woofers and tweeters to the front speakers, the up-firing drivers are the same, potentially boosting consistency and cohesion, particularly of height effects.

Set-up is handled through the Bravia Connect app, which walks you through the process and asks for the positions and heights of the individual speakers. You can use approximate, relative positioning to get through the process quickly, and this produces excellent results in typical layouts, but it’s also possible to add specific distances, which results in even greater cohesion and accuracy of effect placement, particularly in unusually shaped rooms and/or when the speakers are positioned asymmetrically.

The calibration system is particularly neat. The speakers have their own microphones, but Sony also supplies a dedicated USB-C calibration microphone that plugs into your phone. You then hold the phone in the listening position and let the system measure the room.

It's a much more reassuring solution than relying on the microphone built into whatever phone happens to be running the app, and it makes the calibration process both consistent and thorough.

The system then adjusts itself to account for the room and the actual positions of the speakers, including compensating for speakers that aren't perfectly positioned. The whole process is surprisingly quick, too.

There's plenty of scope for tweaking afterwards, including bass level, voice enhancement and different sound modes, but the default settings are accurate and sensible enough that most people will never need to venture into the advanced settings.

In terms of physical connections, there’s an HDMI eARC port for connection to your TV, plus a dedicated HDMI input that supports 4K/120Hz, VRR and ALLM. There's also Bluetooth, wi-fi, Apple AirPlay and Spotify Connect on the wireless side.

If the TV to which the Trio is connected is a recent Sony model, various controls and settings are integrated into the on-screen menus, which is genuinely handy, but the dinky bundled remote is fine as an alternative, and the aforementioned Bravia Connect app is excellent if you can be bothered to pick up and wake up your phone.

Sound quality

The Bravia Theatre Trio was already an impressive performer on its own, but adding the Rear 9s and Sub 9 transforms what is already a big, cohesive presentation into a genuinely immersive home cinema system.

Arrival in Dolby Atmos is an excellent demonstration of what the complete system can do. Dialogue is clean and precisely anchored to the screen, while the more subtle elements of the soundtrack are reproduced with impressive delicacy and insight.

When the soundtrack suddenly opens up, such as when a squadron of jets buzzes Louise's school or the transport chopper lands on her lawn, the system fills the room with sound.

The cohesion and precision are deeply impressive. You don't hear the speakers, you hear the sound they make. The jets fill the ceiling and streak from one side of the room to the other in a completely natural fashion, with no obvious gaps as they move around the soundstage. There's enormous scale here, but also excellent tonal consistency and enough refinement to prevent the presentation becoming hard or harsh.

The Rear 9s add considerably more than simply sound from behind you. Effects move seamlessly from front to rear, while the system maintains the same sense of cohesion that impressed us with the Trio on its own. The result is a convincing bubble of sound around the listening position, rather than a front-heavy presentation with occasional effects coming from the rear.

The first trip into the alien vessel is particularly effective, with the system creating a cavernous, echoey environment and giving the aliens' deep ‘voices’ a wonderfully convincing presence. There's a strong sense of space, but also plenty of detail within it, allowing individual sounds to remain clearly defined rather than becoming lost in the overall effect.

The system's precision is just as impressive in Blade Runner 2049. The adverts outside K's apartment are positioned perfectly, high above the listening position, while individual raindrops in the balcony scene are placed with remarkable accuracy. This is the sort of three-dimensional positioning that makes Dolby Atmos feel genuinely worthwhile, rather than simply adding a vague sense of height to the presentation.

Bass is another major strength of the complete system. Arrival contains plenty of low-frequency information, but it isn't simply a succession of brutal bass drops. The Sub 9 handles the soundtrack's varied low end with impressive subtlety, sounding tuneful and controlled when required, before delivering enormous weight when the soundtrack demands it.

Its integration with the rest of the system is excellent, too; it never feels like a separate speaker doing its own thing.

The improvement over the Sub 8 we tested with the Trio previously is particularly obvious with chapter two of Blade Runner 2049. The minor buzzing we heard from the smaller subwoofer has disappeared, replaced by an almost sub-sonic thump that is both exceptionally deep and tightly controlled.

The Sub 9 also resolves the rhythm within those deepest notes much more cleanly, where lesser speakers can turn them into an indistinct rumble. The result is greater impact, but also greater definition and composure.

The system has plenty of dynamic firepower elsewhere, too. Civil War's chaotic battle sequences and the aerial action of Top Gun: Maverick show how effectively it can transition from quiet dialogue and subtle background detail to huge, room-filling effects.

Despite its wireless and relatively lifestyle-friendly design, this is capable of the sort of scale, dynamics and precision we'd expect from a much more conventional home cinema system.

For music, the system gives you a useful choice of presentation. Leave Sound Field switched off and stereo material is played through the front left and right speakers and Sub 9, giving you the most direct and authentic stereo presentation. Switch Sound Field on and you can either have the system upmix stereo material into a surround presentation or select Multi Stereo to send it through all of the speakers.

Being the purists that we are, our preference is to turn Sound Field off, which gives you the kind of authentic stereo experience that a soundbar can’t match. That said, we would like the option to play stereo music without the involvement of the subwoofer: while it’s impressively integrated and tuneful for a speaker of its type, the two front speakers are capable of producing a cohesive, balanced delivery without it.

The Bravia Theatre Trio was already an unusually accomplished home cinema system, but adding the Rear 9s and, crucially, the Sub 9 turns it into something genuinely exceptional.

The scale, cohesion, precision and bass performance are all outstanding, while the wireless design and clever calibration make it considerably easier to accommodate than a conventional 5.1.4-channel speaker package.

Most importantly, our theory about the Sub 9 has proved correct. The occasional buzzing we heard from the Sub 8 has disappeared, while the larger subwoofer delivers deeper, cleaner and more controlled bass.

Combined with the Rear 9s, it gives the Trio the kind of immersive, room-filling performance that makes this feel much more like a proper home cinema system than a collection of wireless lifestyle speakers.

There are a couple of minor niggles: we'd like the option to remove the Sub 9 from the stereo music configuration, and the lack of a display makes checking the incoming audio format more fiddly than it should be. But these are tiny blemishes on what is otherwise an outstanding package.

A properly configured AVR and Dolby Atmos speaker system will still have the ultimate performance advantage, but it will be considerably more complicated to accommodate and set up.

Verdict

If you want serious, genuinely cinematic surround sound without turning your living room into a speaker installation, the Bravia Theatre Trio with Rear 9s and Sub 9 is the best alternative to a traditional AVR and Dolby Atmos speaker system that we've tested – and we'd be very tempted to add a second subwoofer…

SCORES

• Sound 5
• Design 4
• Features 4

MORE:

Read our review of the Sony Bravia Theatre Trio

Also consider the LG Sound Suite System

Read our Sony Bravia Theatre Quad review

Best surround sound systems: home cinema speakers and soundbars put to the test

Couldn't nab a new TV during the Prime Day sales?

