Tech Advice Needed

[Johnny Velvet]

EDIT: Removed

[Snake Plissken]

That is probably because the latest iPhones have one socket, which is either charging or headphones but not both.

I would buy a Bluetooth speaker. Most of them are battery powered (or USB charged) and you can Bluetooth the music over to it while your phone is charging elsewhere. Not sure whether the quality would be good enough for your requirements - something like that would be just "good enough" for listening to but no full on audio experience.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Yeah, a Bluetooth speaker or a Chromecast Audio (connected to an existing speaker). Charge it as you wish.

[Toby Gymshorts]

I've been considering a soundbar; ostensibly for the TV (although the onboard speakers aren't at all bad), but then I can connect to my Echo Dot for wireless music streaming.

The only problem being that I don't have room to mount it directly under the TV (as our stand is, by necessity, very narrow) so it would need to be on the bottom shelf of the unit. Would this realistically be a problem, sound-wise?

[hobbes]

I've been considering a soundbar; ostensibly for the TV (although the onboard speakers aren't at all bad), but then I can connect to my Echo Dot for wireless music streaming.

The only problem being that I don't have room to mount it directly under the TV (as our stand is, by necessity, very narrow) so it would need to be on the bottom shelf of the unit. Would this realistically be a problem, sound-wise?

It will still be a huge improvement on TV speakers. So I wouldn't worry.
If you can get one with a sub woofer too, so much the better.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Echo Dots are fine for voice, but I wouldn't want to play music through mine.

[Ginger Yellow]

If you connect it to a proper speaker, it just does the voice recognition and streaming bit.