Soundbar quality

[Patrick Bateman]

I've never actually heard one of these and don't know that much about them. Is it still a good alternative to a full 5.1 set up if you get a quality one?

Obviously it's never going to be quite the same but for £200-£400 would one be a worthwhile addition?

Something like this- http://www.whathifi.com/review/jbl-cinema-sb400

Edited by Patrick Bateman on Sunday 8th September 13:44

[Patrick Bateman]

I've never actually heard one of these and don't know that much about them. Is it still a good alternative to a full 5.1 set up if you get a quality one?

Obviously it's never going to be quite the same but for £200-£400 would one be a worthwhile addition?

Something like this- http://www.whathifi.com/review/jbl-cinema-sb400

Edited by Patrick Bateman on Sunday 8th September 14:56

[Pontoneer]

Most of the ones I've heard working in shops have been fairly poor .

The only one I have heard which seemed halfway decent was the Bose 1 SR , but that one comes at a price of £1300

[VEX]

When I get by Polk one set up, anyone local is welcome to come and listen to it.

But it is in the same ball park as the Bose, £700-£900 + amp

V.

[Anthony Micallef]

Ive heard the Bose soundbar and its very good but as has been said is around £1200. I've recently bought a Yamaha YSP-2200 for £650 which sounds almost as good for half the price. It is quite setup dependant though so will need some manual tweaking.

[Stubbsy]

In my opinion they are no substitute for 5.1.

They are ok but I dont see/yet to hear one that effectively replicates 5.1

I have a Samsung soundbar in my bedroom as it is a smaller room and takes up less space which is what i needed. It is half decent and does a job but no way i would consider a soundbar over 5.1 in my lounge!

I cannot see how you will get better sound from a one speaker does all vs spending the same amount of money on AV receiver and 5.1 set up.....

[VEX]

Seriously the Polk is very clever speaker system.

Not active and uses phase delay to achieve a very credible surround sound - sound. Using the test tones from an amp genuinely generates a sound that seems like it is over your left and right shoulders.

It is just a shame they a so little promoted and sold over here, but I am trying to change that!

V.

[Pontoneer]

Somewhat surprisingly , Quad now have a soundbar !

I have neither seen nor heard it but , like all Quad products , I imagine it will be rather good .

http://quad-hifi.co.uk/Series.aspx?lang=En&Tab...

[Patrick Bateman]

So, from the sounds of it (no pun intended ) even a semi-decent 5.1 set up will be better than a rather expensive soundbar.

This seems to be a solid buy- http://www.richersounds.com/product/speaker-packag...

Edited by Patrick Bateman on Wednesday 11th September 12:35

[Patrick Bateman]

Following on from that, any recommendations on the best system for up to around £400?

[The_Burg]

I bought a used Yamaha YSP-1000 from eBay for £175. Worked brilliantly in the sellers house as he demonstrated.
Back home though it just couldn't calibrate properly, very dependant on room shape and furnishings i think.
Manually setup it was great apart from left rear. Right was very eerie, you would swear there was a speaker there.

Oh confusing the hell out of dogs when auto calibrating, noises appear magically all over the place.

Sadly sitting in it's box doing nowt.

My advice would be try and find a place where you can try at home!

[decadent]

I bought a yamaha ysp 201 for £275 which I'm happy with versus the standard TV speakers. Sound quality for the price point is very good and there is some pseudo surround sound going on.

But it will never be as good as a proper system. I listed to a sonos sound bar plus rear speakers and sub and that sound pretty good, but it was £1800. When/if I move house I'll want to buy proper separates and hide the wires properly.

[Crackie]

Pontoneer said:

Somewhat surprisingly , Quad now have a soundbar !

I have neither seen nor heard it but , like all Quad products , I imagine it will be rather good .

http://quad-hifi.co.uk/Series.aspx?lang=En&Tab...

I haven't heard the Quad but its an IAG product ( http://www.whathifi.com/blog/china-behind-the-scen... ) and they have some serious design talent on board so it should be up with the leaders for the money.

[The_Burg]

Crackie said:

Pontoneer said:

Somewhat surprisingly , Quad now have a soundbar !

I have neither seen nor heard it but , like all Quad products , I imagine it will be rather good .

http://quad-hifi.co.uk/Series.aspx?lang=En&Tab...

I haven't heard the Quad but its an IAG product ( http://www.whathifi.com/blog/china-behind-the-scen... ) and they have some serious design talent on board so it should be up with the leaders for the money.

Am i alone? I feel incredibly sad that all those great British names are just brand of a giant Chinese operation.
Castle were always known for handmade drivers and craftsman made cabinets. Quad? Is there much more British?
Same as everything i guess MG for one.

Started a long while ago with Goodmans, Bush etc.

Still only a tiny minority give a stuff about sound quality these days, as long as you can carry 40 gazillion low fi MP3 ripped tracks in a match box, listened to on a horrendous pair of iPeace destroyer earphones it's all good. (That you will probably never listen to anyway).

RIP GB. RIP HiFi. RIP ears.

Sad to think HiFi peaked 30 years ago, imagine what we could have today?

Anyway back to soundbars, see my earlier post. I guarantee by elderly Yamaha will destroy the new stuff. 40 discreet channels, weigh a ton, properly made.

(In the correct enviroment).

[Crackie]

The_Burg said:

Crackie said:

Pontoneer said:

Somewhat surprisingly , Quad now have a soundbar !

I have neither seen nor heard it but , like all Quad products , I imagine it will be rather good .

http://quad-hifi.co.uk/Series.aspx?lang=En&Tab...

I haven't heard the Quad but its an IAG product ( http://www.whathifi.com/blog/china-behind-the-scen... ) and they have some serious design talent on board so it should be up with the leaders for the money.

Am i alone? I feel incredibly sad that all those great British names are just brand of a giant Chinese operation.
Castle were always known for handmade drivers and craftsman made cabinets. Quad? Is there much more British?
Same as everything i guess MG for one.

Started a long while ago with Goodmans, Bush etc.

Still only a tiny minority give a stuff about sound quality these days, as long as you can carry 40 gazillion low fi MP3 ripped tracks in a match box, listened to on a horrendous pair of iPeace destroyer earphones it's all good. (That you will probably never listen to anyway).

RIP GB. RIP HiFi. RIP ears.

Sad to think HiFi peaked 30 years ago, imagine what we could have today?

Anyway back to soundbars, see my earlier post. I guarantee by elderly Yamaha will destroy the new stuff. 40 discreet channels, weigh a ton, properly made.

(In the correct enviroment).

Hi The Burg, I'm also saddened that these brands do not manufacture in the UK anymore; I work for an audio company who builds over 95% of our products in Huntingdon, where Meridian and Cyrus also build their products; manufacturing costs here in the UK are high. I think that IAG's speaker development is Peter Commeau's responsibility and John Westlake consults on electronics. If you don't know these names, have a google, they are arguably at the top of their respective fields. It would be great if UK manufacturing was competitive again but fully understand why IAG use UK design expertise and overseas manufacturing.

Edited by Crackie on Tuesday 17th September 20:38

[Wax1234]

I have what I guess would be called a budget soundbar (Didn't fancy running cables round the room for 5.1 and wireless is out of my price bracket)

It's a logic 3 TX101 Soundstage. ( http://gadgetshow.channel5.com/gadgets/audio-video...)

Of course it's not a match for a proper 5.1 system but it does give a depth and a bass to the sound, speech is a lot easier to hear (noticed it a lot when watching series 3 of the killing) and you can hear a difference when switching from 2.1 to 5.1.

All in all for the price (£130) I'm very happy with it