Well then, you're in luck. Not only have we found a great saving, but it just happens to be on a five-star 65-inch LG C6 OLED, one of our favourite TVs this year.

And it's now at the lowest price we've seen: £1619 at Richer Sounds, a fair bit cheaper than the previous low of £1889 we saw in July.

To get this saving, the code RSTV100 shaves £100 off the price at checkout. You can then claim 10 per cent cashback from LG to get this new lowest price. You can claim 30 days after purchase – full details here.

We were surprised just how big an upgrade the LG C6 was over the outgoing C5, given that the biggest change was a new Alpha 11 Gen 3 processor. However, this chip has blessed the C6 with a brighter, richer and more refined picture.

"Even in Filmmaker Mode, the C6’s extra brightness over the C5 is immediately obvious," our LG C6 review reads. "Highlights are more intense, colours have a touch more richness and the overall image carries greater depth and dimensionality."

The delivery is more enticing, dynamic and three-dimensional overall, with enhanced upscaling, remastering and shading subtlety also.

LG has long gifted their TVs with flawless gaming specifications, and the C6 is no different. VRR, ALLM and Dolby Vision gaming are supported on all four HDMI 2.1 sockets, as well as 4K/120Hz for console gamers. Gamers with a powerful PC can even crank it all the way up to 4k/165Hz with VRR.

The ever-reliable WebOS has all the major streaming services on board, all well optimised and delivering content in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos where applicable.

Dolby Vision is just one of the HDR standards available – HDR10 and HLG are also supported, though HDR10+ Advanced is missing.

After several years of disappointing sound, we're pleased to report that the C6 has seen a marked improvement in audio. It won't beat a dedicated soundbar, but overall delivery is more open and immersive than the C5 and pretty good for a TV of this class.

We were raving about the quality of the LG C6 even at full price, so with £881 off at Richer Sounds, it's even better quality. The perfect antidote if you missed out on a Prime Day TV deal.

MORE:

Check out our 48-inch LG C6 review

Also read our LG C5 review

Best TVs: flagship OLEDs and budget Mini LED sets tried and tested

We all love a comeback story.

Last year the TCL C8K was mildly disappointing, and instead its step-down sibling, the C7K, took most of the glory (and a What Hi-Fi? Award).

Not this year, though. With groundbreaking new Super Quantum Dot technology and a significant increase in dimming zones, its successor, the C8L, is now back in the running.

We declared as much when we awarded the TV five stars only two days ago – yet there is already a hefty discount. Just use the code TCL20PERCENT to save 20 per cent and get the C8L for £1519 at Richer Sounds.

The TCL C8L certainly looks promising on paper, with a claimed peak brightness of a huge 5000 nits, a high local dimming-zone count of 2040 and TCL’s new Super Quantum Dots. These represent a major update on traditional Quantum Dots, with claimed increases in efficiency, stability, brightness, colour range and colour accuracy.

That should establish the C8L as a cut above the LCD TV norm, but how does it actually translate to performance? Well, we found that it had a transformative effect compared with its predecessor, the C8K.

“This colour blend finesse feeds into an impressively three-dimensional look to pictures, regardless of whether you’re using the TV’s Standard or as-the-director-intended Filmmaker Mode preset, as well as an outstandingly crisp, detailed look to native 4K images where you feel like you’re appreciating the full and accurate weight of every single pixel,” our TCL C8L review reads.

“Its Mini LED plus advanced local-dimming backlight system also plays a huge part in the feeling of precision and, in the Filmmaker Mode’s case, accuracy, by being able to deliver not just extreme brightness highlights and remarkably inky black colours, but every imaginable shade in between.”

Gamers have a lot to look forward to: an input lag of just 10.1ms, 4K/144Hz support, VRR, support for refresh rates at HD resolution up to 288Hz, and ALLM switching.

The built-in Google TV also has all the key global video streaming services – including the main UK terrestrial broadcaster catch-up apps – while the TV also supports the four big four high dynamic range formats: HDR10, HLG, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision.

The Bang & Olufsen 2.1.2-channel sound system is also good by TV standards, crafting a soundstage that extends beyond the screen’s outer frame and creating an open, immersive sense of space for movies. It can, though, sometimes lose coherence and give the wrong elements too much emphasis.

Overall, the outstanding picture quality of the TCL C8L is hard to beat, especially with 20 per cent off at Richer Sounds. If you’re after a backlit TV bargain, put this on your list.

MORE:

Read our Hisense UR9 review

Also consider our Sony Bravia 7 II review

Best TVs: flagship OLEDs and budget Mini LED sets tried and tested

We've reviewed projectors in all shapes and sizes over the past couple of years, and there's one form factor that's taking the industry by storm as we speak.

The lifestyle projector – or you may have heard of them being referred to as coffee table projectors – is the hot home cinema topic at the moment, with manufacturers such as Epson, Xgimi and BenQ all launching cute cuboid projectors that can beam pictures north of 100-inches with ease.

They're essentially a full home cinema system in a box, offering picture, sound and (more often than not) streaming smarts, allowing users to plonk them onto their table and get stuck into their favourite movie, TV show or video game.

However, there's one particular model that we've been championing since the 2025 What Hi-Fi? Awards, and it comes from Hisense. The M2 Pro is a brilliant all-in-one system, delivering an Award-winning picture experience and a built-in smart platform that allows you to turn your living room into a fully-fledged home cinema.

We showered it with praise at its £1299 launch price last year, but Amazon's current Prime Big Deal Days sales mean that you can snag it for just £814.

The Hisense M2 Pro is capable of beaming an image up to 200 inches, with Hisense claiming a peak brightness figure of 1300 lumens. This should be plenty bright enough to combat ambient light in most living rooms, although our TV and AV Editor, Tom Parsons, found that it's not quite bright enough for outdoor viewing.

Considering that this projector requires power from a mains plug at all times, that's no great shame.

The projector is in its element indoors, however, as it offers a consistently crisp and colourful image that never extends beyond its own capabilities; a notable hurdle at which we've seen many other lifestyle projectors stumble.

It's very capable when it comes to retaining dark detail and punchy highlights alike, all thanks to its solid handling of contrast. We also find motion to be impressive, provided you switch it to the Film motion preset; our recommendation is to stick with Filmmaker Mode overall, as this takes care of the settings for you.

This projector also comes with a 10W 2.0 channel speaker system built in. While it will never match a proper surround sound system, or even a decent soundbar, the M2 Pro's speakers are handy to have in a pinch, and we even commended it on delivering "a surprising amount of sound volume for such a small package".

