I wondered if that would happen with games and movies as well. On a song like Band of Skull’s “Light of the Morning,” I expected the bass to stab aggressively out of the mix, but it was essentially invisible. Audio was crisp and clean, with a fairly bright high end. My iPhone connected to the Alto via Bluetooth effortlessly, and so music was the first thing I experienced with the soundbar. Once the soundbar was connected to my TV and turned on, the subwoofer also connected automatically, and I was in business. That might be the best reason to skip the Alto 5 and get the Alto 7, regardless of the size of your television or monitor only the higher-end model has an HDMI port to carry your audio.Īny reservations I had about it underperforming were put to rest. If you’re connecting directly to a television, though, an optical connector might not be an option, so you’ll need to use the 3.5-mm audio connector. I happen to have an optical output on my receiver, so I connected the Alto that way. Of course, I didn’t wall-mount the Alto, but if I had wanted to do so, everything I needed came in the box, including mounting brackets, screws, wall anchors, and a paper template for marking the wall. You also get a remote control, which is honestly the only practical way to control the soundbar, since the remote gives you access to all the stuff that the minimalist buttons on the soundbar itself don’t, like the three EQ settings – news, movie, and music, as well as play/pause and track selection buttons for Bluetooth playback. The soundbar is pretty light (it weighs about 3 pounds), so the mounting hardware is similarly lightweight and simple. The soundbar fits unobtrusively under virtually any TV or monitor, but if your TV is hanging on the wall, TCL includes hardware and instructions for mounting it as well. The back of the sub has a single control: a pairing button which I never needed to use (it paired automatically during setup). The only indication that it has a 5-inch driver within, as opposed, to say, shoes, is the small front-firing port. It stands 13 inches high, is all black, and has a matching TCL logo on the front. Without an HDMI ARC port, you’ll need to use the supplied optical or 3.5mm audio cables, depending on what connectors you have available on your TV or PC, and I find that really disappointing (but understandable, I suppose, considering the price point). That’s only available on the Alto 5’s bigger brother, the Alto 7 (and 7+, of course). You might notice what’s missing: an HDMI ARC input. There’s so little going on here that this thing is guaranteed to virtually disappear under your television.Īround back, the soundbar has an optical input, 3.5mm audio input, IR passthrough connection, and a USB port. There are just five buttons on top – power, source, Bluetooth, and volume. If you want to rely on the light, you’ll need both good eyesight and to memorize its color code – green for aux, blue for Bluetooth, orange for optical, white for USB, and red for standby. Molded entirely in a glossy black plastic, the 31.5-inch long soundbar has a small TCL logo on the front, is entirely covered in a mesh grill on the front and sides, and has a single barely visible status light in front to tell you what it’s thinking. The prices start at $80 for the Alto 5 (or $150 if you add a sub for the 5+) and go up to $100 for the Alto 7 or $180 for the Alto 7+. Title=More%20Expert%20Tech%20Roundups&type=articles%2Cvideos&tags=tech-roundup&count=6&columnCount=6&theme=article The Alto 5 and Alto 5+ are built around a pair of front-firing 2-inch mid speakers, while the Alto 7 family also includes a 1.5-inch tweeter. All the Alto soundbars are 2.0 or 2.1 speaker systems there’s no option for rear or surround speakers. I reviewed the Alto 5+ (and almost immediately regretted not asking for the Alto 7+, but I’ll get to that in a moment). And both come in “plus” variations that include a wireless subwoofer. The Alto 5 is intended for TVs around 43 inches, while the Alto 7 is for 55-inch sets and larger.
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