Soundbars (aka The Heresy Thread)

[ubertrout]

So, I've moved from an apartment to a house, and I'm in the process of setting up a 7.1 (or 9.1, undecided) listening room in the basement, which will include by LG OLED 65C6 TV. But in the living room I've just picked up a 65" HiSense H8G QLED TV for $700, which is going to be used for sports/casual/social watching. I'm using a Sony BDP-S6700 Blu-Ray Player, which can do SACD, and part of me is wondering if I should upgrade my soundbar for some occasional stereo or 3.0 SACD listening. I'm currently using a Yamaha YAS-101 Soundbar, which is an older 2.1 soundbar (it might do fake surround too), which is fine using optical audio, but like all us nerds, I'm wondering if there's a way to improve this.

The catch is that I'll still have a real listening room downstairs, so I don't need a second surround setup, and I don't want to run surround cables - I'm open to wireless rear speakers but they're not mandatory. For the same reason I'm not looking to break the bank - I'd go up to about $500 on a soundbar, but that's about it. Given those constraints should I leave well enough alone (the Yamaha isn't bad for what it is)? The room is about 20 feet long (with the TV at one end) and 14 feet wide.

 

[seremetcc]

Not sure which country you are in but I'd look around at Craig's List to see if there are decent speakers to pick up at a reasonable cost and forget about a sound bar. Just my 2 cents.

 

[4-earredwonder]

Congratulations on the move, ubertrout.

I came across this JBL model with wireless sub and 2 wireless surround speakers for under $500

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075SKB4TF?tag=p00935-20&ascsubtag=07jkZ1NK0SoR7vOjyG5wSbI

 

[ubertrout]

Congratulations on the move, ubertrout.

I came across this JBL model with sub and 2 wireless surround speakers for under $500

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075SKB4TF?tag=p00935-20&ascsubtag=07jkZ1NK0SoR7vOjyG5wSbI

Man, that is tempting. And within my budget.

Not gonna do AVR+Speakers in the Living Room, as mentioned above. I'll have that for when I want the real deal in my listening room.

 

[4-earredwonder]

Man, that is tempting. And within my budget.

Not gonna do AVR+Speakers in the Living Room, as mentioned above. I'll have that for when I want the real deal in my listening room.

I also added to my original post that the sub is likewise wireless and the rear wireless speakers can be recharged via the soundbar.

Good luck in making a choice.

 

[ubertrout]

Yeah, the reviews love it, but I'm seeing a lot of comments that the actual sound quality is pretty mediocre as well, and that it's only good for movies. Also looked at the Vizio option, which might be better: Vizio SB36512-F6 Review. Maybe I'll just keep an eye on Black Friday deals to see if one of the higher end ones has a big drop. What I have works for now I suppose.

 

[4-earredwonder]

Yeah, the reviews love it, but I'm seeing a lot of comments that the actual sound quality is pretty mediocre as well, and that it's only good for movies. Also looked at the Vizio option, which might be better: Vizio SB36512-F6 Review. Maybe I'll just keep an eye on Black Friday deals to see if one of the higher end ones has a big drop. What I have works for now I suppose.

Unfortunately, ubertrout, ALL soundbars have limitations especially when you're used to separates. That Vizio also has some CONS, as well and as far as doing ATMOS ....... well, let's NOT get into THAT!

 

[ubertrout]

Unfortunately, ubertrout, ALL soundbars have limitations especially when you're used to separates. That Vizio also has some CONS, as well and as far as doing ATMOS ....... well, let's NOT get into THAT!

The expectation that any soundbar would do ATMOS seems unreasonable, and I'm inclined to mistrust a soundbar that claims to.

 

[4-earredwonder]

The expectation that any soundbar would do ATMOS seems unreasonable, and I'm inclined to mistrust a soundbar that claims to.

No TRUER words were spoken, ubertrout. I have a Yamaha soundbar with sub in my summer home and it's REALLY NBD [No Big Deal]!

But then again, ANYTHING IS better than those substandard toy speakers/amps built into flatscreeners!