It prioritised dialogue during our testing, which is the most important aspect after all, making it perfectly usable for those who don't already have an external sound system to hook it up to.

Speaking of hooking things up to the projector, the M2 Pro sports a single HDMI socket, which doubles as HDMI eARC if you do plan on tying this into a wider home cinema system.

While that may seem stingy, it's enough to hook up a Nintendo Switch for a sport of Mario Kart, and with the built-in Vidaa smart system offering a wide array of streaming apps, we're willing to bet that most people will never get around to using that HDMI socket.

At £482 off its original price on Amazon, the M2 Pro is a convenient projector that doesn't skimp on picture performance. It's a hidden gem in the projector world, and one that I'm always eager to shout out when a sale arises.

MORE:

Read our full Hisense M2 Pro review

As well as our Hisense PX4 Pro review

And check out the best Amazon Prime Big Deal Days offers here

Prime Day, or Big Deal Days, or whatever the fudge else Amazon’s calling it this very second (as noted by regular contributor Joe Svetlik earlier this week, it changes a lot), is entering its second and final day.

As we noted yesterday, though, it has been a bit of a damp squib so far, especially if you’re shopping for hi-fi.

Good deals have been isolated and usually limited to one product within a category, rather than the holistic drops we see on swathes of headphones, TVs and the like during Black Friday.

Which is why, with a particularly heavy heart, I am sad to inform any bargain-hunting TV buyer that the best deal we’ve seen on an OLED is gone.

Specifically, the stellar Amazon saving on the five-star, Award-winning 48-inch LG C5 from last year which let you pick it up for a modest £699 (saving £500), is now gone.

Stock has run out on Amazon, and the retailers still selling it are charging £999 or more.

If that hasn’t put you off and you’re still eager to buy a new OLED, but don’t have deep enough pockets to pay the full price, or make the jump up to flagship territory, I’m sad to say this is a double-whammy bad news post.

After trawling Amazon and rival retailers, both specialist and mainstream, I haven’t found any deals on good OLED TVs that we’ve fully reviewed and recommend that come close to matching yesterday’s C5 deal.

There are only two close – but not as good – deals currently running. The 48-inch LG C6, which we just finished reviewing and can confirm is a palpable improvement on the C5, currently retails for £1087 on Amazon (save £110). A good TV at an okay price, but far from what we'd describe as cheap.

Alternatively, if you really want to get the cheapest OLED possible that’s not completely terrible, the four-star, entry-level 48-inch Samsung S85H currently costs £824.10 at Richer Sounds – though you’ll need to claim £75 back from Samsung after purchase to unlock the full discount.

But that means you’re paying more for an OLED that doesn’t quite match the performance of the older C5 when it comes to pure picture quality – we know that, as we tested them both.

So what’s my advice to buyers looking for a new OLED? Sadly, unless you need a new TV this very second, I’d strongly suggest waiting a little longer.

Stock of the C5 may come back, and I’m expecting prices of all the OLEDs mentioned in this feature to drop even further in price, especially during Black Friday.

If past events are anything to go by, come November I can even see the C6 – which, having seen it in our review rooms, is the first OLED in nearly half a decade to tempt me to upgrade my ageing LG C2 – dropping below £899, which would make it an incredible option for serious movie fans on a budget.

If that hasn’t answered any of your OLED TV questions, feel free to drop a comment on this page, and I’ll endeavour to respond as soon as possible!

MORE:

These are the best OLED TVs we’ve reviewed

Our picks of the best 50-inch TVs

We rank the best soundbars

It's no secret that I love the Sony Bravia 8 II OLED, which romped to victory in the What Hi-Fi? Awards last year and now takes pride of place in my own living room.

Despite some extremely frustrating bugs that were introduced with a recent software update, I still love the TV. And, in fact, it's still better than almost every TV that's launched since.

There is one that has defeated it, though.

No, it's not the Bravia 9 II or LG G6 – it's the Samsung S99H, and it's just hit its lowest-ever price to coincide with Amazon Prime Big Deal Days.

This deal isn't an Amazon deal, though. Instead, you can get the 55-inch Samsung S99H for £1849 at Richer Sounds, and the 65-inch model for £2399 at Richer Sounds.

The retailer says you can also claim additional cashback from Samsung, to the tune of £150 for the 55-inch model and £200 for the 65-inch version. For a TV this new and this awesome, that's exceptional.

I'll level with you, I was surprised that the S99H beat the Bravia 8 II. Sure, the Bravia 8 II is a 2025 TV, but it was so far ahead of its rivals last year, I really didn't think any of them would close the gap.

Samsung has a reputation for slightly overplaying things where brightness and colours are concerned, too, whereas the Bravia 8 II is perhaps the best ever example of Sony's subtle and authentic approach to all elements of picture quality.

It seems pretty clear to me, though, that the South Korean brand set out with the specific aim of overthrowing Sony's flagship OLED.

The S99H pushes QD-OLED panel technology to new heights in terms of brightness and colour reproduction, but this combines with a newfound restraint and subtlety to deliver a much more mature and refined picture than we're used to from Samsung.

This is a TV that can (and will) absolutely dazzle, if that's what you and your content require, but it also satisfies purists by delivering movies, TV shows and games as the creator intended.

Like its Sony rival, the S99H is exceptionally sharp, too, and this combines with its awesome contrast and colours to create an image with oodles of pop and three-dimensional depth.

Gaming specs are also exceptional, with all four of the integrated HDMI sockets supporting 4K/165Hz (and 4K/120Hz) signals, VRR and ALLM.

And if that's not enough HDMI ports for you, or you want to go wireless with your connections, the Wireless One Connect can be added. This features four HDMI sockets that can be used in addition to those already built into the TV.

Before you click the big red 'Add To Basket' button, though, there are three little niggles to the S99H that you need to bear in mind.

The first is, for me, the biggest: it doesn't support Dolby Vision. Yes, HDR10+ is on board, as is HDR10+ Advanced, but these aren't quite the same thing. That said, the TV's Filmmaker Mode is so well tuned, I would personally be prepared to do without Dolby Vision.

The second is the design, which looks great when the TV is wall-mounted, but a little odd when it's plonked on a piece of furniture using the cheap, plastic feet, as it would be in my house. Honestly, there's no real solution to this – it's just something you will have to put up with in the name of excellent picture quality.

The final flaw is the sound, which is pretty good by TV standards, but not good enough to accompany this level of imagery. Frankly, that's an issue for all TVs, though, including the Bravia 8 II, and the solution is the same as ever: make sure to budget for some sort of dedicated sound system, even if it's 'just' an entry-level Dolby Atmos soundbar such as the Sonos Beam Gen 2.

