TCL Q85H Q Class 7.1.4 Channel Sound Bar with Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, Ray Danz Technology, Wireless Subwoofer, Wireless Surround Speakers, and Bluetooth Music Streaming

This system left me very surprised with the overall quality of it. Straightforward connection & installation upon taking it out of the box. Everything paired up on its own. Just took it out of the box, plugged the pieces into power & connected the HDMI cable into the E-Arc port. Purchased this as a companion to my brand new TCL tv. My setup is in a partially finished basement. I tested it with a few classic movies with 5.1 surround sound & with some great, quality Dolby Atmos movies. Works great for my setup as an inexpensive price point. I can see myself getting in trouble with the Mrs. at how high I'm cranking it for certain movies. 😆 🤣 😂

I have have always been one to stick to the bigger name brands so this was the first TCL anything I have ever purchased. I have a Vizio 5.1.2 soundbar. It sounds fantastic and works perfectly in my apartment. It does not have up-firing drivers on the surrounds. It looks like this Dolby Atmos craze is here to stay so I want to get the full effect of it with up-firing drivers. All the bigger name brands that have up-firing bars and surrounds are 48" soundbars and I simply don't have room for a 48" bar. I have been waiting for someone to make a 42" bar with up-firing and finally here it is. The TCL Q85H. If you are considering purchasing this bar there are some things you need to know. The surround speakers are not wired to the subwoofer, they plug into a power outlet so wherever you place the surround speakers each one needs to be within 5 feet of a power outlet or you will be running power cords along the floor, not cool. Also before you buy this system be aware that if you are looking to plug a PS5 or series X or a gaming computer into this soundbar, it will NOT pass thru 4k at 120hz, it will only do 60hz. 60hz is fine and dandy for a Blu ray player but running a PS5 or series X at 60hz is like going back to the stone ages. That really is a head scratcher to me that TCL did not make this capable of passing 4k at 120 but just another reason why I have always stayed with the bigger name brands. I have a series X and Blu ray player but both are plugged into my tv so I don't need the extra port on the soundbar. This bar does an amazing job with Dolby Atmos content but there are some things that it does not do well and have left me feeling like I wasted 600 bucks. First of all this bar needs a big room. I live in an apartment and this thing produces way to much sound for a small room. I would love to hear this thing set up in a room where the bar is 10 - 12 feet in front of me and the surrounds are 8 - 10 feet behind me and the ceiling is about 16 feet. With that you could just crank it up and say HOLY BLEEP!!!! All Xbox players who have been playing Forza motorsport on a 5.1 system and bummed about how bad it sounded (like me), rest assured that this 7.1.4 soundbar makes it sound amazing and I mean AMAZING!!! Like I said the bar does an excellent job with Dolby Atmos games, however; it struggles somewhat with games that are not Atmos. Playing games that are only 5.1 which sound amazing on my 5.1 Vizio soundbar sound quiet on this bar and you can't hear the quieter sounds as well as they sound on a 5.1 bar, so that is kind of a bummer. My Blu ray collection is mostly old war movies that were made long before Dolby Atmos was even a pipe dream and that is where I am bummed with this soundbar. The dialog is to quiet and everything else is to loud. Same with watching ordinary tv shows. There is an enhanced voice setting but it just isn't enough. What this soundbar really needs is a way to adjust the volume of the center channel and dialog individually like Vizio soundbars. When I do the Dolby Atmos audio test on me series X, it plays a tone out of each channel and when it plays the center channel tone on this system, it is clearly lower than the rest of the channel tones and no way to adjust it. I am happy with this soundbar system for Dolby Atmos content but kind of bummed with everything else. The bottom line is if you live in a house with a big room where you can crank up the volume and not worry about the neighbors, then this soundbar will blow you away, especially with Dolby Atmos and DTS:X content. If you live in an apartment then this soundbar is probably not the best choice as it produces just to much sound for a small room and you can't adjust the channels individually to balance out the sound. Believe me I have tried every setting on the remote and app and just can't get it to where it does non Atmos content as well as it does Atmos content. For me, its like, Oh well, not the first time I wasted 600 bucks on something I didn't really need anyways, and probably won't be the last.

