I test soundbars for a living, and these are 5 movie scenes I use every time

Tom's Guide

16-06-2025

I'm lucky enough to have tested plenty of the best soundbars — from the immaculate to the... less immaculate. When I'm doing my long hours of testing (and they can get very long — if you like movies, getting sucked in to another rewatch of Star Wars is extremely easy) I like to make sure that I have a strong reference library of scenes that showcase a soundbars strengths, while highlighting its weaknesses.
That could be a particularly strong Dolby Atmos mix to see how the bar handles the latest in spatial audio, or a solid surround mix so that I can get a handle on how well it can cope with more traditional setups. Perhaps there's lots of dynamism, with quiet parts accented by sudden noise. Maybe it's super bassy, to see how the bar handles low-end.
Either way, I've got plenty of scenes that I use to see how the likes of the Sonos Arc Ultra and the Marshall Heston 120 are able to handle your favorite movies. Here are five of my favorites.
The Marshall Heston 120 is the latest soundbar that I tested with these very movie scenes, and it did a great job with all of them. It's also very good for music streaming, something that other soundbars struggle with.
Every soundbar reviewer and their mom uses this scene to test out soundbars — and if you give it a whirl, you'll soon understand why. It's loaded to the brim with small sound details that cheaper soundbars completely miss, like the clicks and clanks as the Hornets slot into place on the runway, or the ropes and hissing steam as they overlay the soundtrack.
Good Dolby Atmos soundbars make the scene sound like it's all around you. Jets fly past at Mach goodness-only-knows-what, while deckhands spring around the runway. The bass of the jet engines needs to be able to make the floor shake, while the jets themselves need to make your windows rattle.
Then there's the soundtrack. There's plenty of bassy rumble from each chime of the bell in the more laid-back, synth-laden intro track, giving way to "Danger Zone" as the deck hits its most active. Is it the best movie in the world? No. Do I love it? Yes.
Is the Tom's Guide reviews team entirely sick of it? Also yes.
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I grew up with the prequel trilogy, so you can imagine why Episode III is still one of my favorite Star Wars movies. The opening scene is one of the primary reasons why, thanks to its mixture of fun, silly dialogue, breathtaking action, and sublime CGI that holds up 20 years later.
The latest Dolby Atmos mixes that you can find on Disney+ are buckets of fun. Obi-Wan and Anakin dart about the soundstage, testing the limits of the wideness of a soundbar's side channels. As their Jedi starfighters spin, so too does the world of the film around us, and we need to hear it as much as feel it.
The buzzdroids that land on Obi-Wan's starfighter should sound like they're everywhere, and the droid that falls off the fighter should disappear behind you.
There are plenty of explosions to check the impact of a soundbar, as the ships around the action crash into each other in amongst the action. The dialog needs to be able to cut through everything, too, while the orchestral score plays in the background. There's a lot for a soundbar to get very wrong here, making it the perfect scene to put one through its paces.
The sound mix of Dune is a terrifying one — equal parts beautiful and brutal. Nothing highlights that brutality like the assembling of the Emperor's fighting force, as they prepare to go to war against the Atriedes.
It begins on a great plane, the uncomfortably deep chanting testing the low-end limits of a soundbar. The spoken dialogue needs to cut through the bassy rumble, while the rain needs to feel like it's surrounding you as it falls.
Then, the fight. The soundtrack should be the first thing of note — is it too loud, does it drown everything out? The sounds of fighting should be delicate as they are sharp and exacting, putting the detail to the test. The fuzzy ozone shields buzz and whirr. Duncan's breathing laboured as the fight goes on. The whole thing should make you feel uncomfortable and anxious. A good soundbar delivers the goods, while a bad one makes it feel like it's happening in another room.
For those about to say "how about something pre-2000?", I have it covered. The opening moments of Blade Runner are about some of the most evocative scenes throughout cinema, and they make for a great way to test out a soundbar. There's a lot going on in the scene despite the age of this flick, with loads of little details for a soundbar to highlight and pick out.
The soundtrack as the police car flies over the futuristic Los Angeles skyline needs to be crisp and clear. The sounds of city hubbub as plumes of smoke jet into the air. When we move to the interview room, the subtle sound of the heartbeat needs to build under the sounds of the voices, as the environmental noises of the office fade in and out with the characters sanity. Beeps and boops abound — and then, the sudden shot should ring out.
It's old, yes — but there's plenty here to evaluate a soundbar.
Japan's bizarre sci-fi classic might not be the first thing you think of when it comes to impressive surround mixes, but you'd be surprised. The opening chase scene of the movie is terrifyingly effective at placing the bikes on the road, and in the space around you as they speed down the highway.
The soundtrack shouldn't be too loud, while the roaring bike engines rumble and shake the sofa. The clashes of pipes and heads, the breaking of windows. The muffled sound of the chase when we meet a couple in a restaurant, only for the outside world to come bursting in as a bike crashes through the storefront and crushes a customer. The broken arm that gets run over on the highway — all of these should be well layered underneath the soundtrack and the rest of the ensemble.
There's no Atmos mix here, but the surround mix is very good, and tests how well a soundbar can isolate different sounds.