What Sound Bar? On a budget....

[ybt1982]

Hi all

I am just about to move into my new place and want something to beef up the sound through my TV. Budget is limited to around the £200 area. No real criteria apart from as many inputs as possible and i would like it to have a seperate sub...

Or would i just be better if buying a hi-fi system with lots of inputs and using that? I do need a stereo/radio type thing in the house as well....

So over to you, the PH massive

Edited by ybt1982 on Sunday 27th November 18:26

[ybt1982]

Cheeky bump if anyone has any advice?

[fat80b]

I think it depends what you expect in terms of performance from one of these soundbars and how long you want to wait.

Personally, the soundbar market is fairly new and they appear to be priced as such (high for what they are).
I would say that in a few months (Feb/Mar) there will be many more to choose from and the performance will be better than today. (I work in the electronics industry and know a few of the soundbar companies and have seen what is coming up)

I was in the US a couple of weeks ago and there are a lot more of these for sale than there are in the UK. Both lower cost versions and more models made by the TV brands themselves.

That said, most 2.1 soundbars should sound better than a Flat TV today if you can find a decent one for ~200

Bob

[Hoover.]

I'd be tempted by something from Yamaha...... probably

http://www.trustedreviews.com/Yamaha-YHT-S400-Home...

available here

http://www.richersounds.com/product/soundbars/yama...

[sprouting]

I would go for some book shelf speakers like these

http://www.superfi.co.uk/p-2400-q-acoustics-2010-s...

And a used AV receiver off ebay or AV forum to give you a good start with a view to future upgrades.

[ybt1982]

Ok, thanks for that. How about i take a different approach? I just want something that will give me better sound quality than the standard TV speakers. Would a Hi-fi system hooked up to the TV/PS3 etc. provide a better alternative to a sound bar?

Failing that, what, for the original budget, would you suggest?

[adaptive]

I bought one of these to use with my Panny GT30 and am impressed with the bang for buck. Can be split into two seperate speakers with their own stands, wall mounted or just sit it beneath the TV

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-SC-HTB15EB-K-Spe...

[Bonefish Blues]

We use a Yamaha soundbar and yes, it's a real step up from the TV's speakers.

[ybt1982]

Right so i have just realised i will also need a stereo for the new place.

I want something with DAB, starting to think i am going to have to go the Hi Fi route, anything decent with plenty of connectivity [sic] and DAB, within budget?

[Toffer]

I have a smaller Yamaha sound bar with a Yamaha sub-woofer box...sounds pretty good, particularly with decent 5.1 source material. Positioning is important and the sound bars work best in a square or rectangular room with the sound bar in the centre of one the walls (rather than in the corner)...I guess the same applies to all sound bars that use reflected sound technology to create surround sound images.

[LongLiveTazio]

Do any of the Yamahas have a 'night listening' mode or similar to maintain the volume at a constant level? Unfortunately I live in a real world with neighbours etc. so having an explosion at twice the volume of dialogue is an issue.

[1878]

Do you really want DAB? Apart being a dead-end technology it'll sound ste and be bettered by a £20 FM tuner from eBay and a simple aerial. Or if you are after the digital-only stations then hook up your set-top box/laptop/pc to the amp.

[Sway]

As an alternative, I've been looking at the onkyo 2.1 system (htx22hdx I think).

Ability to run full HD surround sound, but sold as a 2.1 system.

I've got a set of decent yamaha bookshelves so initial plan is to run those as main speakers, and one of the satellites as a centre for 3.1. I personally can't do full surround until I redo the entire room.

May be worth looking at, bang on your budget at richer sounds.

[OldSkoolRS]

Mixing a little satellite speaker with decent Yamaha bookshelves across the front is likely to end up sounding poor IMHO: Sounds that pan across will change due to the completely different timbre of the speakers. Especially considering that the bulk of the sound comes from the centre speaker, voices in particular, hence the number of threads on AVForums about voices being muffled and how dialogue gets swamped by sound effects. Most of your listening will be from that little satellite not the Yamahas. You may well be better off just running in 'phantom centre' mode and use your Yamahas alone at the front.

[Toffer]

This is the kind of thing we mean when we suggest Yamaha sound bar...

[delmatt]

I have one of these and they do work really well.

http://www.qacoustics.co.uk/q-tv/q-tv2.htm