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Soundbars good or bad for audio world ?

"We have a soundbar for our bedroom 46in. It is a cheapo from Best Buy and it sounds amazingly good actually. The down firing speakers dont sound that good on the TV and the bar makes it so easy to hear......and we also dont do HT listening for Live PD etc. My Mother In Law has an LG bar with subwoofer that I set up for her the last time we saw her........truly amazing how good they can sound when set up right.

Sound bars are yet just another whipping boy that audio snobs love to beat up on."

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Ya know what? I want a good sounding soundbar. 5.1 Home theater set up has never worked well for me and I would love some compact under screen unit that gave me nice clean sound. I believe many companies are putting out crap and just riding the latest consumer wave but I'm sure that others are really trying to develop the best sounding devices they can. And the idea that you don't need to power up anything extra is a big feature even for a knob turner like me. I think HT died a righteous death after it became clear that most people just couldn't set it up in a way that let it shine. And I'm one of those people. So give me a cool and sleek bit of audio tech that floats my boat.....and do it for under $299. :jump:
 
I won one from LG in a sales contest at work. My wife watches more TV than I do and she seems to like having it so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
If you want party music in the main room, they work great. I've got a Sonos Beam and it's perfectly adequate for music in a party atmosphere. And it's WAF is key. The main system is in another room so I can listen without bothering the wifey. As has been said, it's just a tool that does it's job. Some bars sound better than others, but the Sonos works well. And it streams Roon over the network.
 
Jayrosc said:
"We have a soundbar for our bedroom 46in. It is a cheapo from Best Buy and it sounds amazingly good actually. The down firing speakers dont sound that good on the TV and the bar makes it so easy to hear......and we also dont do HT listening for Live PD etc. My Mother In Law has an LG bar with subwoofer that I set up for her the last time we saw her........truly amazing how good they can sound when set up right.

Sound bars are yet just another whipping boy that audio snobs love to beat up on."

View attachment 1582946
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Ya know what? I want a good sounding soundbar. 5.1 Home theater set up has never worked well for me and I would love some compact under screen unit that gave me nice clean sound. I believe many companies are putting out crap and just riding the latest consumer wave but I'm sure that others are really trying to develop the best sounding devices they can. And the idea that you don't need to power up anything extra is a big feature even for a knob turner like me. I think HT died a righteous death after it became clear that most people just couldn't set it up in a way that let it shine. And I'm one of those people. So give me a cool and sleek bit of audio tech that floats my boat.....and do it for under $299. :jump:[/QUOTE]


I paid around $70 for it 3 years ago.
 
Bodyblue said:
Sound bars are yet just another whipping boy that audio snobs love to beat up on.
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I have to agree.

My TV sounds so bad/harsh at higher volumes it literally starts to hurt my ears. Crowd noise when watching a football game for example.

I bought a sound bar with a wireless sub and it sounds 100 times better than the TV speakers. I can turn it up and relax.

Have I played music through it? Yes. Is it awesome for that? no. As long as TV speakers are tinny and harsh, I will have a sound bar.
I never have critical TV watching sessions.

For those of you that think they sound bad, listen to a few models and set one up. Mine has bass, treble, and sub controls as well as modes. My sub is set to a subtle level and it blends very well.

On the other hand, my Brother-in Law has one with the bass cranked and it sounds like poo poo.

Rob
 
I find it somewhat ironic that TV designers have spent millions developing screens that look flat and sleek and unobtrusive. That require an ugly soundbar to be sitting in front of them, which looks way uglier than earlier model flatscreens that had reasonable speakers in them.
 
I've heard some very nice sounding soundbars, for their intended purpose of improving crappy tinny TV audio they're great. But the better ones get expensive quick, particularly ones with a dedicated center channel which IMO is a must for serious movie watching. In my case, I didn't even have enough space for a soundbar (I have my TV sitting on top of some record album storage cubes, which I know is a weird setup but I can look at my vinyl while I watch television!).

I settled on a class D mini amp (SMSL Q5 Pro) feeding some small bookshelf speakers. I don't think that I could have found a soundbar that equaled this setup for the price.

I saw these TV speaker redirectors on Amazon, but they don't get stellar reviews. Might be a cheap way to at least redirect downward firing television speakers?

https://www.amazon.com/TV-Speaker-P...ocphy=9016909&hvtargid=pla-363222698076&psc=1
 
My wife has either blown out the amplifier or speakers on the last 2 flat screens due to turning up the volume 100%. She is steadily loosing her hearing due to scaring on her ear drums from ear infections she had as a little girl.