Ultimately, none of these niggles should be a deal-breaker as far as I'm concerned, and if I were to buy any TV in the world right now, it would be the Samsung S99H.

MORE:

Read the full Samsung S99H review

Here are all of the best TVs you can buy right now

And here are all of the best soundbars

Wharfedale’s Diamond 12 range of speakers has been a long-standing hit in our hi-fi and home cinema testing rooms. The stereo speakers have been showered with five-star reviews and have been bestowed countless Awards since they launched back in 2020.

Six years on, Wharfedale has revised the range with the new Diamond 12i series. While the 12.3i floorstanders have set the bar high with a five-star review, we’ve been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the new range in our AV testing space.

Thankfully, the wait is over, as we now have the Wharfedale Diamond 12.1i HCP system hooked up to our reference AV amplifier, primed for testing.

This package combines two pairs of Diamond 12.1i standmount speakers with the 12.1Ci centre channel, and the same SW10 subwoofer found on the existing Diamond 12 home cinema packages.

Wharfedale has highlighted some minor tweaks to the tuning of the speakers and a few new finishes, so it’s not a radical departure from the existing Award-winning systems, but that might not be a bad thing.

Price

At £999 in the UK, the Diamond 12.1i HCP is conveniently sold as a complete package at various hi-fi and AV retailers. Buying this set as a full package also nets you a decent discount, as the total cost of these speakers bought separately is £1126.

The package doesn’t appear to be sold as a pre-assembled bundle in Australia, but buying the separate components comes to a total of AU$3300. Breaking that down, that’s AU$700 per pair of Diamond 12.1i (you’ll need two pairs), AU$700 for the 12.1Ci, and AU$1200 for the SW 10 subwoofer.

Unfortunately, it’s currently bad news for our American friends, as the centre channel doesn’t currently seem to be available across the pond. While the 12.1i speakers and SW 10 subwoofer are on the market, the crucial 12.1Ci is the missing piece to this 5.1 puzzle.

Impressively, Wharfedale has managed to dodge a price rise here in the UK, as the 12.1i HCP has launched at the same price as its 12.1 HCP predecessor. That said, the previous system launched at AU$2423, so that’s a substantial price increase Down Under.

It’s important to note that you’ll need to factor in the price of stands for this package, as the front and surround speakers are standmounts. For those who prefer floorstanders, you can swap the fronts for the 12.3i speakers, but we have a separate review of that system coming soon.

Build

The 12.1i HCP looks practically identical to the outgoing 12.1 HCP, with the main components – SW 10 notwithstanding, as it is literally the same subwoofer – all bearing strong resemblances to their 2020 counterparts.

In fact, this system has the same dimensions as its predecessor. The 12.1i measures 31 x 18 x 28cm (hwd), the 12.1Ci measures 18 x 48 x 28cm (hwd), and the SW 10 is 42 x 34 x 38cm (hwd).

The biggest difference is that Wharfedale has swapped the two-tone design, which paired a glossy baffle with a wood-grain vinyl finish on the sides, for a smoother finish on two of the available colours; those being All-black and Stone Grey. For fans of the original look, the Walnut finish pairs a wooden surround with a contrasting matte black baffle.

Our review unit sports the Stone Grey finish, which has divided opinion among the team. While some praise the minimalist, clean look that helps it blend into more living rooms, others feel the flat grey looks a bit unfinished and plain. Looks are, at the end of the day, subjective, and we appreciate that there are multiple colours to choose from.

The 12.1i front and surround speakers feature a two-way bass reflex design, whereas the centre channel sports a two-way closed box enclosure. The cabinets are constructed from wood fibre board of varying thickness, and they are assembled in a way that minimises sound interference from the cabinet itself in the pursuit of greater sonic purity.

These components also feature Wharfedale’s Intelligent Spot Bracing. This sees a wooden brace connect opposing walls in such a way that minimises resonance.

Features

Wharfedale has paid special attention to how these revised speakers present low frequencies.

This comes in the form of a new bass port, which has been redesigned with upgraded internal damping and tuned to support “improved bass clarity and control”. In theory, the 12.1i and 12.1Ci should deliver more consistent, spacious bass with smoother transitions between midrange and low-end frequencies regardless of placement.

The drive units across the system are essentially unchanged from the previous generation, although Wharfedale highlights tighter production tolerances which should result in more consistent performance.

The 12.1i retain the 13cm mid/bass driver, which is constructed from Wharfedale’s Klarity material. This is a blend of polypropylene and mica, which the company says “provides excellent stiffness and low distortion”. Each mid/bass driver also features a precise magnet system with an aluminium compensation ring, which should facilitate a cleaner sound with less distortion.

High frequencies are handled by a 25mm woven polyester dome with a high-loss damping coating, which is paired with a subtle waveguide for enhanced dispersion. Wharfedale claims that this tweeter arrangement can produce “clear, natural high frequencies with excellent off-axis performance”.

Wharfedale keeps things simple with the 12.1Ci, as it retains the same drivers as the 12.1i, albeit in a slightly different configuration. It sandwiches the same tweeter between two 13cm mid/bass drivers; using the same drivers across the package should, in theory, result in greater sonic cohesion between the components.

The subwoofer rounds out the system and, as we’ve already established, it’s the same sub that accompanied the previous edition of this speaker package. The SW 10 features a 25cm front-firing long-throw driver and a claimed peak power output of 350W. You’ll find Stereo Line In (2 x RCA Phono) and Mono (LFE) Line In (RCA Phono) inputs on the rear.

Interestingly, the biggest difference in this iteration is that the speakers are now single-wired. The previous generation 12.1 speakers sported two sets of terminals for bi-wiring.

Sound

Wharfedale’s highly-commended 12.1 HCP system won five consecutive What Hi-Fi? Awards thanks to its stellar blend of value and sound performance; the latter being the most important. We’re therefore pleased to confirm that the 12.1i HCP excels in this area too.

We’ve hooked the system up to our reference Denon AVC-A1H home cinema amplifier – overkill for this package, we know, but for testing purposes this AV amp will allow us to directly pinpoint the strengths of this system – and attached our Oppo UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player.

Starting with Sinners, we’re immediately drawn into the conversation between Stack and Mary thanks to the 12.1Ci’s excellent handling of dialogue. There’s plenty of low-level dynamic variation and detail to be found here, which ensures the tense exchange carries plenty of emotional charge.

The ensuing medley that swoops and swirls throughout the bar sounds impressively musical and dynamic, aided by superb cohesion between all elements of the system. There are no noticeable gaps between the channels, which sells the effect of the music flowing around the room convincingly.

At first, we feel as though the front left and right speakers sound slightly lean, but moving them closer to the wall restores a touch of richness and warmth that mitigates this apparent leanness.

