TCL - A65K 3.1.2 Channel Designer Series Sound Bar System with Wireless Subwoofer - Black

I went into the TCL A65K with a bit of a weird comparison point. I’m currently downsizing from a full 5.1 floor standing speaker setup because my multi-purpose theater room has slowly turned into a playroom. So while I wasn’t expecting this slim soundbar system to fully replace a much larger speaker setup, I was curious how close it could get while taking up a fraction of the space. The first thing that stands out is the design. This is easily one of the better-looking soundbars I’ve had in my room. The main bar is slim, clean, and blends in fairly well. The subwoofer is also small and slim enough that I can tuck it away behind a blanket ladder and not have it stick out. Setup was also very simple. The sub paired automatically, and HDMI eARC handled most of the work. I did set up the TCL Home app, but I wouldn’t say it is absolutely required. In fact, I preferred using manual settings so I could fine tune things myself. I ended up turning the sub down to -1 and dropping the center channel to -3 while boosting the front channels to +6. That gave me the best balance. For testing, I watched Encanto with my toddler for literally the 15th time this week. On one hand, I’m getting tired of it. On the other hand, it’s actually a great test because I know the songs, dialogue, and little background details painfully well at this point. Dialogue was impressively clear, though just a little thin at times. That’s not too surprising, since midrange is where a lot of soundbars struggle. The bass was not lacking at all, and I actually had to dial it back a bit to keep it from muddying up the midrange. What impressed me most was the overall punch of the system. For something this slim, it held up better than expected, even compared to my much larger speaker setup. The channel separation was also better than I expected. During songs like We Don’t Talk About Bruno the backing vocals had a nice sense of space across the front soundstage. With the front channels turned up, it actually gave me a little bit of that discrete speaker feel, which was impressive for a compact soundbar. That said, I would not describe the surround or Atmos effect as truly immersive. The front soundstage is wide and sounded pretty good, but I didn’t really hear sounds wrapping around the room or coming from above me in any meaningful way. It creates a bigger sound than TV speakers by a mile, but it still feels more like a strong front-facing system than a true surround replacement. Build quality is a little harder for me to judge. The look is fantastic, but the main bar is surprisingly light. I’m from the era where weight equals quality, so the lightness gave me a little pause. It may hold up just fine, but it was almost curiously light when I picked it up. One other disappointment is AirPlay. The Best Buy listing I saw showed AirPlay 2 as a capability, but TCL’s own information did not appear to list it, and I couldn’t find a way to enable it through the TCL app. That’s a pretty big bummer for me, and may even become a dealbreaker because it means I can’t easily connect it into my whole home audio setup without using an adapter. Overall, I’m impressed with the TCL A65K. It looks great, sets up easily, has strong bass, clear dialogue, and a surprisingly wide front soundstage for its size. It doesn’t fully replace a true surround system, and the lack of AirPlay support is disappointing, but as a clean and compact soundbar for a living room, playroom, or smaller theater setup, it has a lot of positives!

TCL is calling this their first “UltraThin Designer Series Soundbar,” and I think that’s a good description of why this is a good product. I love the look and the shape of this soundbar. However, soundbars in general are not known for their good sound quality, and the tradeoff with this one puts aesthetics above performance. That said, the sound that this produces is nothing to scoff at. The subwoofer provides thunderous bass of the sort that is usually reserved for movie theaters, and it is tuned to fill in nicely for frequencies that the tiny speakers in the soundbar itself aren’t able to produce. Although there are some irregularities in the frequency response around vocal frequencies, overall the system produces pretty even and powerful sound. AESTHETICS The soundbar comes in a package small enough to fit under the mounting stand of my TV, which I found really nice—though I wouldn’t want to actually slide it *under* the TV since the up-firing speakers work best when they have a clear shot to the ceiling. There’s a cloth covering that wraps around the front and sides of the bar, which I find visually pleasing. The rest of the bar is a glossy black plastic, which also looks really nice and gives the unit an understated minimalist style. The subwoofer cabinet is not quite as stylish, but its shape lends itself to fit under or behind furniture. A 12” circular cloth grille covers a roughly 4.5” cone driver, and a port is positioned above the removable power cord and a “pair” button. It has rubber feet on one side which must be the bottom—if I want to lay it flat, say, under a sofa, I wouldn’t be using the feet. Even though it’s very common in soundbars, I’m going to complain about the segmented LED display under the cloth grille in the center of the soundbar. These things never looked that great, and for a soundbar that’s otherwise beautiful, I think they could have done a lot better to use an aesthetically pleasing display. The display is only on when selecting modes or adjusting settings, but it looks clunky. And since it’s only got room to display 5 letters, almost everything needs to scroll to show what it is trying to say. PERFORMANCE The system is loud, and the bass performance is its best quality. It’s the kind of bass you can feel, without necessarily being overpowering (although it gets close). It reminds me of the sound in a movie theater: tuned with much more presence than necessary, and just shy of being obnoxious. I suppose bass like this is a matter of preference. It’s not my preference—I love clean, accurate, and honest sound throughout the spectrum—but I can appreciate what they’re doing here. If I have some friends over for an action movie, this system would definitely add to the fun and excitement of the event. If you ever had to listen to the soundbar without the sub, it would sound very disappointing. But it’s designed and tuned as a system, and as a system it sounds relatively good. I was impressed with the frequency response throughout the range. The only time it left something to be desired was in the mids, around the range of voices. I didn’t notice this much listening to my favorite music, but when I listened to dialogue I was less impressed. Even so, this is a minor deficiency compared to the quality of the rest of the product. The only input choices are HDMI eARC and Bluetooth. eARC is all you need when connecting to a modern TV, but this is worth keeping in mind when comparing to other products that may have analog or optical inputs. The HDMI input supports Dolby Atmos encoding. There are no rear channels so it’s hard to call this surround sound, but the up-firing speakers can create a convincing overhead sound—at least in a room shaped to facilitate sound reflected off the ceiling. There’s some processing that tries to spread the width of the soundstage beyond the width of the soundbar, but I had mixed results with this. For some audio, it almost convincingly sounded like the sound was coming from the left and right walls of my room, but for other audio it seemed to collapse and just sounded like it was all coming from right in front of me. One last complaint: when switching sound modes, like from “Music” to “Movie”, the sound cuts out for a second or two before coming back. Kind of annoying. SUMMARY A soundbar is always going to be a tradeoff in sound quality to fit into a particular form factor. This product nails the form factor, and it looks great. The sound quality isn’t bad, but there are better-sounding soundbars. For someone who wants something that looks great under their TV, this is a good option, but the price suggests a level of refinement that isn’t there in the audio quality.