The sound bar has been a blessing for her ... and the rest if us, as she no longer has to turn up the volume past 50%. She does not want the sub attached and does not need it. So, yeah ... they do have another purpose if not for surround sound.
 
I've been wanting to get a sound bar but I don't want junk. I can't justify playing my TV through a vintage system. I have a hearing loss and a lot of times I just can't understand what they are saying with the TV speakers no matter how loud it is.

I worked with a younger guy a few years ago. He said his dad had just bought a Bose sound bar and it was awesome. Whether it was actually true or just Bose marketing hype I don't know.
 
danrclem said:
I've been wanting to get a sound bar but I don't want junk. I can't justify playing my TV through a vintage system. I have a hearing loss and a lot of times I just can't understand what they are saying with the TV speakers no matter how loud it is.

I worked with a younger guy a few years ago. He said his dad had just bought a Bose sound bar and it was awesome. Whether it was actually true or just Bose marketing hype I don't know.
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You would have to compare multiple brands to see if it’s not just a marketing gimmick, Bose is known to sell to non audiophiles on all there products. I’m sure it’s better then tv speakers as long as there aren’t massive holes in the audio spectrum liken some of there old home theaters .
Depends on then vintage speakers some jbl are extremely clear , and superior to many modern speakers . Find something that does not hurt your ears.

I like to hook my old sony to my dads old tv but there’s is no door between rooms so I’d fill whole house middle floor with sound.
 
imral3 said:
Within the next few days we'll be moving and will have to seriously downsize the home-theater setup. Downsize to the point where the AVR and speakers/sub will be boxed and in storage. Think I'll grab something like this in the near future to make TV watching (listening) a little more bearable:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/VIZIO-SmartCast-36-5-1-Channel-Soundbar-System-SB3651-E6/151599706
:dunno:
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Are you moving to an apartment or a tiny house ? Best of luck tel us how the sound-bar goes I hoped one day to get s vizio tv for Dolby vision but it probably won’t happen .
Tv speakers give me migraines .
 
Like others have mentioned, I've been impressed by some nice soundbars for movies & tv shows. IMHO, they have their place, especially for people who do not have space or do not want to fuss with typical gear. Hell, even way back in around 2005, I think it was, a co-worker bought a high-end Yamaha soundbar. I remember being quite impressed with it at the time.
 
ultumax said:
Are you moving to an apartment or a tiny house ? Best of luck tel us how the sound-bar goes I hoped one day to get s vizio tv for Dolby vision but it probably won’t happen .
Tv speakers give me migraines .
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Apartment into a house - long story... :rolleyes: I only watch TV for about an hour a day anyway - this to rest/reset my ears when transitioning from the main system to the headphone setup. :thumbsup:
 
I heard a Monitor Audio soundbar that sounded good by high fidelity standards and no doubt better (IMO) than many of the stereos people here use.

Though I think companies are going the wrong route going stereo with the things; I think it would be better to go for really good mono sound. How about a soundbar with an Altec 604? Or seriously, with a very high quality 8" wide range driver? Give it a robust tonal balance and effortless sound, like the old TVs in big cabinets had. But even better.
 
imral3 said:
Apartment into a house - long story... :rolleyes: I only watch TV for about an hour a day anyway - this to rest/reset my ears when transitioning from the main system to the headphone setup. :thumbsup:
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Oh it has 2 rear speakers also ? Well enjoy ! What do you work all day or sleep half work half lol ? One hour a day , pick a good pair of headphones .
I think 3 channel stereo would be nice but companies are going to 1 .1 ch soundbars ? Calling it 5.1 somehow ?
Everyone knows soundbars are more like 3.1 channels or something.

A quality 5 ch system might wipe the floors with soundbars but the footprint of the speakers, receiver is significantly more . Sound-bars save space and best audio for the Small space they take up ??
My subwoofer alone is the size of a mini fridge.

I like the idea of mono as Tom bren suggested in the last last post , but Ive never heard a single speaker audio system .
 
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AudioFeline said:
I find it somewhat ironic that (...)
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Yup, I fully agree. And it's not only the need for an additional device to restore half-decent TV sound as such I find at least ironic, if not annoying, but also the eyewash it represents from an ecological point of view. I mean, first the industry sells you an A+, A++ or whatever "oh, so power-saving" efficiency class TV set, but then the integrated speakers sound so miserably bad, that you're practically forced to buy an additional sound solution, together with which your new, "oh, so power-saving" TV set may very well consume more than your old CRT-based TV.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini
 
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