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Soundbars good or bad for audio world ?

I have 1 TV in the house and have a full surround system connected to it -
But a guy at church is moving far away for retirement, and is radically downsizing.
He didn't know what else to do with it, so he gave me a Bose sound bar a couple weeks back
'cause I do the sound at church, and he knows I am an audio geek ;)
(I've given away a number of various Bose systems over the years ...)

"Bose Solo TV Sound System" - (2012-2016).

Bose-SoundBar_9694.jpg
 
I priced out soundbars for two Sceptre LEDs a year or so ago. The picture quality is fantastic but the audio is simply pathetic on both tv's. The soundbars I liked and sounded good were too expensive to justify. I wanted them to mount to the tv, not to just sit on the stand below. By too expensive to justify, I mean that I had other alternatives laying around the house, so purchasing a bracket and the unit itself, it just didn't make sense. I bought some decent av cords and just installed the stereo or surround components I had with some "new" speakers off of Craigslist. Both tv's now sound great. I wound up spending $40 total for two good sets of Polk speakers to accomplish the $199-$250 soundbars I liked. One was a Polk.

But for tv, soundbars serve their purpose. They do upgrade the sound experience of many of today's tv's onboard audio qualities. It was shocking to me how poor the two tv's I bought sounded... even with manipulation of the "sound settings" in the tv. Simply terrible. Anything over that level of audio is going to be an improvement.
 
ultumax said:
My knees get red and inflamed feel like there on fire . Then my nerves feel on fire like nails are going through them .
I do help my uncle occaisonally and the standings on concrete hurts my legs incredibly bad . Plus 309 pound machine.

Pain got so much worse In only 2 years.
Age has nothing’s to do with it , I think lack of a gym membership. Due to job loss , plus worsening anxiety.
I mean who is in More pain then this ? Cancer patients? Maybe someone near death ? Car wrecks ... nerve pain is the worst one to treat and locate.

Back to the topic soundbars ? Are just a cause of TVs having worse and worse speakers .
Clearly none are audiophile quality !!!
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Excuses. Misplaced blame. Deflection. Distraction. I've simply had enough.
 
GChief said:
I like the multi other threads that mention how much the Dr sux because they can’t find anything wrong yet there is a specific list of problems :dunno:
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They cannot find source of the pain ; they can see what’s wrong.
THey sent me to pain management, still in process of back X-ray , mri .
I was diagnosed with chrondromalcia , my knees are shot.

Could be back injury or something neurological.

No excuses I do a lot for my condition mow lawn , do all the chores . Help my uncle a few times a Month .

Just forget it I have nothing to gain from these issues .
Back to home theater !!!! And how soundbars are killing audio .

I’ll try not not to be bring topic up until diagnosis is final.
 
After reading a recent post in Glenn's Epic ADS 910 thread, seeing that the recently purchased for $225 with stands pair of 910s were replaced by a soundbar, I'm thinking I like soundbars. These might be the new Bose Acoustimass we love so much, replacing the speakers and some of the electronics we get for pennies. The ADS L1590/2 I bought were replaced by a soundbar.

I like soundbars!!
 
zebra03 said:
and if they made a Sansui soundbar ? You 'd be on that like green on grass . :D
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Some of these high end soundbars cost 1k+ the question is it people like soundbars so much why don’t center channels adopt a 4 woofer or 3 way mtm, lcr or something like a floor standing speaker being flipped on its side to.compete with these new bars of sound ?
One soundbar was $2500 and claimed to have built in subs haha .
If anything 5 1/2” woofers seem small for a center channel . But way bigger then ones in soundbars . How do these bars of sound ? Market there product so well .
 
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Most popular sound bars seem rather simple in design and function.

They certainly give the "non gee-kee" wanters of great audio, less of a headache :crazy: to set up and enjoy!
 
I would own a sound bar for TV only if the manufacturer of my TV made one that attached to the bottom of the TV. As is I just run fibre from the TV to my DAC, and from that to my stereo preamp.

Downstairs it all runs through my AVR for full surround. I've a speaker switch box so I can use my tube amp for music though.

Sound bars are good for TV shows only. For movies or music I want either 5.1 or 2.0. I prefer proper 2 channel to a sound bar.
 
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I bought a cheap Vizio soundbar for the TV in the living room, which is a small room. It was a massive improvement in sound over whatever they put in flatscreen TVs and came on whenever anyone turned on the TV so I didn't have to teach my wife how to use it. The only problem was that I had to put it on top of the cabinet.