I wanted to pair something up to go with my TCL TV and figured I'd get this to go with it. I really like the design language of TCLs products and this is my first TCL soundbar subwoofer stack. ____________ Right off the bat I'll say I really like how easy the set up was. Simple plug and play. TCL provided mounting brackets to mount the soundbar, which I opted out for the time being until I get my TV mounted. ____________ Sound is very clear. I can hear every channel/section being hit in the soundbar. I tested out on some YouTube sound test videos and it was hitting every corner of the soundbar. I dove into after and enjoyed the series finale of The Boys to experience the sound clarify and bass. Don't get me wrong, it's not going blow you away bass wise compared to others, but it will get the job done. It has more than enough boom and considering this is for my bedroom, it's perfect for it. _________ To piggy back off the bedroom purpose, that's where the design comes in. The sleak style of the subwoofer gives you lots of freedom and flexibility to position it in multiple sections of your room how you please. TCL has some really great designers as I'm always impressed by their manufacturing design language of their products. ________ I think one thing TCL can work on here is opening up the settings more, especially if you are connected to a TCL. It shouldn't be locked down if you're on HDMI Arc and should be able to utilize Beusonic. _______ Overall though, if you want high def, clear sound for all your listening needs in a sleak package, and a solid, smooth, not muffled bass that takes away the quality of your entertainment experience, then this is the way to go.

The TCL A65K Sound Bar System with Subwoofer is a sleek looking system. I love the compact, slim design of both the bar and sub. The color is a nice charcoal black, which gives it a sophisticated look. This fits nicely on my mantle just below my TCL TV with the wireless sub hidden off to the side. It does include wall mounting hardware if you prefer that method, with simple looking instructions. Perfect! Setting up was easy, the pieces come already paired and you just plug in the e-ARC cable that it comes with into your TV and you are ready for enhanced sound. The system came thoughtfully packaged, with minimal materials, which is great! I appreciate that there’s less for me to have to recycle or throw away. There’s also an app you can use as a remote or extra calibration. Now for the sound, from Bang & Olufsen, it’s great! It’s kind of a must to have at least a soundbar now with your TV. I think this works perfectly for the living room, but could be in your theater room as well, with great bass sound and clear dialogue. I do suggest using the AI Sonic Auto Room Calibration, I mean, it’s there might as well let it do it’s thing! It helped make the sound a little crisper and clearer. Ultimately, this is a nice unit, with a beautifully thought-out design, slim and powerful. If you are looking for a new soundbar and subwoofer with a sophisticated look and good, clear sound this is a great choice.

Very easy setup. The subwoofer was already paired to the soundbar. You can wall mount the soundbar or just place under your TV. We place it in front of the TV on our cabinet. The subwoofer will go on the floor near your TV. Very small footprint for both pieces. It also comes with an HDMI cable. Make sure you connect to the HDMI eARC port on your TV. The preset sounds all sounded very similar. You will need to customize your settings. It also pushes you to use the TCL app AI Sonic to tweak the settings for the viewing distance. That did help with speech somewhat. The bass quality is very good and voices are easily understood. There is a night mode that is softer all around so you won’t disturb others. We have a new TCL TV and it easily connected. But when we turn on the TV, sometimes the soundbar doesn’t automatically connect at startup. Not sure why. Then I have to disconnect and reconnect as it is not found. Never had this happen before with a soundbar. Nice smaller soundbar for limited space.