# Soundbars - Which one



## RDB85 (Dec 28, 2011)

Hello,

I am looking to buy a sound bar, but not quite sure which to buy.


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## sfstu (Aug 3, 2010)

requirements?-occasional use for the kids or proper home audio/visual stuff?
budget?-they go from about £50 all the way up...

myself, i bought a cheap phillips one (around £80 from richer sounds) as its only for occasional use, mainly by the kids 

BUT....

the sound is still absolutely incredible compared to the tv's own speakers (even though its a relatively cheap soundbar) and the sub usually gets turned down as things in the room want to vibrate and move...:doublesho

if you have high end equipment already and want to improve it then best wait for someone more knowledgeable to come along but even the lower end soundbars are a 100 times better than the tv's original speakers...:thumb:
rgds stu


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## RDB85 (Dec 28, 2011)

Proper home setup. May as well buy something of quality. I only have a Sony TV at the moment. 

Thanks for the advice Stu.


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## sfstu (Aug 3, 2010)

then i'll gracefully bow out as i don't have any experience of a really quality set up..:thumb:

i did do some reading when i first looked at soundbars though and what i did learn was that Yamaha are rated by a lot of folk as the best...

set a budget and check out Richer Sounds for an idea of whats available...

rgds stu


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## Scotty Pro (Nov 12, 2008)

Would suggest you go for a full blown 5.1 setup if you want a proper home cinema experience. Don't get me wrong, soundbars are OK, but, it's like everything else that are a compromise. There is no way you are going to get the cinema experience with a soundbar, if you like watching Blu's then a 5.1 is definitely the way to go.

The soundbar might sound OK when you first get it but after a while you might wish you had gone for 5.1 instead, trust me, nothing sounds better than a good AV system, but they don't come cheap.

Have a pop over to AVForums and see what the consensus is about soundbars.

Best of luck with whatever you go for.


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## Dazzel81 (Apr 20, 2013)

Orbitsound M12 :thumb: not sure what your budget is? but a quality bit of kit.


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## LeadFarmer (Feb 23, 2011)

I have a Yamaha YSP600 with matching YST-FSW050 100w subwoofer and its great. Have a look on Yamahas website as their current rage looks impressive. To get the 'surround effect' I think you need the correct shaped room etc for the sound to bounce off the walls, sadly that feature doesn't work so well in my living room.


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## RDB85 (Dec 28, 2011)

Thanks guys, I will check the various websites out. I may consider a 5.1 but its knowing where to stop :lol:


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## LeadFarmer (Feb 23, 2011)

RDB85 said:


> Thanks guys, I will check the various websites out. I may consider a 5.1 but its knowing where to stop :lol:


I was really pleased with my Yamaha as it vastly improved the sound from what the TV could produce. Then I added the Yamaha subwoofer and the sound got *really* impressive, they work really well together. I guess mine are out of date now and have been superseded.


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## RDB85 (Dec 28, 2011)

LeadFarmer said:


> I was really pleased with my Yamaha as it vastly improved the sound from what the TV could produce. Then I added the Yamaha subwoofer and the sound got *really* impressive, they work really well together. I guess mine are out of date now and have been superseded.


Will have a look. Thanks :thumb:


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## Rabidracoon28 (May 31, 2012)

Got one of these and it is fantastic








http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/tv-dvd...s/orbitsound-m10lx-soundbar-21335937-pdt.html


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## Poohbore (Aug 10, 2013)

Yamaha is highly rated by the what hifi magazine. I looked at the soundboard and they look great to add some depth to the sound in the room but I've been allowed to ignore the sound bars after SWMBO listened to the various Bose systems (2.4 - 3.4k stupid money in my opinion) and a I showed her how I could hide the wires (hopefully).


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

I had a demo of that Sonus soundbar in John Lewis and thought it was awful. 

It was by a Sonus rep using one prerecorded track which I would have thought would be optimised. 

Obviously something amiss when What HiFi say 5 stars.


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## LeadFarmer (Feb 23, 2011)

Ive read mixed reports on the Sonus soundbar. I guess for a dedicated soundbar they may not be ideal?


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## FLUTE (Mar 27, 2010)

Just bought an LG nb 3750 and really pleased with it. It has loads of features and even makes your telly smart. 

Flute


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## Eightball (Nov 21, 2005)

Another vote for Yamaha. Not sure what model I have, its about a year old and wasn't hugely expensive (£180 online sale/deal iirc) The sound from the TV (LG) speakers was awful. I really wanted a full 5.1 AV package but couldn't justify the expense at the time. Have to say the soundbar is great, dont watch anything on the TV/DVD/xbox/laptop without the sound via the soundbar.


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## stonejedi (Feb 2, 2008)

Yamaha sound bars are very high quality there one of the first companies to start making them but if you are looking true pure surround sound you need at least a 5.1 set up through a receiver,a sound bar has a good sound and will sound better then just the normal tv in built speakers,but they will never be able to replicate true 5.1 sound no mater what the blurb says.SJ.


