Anyone gone from 5.1 to soundbar?
Discussion
Currently got an old Yamaha AV amp which can't handle 4k or ARC. This is used for centre duties and as an HDMI hub. FL and FR are handled by a naim setup using the pre-outs on the Yamaha. I want a new TV and it seems the only way I can carry on using my AV amp is with an optical out from the TV to the Yamaha. A new 4k blu-ray player is also on the cards so that would have to be plugged directly into the new TV too which makes the Yamaha a bit of a waste if all it would be doing is centre duties.
Music is the priority for us so the naim and speakers aren't going anywhere buthaving listened to a few soundbars it seems the higher end ones are pretty impressive for movie only duties. My thinking now is the new TV and a sound bar and just get rid of the Yamaha. Not too bothered about losing the rear surround sound as we've done without those for a couple of years following a refurb, I just never got around to putting them back.
I guess the question is, has anyone done it - ditched the AV amp and just gone soundbar? If so, any regrets? Also, any soundbar recommendations? Not too fussed about Alexa integration, I just want a decent psuedo surround sound (accepting the compromises), clarity with speech and a bit of oomph. Room is 28' by 26' (filled easily by the current naim/Castle combo).
TIA.
Music is the priority for us so the naim and speakers aren't going anywhere buthaving listened to a few soundbars it seems the higher end ones are pretty impressive for movie only duties. My thinking now is the new TV and a sound bar and just get rid of the Yamaha. Not too bothered about losing the rear surround sound as we've done without those for a couple of years following a refurb, I just never got around to putting them back.
I guess the question is, has anyone done it - ditched the AV amp and just gone soundbar? If so, any regrets? Also, any soundbar recommendations? Not too fussed about Alexa integration, I just want a decent psuedo surround sound (accepting the compromises), clarity with speech and a bit of oomph. Room is 28' by 26' (filled easily by the current naim/Castle combo).
TIA.
Quite a difference in my experience.
We've got a lower end 5.1 set up in one room, which we tend to watch Netflix / films on, and have a sound bar and sub in another.
The sound bar is actually pretty decent but it just adds volume and depth. No real stage sound from it at all. There is no comparison to the 5.1 for me. Nothing beats hearing noises behind you in a film, something the sound bar combo just can't replicate.
Although I appreciate there are higher end soundbars now that try and do atmos etc
We've got a lower end 5.1 set up in one room, which we tend to watch Netflix / films on, and have a sound bar and sub in another.
The sound bar is actually pretty decent but it just adds volume and depth. No real stage sound from it at all. There is no comparison to the 5.1 for me. Nothing beats hearing noises behind you in a film, something the sound bar combo just can't replicate.
Although I appreciate there are higher end soundbars now that try and do atmos etc
Not quite done this, but for the new house I dropped the idea of having a 5.1 system in favour of a Sennheiser Ambeo after hearing a demo of the latter.
I think you'd have to spend at least as much on a 5.1 system to have an overall better experience, but in saying that I don't want that super-deep thumpy subwoofer thing. If you're into films with a lot of explosions and so on then 5.1 may be better; I thought the overall sound quality of the Ambeo, plus the lower faff, made it a very fine alternative. It generates a very convincing sense of space.
I think you'd have to spend at least as much on a 5.1 system to have an overall better experience, but in saying that I don't want that super-deep thumpy subwoofer thing. If you're into films with a lot of explosions and so on then 5.1 may be better; I thought the overall sound quality of the Ambeo, plus the lower faff, made it a very fine alternative. It generates a very convincing sense of space.
I have gone from Onkyo 5.1 (approx 8 years) to TV speakers and now a Sonos Beam. The Beam is very good and when I buy the accompanying rears and sub, I think it will be as good, if not better.
I think the Beam alone is still very good and more than enough most of the time, but I miss the rear sound on some films.
I think the Beam alone is still very good and more than enough most of the time, but I miss the rear sound on some films.
Sporky said:
Not quite done this, but for the new house I dropped the idea of having a 5.1 system in favour of a Sennheiser Ambeo after hearing a demo of the latter.
