Did you know that you can run a karaoke night with soundbars of all input types? You can. We’ll talk about which karaoke soundbar will be great for those fun moments. A good karaoke soundbar must have good sound for optimal performance.
Are you planning a karaoke night with your friends? If so, it may take the right kind of equipment to pull it off. You’ll have mixers set up to where you can use a microphone and be able to sing your favorite song.
This can only be done if you only follow the necessary steps below. This guide was put together so your soundbar for karaoke can be reliable every time you want to have fun with friends or family showing off your singing talent.
If you want to have the time of your life (no pun intended, although a good song for a duet), keep reading. Let’s get started.
What You Need for This Tutorial?
In this tutorial, you will need the following:
- A working soundbar for karaoke
- A karaoke mixer
- Wireless microphones or Handheld Microphones
- HDMI Cable
- TV with an HDMI port
- Karaoke songs
- Small speakers (optional)
- Smart TV or regular TV
As you may notice, it doesn’t take a lot to set up the perfect karaoke machine. You have the best TV setting for karaoke video, a soundbar that will play your karaoke music, and mics that will be used for just one person or a group of people.
Step by Step Instructions on Setting Up Karaoke With a Soundbar
If you need to connect a karaoke mixer and microphone to your soundbar, you’ll want to follow this guide down below. Let’s cut to the chase and get started:
1. Disconnect Your Soundbar
The first thing you need to do is disconnect the soundbar from your designated audio source, which will be your TV. This will depend on the type of connection you have. So here’s what you need to do:
- If you have a Smart TV, go to the Bluetooth setting and disable it.
- If you are using an HDMI cable, you can unplug the sound bar using either the cable itself or the power cord.
2. Connecting Your TV to a Karaoke Mixer
Let’s take a look at the steps below:
- Find the outputs on your Smart TV. These include but are not limited to your HDMI, RCA, VGA, and Optical Audio source.
- Find the cables you need to connect to both the TV and the karaoke mixer.
- Match the inputs on your mixer. So for example, your TV has an audio output and thus, your mixer will have an audio input.
- Connect the cables which include using your RCA connection (the red and white cables and jacks). Alternatively, you can use an AUX cable. This means you will need to use that jack labeled ‘Aux Line In’ or ‘Track Line In’.
- Connect any mics you may have. These may also include wireless microphones that may come with the mixer itself. This may be a quick, automatic process.
- Test the connection to see if everything is working.
- Play around with the mixers and make some adjustments later on. You may want to test the music or even the microphone sounds. Turn the knobs so you can reduce the bass if it’s too heavy or the treble is too light.
3. Connecting the Mixer to Your Sound Bar
Now, you’ll want to connect the karaoke mixer to your soundbar. Like the TV, the concept will be the same. Here’s a look at what options you can work with:
- If you have Bluetooth settings on each device, you can try and use the pairing process. If they seem to be paired together, test the connection. Otherwise, you can move on to the alternative solution.
- You can use either an HDMI, RCA, or optical cable. Make sure they are connected to their respective input and output ports.
Related: How to Connect Mixer to Amplifier
4. Connecting the Microphone(s)
With the mixer now connected, you can then connect the bluetooth mic or any other dedicated microphone you may have. To do this, you’ll want to connect it through the mixer. You can purchase one that already comes with microphone(s) or separately.
Now, let’s take a look at the following:
- If the microphone is wired, you can plug them in. If they are wireless and are part of the mixer, the connection process will be a lot easier. It may also have bluetooth capabilities in order to get a bluetooth mic connected.
- Please note that some signal disruptions may arise if there are any other bluetooth devices in the immediate vicinity. For example, this can happen if you are connecting the bluetooth microphone with your phone.
- Detach the soundbar from the audio source you’re using. Again, this can be your TV.
- Connect the mixer to that TV using the cable or HDMI port. Then, make sure the mixer is connected to the soundbar itself. Last but not least, connect the microphone to the mixer.
- Once again, if the microphones come with the mixer, they may be automatically connected.
5. Turn It on and Give It a Shot
Now it’s time to test everything out. This is what you need to do:
- Power on the respective devices that are part of your karaoke setup.
- Pop in a karaoke CD or a karaoke video on YouTube. Listen to the music coming out of the soundbar. Make sure the TV’s speakers are muted.