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## LeadFarmer (Feb 23, 2011)

stonejedi said:


> Yamaha sound bars are very high quality there one of the first companies to start making them but if you are looking true pure surround sound you need at least a 5.1 set up through a receiver,a sound bar has a good sound and will sound better then just the normal tv in built speakers,but they will never be able to replicate true 5.1 sound no mater what the blurb says.SJ.


That's very true. A good soundbar will turn watching films into a brilliant experience, whilst a 5:1 or 7:1 set up will take it to another level.

The problem with the latter is you need the correct shape room with the tv & speakers in the correct place. I can't achieve that in my shaped living room. Most folk have to have their tv in the corner of their room which then makes the placing of rear speakers difficult.


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## shl-kelso (Dec 27, 2012)

If you have to stick with a Soundbar then one of the Yamaha sound projectors that uses lots of speakers to creat individual beams to stear sound around the room are far more effective than bars with a simple array of conventional speakers. They still cannot compete with a proper speaker setup, but they still perform surprising well. The YSP4300 is the current range topper, and offers most of the features you would get from a similar priced AV receiver and surround speaker package.


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## Darlofan (Nov 24, 2010)

Make sure you think of the neighbours when getting these. Ours has surround sound and she watching tv it makes our life hell. When he plays on his x box as well our walls vibrate with shooting and explosions:wall:


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## herbiedacious (Sep 27, 2010)

That's the reason l'm looking at sound bars with built in subwoofers; l don't want to **** my neighbour off with too much bass.


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## Darlofan (Nov 24, 2010)

At least you think of yours. She's not too bad as usually [email protected]@ed up and doesn't realise how loud it is so when u knock on door she's apologetic and it goes down. Last Sunday he wouldn't open the door, when he did I got a right mouthful of abuse cos I'd made noise the day before putting a panel back in our conservatory roof(had to bang a retaining bar down-took about 5hits!!). He did turn it down though when I told her I'd ring police. Sooner their house sale goes through the better!!


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## graham1970 (Oct 7, 2012)

A decent sub doesnt boom...trust me


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## Richrush (Jun 25, 2012)

RDB85 said:


> Hello,
> 
> I am looking to buy a sound bar, but not quite sure which to buy.


Need more info, tv size, how oftern your going to use it, budget and can you run cables to the rear? If you can I wouldn't go for a sound bar.


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## Richrush (Jun 25, 2012)

Kerr said:


> I had a demo of that Sonus soundbar in John Lewis and thought it was awful.
> 
> It was by a Sonus rep using one prerecorded track which I would have thought would be optimised.
> 
> Obviously something amiss when What HiFi say 5 stars.


I have to say, don't always take what Hifi review's as true. 9 Times out of 10 they will be right but I have been told there reviews can be tweaked depending on how good they are treated by the manufacturer of the product they are reviewing. For an example, I have a set of Kef IQ70's, they got 3* by What Hifi, I have to say these speakers sound amazing.


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## Scotty Pro (Nov 12, 2008)

What HiFi reviews = :lol::lol::lol:


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## tones61 (Aug 21, 2011)

is this one any good,

http://www.bose.co.uk/GB/en/home-an...or-tv/bose-solo-tv-sound-system/#tab_inthebox

anyone have experience please,


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## LeadFarmer (Feb 23, 2011)

^^ Check the connection ports as I seem to recall that Bose only has 1 x HDMI port? I may be wrong  If I'm right you won't be able to connect anything else to it such as PS3, Sky etc.


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## nbray67 (Mar 22, 2012)

tones61 said:


> is this one any good,
> 
> http://www.bose.co.uk/GB/en/home-an...or-tv/bose-solo-tv-sound-system/#tab_inthebox
> 
> anyone have experience please,


We were looking at the Bose one but the reviews are not so good so we were pointed towards this, a lot cheaper and supposedly better.

Maxell MXSP-SB3000 Soundbar: Amazon.co.uk: TV


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## sfstu (Aug 3, 2010)

LeadFarmer said:


> ^^ Check the connection ports as I seem to recall that Bose only has 1 x HDMI port? I may be wrong  If I'm right you won't be able to connect anything else to it such as PS3, Sky etc.


can you not just connect via the tv as everything can run through that?

(i know the AV purists are probably shuddering at that question)


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## Richrush (Jun 25, 2012)

Sound bar = last resort. 5.1 all the way. Your paying so much more for convenience and substituting sound quality. Get all separates, amp, speaker's with a sub and a bluray player. You can get deals if you purchase all at the same time.


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## shl-kelso (Dec 27, 2012)

sfstu said:


> can you not just connect via the tv as everything can run through that?
> 
> (i know the AV purists are probably shuddering at that question)


If all you want is better stereo sound (or the equivalent of Dolby ProLogic) compared to the TV speakers then there are plenty of sound bars that only have an optical digital input which is fed from the TV optical output. The majority of TVs will only pass out a stereo signal from the optical port from sources connected via HDMI. Some do pass full DD5.1, but if your Soundbar only has speakers and processing for 2.1 or 3.1 output then it's still not really going to make that much difference.


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## Goodfella36 (Jul 21, 2009)

Well I am picking up a Denon DHT-T100 tomorrow its no 5.1 surround but we have small front room so was a compromise will sit nicely under T.V and does offer far better sound than the T.V after listening to quite a few yesterday.


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