I think you'd have to spend at least as much on a 5.1 system to have an overall better experience, but in saying that I don't want that super-deep thumpy subwoofer thing. If you're into films with a lot of explosions and so on then 5.1 may be better; I thought the overall sound quality of the Ambeo, plus the lower faff, made it a very fine alternative. It generates a very convincing sense of space.
I'm sure it sounds great, but bouncing speakers off the walls to try and recreate rear surrounds works about as well as trying to bounce it off the ceiling for the cheap Atmos ceiling speaker solution. In tests they find that you have to have a perfect arrangement of walls and celiing to achieve any realistic ceiling speaker emulation, let alone rears. I'd be very wary of what you heard in a demo room. Rarely will it sound as good at home. The ambeo blurb also claims 30hz bass. I'm sure it can, but at what level?I think you'd have to spend at least as much on a 5.1 system to have an overall better experience, but in saying that I don't want that super-deep thumpy subwoofer thing. If you're into films with a lot of explosions and so on then 5.1 may be better; I thought the overall sound quality of the Ambeo, plus the lower faff, made it a very fine alternative. It generates a very convincing sense of space.
Doubtless the Ambeo is superb, you'd not need to spend anywhere near £2200 on a real 5.1 setup to trounce the Ambeo.
And I'm not talking about earth shattering bass being the priority. I'm referring to channel seperation, individual speaker vocal range, and actual speaker positioning. Even modest bookshelf speakers like Q acoustics, in a 5.0 setup are going to sound infinintely better. Let alone in 5.1 setup. It's not all about hearing helicopters fly over the room. Well setup rears add a very subtle "full room" ambience that is clearly absent without.
Soundbars are a compromise. That's their point. They are trying to emulate a 5.1 setup (lets be honest, 5.0) in one small box you put under your telly. For a lot of people they are plenty good enough. I get that. But if you really value your movie sound, then individual speakers are the best way to go.
Your mains and centre are unmatched anyhow, and your priority is music, so the soundbar might well be right for you. At that price, it ought to be.
Yes. Sort of. It's an interesting conundrum, isn't it? I thought long and hard before committing to it.
I just got sick of having so many remotes, amps, inputs, wires, stands, placement issues and all the time and effort and money sunk into hifi I could never listen to because the kids were sleeping.
So, I dumped it all. No physical media, streaming only (Plex, netflix etc). Gave away every CD, DVD and BD in the house. Wow, that was liberating.
Then the bulky Quad speakers and amps and CD player and BD players and AVR went. All replaced with a Sonos Beam.
Then a Smart TV with built in apps got rid of the FireTV and Apple TV and Chromecast too.
Then the Beam on its own was a disappointment. I wish I'd bought a Playbar instead, but I didn't. Never mind.
So back came the rears (2x Sonos Ones) and a Sonos Sub. MUCH better! These are all still wireless and much smaller and neater than before. Setup is a doddle. Honestly, sound quality isn't nearly as good as it was as a pure listening experience, but I've realised that I just don't care any more. It's plenty good enough, and life is simpler, and for 99% of TV watching, it's very good indeed. Sometimes, thanks to Sonos' vocal enhancement and night mode features, it's actually better, and so much less crap than sifting through AVR menus trying to find a setting that brings up the center channel so you can hear the dialogue without the explosions shaking the house down. I'm done with all that nonsense.
I know, it's the hi-fi equivalent of sticking the Ferrari collection on ebay and buying a Prius instead, but both get from A to B nicely. The rest is mindset.
I just got sick of having so many remotes, amps, inputs, wires, stands, placement issues and all the time and effort and money sunk into hifi I could never listen to because the kids were sleeping.
So, I dumped it all. No physical media, streaming only (Plex, netflix etc). Gave away every CD, DVD and BD in the house. Wow, that was liberating.
Then the bulky Quad speakers and amps and CD player and BD players and AVR went. All replaced with a Sonos Beam.
Then a Smart TV with built in apps got rid of the FireTV and Apple TV and Chromecast too.
Then the Beam on its own was a disappointment. I wish I'd bought a Playbar instead, but I didn't. Never mind.