Moving on to Blade Runner 2049, we use the infamously tricky chapter two sequence to test bass. Aside from the same slight fuzz on two specific sound effects that has tripped up the majority of subwoofers we’ve tested of late, the SW 10 provides impressively deep and even bass.

This low-end builds consistently throughout the sequence too, underpinned by a sense of tonal variation that helps to enhance the drama and tension of the scene.

Following on from this, we’re impressed by how this package can capture the atmospheric effects of the dystopian Los Angeles streets as Officer K returns to his apartment block.

Despite this being a strictly 5.1 package – Wharfedale does sell the 12.3Di height speakers if you wish to expand the system – the 12.1i HCP manages to convey the height and spaciousness of the scene, including the overhead projected advertisements, to an impressive degree. The sound is dispersed without sacrificing accuracy or detail.

Rounding out our testing with Dune: Part One, we find that the worm attack sequence affirms our assessment of the package. Weight, scale, spaciousness and detail are all balanced delicately, with superb dynamics underpinning the whole experience. Voices remain wonderfully natural, and the thumping drums throughout the sequence are punchy and deep.

We struggle to find any real flaws in the sound, especially at this price.

Verdict

The Wharfedale Diamond 12.1i HCP delivers a superbly immersive, detailed and grown-up sound. Its excellent sonic cohesion across the front and surround channels, mixed with an established and talented subwoofer, makes for yet another successful recipe from the brand.

Given Wharfedale's track record this may not come as a surprise, but we can still celebrate how truly fantastic this surround sound package is.

SCORES

• Sound 5
• Features 5
• Build 5

MORE:

Read our review of the Wharfedale Diamond 12.1 HCP

Also consider the Wharfedale Diamond 12.3 HCP

Best surround sound systems: home cinema speakers and soundbars put to the test

The phenomenal bang for your buck offered by TCL’s 2025 C7K left that year’s C8K feeling a little underwhelming in comparison. Especially as, in one or two picture areas, the C7K actually performed slightly better than its costlier sibling, too.

For the 2026 C8L, though, TCL has introduced both its groundbreaking new Super Quantum Dot technology and a significant increase in dimming zones, applied to a new-gen version of the already excellent WHVA LCD panel designs introduced last year.

Price

Given that the C8L is the most premium TCL TV you can buy without trampolining up in price to the ‘technology showcase’ X11L and RM9L models, it generally looks like good value, both in terms of how it lines up against rival premium screens and TCL’s step-down C7L.

Ironically, given that it’s the version we’re looking at here, the one exception to this is the 65-inch set. At £1899 in the UK, it costs a whopping £700 more than the 65-inch C7L at the time of writing, while the price gaps at other sizes are much smaller.

As we’ll see, the 65C8L is still good enough to just about hold its own over the 65C7L, but its unusually large price gap is still something we have to mention.

The 65C8L’s price holds up better against those of rival backlit sets. Sony’s 65-inch Bravia 9 II costs £3499, for instance, while Hisense’s 65-inch UR9 costs £1999 and Samsung’s 65-inch R95H Micro RGB TV costs £3000.

Perhaps a bigger concern is that a 65-inch LG C6 OLED can now be bought for under £2000.

In Australia, the 65-inch C8L will set you back AU$2295, while in the US, where the set is called the QM8L, heavy discounting has already taken the price down to a very appealing $1700.

Design

The C8L isn’t the most instantly glamorous premium TV around. It’s slightly chunky around the back by modern standards, and sits somehow rather heavily on its centrally attached desktop bass. The depth is excused, though, by the fact that it provides room for both a premium direct LED lighting engine and up-firing speakers built into the screen’s top edge.

The stand, meanwhile, benefits from an appealing metallic finish and a neck attachment that lets you hide cabling behind a clip-off/on cover.

The set’s rear tapers back steeply from the screen’s outer edges, too, helping to hide its depth from normal viewing angles, while the frame around the screen is both remarkably slim and features a crisp metallic finish.

All in all, once the TV is in place, its design lets you focus on the pictures it’s producing rather than the technology producing them. Which always counts as a win with us.

The C8L ships with two remote controls. Most people will settle into using the smart metallic silver one with its stripped-back button count and built-in voice mic, but the long, thin full-number button alternative is also easy on the eye and comfortable to hold if, for some reason, you prefer all those extra buttons.

Features

The 65-inch C8L has some impressive numbers to share, starting with a huge claimed peak brightness of 5000 nits, a high local dimming zone count of 2040, and support for almost 100 per cent of the AV world’s most extreme BT.2020 colour spectrum. This is enough in itself to establish the C8L as a cut above the LCD TV norm, but it’s really just the start of this TV’s initial charms.

It also uses, for instance, TCL’s new Super Quantum Dots. These represent a major update on traditional Quantum Dots, with five different layers being squeezed into their tiny form rather than the previous two. This is claimed to result in increased efficiency, stability, brightness, colour range and colour accuracy.

These new SQDs have been integrated into the second-generation version of TCL’s new WHVA LCD panel, which introduces a whole host of advantages, including more efficient and accurate Mini LED lighting for enhanced contrast and brightness, reduced blooming from the local dimming system, extra image clarity courtesy of a reduced ‘throw distance’ from the backlighting to the screen and a faster transient response from the LEDs, plus enhanced shadow-detail handling to stop dark scenes looking hollow or flat.

As the name suggests, WHVA screens are based on VA technology, which is known for giving better contrast than the rival IPS panel technology. The W bit, though, also indicates that this premium take on VA tech from TCL is designed to support wider viewing angles than VA panels customarily do.

TCL has also introduced a mild anti-reflection filter to the C8L, though we might as well say right away that this doesn’t operate on nearly the same reflection-removing level as those on the latest top-end TVs from Samsung and Sony.

The C8L’s hardware attractions are controlled by a new version of TCL’s TSR AiPQ processor specifically optimised for the new SQD WHVA panel.

Gamers, meanwhile, can look forward to input lag of just 10.1ms, 4K/144Hz support, VRR (including in the AMD FreeSync Premium Pro format), support for refresh rates at HD resolution right up to 288Hz via HDMI’s Direct Line Gate system, and ALLM switching when a game source is detected.

All four of the C8L’s HDMI ports can handle 4K/120Hz signals, while other connections comprise a single USB 3.0 port, an optical digital audio output, an Ethernet port and RF inputs for both satellite and (Freeview HD) aerial connections.

Wireless connectivity is also available, of course, in wi-fi, Bluetooth and AirPlay 2 flavours, while the TV’s use of Google TV for its smart operating system adds built-in Chromecast.

