Bowers & Wilkins Panorama Sound Bar

Nine drivers pack super-wide stereo field and paranoia- inducing surround in a small package (43 x 7 x 5 inches). Built-in sub = rump-shaking lows. Swank mirrored-black finish (polishing cloth included)

Can't autocalibrate surround effects for room layout — and little ability to tweak manually

Show-stealing looks, great sound quality, great virtual surround

Complicated and unintuitive optimisation setup, short on connectors, expensive

Bowers & Wilkins' Panorama soundbar is one of the best single-speaker home theatre systems on the market. Apart from its unnecessarily complicated setup, it's a great all-rounder with unparalleled sound quality in both our movie and music tests.

Forgive us for going all Sybil Fawlty and stating the bleedin' obvious, but this is an expensive soundbar - you could get yourself a pretty good 5.1-channel speaker system for the same sort of money, or a rival soundbar for a fraction of the price.

Purposeful looks, quality of construction ; startling low frequency presence - no need for a subwoofer ; loud, dynamic sound

Unexpected holes in spec, given the price ; bass can plod, midrange is coloured ; doesn't really surround

To look at the B&W Panorama is to want a B&W Panorama. This is one of the most stylish sounbars we've ever seen (not something we ever thought we'd find ourselves saying) with a glossy aluminium top panel and seductively curvaceous rear end that would...

The real problem here is the "surround sound". No matter how hard soundbars try, they're never really a substitute for proper 5.1 offerings. Here the Panorama does provide some width to the sound, but you never truly feel engulfed by the sound...

For its faults, the B&W Panorama is still an excellent soundbar. If you want full-on surround sound, then a soundbar's probably not for you. But as soundbar's go, this is one of the best.

Refined, powerful sound with beefy bass, faultless build quality

Rear channels don't envelop you, no HD audio decoding or HDMIs

Unbelievable sound quality from such a compact unit, but it's far too expensive