Super easy install, bass sounds amazing and the atmosphere with arc connection sounds unreal!!

Purchased the Q85H 7.1.4 soundbar alongside a 75" TCL QM6K T.V. and Sony UBP-X700U 4K Ultra HD disk player. I yanked out my 14 year old and broken Harmon Kardon 5.1 receiver and speaker set to install this system fresh. I am not a 'sound engineer' and will not bog down this review with techno jargon like SO MANY reviews of the product do... I am an I.T. Support Tech/Electrician and Finish Carpenter, so I am technical savvy and 'paticular' about the finish product. I'm not independently wealthy and work hard to save my money toward big purchases such as these, so I read a TON of manufacture specs. and user reviews such as this one, and finally settled on the Q85H. The quick and short review is that after 2 days of troubleshooting, configuration/settings with TCL Support direction, the soundbar, bass and 2 satelites were as dialed in as they could get and still left the overall experience disjointed. Dialog consistently gets drowned out by 'surround sound' effects and background music. I had the biggest of hopes that ALL this new technology (DTS, ATMOS, yadda, yadda, yadda) would deliver a better, fuller experience than my 12 year old 5.1 system - it didn't even come close! I would LOVE a representative from TCL to explain how/why ALL the latest technology failed to deliver. Congratulate the TCL marketing department on flashy imagery and snappy descriptions but they need to eat their share of the crap sandwich as the product didn't come close to their own hype. Just to fill in the details for those of you audiophile's out there: My living room is a basic 14' x 16' with 8' ceiling, the T.V. system is centered on the 16' wall, the viewing seat straight across from the T.V. 11' away. 1 suggestion the TCL Support Tech made was to move the rear satellites within 10' of the soundbar, as if THAT was the issue... (there is a *recommendation in the documentation stating the satellites need to be within 10' of the soundbar...) To give them the benefit and state I had set up EVERYTHING according to their specs, I spent the time to move seating and speakers within the 10' - NO CHANGE, the satellites were working the same as they had... I boxed up every wire ty and scrap of protective packing and shipped it back for refund. I'll be spending a bit more money on a Klipsch 5.2

Slightly disappointing, but not too much. I have a new 2025 TCL 65in TV and this sound system connected immediately and flawlessly - very nice and the primary reason I bought it based on the reviews. The sound bar and accompanying subwoofer sound great and really improves the built in TV speakers. Definitely not disappointed with that. Not sure why some review say it’s a waste of money - definitely not. Disappointment comes with the surround sound. If you are looking for immersive Dolby Atmos system, you may want to look else where. Some other reviews stated how the rear speakers were totally silent - they were right. Now, the rear speakers are not supposed to have a lot of noise, but they should have some. I literally put my ear up them when watching a movie and I could hear nothing - in fact, no matter what mode the system is in. AND, there is no way to adjust them other than changing the mode for the whole system (e.g. change from movie mode to sports mode, etc) - no volume control. For those reviews that talk about excessive static or background noise coming from the back, I have no idea where they get that from. Total silence from mine. Also, the TCL app that they recommend using has issues. If you try to use the app to calibrate the system your system may go into a “dead” mode and act like it’s muted. You basically are forced to physically turn everything (sound bar and TV) off and unplug it to reset - it’s a pain and should not happen. I used ChatGPT to check into it and it seems to be a common occurrence. - Overall, do I plan to return this system? Maybe… I am still debating it. Probably not because it does sound good if just watching straight TV. - Would I buy this system again? Definitely not. - Is this system a total waste? - definitely not. It compliments the TCL TV very well. I plan to play a little more with the system and experiment with it when watching some more newer movies to see if I can get that immersive experience.