You can upgrade your TV’s sound quality with the new Google Home Speaker surround sound option. Here’s how
Many cinephiles have amazing home theater setups with projectors, reclining and rumbling seats, multi-channel surround sound systems, and probably even a built-in popcorn maker in their theater room. While that’s great for people who want to spend a lot of time setting up all the pieces to the home theater puzzle, plenty of people don’t have the technical know-how, time, or money for such an endeavor.
Thankfully, Google is making a simple home theater setup with its new Google Home Speaker, which lets you quickly pair your speakers with your Google TV Streamer for a quick surround sound system without all the wires or wall anchors. This is a great option for anyone with less space to work with, or even just as a temporary solution for any reason.
The best smart speakers from Sonos and Amazon have had this capability for quite a while, but Google is finally joining the crowd with its latest speaker, the 2026 Google Home Speaker.
What’s it like using a Google Home Speaker with a TV?
The 2026 Google Home Speaker upgrades the Nest Mini and Google Home Mini audio experience with a taller design and larger audio components, delivering significantly better bass and sound quality. It also uses 360-degree drivers, which can help create a virtual surround sound system with two speakers.
Traditional surround sound systems typically require you to hook up an amplifier and run wires for speakers that you’d normally mount on a wall or ceiling. Lots of people (including me) opt for soundbars for this reason: they usually connect to your TV, include a subwoofer, and sometimes add a second set of speakers for the rear channels.
All of these solutions generally require running audio wires, whereas a Google Home Speaker only requires a power cable. While the Google Home Speaker is the easiest solution in this set of options, it also comes with some caveats.
Compared to a traditional surround sound system or a soundbar, the Google Home Speaker won’t have the booming bass of home theater systems, since it doesn’t include a dedicated subwoofer. That might be better in a community housing situation (like an apartment), or in smaller living spaces.
While you can pair two Google Home Speakers with a Google TV Streamer, this only provides stereo sound with virtual surround options. It’s not a true surround sound system since it doesn’t have three or more speakers, so the overall quality and immersiveness of a traditional surround sound system will be missing.
That being said, this is a great option for simplicity’s sake, to save space, and to reduce setup time, especially if you’re not a person who enjoys running cables. If you pair only one Google Home Speaker with your TV, I recommend placing it under the TV or on a shelf at the front of your room. With two speakers, you have a bit more freedom to place them around the room.
Pairing a Google Home Speaker with your TV
To get started, you’ll need at least one Google Home Speaker (two is best), plus a Google TV Streamer. I’ll assume for this guide that you’ve already plugged in and set up your Google Home Speaker for regular use. If you haven’t, go ahead and do that, then follow along with the guide:
1. On your Google TV Streamer, press the Home button, then select the Quick Settings option at the top of the screen.
2. On the pop-up window, select Audio output from the list of tiles.
3. In the audio output window, select Connect another device.
4. In the Remotes & Accessories section, select Google speakers from the list, then select Getting started.
5. A list of Google Home Speakers on your account will appear in the next window. Select all the speakers you want to use for TV audio output, then click Next.
6. Once setup is complete, all connected Google Home Speakers should appear in the Google speakers section of the Remotes & Accessories menu.
Now that youre Google Home Speakers and Google TV Streamer are connected, they will automatically connect and be used any time your Google TV Streamer is powered on.
Fixing audio latency issues with a Google Home Speaker and Google TV Streamer
Sometimes, when using wireless audio, you’ll find that the image on the TV doesn’t match the audio coming from your speakers. This is more than just annoying, as it makes it difficult to watch anything. Thankfully, Google has a simple built-in tool to fix this problem:
1. On your Google TV Streamer, press the Home button, then select the Quick Settings option at the top of the screen.
2. On the pop-up window, select All settings at the top.
3. Select the Remotes & Accessories section.
4. Select the Google speakers option.
5. Select the offending speaker from the list, then select Audio video sync.
6. Follow the on-screen instructions to adjust the audio latency to match the audio with the bouncing ball.
Using an older Google Home or Nest speaker as a surround sound system
If you’re not willing to shell out $200 for a pair of new Google Home Speakers (and I can’t blame you for that), your existing Nest or Google Home speakers can serve a similar function, but it’ll likely require a bit more tweaking.
All Google Home and Nest speakers support Bluetooth, so you can pair them with your TV or preferred streaming device to enjoy higher-quality audio than the TV can provide. Bluetooth could have quality, range, and audio latency issues, but let’s get things set up first before we assume those things:
1. Open the Google Home app on your phone.
2. Select All devices from the list (it’s the 4-square grid icon).
3. Find your speaker in the list and tap it.
4. Tap the settings cog at the top of the screen.
5. Select Audio from the list.
6. Select Paired Bluetooth devices.
7. Tap Enable pairing mode at the bottom, then select the speaker from the audio section of your TV or streaming device.
Since every TV or streaming device is different, I can’t walk you through how to find the audio section on those, but it’s likely under system settings, audio, then Bluetooth or wireless audio. If you need to adjust audio latency, your TV or streaming device should have options for it in the same section.
Whichever method you use, Google Home and Nest speakers are a great way to add higher-fidelity audio to a TV without running wires, which can make a big difference in your TV experience.