On the subject of Google TV, TCL has ensured that, as well as all the key global video streaming services the platform usually supports, the C8L’s interface also carries the key UK terrestrial broadcaster catch-up apps that Google TV doesn’t typically offer.

The C8L supports all four of the main high dynamic range formats, too: HDR10, HLG, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. So it will play the best version available of any HDR content you feed it.

Last but not least on the C8L’s lengthy list of attractions is its audio system. Designed with Bang & Olufsen, no less, it features 2.1.2 channels, including two up-firing speakers (to aid Dolby Atmos delivery) and dedicated bass drivers. There’s no direct forward-facing ‘soundbar’ along the bottom edge as you get with TCL’s flagship X11L series, though.

Picture quality

Adding more dimming zones and, especially, Super Quantum Dots to the C8L has had a transformative effect on its picture performance compared with its 2025 predecessor.

As we did with last year’s TCL C7K and C8K series, we look at the C8L alongside its step-down sibling – but this time there is no repeat of the peculiar colour inconsistency issue with the C8K, which could sometimes cause some of its colours to actually look less vibrant and natural than those of the cheaper model. On the contrary, the C8L’s colours are even punchier in the TV’s excellent Standard preset than those of the C7L – despite the C7L itself being streets ahead of most of its similarly priced rivals in the colour department.

This doesn’t mean that the C8L’s colours look overblown or inconsistent, though. TCL has seemingly taken great care to ensure that any amplification of colours its TV is delivering in its relatively vibrant presets maintains the tonal balance and overall ‘feel’ of the source content remarkably well.

The C8L’s SQD and processing capabilities ensure, too, that colours retain full saturation even in the brightest HDR picture areas, rather than brighter colours fading away as can happen with lesser TVs. Nor do the brightest, most heavily saturated HDR colour areas become cartoonish thanks to any loss of subtle shading details.

This colour blend finesse feeds into an impressively three-dimensional look to pictures, regardless of whether you’re using the TV’s Standard or as-the-director-intended Filmmaker Mode preset, as well as an outstandingly crisp, detailed look to native 4K images where you feel like you’re appreciating the full and accurate weight of every single pixel.

This sense of depth and detail isn’t just down to the C8L’s new colour engine, though. Its Mini LED plus advanced local dimming backlight system also plays a huge part in the feeling of precision and, in the Filmmaker Mode’s case, accuracy, by being able to deliver not just extreme brightness highlights and remarkably inky black colours, but every imaginable shade in between. That includes the faintest dark colour and grey details; nothing gets lost in the darkness here.

Subtle shadow details are delivered without looking noisy or exaggerated, too, revealing a level of local light control and backlight intelligence that’s still very rare in the LCD TV world.

Given how well the C8L handles the subtlest of dark scene details, it comes as little surprise to find that it also exhibits scarcely any backlight blooming at all around even the most starkly stand-out bright highlights. That’s despite those bright highlights not obviously being dimmed down when they appear against even black backdrops, and the screen’s general brightness being consistently spectacular for a fairly mainstream TV.

The C8L’s intense brightness can be felt in highlights of both Standard and Filmmaker Mode images, and it makes all bright or mid-bright scenes look breathtakingly intense and vivid in Standard mode without the results looking forced.

That isn’t to imply, though, that the Filmmaker Mode looks in any way drab. It is, of course, less bright than the Standard preset, especially with SDR content, in keeping with the relatively dim brightness values used by most of today’s content mastering studios. But Filmmaker Mode actually looks more dynamic with both SDR and HDR than such modes usually do, purely as a result of the screen’s hardware strengths and software support helping to deliver the picture attributes Filmmaker Modes demand.

With motion processing set to Low, the C8L delivers 24fps content with good sharpness, while keeping it free of excessive hardware judder, soap opera effect or general unwanted processing side effects, and the WHVA panel definitely helps the screen retain richer colours and better contrast from wide viewing angles than your average LCD TV.

The C8L’s picture heroics aren’t limited to video playback, either. It’s also an excitingly crisp, bold and responsive gaming display that you can’t help but become immersed in. Even if you’re playing the scary Silent Hill: Townfall and might want to be a bit less immersed…

The C8L’s pictures in both its Standard and Filmmaker Modes combine punchiness with naturalism, consistency and nuance so well that it’s hard to find anything serious to complain about.

However, while viewing angles are good in most ways, blooming becomes much more obvious from angles of around 30 degrees and more. The screen is also quite reflective of bright light sources in your room, even if it suppresses more general ambient light quite well.

The noise reduction features are all a bit over-aggressive and basically unnecessary (so turn them off), and the Natural Cinema motion processing mode that sounds like it should be the best option for film fans… isn’t.

Finally, we can’t help but think that the rather complicated way TCL has integrated its new ‘Eco’ power-saving features into the TV’s menus in its out-of-the-box mode might result in more than a few C8L buyers leaving their new television hobbled with greatly reduced brightness and colour. Hopefully anyone who’s read this review, at least, will take the necessary steps to make sure this unfortunate situation doesn’t happen to them.

Sound quality

The C8L continues to benefit (mostly) from TCL’s working relationship with Bang & Olufsen when it comes to its premium TVs’ sound systems.

The 2.1.2-channel sound system does a particularly good job of crafting a soundstage that extends further beyond the screen’s outer frame than most TVs manage, creating an open, immersive sense of space for movies into which the TV then places specific effects with good positional accuracy.

These effects are very clean and crisp, too, even at loud volumes, which gives the overall tone of the sound an almost hi-fi quality. That’s testament, no doubt, to the physical quality of the B&O speaker design.

There’s plenty of clean and expansive power to go with the detail and large soundstage, too, and bass is handled tastefully, for want of a better word, staying clean, even when Hollywood really hammers the low-frequency knob.

As with last year’s C8K, though, the soundstage presentation can sometimes lose a little coherency as the wrong elements in a mix get too much emphasis, and the sound generally feels like it’s happening more behind the screen than in the room with you, costing it some immediacy and directness.

Dense soundtrack moments ebb in and out at times too, and, finally, while bass is clean, it doesn’t hit quite the sort of depth we feel that it perhaps should be able to with such large low-frequency drivers available to it.

Overall, the C8L’s sound is good by prevailing TV standards, and improves on its predecessor, but it somehow still doesn’t feel like it’s getting the optimal impact from all of its undoubtedly premium audio parts.

Verdict

While the 65-inch model doesn’t represent quite such excellent value as other screen sizes in the C8L range, the addition of Super Quantum Dots and a clearly much improved backlight system still delivers a hard-to-resist upgrade from last year’s mildly disappointing C8K.

SCORES

• Picture 5
• Sound 4
• Features 4

MORE:

Read our review of the Hisense UR9

Also consider the Samsung R95H

Read our Sony Bravia 7 II review

Best TVs: flagship OLEDs and budget Mini LED sets tried and tested

Happy Prime Big Deal Days!

