Customer Ratings & Reviews

I recently opted to get the TCL A65K soundbar to replace an older soundbar from a different manufacturer. I specifically chose this Soundbar since I’m just days away from getting a new TCL Smart TV. I’m aware that products like soundbars, standalone speakers, and other entertainment products often work best when staying within specific manufacturer’s product offerings, so I figured that staying within TCL’s might help avoid potential compatibility issues. The A65K bundles a Soundbar and a wireless Subwoofer - both of which were already paired to each other. Also included in this purchase is an HDMI cable, a Remote, mounting brackets for mounting the soundbar, a Quick Start Guide, power adapter, and two power cords. Getting the A65K up and running required hardly any time, with less than 10 minutes from unpacking to being used. The Soundbar itself has controls located on the top of the bar, including a Power Button, and a Source Button (USB, BT, and HDMI eARC), and an LED display on its side for displaying changes you make to the Soundbar. Thus, use the Remote to change Sound Modes, and these changes are displayed on the Soundbar. The Soundbar also has ports for the HDMI cable and power adapter, and has a USB Type A connector port for attaching devices. The HDMI cable that comes with the A65K connects the Soundbar to the Smart TV. The Smart TV, however, needs to have an HDMI port labeled eARC for the connection to work properly. My soon-to-be-replaced Smart TV had setup options for the eARC HDMI port that needed to be tweaked for my old Soundbar. In essence, it had to reflect “Pass Through”. Getting back to the Remote, it did a nice job of streamlining the process of configuring the Soundbar. It was riveled by the TCL Home App, which lets you configure the Soundbar using your cellphone. The A65K also has a feature called AI Sonic-Adaptation (Auto Room Calibration). It configures the Soundbar to adapt to your listening needs and room configuration. It’s an automated process that takes perhaps a couple of minutes to run. It lets you configure up to 3 room adaptations, if so desired. Even with all the configuration tools available, and including testing out the various Sound Modes (Standard, Movie, Music, Voice, Game, Night, Sports, and Custom), I was still unable to get an enjoyable sound coming from the Soundbar. I spent way too much time trying to improve voice quality. I watched movies, local and national news, sports and the like, and just never got a pleasant mix of voices and accompanying background sounds. I thought the issues were with the individual shows I was watching, but the issues persisted irrespective of channel or service. I plan to perform further testing on this unit once I receive my new TCL Smart TV. Hopefully the issues I’ve encountered are specific to the five-year-old TV I’m using. From a rating perspective, I give the A65K 5-stars for their implementation effort. For sound quality, I can’t be as generous.