So back came the rears (2x Sonos Ones) and a Sonos Sub. MUCH better! These are all still wireless and much smaller and neater than before. Setup is a doddle. Honestly, sound quality isn't nearly as good as it was as a pure listening experience, but I've realised that I just don't care any more. It's plenty good enough, and life is simpler, and for 99% of TV watching, it's very good indeed. Sometimes, thanks to Sonos' vocal enhancement and night mode features, it's actually better, and so much less crap than sifting through AVR menus trying to find a setting that brings up the center channel so you can hear the dialogue without the explosions shaking the house down. I'm done with all that nonsense.
I know, it's the hi-fi equivalent of sticking the Ferrari collection on ebay and buying a Prius instead, but both get from A to B nicely. The rest is mindset.
RogerDodger said:
I'd be very wary of what you heard in a demo room. Rarely will it sound as good at home.
I should perhaps clarify that I do audio visual design for a living, including a good number of big surround systems for auditoriums, and ones for critical listening environments.The demo was in my old/current house, the new one still awaiting its refurbishment. Mostly I don't find soundbars very impressive for the reasons you cite, but the Ambeo is huge and has a metric butt-load of speakers and processing - I've certainly not heard another soundbar get even close to it.
I'm not knocking proper 5.1 or 7.1, but the Ambeo is well worth a listen.
I say bite the bullet and upgrade, I also had a Yamaha AV amp which is now retired / repurposed.
I modernised connectivity, and got a new (two years ago now) AV amp which has full 4k HDMI pass through and quite a few other gadgets on it as well (internet radio, network connectivity, spotify etc) and have not looked back.
Best bit is less buttons to press when changing source!
I modernised connectivity, and got a new (two years ago now) AV amp which has full 4k HDMI pass through and quite a few other gadgets on it as well (internet radio, network connectivity, spotify etc) and have not looked back.
Best bit is less buttons to press when changing source!
Thanks for all the responses - summat to ponder. The ambeo looks interesting but how big 
I can't see her going for that sat in front of the tv. I was leaning towards a sonos soundbar as I like the idea of 'wireless' rears. The reason I never re-instated my rears after the refurb was laying and hiding cable and making it acceptable for domestic harmony.
The current 3.0 setup is pretty evenly matched (all Castle) and the Severn IIs go low - it's that I think I would miss with a soundbar, the quality lows from big floorstanders with decent amps behind them, not just wallop.
I didn't realise 2017/18 AV amps are so cheap! Browsing Richer Sounds I can get an AV amp upgrade for <£450 with the requisite pre-outs so it can just slot in with my naim as the current one does. That's cheaper than a sonos and will give me all the 4K, ARC etc rather than relying on the tv. The rear speakers remain a problem however but we haven't got them now so I'm thinking 'so what'. My current AV amp has given me 11 years use before becoming a barrier to upgrades so I'm thinking a newer AV amp from RS is the way to go, gives me more cash to spend on the OLED! Decisions decisions.
I can't see her going for that sat in front of the tv. I was leaning towards a sonos soundbar as I like the idea of 'wireless' rears. The reason I never re-instated my rears after the refurb was laying and hiding cable and making it acceptable for domestic harmony.The current 3.0 setup is pretty evenly matched (all Castle) and the Severn IIs go low - it's that I think I would miss with a soundbar, the quality lows from big floorstanders with decent amps behind them, not just wallop.
I didn't realise 2017/18 AV amps are so cheap! Browsing Richer Sounds I can get an AV amp upgrade for <£450 with the requisite pre-outs so it can just slot in with my naim as the current one does. That's cheaper than a sonos and will give me all the 4K, ARC etc rather than relying on the tv. The rear speakers remain a problem however but we haven't got them now so I'm thinking 'so what'. My current AV amp has given me 11 years use before becoming a barrier to upgrades so I'm thinking a newer AV amp from RS is the way to go, gives me more cash to spend on the OLED! Decisions decisions.
If you don't want the surround sound thing (and the TV has enough HDMI ins for your needs) the simplest solution is to buy a little one input DAC.
