The best of both worlds for soundbars and loudspeakers? Canvas hi-fi's new bar is pushing the definition, by packing huge 8-inch drivers into a frame that fits below your TV — and the company boldly says it's 'the world's first audiophile soundbar'

• Canvas announces new Canvas L "audiophile soundbar"
• Danish design with custom sizes to fit TVs from 65 to 115 inches
• Four 8-inch woofers, spatial audio and 1,500W amplification

What's the difference between a soundbar and an "audiophile soundbar"? According to home theater firm Canvas HiFi, the latter delivers "the emotional engagement, scale and precision of high-end hi-fi" – and the firm claims that its new Canvas L soundbar is the "world's first audiophile soundbar".

That'll no doubt come as news to the likes of KEF, Bang & Olufsen and Focal, all of which make soundbars designed for the most discerning and affluent listeners. But the Canvas L does things a little differently, to be fair.

The reason it's an interesting new options for home theater fans with good ears and deep pockets is that it's kind of a hybrid between the regular loudspeakers (which audiophiles will usually recommend over soundbars anyway) and the soundbar form. How? Well, by cramming loudspeaker-sized drivers into soundbar-like unit, how else?

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Canvas L soundbar: key features and pricing

The Canvas L is a striking-looking thing in a range of sizes that attach via the VESA mount to TVs from 65 to 115 inches. Behind its tasteful front panel (available in wood or cloth) there's an ultra-rigid braced cabinet, again more like what you'd expect to see in a regular speaker.

Most importantly, that frame houses two large custom-made eight-inch woofers from Scan-Speak (each with an eight-inch passive radiator), two four-inch mid-range drivers also custom-built by Scan-Speak, and two 29 mm SB Acoustics ring radiator tweeters.

There's 1,500W of integrated Class D amplification to power all of this — that's 300W per woofer, 200W per mid-range driver, and 50W per tweeter. Frequency response is a claimed 25Hz to 40,000kHz.

The sound has been tuned by high-end speaker designer Benno Baun Meldgaard, and the built-in digital signal processing features the BACCH+ 3D Spatial Audio algorithm.

Licensed from Princeton University, the BACCH 3D+ processing promises an ultra-realistic spatial presentation "with width, depth and height normally only experienced from large standalone loudspeaker systems." There's no mention of traditional spatial audio support via Dolby Atmos or DTS:X, though. The Canvas L also features room correction via its iOS app.

The inputs are HDMI eARC; stereo RCA; coaxial for up to 24-bit/192kHz audio; 24-bit/96kHz TOSLink; and both wired and wireless networking. The Canvas L supports Roon, DLNA, AirPlay 2, Google Cast, Tidal Connect and Spotify Connect.

Pricing for the new Canvas L hasn't been revealed as yet – expect more details when it's shown at High End Vienna on 4 June 2026 ahead of a release towards the end of the year — but the existing model is $4,999 / £3,299 / AU$5999 in its 65-inch incarnation, so I'd expect pricing to be comfortably above that given the beefier speaker tech. Audiophile indeed.

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