Is it time for a soundbar

[stevemcs]

We are currently decorating the living room and I’m wondering if it’s time to go for a Sonos ultra, currently we have

Demon 3400
Bk xl200
Monitor audio 90’s front and rear and a 200 centre

Most of the stuff we watch is tv - either sports or YouTube and it runs through amp and front speakers and we very rarely use the rears

So if I went Sonos it would be the ultra and a sub as I assume I cannot run the bk sub with it.

Or do I just pick up a set of used monitor audio bronze speakers and c150 centre ?

How good is the Sonos with music ?

Room is 5x3 with a lvt floor

[clockworks]

How about a passive soundbar?

I went for a Monitor Audio passive soundbar (SB3) to replace the three front channels, plus MA ceiling speakers for the rears. Kept my existing Quad sub and Denon AVR.

We've since reassigned the ceiling speakers to Atmos channels, and added a pair of slim Polk floorstanders as rears.

[rodericb]

What is it that you want to do? Remove the Hi Fi infrastructure from that location and replace it all with something more one-box/discrete?

[Paul Drawmer]

The Wiim Wiimbar may be worth waiting for. No proper reviews yet, but I'll be surprised if it doesn't work very well.

The wiim system is all digital with DSP doing the heavy lifting for creating a proper room sound. Their products include room correction through their app, and I really like my Wiim Amp Pro.

https://www.whathifi.com/tv-home-cinema/soundbars/...

[juggsy]

I was going to start a similar thread as I m in the market for a new home cinema system, hope you don’t mind a piggyback.

We’re a Sonos house and have various speakers and soundbars dotted round the house. I can get an arc ultra, sub4 and 2x era 300 speakers to use as rears for a little under £1900 (with upgrade discount), giving me a full Atmos surround setup.

Watching a very helpful review has led me to believe this will be a more than competent Atmos setup. And I do like the low faff factor and clean setup this provides, particularly as we have many Sonos products in the house already. At the same time, I m debating what separates system I could get for the same money, particularly if it would blow the Sonos setup out the water.

Curious if anyone is in a similar boat or has gone through this decision?

[stevemcs]

I still haven’t made a decision, I think I’ll end up going small book shelf speakers

[gareth h]

I went Sonos Arc and a sub, tbh it was ok with TV but awful if I wanted to play any music, ended up selling it and going back to a decent amp, 5 speakers and a sub, much better solution

[Dave Hedgehog]

it might be worth auditioning an Sennheiser AMBEO Max, but i suspect no sound bar can compete with 'real' speakers

[Mark-ri571]

Also thinking about switching to a Soundbar plus wireless Sub for our living room as we are starting to redecorate.
Have had a Polk 5.1 RM series set up since 2001/01. Replaced the original Yamaha Amp in 2014 with a Yamaha RXV475 and a Yamaha Wirelss network adapter. I only use the system for Blue Ray movies including Blue Ray music concerts. I like Samsung products and all our TVs are Samsung. Thinking about a Samsung Q series soundbar and subwoofer . Anyone have any thoughts on the Q800F?

[h0b0]

I have a Sonos Arc Ultra. Reading the specs would have you believe it can pull off the impossible.

Experience clearer dialogue, deeper bass, and more detailed sound that precisely surrounds you from every direction—all in an unbelievably sleek design. Dolby Atmos takes immersion to a whole new dimension, creating a 9.1.4 spatial audio experience.1 Speech Enhancement, powered by AI, detects the human voice to clarify dialogue, giving you greater control so you never miss a word.

Listening to it makes you realize it was impossible.

The speakers on LG OLED are terrible. The Arc Ultra makes it tolerable.

Do not confuse a sound bar with anything but a sound bar. Sound is not bouncing around the room. I think the Bose system is better!

I have an Atmos system for my basement set up and that is really impressive.

[Techno9000]

Interesting to read of people only using their surround system for movies, whereas we use it for everything, movies, tv, radio, streaming, music off an attached NAS, etc.
Having a remote that has ‘activities’ built in, to power up the appropriate equipment and switch inputs, makes it a doddle to use.
It’s surprising how much surround information is extracted from general tv and sports programming, and getting many more hours of use from the kit improves the value for money.
My ‘bookshelf’ speakers of choice are PSB Imagine Minis.

[JEA1K]

Techno9000 said:

It s surprising how much surround information is extracted from general tv and sports programming

General TV isn't recorded/produced in surround sound, so not sure what you're hearing?

[clockworks]

JEA1K said:

General TV isn't recorded/produced in surround sound, so not sure what you're hearing?

I thought that a lot of HD programming was broadcast with some form of 5.1?

I don't watch a lot of "live" TV, but the football seemed to have "stuff" coming out of the surround speakers

[Piginapoke]

Techno9000 said:

Interesting to read of people only using their surround system for movies, whereas we use it for everything, movies, tv, radio, streaming, music off an attached NAS, etc.
Having a remote that has activities built in, to power up the appropriate equipment and switch inputs, makes it a doddle to use.
It s surprising how much surround information is extracted from general tv and sports programming, and getting many more hours of use from the kit improves the value for money.
My bookshelf speakers of choice are PSB Imagine Minis.

I think this is where Sonos is very good, it seamlessly switches between TV and music/streaming and all speakers are used daily as a result.