Review: This New Hi-Fi Speaker Can Replace Your TV’s Soundbar. Does It Need to?

The Audio Pro C20 is a wireless speaker that supports lossless streaming. You can also hook it up to your TV or turntable.

By Tucker Bowe

Published July 29, 2024

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Updated July 29, 2024

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You may not have heard of Audio Pro before. Admittedly, I hadn’t until just a short while ago. The 40-year-old Swedish audio maker is well regarded for making relatively small powered speakers and wireless multi-room speakers, all of which are reasonably affordable by hi-fi standards.

Its most recent speaker, the C20, was announced earlier this year at CES — where it was one of the show’s standout stars — but it has only recently become available. And it’s notable because it’s the most ambitious standalone wireless speaker that Audio Pro has ever made.

The Audio Pro C20 is roughly the size of a Sonos Five, but it’s considerably more versatile. It supports both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi streaming, but, more interestingly, it also has a multitude of analog inputs for connecting a TV, turntable, CD player or subwoofer.

In a nutshell, you can use this “do-it-all” speaker however you want.

Audio Pro C20

Specs

Drivers	1-inch soft dome tweeter (2x), 6.5-inch coated paper mid-woofer
Power	190 watts
Frequency Range	41 – 23,500Hz

Pros

It's an incredibly versatile wireless speaker that can just about "do it all"
You can hook it up to your turntable or TV
Sounds excellent and supports lossless audio
Speaker is intuitive and easy to use

Cons

It doesn't come with a remote so you have to switch inputs on the actual speaker
It's a nit pick, but most people don't need such a versatile speaker
No built-in voice assistant
$550 isn't super cheap

$550 at Audio Pro

A powerhouse of a tabletop speaker

If you strip away the Audio Pro C20’s versatility for a second, it’s, quite simply, a powerhouse of a tabletop speaker.

It has three drivers total — dual 1-inch tweeters and a central 6.5-inch woofer — each powered by its own Class D amplifier. The tweeters are driven by 30-watt amps, while the woofer has a 130-watt amp, for a grand total of 190 watts. In the back, there’s a large slot-shaped reflex port to reinforce the bass.

The Audio Pro C20 delivers a bold and neutral sound, with excellent midrange, clear highs and strong bass. The best way I can describe it is that it sounds quite similar to my Sonos Play:5 — which has the same acoustic properties as the newer Sonos Five. In fact, I prefer the C20 as its soundstage is slightly wider and the bass thumps just a little bit more.

I didn’t find the bass lacking — the C20 gets down to 41Hz on its own —but there’s a sub output for those who want to add an wired subwoofer and the bass even further.

I’ve been testing the Audio Pro C20 for well over a month and have had it primarily situated in my office. I’ve been using it to listen to music and podcasts while I work. I’ve also had it hooked up to my TV — via HDMI eARC — and have been using it as essentially a soundbar, too. And it’s been working flawlessly.

It’s a true hi-fi streamer

The Audio Pro C20’s bread and butter is streaming. It supports Bluetooth 5.0 — there’s a Bluetooth pairing button on its top control panel — making it easy for anybody to approach the speaker, quickly pair their smartphone, and play music. It’s a convenient party trick.

However, most people (like me) will just stream music over Wi-Fi as it’s the sure-fire way to play higher-resolution audio. Plus, it’s just easy.

The Audio Pro C20 supports the most popular streaming methods over Wi-Fi. It supports Spotify Connect and Tidal Connect so subscribers can stream audio directly from those respective apps; with Tidal, you can stream lossless audio up to 24-bit/192kHz.

There’s also support for AirPlay 2 (which maxes out at CD quality or 16-bit/44.1kHz) and Google Cast (which supports audio up to 24-bit/96KHz). This means you can group C20 in a multi-room system with other wireless speakers in your home that support AirPlay or Google Cast. If you have two C20 speakers, you can group — or stereo pair — them in Audio Pro’s app.

Hook it up to your turntable or TV (or both)

One of the things that makes the Audio Pro C20 unique is its analog connections — there are quite a few. It has an RCA line-in for connecting the C20 to a CD player or stereo receiver. Most interestingly, it has inputs for connecting the C20 to your turntable or TV.

The C20 has a built-in moving-magnet (MM) phono stage, so you can hook it up to your turntable quite simply. If your turntable has an integrated phono stage, you’ll need to switch that off. Then, you just have to drop the need, play a record, and make sure the “Phono” input on top of the speaker is selected. It works great.

The Audio Pro C20 has an HDMI eARC input that allows you to connect to your TV and effectively turn the speaker into a soundbar. (There’s an optical input, too, for those who have an older TV.) One of the neat things I’ve found is that the speaker, in most cases, is smart enough to detect how you’re using it — whether you’re streaming music or watching TV — and switch its inputs automatically. It’s cool.

However, I’d argue that the Audio Pro C20 makes a better turntable speaker than a TV speaker simply because stereo lends itself better to the former. While the C20 works seamlessly as a TV speaker, it lacks support for immersive audio codecs — most notably Dolby Atmos — and thus there’s a noticeable difference between it and even a mid-range Dolby Atmos soundbar like the Sonos Beam 2.

Do you really need a “do-it-all” wireless speaker?

The Audio Pro C20 is an excellent and versatile wireless speaker — no matter how you use it, it sounds pretty damn good. That said, I’m not completely sold on the concept of a “do it all” wireless speaker.

Most people want a wireless speaker to do one thing (likely stream music) really well — maybe two things if they have a turntable — and for it to be really easy to use. They don’t want to deal with anything that could over-complicate the experience.

Take the C20’s built-in Bluetooth. It’s cool in theory, but when will you ever use it? Anything you stream over Wi-Fi is going to sound noticeably better. Plus you’ll have to deal with Bluetooth pairing, which is less convenient. I guess it makes it easy for guests to play music on the speaker — assuming you don’t want to share your Wi-Fi details with them — but that seems like a stretch.

Additionally, the extra components in the speaker that allow it to be so versatile also drive up its price. From a consumer perspective, that means you’re paying extra for features you’ll probably never use. Bummer.

The Audio Pro C20 costs $550, which isn’t cheap, but it’s also not crazy expensive; many similar-sized wireless speakers, like the Sonos Five ($549), cost about the same.

That said, for a similar price you could buy a good Dolby Atmos soundbar — like the Sonos Beam (Gen 2) — that’s almost as versatile but can also function as a smart speaker; so you can use voice commands to play music when not playing TV audio.

If I still lived in a New York apartment and needed a speaker for my TV and turntable that also met my streaming needs, the C20 would make a killer solution. But that’s a pretty niche situation, which is why the Audio Pro C20 is the best fit for a niche person.

The Audio Pro C20 is available now. You can purchase it from Amazon or Audio Pro’s website. It comes in three finishes: black, white or grey (shown).

Audio Pro C20

The Audio Pro C20 is an all-in-one wireless speaker with a multitude of wireless streaming capabilities and wired connections. You can stream music to it over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Or you can hook it up to your turntable, hi-fi system or even your TV.

Pros

It's an incredibly versatile wireless speaker that can just about "do it all"
You can hook it up to your turntable or TV
Sounds excellent and supports lossless audio
Speaker is intuitive and easy to use

Cons

It doesn't come with a remote so you have to switch inputs on the actual speaker
It's a nit pick, but most people don't need such a versatile speaker
No built-in voice assistant
$550 isn't super cheap