Yes, it's time for Amazon's third big sales event of the year, following Spring Deal Days in March and Prime Day in June.

The big difference with this Amazon sale? Black Friday is just under eight weeks away.

This presents a conundrum for anyone looking to buy a new TV. If you somehow held out during the World Cup but are craving a bigger, better screen in your living room, then we are arriving in peak sale season.

But should you actually wait another two months and put up with your ageing TV? Here's our two cents...

• All the latest Amazon Big Deal Days savings!
• Don't forget to check Richer Sounds for deals too!
• Peter Tyson also has some compelling deals running!
• Sevenoaks Sound and Vision's top savings

Should I wait until Black Friday to buy a new TV?

Largely, yes. While many retailers launch rival Prime Day sales now, it's not to the same extent as Black Friday, when every outlet, including the specialist TV retailers, pull out all the stops to compete for the best price.

Black Friday is also traditionally when the year's new releases get a big price drop, meaning if you wait a few months your budget could stretch to a 2026 model rather than one of last year's releases.

One TV brand that can be worth buying over Prime Day is, of course, Amazon. And while there are good deals on Amazon TVs we recommend – such as the Amazon Ember QLED with Fire TV, now £640 at Amazon – they're not quite the cheapest we've seen them (that particular model dropped to £600 over Prime Day in July).

Our advice? Unless you particularly need a new TV between now and December, you're better off holding fire and resisting temptation for a few more weeks, when the TV deals selection should be wider and better.

Unless you happen to be after a small-ish OLED...

The exception to the rule?

If you can't wait until Black Friday, however, and have a smaller room, thereis a rather excellent TV deal available this Big Deals Day.

The 48-inch LG C5 has crashed to £699 at Amazon, the lowest price we've seen so far and a whopping 50 per cent off the price we reviewed it at last year.

We can't promise it won't go cheaper on Black Friday, but a five-star OLED for under £700 is an excellent deal at any time of year.

Its brilliant, bright picture makes it a solid choice for anyone upgrading to OLED for the first time, and LG’s webOS has excellent app support with all the key services.

The LG C5 is also our gaming TV Award winner thanks to its myriad of gaming features, including four HDMI 2.1 sockets – ideal for the upcoming GTA 6.

As far as we're concerned, it's the TV deal to beat this Prime Day.

MORE:

The best Amazon Big Deal Days savings on headphones, OLED TVs, Dolby Atmos soundbars and more, direct from our experts

Read our 48-inch LG C6 review

Best TVs: flagship OLEDs and budget LED sets tried and tested

TV screen sizes are seemingly only going in one direction, with manufacturers across the board touting sets north of 100 inches as the new norm. For those of us with moderately sized living rooms, this trend is simply not in our best interests.

Naturally, going “small” means accepting a compromise on screen size and, therefore, cinematic scale. But does a smaller TV necessarily mean a less immersive viewing experience? The 48-inch LG C6 sets out to answer that question with a resounding no.

Considering we are huge fans of the 65-inch LG C6, which we reviewed back in April, this might not come as a surprise. That said, we’ve always said that picture and sound performance can vary greatly across different sizes, so the five-star performance of the 65-inch model isn’t necessarily indicative of the 48- and 42-inch versions.

Fortunately, the 48-inch C6 comes surprisingly close to matching its larger sibling, retaining much of the picture and sound performance that made the 65-inch model so impressive.

Price

The LG OLED48C6, to give it its proper title, launched at £1400 / $1600 / AU$2400 earlier this year, but frequent price drops in the UK and US have cut that down to around £1200 / $1200. Similar price drops haven’t yet appeared Down Under, unfortunately.

Competition at this level is rife, as we’re seeing more “small” OLEDs hit the market than ever before. LG itself currently offers its step-down B6 in this size for £999 / $800 / AU$1995, and a 48-inch version of the G6 is also on the market in the UK for £1399.

LG’s C-series models tend to stick around for quite some time, too, which means remaining stock of the five-star 48-inch LG C5 can still be snapped up for around £999.

LG’s archrival, Samsung, also offers its C6 equivalent, the S90H, for £1199 / $1300 / AU$1760. It presents an almost identical feature set at an almost identical price in the UK and US.

Last year’s Award-winning 48-inch OLED, the Panasonic Z90B, also remains on sale for £1199, making it a very competitive option.

Design

LG’s tried-and-true C-series design soldiers on for yet another year, and it carries forth the various pros and cons we’ve found with previous generations stretching back to 2022’s 48-inch C2.

The good news is that this is a superbly slim TV at just 4.6cm in thickness when you take into consideration the “backpack” that houses the electronics and connections. At its slimmest, the TV measures just 47mm, giving it a premium and stylish look, and the central pedestal stand means it can be placed on a narrow piece of furniture.

However, that stand still protrudes outwards in a slightly awkward way if you plan on pairing this TV with a soundbar. The smaller 42-inch C6 sports a pair of dual blade-style feet that you can squeeze a compact soundbar between.

LG has also bundled in the same Magic Remote that we’ve seen across the previous few generations of this TV. It keeps the ThinQ AI button in place of the source select – dare we say one of our least favourite changes in recent memory – and the buttons aren’t backlit; however, the scroll wheel and Nintendo Wii-style motion pointer control system are both novelties that can make interacting with the TV slightly more engaging.

Features

We’ll get straight into the panel tech, as LG could be taking an unconventional approach this year. Traditionally, the C-series has been staunchly WOLED, meaning it hasn’t adopted LG Display’s brightness-boosting Primary RGB Tandem OLED or Micro Lens Array display technology.

That changes with the C6, though. The company has essentially confirmed that the 77- and 83-inch versions sport RGB Tandem OLED panels by stating that they are ‘Brightness Booster Pro’ models rather than standard ‘Brightness Booster’ sets as per the rest of the sizes.

Rumours suggest, though, that the 48-inch C6, despite being a ‘Brightness Booster’ model, does in fact feature a Primary RGB Tandem OLED panel. We have attempted to get clarification from LG Display, but have been met with the usual “we don’t talk about panel tech" line.

Our approach is to focus on performance with real-world content rather than get bogged down in product components, but our testing suggests this could indeed be a Primary RGB Tandem OLED TV.

Moving on from the display, the C6 is powered by the Alpha 11 AI Processor 4K Gen3, which keeps the webOS smart platform running smoothly while also handling picture and sound processing. LG says that its latest processor utilises a new 12-bit processing pipeline, which brings extra colour and brightness precision to the table.

On top of this is Dual AI Super Resolution, which essentially runs lower-resolution content through an AI-backed picture upscaling process twice: the first time to sharpen edges, and the second to refine texture and detail. This should sharpen up non-4K content (think Blu-rays, DVDs and streaming), resulting in a more natural look.

