The sound setup I usually use is a Vizio soundbar with two wireless satellite speakers and a wireless subwoofer - and it does the trick. I have a relatively large rectangular living room, so filling it with balanced audio is difficult. Of course, even with bass boost enabled, the Alto R1 isn’t going to rival a setup with a dedicated subwoofer, but it’s also not trying to. I watched 4K HDR movies, live football games, and regular TV programming, and it all worked beautifully. Roku utilizes Wi-Fi to handle the connectivity instead of Bluetooth, which significantly reduces latency and increases the information capacity. To my delight, I didn’t notice it in the slightest.

Because the soundbar is entirely wireless in its connection to my television, I anticipated a delay in what I saw on screen and when I would hear it. In addition to the skepticism I had toward the simplicity of setting the Alto R1 up, was doubtfulness about the audio quality and how in sync it would be with the content on screen. There is also a bass boost feature and volume leveling options within the sound settings accessible by pressing the Star button on the Roku remote. While you won’t find fancy features like Dolby Atmos and virtual surround sound in options like the Sonos Beam (Gen 2) has, the Alto R1 does have a few tricks such as the ability to provide more focus to the dialogue of whatever you’re watching and to automatically lower the volume of commercials. If you simply want to improve the sound for your Roku TV or use it for playing music from your phone via Bluetooth, this soundbar can accomplish that. It is a two-channel, 120-watt soundbar entirely managed via the Roku remote and your TV. In use, Alto R1 is as no-frills as the setup is. Features and sound quality Chris Wedel / Digital Trends I use a Caavo Control Center to manage my home theater, and after making a few adjustments to it, I was controlling the volume for the newly paired soundbar.

The TV automatically knows that the Alto R1 is paired, and when adjusting the volume via the Roku remote, the changes happen through the soundbar and not the built-in TV speakers. There are no extra cables or remotes to manage.

The process of adding the soundbar to my Roku TV couldn’t have been easier. Pairing the soundbar to the TV requires holding the Home button on your Roku remote for 5 seconds, selecting “Setup devices,” and then “Wireless soundbar.” After that, the TV and Alto R1 recognized each other, and the soundbar processed an over-the-air software update. So I powered on my 65-inch TCL Roku television and plugged in the Alto R1 to the wall outlet. My skepticism increased as I started to think that there was no way that pairing the soundbar to the TV could be this easy. There are no additional cables included in the box because none are needed since the only port on the soundbar is for the power cable. When unboxing the Alto R1 soundbar, all that is included inside is the 31.5-inch speaker, hardware to mount the speaker to a wall, paperwork, and a power cable. Roku’s Wireless speakers will link up with its smart soundbar for true surroundĬan it really be that easy? Chris Wedel / Digital Trends TCL’s latest soundbars go fully wireless at CES 2021Įnclave Audio now makes the most powerful Roku TV wireless speakers

Tcl audio bar