The following is one suggestion -
http://www.cypeurope.com/store/store/app/product/A...
Take the optical out of your TV and plug it in to the DAC (it's tiny 50 x 50 x25 mm) and take the stereo output to your Naim system.
You'll probably need to check the output setting of your TV and make sure it's set to stereo rather than a surround mode,
The following is one suggestion -
http://www.cypeurope.com/store/store/app/product/A...
Take the optical out of your TV and plug it in to the DAC (it's tiny 50 x 50 x25 mm) and take the stereo output to your Naim system.
You'll probably need to check the output setting of your TV and make sure it's set to stereo rather than a surround mode,
OP, I found myself in a similar situation to you a few years back. I had been using a Sony AV amp as the 'switch' for all the various kit in the lounge (TV, DvD, Playstation, AUX in for MP3 player, PC, etc...), it's a 7.1 AV amp but I was only using it as a 5.1 setup. To change from one device to another meant selecting the relevant device on the amp and the TV was not much more than a dumb monitor, all sound dealt with by the amp.
Then I bought a new bang up to date TV and realised it made more sense to have the TV doing all the switching as it had more HDMI and other inputs available than my older amp, and I could switch from 1 device to another simply on the TV screen/remote. In this case the old Sony AV amp became nothing more than a dumb amp that never has to have it's 'channel' changed, it just used the optical cable to connect to the TV.
I since upgraded the TV again and kept to the same principle. So much more intutive to be selecting the input device on the TV screen than via the amp.
So I've still got the STRDA 1200 (IIRC) double height AV amp sat under the TV, but it still looks good and boy it can still kick out the sounds when you want/need them, whether it's a full blown movie soundtrack or just some tunes from the NAS!
Then I bought a new bang up to date TV and realised it made more sense to have the TV doing all the switching as it had more HDMI and other inputs available than my older amp, and I could switch from 1 device to another simply on the TV screen/remote. In this case the old Sony AV amp became nothing more than a dumb amp that never has to have it's 'channel' changed, it just used the optical cable to connect to the TV.
I since upgraded the TV again and kept to the same principle. So much more intutive to be selecting the input device on the TV screen than via the amp.
So I've still got the STRDA 1200 (IIRC) double height AV amp sat under the TV, but it still looks good and boy it can still kick out the sounds when you want/need them, whether it's a full blown movie soundtrack or just some tunes from the NAS!
I was originally going to go with a Bose SB700 5.1 system but while reading reviews from Audioholics about soundbars, they had recommended systems for the less than the cost of a top of the line soundbar system. So, I fell for it and now I'm in this non-stop research phase where I'm constantly looking to upgrade my receiver, possibly do dual subs to reduce the localization thing & more.
I also had to consider the WAF (wife approval factor) but the deal was that as long as I kept everything neat & tidy with minimally exposed wires that I could do a full-blown 5.1 or 5.2 system. She's happy with how I've kept the office/media room looking very nice but she admits that having to not look at tall tower speakers would be nice.
My Bose 500 works great in the living room and I even did a frequency sweep test on it & I was shocked that the tiny sub goes down to about 30Hz! What I like about it is that it's done. I don't even think about it. I just turn it on. I have very bad OCD so I spend way too much of my time researching electronics when I'm in the market. My wife would appreciate it if I stopped talking to her about technical stuff or I'm doing to drive her crazy. She doesn't care about or even notice sound quality.
I also had to consider the WAF (wife approval factor) but the deal was that as long as I kept everything neat & tidy with minimally exposed wires that I could do a full-blown 5.1 or 5.2 system. She's happy with how I've kept the office/media room looking very nice but she admits that having to not look at tall tower speakers would be nice.
My Bose 500 works great in the living room and I even did a frequency sweep test on it & I was shocked that the tiny sub goes down to about 30Hz! What I like about it is that it's done. I don't even think about it. I just turn it on. I have very bad OCD so I spend way too much of my time researching electronics when I'm in the market. My wife would appreciate it if I stopped talking to her about technical stuff or I'm doing to drive her crazy. She doesn't care about or even notice sound quality.
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