- Try to sing the song to ensure the microphone is picking up on the sound.
If everything appears to be working properly, you’re good to go. Otherwise, you might be dealing with a connection snafu. So it would be a good idea to double check to see if every wired and wireless connection is set up properly.
Frequently Asked Question
What is the purpose of a karaoke mixer?
If there is one solution that will fix this, it’s none other than a karaoke mixer. This has dedicated microphone inputs and some may allow even up to two. Best of all, they don’t have to be mics with a wire connection.
They each have an audio in and audio out port. They will also have aux ports so you can be able to rout the audio channels with the music ‘in’ and the mixed audio channels using both the music and mic inputs ‘out’.
Since they are called mixers, they have plenty of knobs that will allow you to control the volume settings for both your microphones and the music itself. This is all sent out using one audio out signal. Before you go choosing any karaoke mixer, you’ll want to check on the compatibility.
You’ll want to have the right mixer or even the right adapters for it. This will depend on the mixers you are looking at on Amazon or wherever else they are sold. Some of them may have an HDMI in and HDMI out.
Let’s say your soundbar has an HDMI input. You want to find a mixer that has an HDMI output. Otherwise, there would be no point in having karaoke nights when you can’t have anything that is compatible with one another.
What if your soundbar has an aux in? If you do, get a mixer that has an aux out. Simple as that.
So this will fix the issue when a standalone soundbar for karaoke won’t be able to include a plug in for your microphone. Get a mixer that will match with the respective inputs and outputs and you’ll be good to go.
What are the benefits of a soundbar for karaoke?
Soundbars are best known for creating an excellent sound system for your karaoke experience. If you set up the soundbar properly, you should be able to get the best sound compared to what you can get via your television’s speakers or even a home theatre.
Plus, you can be able to enjoy karaoke with a soundbar and not have to worry about dealing with too many wires. It can take one cable to set things up and you should be good to go. So there is less effort involved.
Plus, a soundbar for karaoke will provide you with a more cost-effective solution compared to a home theatre with plenty of speakers (which will require all kinds of wires). While a home theatre system will be in the hundreds or thousands of dollars, you can get a good soundbar for half the amount.
You’ll want to find one based on the quality, inputs you are in need of, and the kind of sound that you want out of the whole thing. If you want to deal with less wires, you can find one with bluetooth speaker capabilities.
What are the disadvantages of connecting your microphone with a soundbar?
There are some disadvantages in terms of connecting a microphone to a soundbar for karaoke. As mentioned before, there is no standalone connectivity for microphones. That’s why you will need a karaoke mixer.
Other than that, there may be some extra work that goes into making the connections needed. That’s why you want to make the setup as less stressful as possible and use less wires in the process. Again, this comes down to choosing the right kind of mixer that will have compatible inputs with your television.
What is needed for karaoke?
To setup karaoke, you’ll need the following: a microphone, speakers, amplifiers, mixers, and a television for video display of the lyrics. At this point, you already can use a sound bar as an alternative to a sound system that uses speakers and amps. This will save you time and money since you’ll be otherwise spending a ton of money tracking down on speakers that will cost a lot of money.
Plus, you won’t be certain if it has the sound quality that you want. If you are looking for a cost effective option, a sound bar might be exactly what you need to set up the perfect karaoke system.
Can you use a home theater speaker for karaoke?
Yes. You can use a home theater speaker for karaoke. However, the connection process may be a little more complex. For example, you will need to remove the audio input jacks and other devices each time you want to use it. This can be a waste of time and a lot of wires will be used.
Related: Best High-End Center Channel Speaker For Optimal Sounds
Final Thoughts
Did you find this tutorial enjoyable? It is important to have the perfect karaoke system connection using the tools we’ve mentioned above. The list of setup steps are important because if you follow them one by one, you’ll be able to get the perfect setup for a karaoke party.
If you liked this tutorial or have any questions about your karaoke setup, feel free to tell us what you think in the comments and we’ll be happy to hear from you.
John Fleming is the senior editor for Audiophilez.com, covering everything from headphones to smart speakers. He is a graduate of Music Production and Technology. Before Audiophilez, John began his career as a staff writer for two different magazines, where he became a skilled storyteller across different mediums. When he isn’t writing, he can be found biking, reading books, and playing the piano.