When my AVR died, I decided not to get another one because I didn't use the HT system that often, so I got a shorter soundbar for the living room, a JBL, and moved the Vizio to the basement.

I love both of them for what they did for TV. I used both of them to listen to music in the living room. They sounded fine. I found myself listening to the music with no concerns about all the audiophile stuff. Anywhere in the room is the "sweet spot". I can relax and enjoy the music. Of course, it dosen't sound like my main stereo system, but it doesn't have to . It's great for late at night or whenever I don't need or want lots of volume.

I love soundbars.

Now to really start some stuff, I tried my JBL Charge 4 that I got for when I listen to music on my deck in the living room with mp3 files. LOVED IT!

Does this mean I'm not an audiophiles anymore?
 
Jack Keck said:
I bought a cheap Vizio soundbar for the TV in the living room, which is a small room. It was a massive improvement in sound over whatever they put in flatscreen TVs and came on whenever anyone turned on the TV so I didn't have to teach my wife how to use it. The only problem was that I had to put it on top of the cabinet.

When my AVR died, I decided not to get another one because I didn't use the HT system that often, so I got a shorter soundbar for the living room, a JBL, and moved the Vizio to the basement.

I love both of them for what they did for TV. I used both of them to listen to music in the living room. They sounded fine. I found myself listening to the music with no concerns about all the audiophile stuff. Anywhere in the room is the "sweet spot". I can relax and enjoy the music. Of course, it dosen't sound like my main stereo system, but it doesn't have to . It's great for late at night or whenever I don't need or want lots of volume.

I love soundbars.

Now to really start some stuff, I tried my JBL Charge 4 that I got for when I listen to music on my deck in the living room with mp3 files. LOVED IT!

Does this mean I'm not an audiophiles anymore?
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You Can still be a audiophile, soundbars are just a new evolution of the htib , just less wires and often sound better .
If you dread tv speakers like I do .!!
I wouldn’t trade my theater set up for a 3k soundbar haha .
I found pc speakers a big improvement for my dads tv , 2.1 pioneer .
As far as price for performance soundbars , high end pc speakers with a Sub , and cheap assortment of budget avr and budget speakers are most bang for buck .

I’m curious if anyone has the goldenear soundbar , that thing looked impressive .
https://www.goldenear.com/products/supercinema3d
 
Interesting that you mention PC speakers for TV... Haven't used what I would call dedicated PC speakers since about 2005, when a pair of Creative Labs things self-destructed on me (smoke started pouring out of one and I threw the pair of them onto my back porch). In fact I've never had PC speakers that didn't die on me. So I'm using a Samsung soundbar mounted over my dual monitor PC desk for game sound. It does ok; 3 inch "subwoofer" in the center of a 5 driver layout; I think one driver has been flaking out lately though. For streaming video I punt to the usual receiver/speakers combo.

For my TV, I'm still on AVR/2.0 speakers, but tweaking that over time. Eventually I'll hook up my bassiest pair (Infinity Interlude IL40) for the TV and give up on notion of a subwoofer for that once and for all. Will have to swap out horizontal form-factor AV shelf for vertical audio rack to save space. But strangely, I can't see a soundbar fitting well in that space. Too much room to fill.
 
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CT_Ohio said:
Interesting that you mention PC speakers for TV... Haven't used what I would call dedicated PC speakers since about 2005, when a pair of Creative Labs things self-destructed on me (smoke started pouring out of one and I threw the pair of them onto my back porch). In fact I've never had PC speakers that didn't die on me. So I'm using a Samsung soundbar mounted over my dual monitor PC desk for game sound. It does ok; 3 inch "subwoofer" in the center of a 5 driver layout; I think one driver has been flaking out lately though. For streaming video I punt to the usual receiver/speakers combo.

For my TV, I'm still on AVR/2.0 speakers, but tweaking that over time. Eventually I'll hook up my bassiest pair (Infinity Interlude IL40) for the TV and give up on notion of a subwoofer for that once and for all. Will have to swap out horizontal form-factor AV shelf for vertical audio rack to save space. But strangely, I can't see a soundbar fitting well in that space. Too much room to fill.
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These are the best small speakers for pc I’ve found and I need a sauder to fix them .
https://audiokarma.org/forums/index...pc-speaker-cable-repair.837831/#post-11969789
Definitely need to fix them ASAP haha
The sub woofers so powerful for it’s tiny size.
 
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