Soundbar with dedicated centre channel £2-300 recommendations?

[JDXAV]

I'm after recommendations for a new soundbar to be paired with the LG 49NANO866NA in our living room. It is not a dedicated film room, just the room we watch TV (90% streaming services) with dinner. The TV is in one corner turned toward a sofa and we sit 2-3m away. Currently we watch via built-in apps but we might also use a Roku stick or similar in future (not had a hugely positive experience with built-in apps in the past)

We currently have an older soundbar HTL3120/12 from Philips but after replacing the TV we bought it with, I think it's due an upgrade (some bugs, some limitations)
I have specifically been recommended a system with dedicated centre channel to help with dialogue clarity, which is one of the key features for us. I don't know what price levels are considered low/medium/high in soundbars but it seems the £2-300 here in the UK has some options and £300 is a good budget cap for us considering the TV is a low/medium kind of level itself.

I have already had a little look around RS and Currys and 3 which I saw are:

1. SAMSUNG HW-S50A/XU 3.0
2. LG SN7CY 3.0.2
3. SONY HT-G700 3.1

I looked at reviews on this site for the LG and Sony already but would welcome any other reviews, recommendations, or advice how to choose - which features to actually care about for instance.
For instance Atmos, "object based audio" (DTS:X?), etc. My TV supports eARC which was new to me, reading about it that sounds great but in reality, maybe all this fancy stuff on a £300 soundbar is pretty meaningless and I should be caring only about the fundamentals.

Thanks in advance.

 

[JDXAV]

Any recommendations? This thread from earlier in the year talked about the JBL 5.0 which is not a brand I know but it's now on sale for the same £299 price as some of those I listed.

 

[zubeir]

Any recommendations? This thread from earlier in the year talked about the JBL 5.0 which is not a brand I know but it's now on sale for the same £299 price as some of those I listed.

Or a LG SL6Y, 3.1 soundbar, which you can upgrade to a 5.1 if you want with rear speakers. Currently at £249 at Hughes.

 

[JDXAV]

Or a LG SL6Y, 3.1 soundbar, which you can upgrade to a 5.1 if you want with rear speakers. Currently at £249 at Hughes.

Is that (on paper at least) the level down from the SN7CY? The choice between 3.0 and 3.1 is a further confusion, if there are both options at the same price is the sub better, or does it mean the overall quality suffers to provide the extra sub for the same cost, etc

 

[zubeir]

Is that (on paper at least) the level down from the SN7CY? The choice between 3.0 and 3.1 is a further confusion, if there are both options at the same price is the sub better, or does it mean the overall quality suffers to provide the extra sub for the same cost, etc

There is a trade off, depends on what is more important to you, subwoofer for the SL6Y or the SN7CY without an external subwoofer but you have Dolby Atmos/DTS X.