 

[DuncanS]

No TRUER words were spoken, ubertrout. I have a Yamaha soundbar with sub in my summer home and it's REALLY NBD [No Big Deal]!

But then again, ANYTHING IS better than those substandard toy speakers/amps built into flatscreeners!

I have to say I was impressed with the sound on my Sony OLED the '5x10W stereo speakers' are actually the vibrating screen

 

[4-earredwonder]

I have to say I was impressed with the sound on my Sony OLED the '5x10W stereo speakers' are actually the vibrating screen

You mean, like THIS Dunc?

SONY ...... NO BALONEY!hold the pickel!

 

[DuncanS]

You mean, like THIS Dunc?

SONY ...... NO BALONEY!hold the pickel!

yyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssss

 

[marpow]

You know Ubertrout you and I are on parallel lines. After destroying my living room getting my old stuff out, I know have to clean up and put back together. I will say the speakers just in the 65" Samsung that is 7 years old sound pretty good and my wife actually says she can hear better than before. That said, unfortunately I am an audio gear head and I just had to make things better, I hope. I bought a 3.1 Sony Soundbar with wireless sub, it's approx 3.5" tall which is nice.
Best Buy Sony 3.1

 

[4-earredwonder]

You know Ubertrout you and I are on parallel lines. After destroying my living room getting my old stuff out, I know have to clean up and put back together. I will say the speakers just in the 65" Samsung that is 7 years old sound pretty good and my wife actually says she can hear better than before. That said, unfortunately I am an audio gear head and I just had to make things better, I hope. I bought a 3.1 Sony Soundbar with wireless sub, it's approx 3.5" tall which is nice.
Best Buy Sony 3.1

Ubertrout's projected budget is $500, Markie.

 

[marpow]

Ubertrout's projected budget is $500, Markie.

They have the same one at $530.00?

 

[ubertrout]

You know Ubertrout you and I are on parallel lines. After destroying my living room getting my old stuff out, I know have to clean up and put back together. I will say the speakers just in the 65" Samsung that is 7 years old sound pretty good and my wife actually says she can hear better than before. That said, unfortunately I am an audio gear head and I just had to make things better, I hope. I bought a 3.1 Sony Soundbar with wireless sub, it's approx 3.5" tall which is nice.
Best Buy Sony 3.1

I can get it used for even less, actually. Very interesting.

 

[ubertrout]

So, on an impulse and whim I picked up a lot of two refurb Sony HT-Z9F units direct from Sony - I'll flip one and hopefully end up at about $300 to keep the other one. And I'll probably pick up the surround units on sale if I like it.

 

[mutant_matt]

Based on what you said, I too have a proper listening room with a full system, and am very fussy about the quality, but for our conservatory, I have a Yamaha YAS-209, and have been very impressed with it. It's got most things you could want/need (HDMI in, optical SPIDIF in, Bluetooth in etc). Sounds decent, for the size and the money, doesn't upset to listen to at all (for general stuff, non-critical listening, obviously).

HTH!

 

[Clint Eastwood]

Based on what you said, I too have a proper listening room with a full system, and am very fussy about the quality, but for our conservatory, I have a Yamaha YAS-209, and have been very impressed with it. It's got most things you could want/need (HDMI in, optical SPIDIF in, Bluetooth in etc). Sounds decent, for the size and the money, doesn't upset to listen to at all (for general stuff, non-critical listening, obviously).

HTH!

Oh my...all I could think about after reading your post was "Professor Plum...with a candlestick...in the conservatory"....it left me clueless..and raised more questions..."did Colonel Mustard like grey poupon"...was "Miss Scarlett a hottie"..."was Mrs. Peacock really a transvestite"

 

[ubertrout]

For those following my (mis)adventures, I got two Sony HT-Z9Fs refurbished from Liquidation dot com (B grade, with shipping and tax paid the same as I'd pay for a new one before tax). I'm going to resell one and have already ordered the rear speakers open-box from Best Buy; at the end of the day I should be ending up with a real 5.1 system for casual use (instead of the fake Atmos through listening mode trickery). I don't expect wireless to be as good as the wired system, but it should be fine for most casual listening.