AI HDR Remaster is also featured. This analyses content on a frame-by-frame basis to enhance contrast, sharpness and colour. SDR content takes on a more HDR-like appearance, and HDR content will take on a “more vibrant and realistic” look.

AI Picture Pro is also on board, which uses content recognition algorithms to adapt the TV’s settings to reduce noise, optimise contrast, manage colour saturation, and sharpen faces and text. AI Sound works in a similar way, as it uses content recognition to adapt the sound settings and performance to best suit what you’re watching. The remote even features an AI button that allows users to navigate the TV and troubleshoot issues using voice commands.

The AI features don’t stop there, though, as you’ll find a bountiful feast of AI-enhanced picture and sound modes on board too. AI Picture Wizard and AI Sound Wizard allow users to select from a range of preset image and sound samples to find their ideal personalised set-up without having to dig too deep into the picture menus.

That said, we find Filmmaker Mode (in the TV’s picture settings) delivers the best results.

Moving away from the near-endless list of AI features, the C6 supports a solid set of HDR formats, including HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision. Samsung's HDR10+ isn’t supported, as per LG’s usual stance.

The Dolby support extends to audio too, as the C6 features Dolby Atmos through its built-in 2.2-channel 40W sound system, and through connected audio devices via HDMI eARC.

Speaking of HDMI, the C6 sports four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 sockets, all of which are capable of handling signals up to 4K/165Hz with VRR and ALLM. For those without a console, the C6 supports cloud gaming up to 4K/120Hz with HDR through the likes of Nvidia GeForce Now and Xbox. LG touts this feature as a world-first.

webOS is also a well-equipped, if frustratingly advertisement-heavy operating system (you can turn sponsored content off in the settings, thankfully), and LG has made a few tweaks this year to make things run even smoother.

Recent inputs are easier to access; there’s a new customisable My Page menu with widgets that turns the TV into a smart display when not in use, and a new “Continue Watching” rail also adorns the home page.

App support is also practically flawless, with all of the expected domestic and international apps supported and working as expected, with quick loading times to boot.

Picture quality

As we alluded to, the 48-inch C6 bears many of the positive picture markings of its 65-inch counterpart, despite it being significantly scaled down.

We’ve plugged our trusty Oppo UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player into the C6 and selected a handful of reference 4K discs from our library, including Civil War, Pan, Blade Runner 2049 and F1: The Movie.

While selecting Filmmaker Mode from the picture menu gets us most of the way to picture excellence, we opt to enable Cinematic Movement in the TruMotion settings to eliminate the touch of judder inherent in 24fps content. Cinema Home is also a worthwhile preset to explore, for those who don’t mind sacrificing some accuracy for a punchier picture.

With these settings dialled in, it’s hard to argue that the 48-inch C6 OLED doesn’t have all of what it takes to be a truly special compact OLED TV. The combination of deep blacks, excellent contrast control and punchy highlights creates a striking image with excellent depth and solidity, as evidenced in the final battle sequence of Civil War.

Rockets and flares light up the deep black sky with bursts of brightness, and the buildings of Washington DC are rendered with a superb sense of realism and detail. Throughout the sequence, we find that the C6 balances shadow depth and detail with impressive finesse too.

Onto a more colourful sequence from Pan, the scene in which a floating pirate ship sails past some floating orbs of water, we find that the C6 is capable of delivering rich, punchy greens and blues while also retaining the natural skin tones of the children on the ship. As the ship approaches the floating island of Neverland, the concentrated brightness of the sun burns with intensity while also retaining a clearly visible circular outline.

Motion also remains a highlight. We noted that motion looked “impressively smooth and controlled without introducing obvious artefacts or drifting into the dreaded soap-opera effect” with Cinematic Motion applied on the 65-inch version of this TV, and the same can be said for the 48-inch model.

The opening sequence of Blade Runner 2049 demonstrates this nicely; a tricky panning shot, a tracking shot of a hovering drone, and a shot of Sapper Morton stepping backwards are all handled smoothly yet naturally on the C6, despite these specific shots tripping other TVs up.

Rounding out our testing with F1: The Movie, the OLED48C6 truly shines. Colourful race car liveries pop yet never look garish or overcooked, and fireworks burst with vibrancy without appearing overblown. There is no apparent stuttering or juddering as the Porsche and BMW tussle for first place, and the C6 looks wonderfully sharp without verging into over-etched territory.

Sound quality

As was the case with the 65-inch version of this TV, the 48-inch C6 seems to be a sonic step forward for LG. While this TV doesn’t perform miracles, it’s certainly an upgrade over the 48-inch C5, which we criticised for sounding “distinctly flat” and lacking definition.

The C6, on the other hand, sounds crisper, weightier and more spacious. The atmospheric effects of the dystopian Los Angeles streets are presented with a solid sense of width and detail, and while the TV doesn’t reach for the ceiling with its Dolby Atmos height effects, there is a sense of spaciousness to the audio that accompanies the floating holographic adverts beamed onto Officer K’s apartment block in Blade Runner 2049.

Most crucially, the C6 projects voices slightly more, and there is a touch more warmth and tonality, which makes listening to dialogue more engaging. Bass is also mostly well controlled, although there isn’t much in the way of depth or tonal variation.

Now, we won’t deny that even a basic soundbar will run circles around the C6’s built-in speakers, and a Dolby Atmos soundbar will provide much more authentic height effects – the Sonos Beam (Gen 2) or Beam Ultra would make a perfect accompaniment, for example – but the improvement over the last generation model is worth commending.

That is, if you steer clear of the AI Sound setting. This continues to sound oddly synthetic, and while there is the option to tailor the sound to your liking, we find that avoiding it altogether provides a more natural and balanced presentation.

Verdict

LG’s 48-inch C6 is arguably the brand’s most interesting OLED TV in recent memory. While that might sound strange when the brand is selling a TV that is slimmer than an iPhone and powered by a magical wireless box, the company’s small mid-range OLED is a true dark horse.

If our theory is correct, it’s likely the cheapest way to acquire an RGB Tandem OLED TV, and if it’s not, then we’d really like to know how LG has pumped the brightness and vibrancy up to this extent.

Regardless, it’s fully featured, talented in the picture and sound departments, and it proves that you don’t need to sacrifice a considerable chunk of your living room to achieve a cinematically satisfying experience.

SCORES

• Picture 5
• Sound 4
• Features 5

MORE:

Read our review of the LG C5 48-inch

Also consider the LG C6 65-inch

Read our Panasonic Z90B 48-inch

Best TVs: flagship OLEDs and budget Mini LED sets tried and tested