SoundBar - Are they worth the money?

[Too Late]

Hi

I have a decent set up in what we call the "snug" which has a 92" PJ and 5.1 surround sound for movies or long viewing.

In the lounge we have a 50" sammy but i am now considering a soundbar. What are peoples experiences with Soundbars? are they worth the money?
We tend to be in the lounge most evenings for tv

Thanks
Nick

[Ali Chappussy]

FWIW, I also have a Panasonic (albeit only a 46") TV. I purchased what was recognised as a decent sound bar and I hated it. I have a brilliant surround sound and found that the sound bar just didn't compare.

[Too Late]

Ali Chappussy said:

FWIW, I also have a Panasonic (albeit only a 46") TV. I purchased what was recognised as a decent sound bar and I hated it. I have a brilliant surround sound and found that the sound bar just didn't compare.

Thanks for the reply
Ahhh, thats what i thought might happen. hmmmm

[AC43]

I had one as a stop gap and orignally loved it.

But then reverted to a 3.1 set up and it;s night and day.

The soundbar is now in a cupboard.

[AK0086]

Compared to the 20W or smaller speakers built in to most TVs, a sound bar is certainly an improvement. Compared to a proper 5.1 / 7.1 setup you will be disappointed.

Ultimately it depends what your priorities are as to whether they are worth it for you. For me, not having to teach the wife how to use another AV receiver, plus fewer comments about the aesthetics and wiring was worth the trade-off against sound quality. We don't get much time to watch movies now anyway, and the sound bar is fine for normal TV and sport.

[Rewe]

They are much better than the built in speakers!

[rossub]

I have a sound base, which makes a nice perch for the TV. Wasn't cheap, but made a massive difference and wouldn't be without it now.

[hab1966]

The bars that people have had, could they comment on the models in question. Is it just the bottom end soundbars that are poor or does it extend to the high end ones?

I've just updated my TV and DVD player to 4k UHD standard and just need to sort the sound out.

I have a really old Sony DTS receiver but i cant be bothered with all the wires for the 5 speakers + subwoofer.

Therefore i was thinking of a Soundbar to make life easier. I was looking at either an Atmos capable soundbar or the Yamaha YSP2700.

Am i going to regret it too?

[jimmytheone]

I bought a Q acoustics media 4 which was well worth the £270 I paid - sounds soooo much better than the cr4p built-in tv speakers and also takes feeds from Bluetooth, NFC, etc

But I suspect when I finally upgrade the TV and do it all properly i'll buy a decent 5.1

ETA, I looked at a low-end Phillips 3.1 (£150) at the same time but was very impressed with the QM4 and it was well worth the extra.

Its also very neat (just power and optical cable) and works with Sky remote so no monkeying about with multiple remotes.

Edited by jimmytheone on Friday 28th April 18:40

[Mikeyjae]

I have an LG sound bar that I brought with the TV. I think the sound bar was around £200 on offer. but it also came with a wireless sub woofer. The sound bar comes on about 10 seconds before the sub and sounds pretty poor but once the sub kicks in its very good for my needs. The only issue I have is when watching films I find myself adjusting volumes as the voice seems quiet but the explosions are mega loud. As the sub is wireless you can also hide it if needed.

The sound bar I have also lets you use bluetooth form your phone/Laptop etc for music a nice little feature that I also use.

[DoubleSix]

A sound bar obviously won't compete with surround but sometimes that's not viable. In a period property with delicate plasterwork etc I didn't want to mount all the speakers etc

I opted for a pricey sound bar Samsung HW H7500 which was £800 when I bought it, seems they can be had for around £400 now. The seemless Bluetooth intergration and interface with Samsung TV is awesome and the sound very impressive with a wireless active sub giving a fantastic depth of sound.

https://www.avforums.com/review/samsung-hw-h7500-c...

So to answer your question OP I think it's like most things you get what you pay for and I suspect soundbars get a bad wrap as the majority spend a minimal amount.

[Stoatman]

I replaced a 5.1 system with a canton dm75. Very impressed, it's a bit of a beast.

[brianashley]

Monitor Audio LCR bar under a KURO (Dont do council LCD LED etc !) Stunning sound .Rears are kef Eggs . SUB is a SPUNKWORKS NOrth korean secret bit of st. Much better than anything else i have heard under £1k

[Dan_1981]

At our last house I had an entry level 5.1, onkyo amp, tannoy speakers. For the £500 or so quid it cost it was pretty impressive - I loved it.

Anyway a house move later and the arrival of a little one forced me to rethink.

We've now got a Yamaha ysp-2500. Which wasn't cheap.

It's clever though I can sometimes actually think that I've got a 5.1 setup. But it's just not quite there.

The sound quality is fantastic, but it can't do true surround.

If I had the house / room for 5.1 I'd go back to it however I don't and the soundbar does sound pretty damn good

[clockworks]

I haven't tried a soundbar at home, but I did try an all in one left, right and centre speaker for a week in an attempt to save space in my 5.1 setup. It was an Infinity unit, costing about £1k. Sounded very thin and unfocussed compared to the old separate speakers. I ended up replacing all the speakers with a Quad Lite setup for the same money.

In the kitchen diner, I'm using an old Denon microsystem receiver with a Monitor Audio stereo ceiling speaker.

[RedTrident]

If you want better sound than the built in tv speakers, get a sound bar. For a while I ran a naim muso as a sound bar and it was ideal. The tv gave decent sound, I sent music to it via my phone and I even ran a record player through it. It looked neat and it worked well for what it was.

If you want surround sound, the sound bar isn't really going to work that well though. Really it's about what you want from yr living space.

[chris285]

I have a Yamaha YSP-1400 to replace my TV speakers, and it is so much better than what I have in my Samsung Series 6 TV. If replacing this it will be much better, than a proper speaker setup even say a 2.1 or so then no but as a TV speaker replacement for £200 mine has been worth the money

[LordHaveMurci]

I replaced a Monitor Audio 5.1 set up that cost well over £2k with a fairly basic Yamaha sound bar.

I'm not going to say it sounds as good, it clearly doesn't, but as somebody else posted it saves all the hassle of teaching the OH & kids how to use the kit & saves the comments about the size of the (GS60) floortanding speakers!

Sounds fine for most things, occasionally miss the 5.1 when watching a film, I can find it hard to make out speech with the soundbar.

[macp]

rossub said:

I have a sound base, which makes a nice perch for the TV. Wasn't cheap, but made a massive difference and wouldn't be without it now.

We did the same went for Yamaha and its excellent

https://www.richersounds.com/product/soundbars-sou...

[mko9]

We have used a sound bar in our last two houses, mostly because the TV speakers just didn't cut it in the circumstances. In our house in Texas, the living room was pretty huge (what isn't in Texas, right?). The TV speakers just couldn't seem to get sound out into the room. The sound bar fixed that problem. In our current house, the TV is sitting in a corner adjacent to the staircase. I swear I can hear the TV better upstairs in my kids' room (when they are trying to go to sleep) than you can in the living room. Again, the sound bar does a better job of projecting into the room.