Replacing a 5.1 with a soundbar? And s-bar placement?
Discussion
Panasonic 42" plasma, x-box, panasonic blu-ray, sky hd box - audio out from tv into back of surround amp.
Hardly ever use the surround sound but dont like the 'stock' sound from the tv!
Surround is hardwired into the ceiling, I am getting fed up of looking at the speakers and we want to put a plaster coving up.
Looked and heard the new panasonic sc-htb550 and was suitable impressed.
Our current cabinets are solid doors with a remote sender so cant mount the speaker in there, dont want it under the tv - so would have to mount them on the cabinet next to the tv. Not sure if I fancy that.
Why is this tv stuff so hard!?
Hardly ever use the surround sound but dont like the 'stock' sound from the tv!
Surround is hardwired into the ceiling, I am getting fed up of looking at the speakers and we want to put a plaster coving up.
Looked and heard the new panasonic sc-htb550 and was suitable impressed.
Our current cabinets are solid doors with a remote sender so cant mount the speaker in there, dont want it under the tv - so would have to mount them on the cabinet next to the tv. Not sure if I fancy that.
Why is this tv stuff so hard!?
Can't see what else you can do if you don't want it in front/under the TV unless you change your solid fronted cabinet for one with open shelves. Even then there's a danger that you turn your living room into something that resembles a Comet display. 
I have to say that looking at the size of that soundbar it might not produce much more bass than the TV itself, though some of it would be helped by the subwoofer. This gives me another idea: why not just add a subwoofer to your TV? Use the existing speakers but supplemented with a sub for the deeper notes that flat screen TVs can't produce. The sub could be tucked away out of sight. Sure you won't get surround sound, but IMHO you don't really get that with a soundbar anyway. How you intergrate one is another matter as ideally you'd want the sub level to go up with the main TV volume and most TV outputs are fixed level (unless you are using an external amp then it can be an option on some makes).
It's all about compromises: You could have something that sounds amazing, but might spoil the look of the room (and annoy your OH too
) or go for something more discrete, but accept that it isn't going to sound as good.
I have to say that looking at the size of that soundbar it might not produce much more bass than the TV itself, though some of it would be helped by the subwoofer. This gives me another idea: why not just add a subwoofer to your TV? Use the existing speakers but supplemented with a sub for the deeper notes that flat screen TVs can't produce. The sub could be tucked away out of sight. Sure you won't get surround sound, but IMHO you don't really get that with a soundbar anyway. How you intergrate one is another matter as ideally you'd want the sub level to go up with the main TV volume and most TV outputs are fixed level (unless you are using an external amp then it can be an option on some makes).
It's all about compromises: You could have something that sounds amazing, but might spoil the look of the room (and annoy your OH too
) or go for something more discrete, but accept that it isn't going to sound as good. Yamaha's sound bars interface with Panasonic TVs via Vieralink, so you can control the amp easily using the TV's remote.
I've got one of the cheap Yamaha jobs (only has 3 speakers in the sound bar and uses virtual surround, and sub in the receiver), but it's infinitely better than the TV's speakers.
I've got one of the cheap Yamaha jobs (only has 3 speakers in the sound bar and uses virtual surround, and sub in the receiver), but it's infinitely better than the TV's speakers.
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