Just picked up a Bose TV soundbar.  This is the third soundbar in a month.  First was an open box Samsung AH650, sound was ok, but it was missing the remote so I couldn’t adjust any EQ settings.  Next was a Vizio 5:1 (forget the model but it had the virtual Dolby atmos).  This was also ok but the Bluetooth didn’t work on it so it was also returned.  Ended up coming home with the Bose at the wife’s suggestion and it actually sounds decent albeit the bass is lacking.  I’m no audiophile, just wanted something a little louder for watching movies, and listening to music while we’re cooking.  Any other suggestions for under $300?

Got the wife a Sonos.  It's fine for TV and the sound is very good for music videos on youtube.

It has a lot of adjustments and features I don't bother with.  One of them does speech enhancement which can be nice for TV shows.

It looks like Sonos starts around $350.  The Sonos Beam 2nd gen is 449 at Costco.

Might be worth the additional cost since you seem to want quality sound.

It does have plenty of volume.  Enough so the wife bitches about it when I'm playing My Chemical Romance.

In for info. I'm in the same boat

I purchased a Bose Solo Soundbar Series 2, I'm happy with it,

That’s a good recommendation, thank you! Been listening to a variety of music tonight on it, everything from classic, house, hip-hop and it’s pretty impressive.  Not blowing my socks off tho with the movie soundtracks.  I think jumping up to a $500 budget would open a lot more doors.

I would use a good pair of studio monitors over any soundbar setup.

kinda thinking along this line of thought as well.     have an old Mitsubishi 73" DLP  tv and the tv speakers suck.    Thinking about running the audio to an old Yamaha receiver I have sitting around into some smaller bookshelf speakers.    Am sure it wld be way better than the tv speakers.

I do like the simplicity and auto turn on capability with a soundbar, but as OP hinted at, seems like u have to drop some decent coin in order to get decent sound out of a sound bar.

So after a week with the Bose here’s my final take: sound quality for music is great with plenty of volume.  Movie wise it’s trash lol! Watched Heat, the new 007, and Kingsman.  Really had a hard time hearing dialog  and the lack of surround sound support was really noticeable. The sound was very flat.  We went to best buy and listened to the somos beam gen2 and it sounded great. The wife was super impressed with tue sound quality and surround sound ability especially in a single unit. We went with that instead.  I’ll let y’all know how it’s working out once it’s delivered.

Update! So the Sonos Beam Gen2 came in last night.  Unboxed it set it up.  Setup was super easy just like the Bose (wife did it, just two cords).  The sound is incredible, honestly blown away by it.  For such a compact bar I don’t understand how they backed that much surround function into it.  We were watching that new Clint Eastwood movie last night where he goes down to Mexico and there’s some scenes with chickens in them.  We both looked to the back of the house because we thought we heard a chicken running around in the kitchen ?? so far I give it 5/5 stars.  Def worth spending the extra coin on it.