Electronics for my new living room

dhokes · 3 May 2018 at 18:43

I'm planning to move into a new house in the UK soon so I'm planning what products I need/want to buy for my living room.

I'm looking for a tv, ideally to watch films/football (and old DVDs/blu-rays). Also, probably for gaming as well. I'll probably wait and buy the next Playstation that Sony releases. I don't plan to wall mount it/I plan to put it on a cabinet. I'm currently looking at the LG 4k UHD range (55UJ630V).

I have no idea what soundbar to go for though it should also sit on a cabinet with the tv. Any suggestions?

I'm also thinking about getting Philips Hue lighting installed - ceiling bulbs and/or the Bloom and I'd like to be able to voice control these.

Also, I'd like to be able to listen to podcasts from my iPhone on a loud speaker. Would a smart speaker such as the Amazon Echo/Google Home be required to be able to control my lights/listen to audio from my iPhone or could I use a decent soundbar connected to my tv?

Summary:

TV - LG 4k UHD

Soundbar - ???

Lights - Philips Hue LED ceiling bulbs and/or Philips Bloom

Smart speaker - Amazon Echo or Google Home

XeNoNF50 · 3 May 2018 at 22:29

I can only attest to the lights and smart speaker. The hue system is great and works rather well with google home. I have no idea about the iphone situation but I usually only use the home voice controls for hue, followed by the app. Never really use assistant on my android phone. Further to this if you get a soundbar in your living room which has chromecast you should be able to set it as the default speaker (or direct home to play on the speaker) your music and cast podcasts onto the soundbar itself. Google Home Music and Spotify works great with it too in my experience.

lucid · 3 May 2018 at 22:41

The LG TV is big, cheap (but not in a good way), and just a bit crap. It's the model lower down in performance compared to the UJ670 series, and they're not good either.

The UJ series from LG is designed to go head-to-head with budget TVs from Hitachi, Toshiba, Bush, Hisense, TCL, Thompson, Cello, ElectriQ (who?.... exactly), and the cheaper Philips sets. You're not buying quality with any of these. It's purely "biggest screen for lowest price". If you're looking for something worth owning for a while, then either up the budget to an LG SJ series set with the 100Hz/120Hz panel, or go for something a bit smaller but better performance such as the Panasonic EX700. If it has to be 55" on a tight budget then the Samsung UE55MU6400 would be worth a look.

Similar TV choices discussed here: https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/new-tv.18817884/

Sound bar......... avoid LG. Sorry, they're getting a rough ride tonight but the bottom line is that for the same price you'll get better performance from just about any other brand you'll pick.

Bluetooth from phone.... as long as the soundbar has the feature then sure, play your podcasts that way. The soundbar won't control your lights by voice (or anything else) though. For that you need voice enabled device hooked in to the house Wi-Fi. Amazon Echo Dot would probably do. If you buy a soundbar with a line input connection then you could combine the two devices.

dhokes · 3 May 2018 at 22:46

lucid said:
The LG TV is big, cheap (but not in a good way), and just a bit crap. It's the model lower down in performance compared to the UJ670 series, and they're not good either.

The UJ series from LG is designed to go head-to-head with budget TVs from Hitachi, Toshiba, Bush, Hisense, TCL, Thompson, Cello, ElectriQ (who?.... exactly), and the cheaper Philips sets. You're not buying quality with any of these. It's purely "biggest screen for lowest price". If you're looking for something worth owning for a while, then either up the budget to an LG SJ series set with the 100Hz/120Hz panel, or go for something a bit smaller but better performance such as the Panasonic EX700. If it has to be 55" on a tight budget then the Samsung UE55MU6400 would be worth a look.

Similar TV choices discussed here: https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/new-tv.18817884/

Sound bar......... avoid LG. Sorry, they're getting a rough ride tonight but the bottom line is that for the same price you'll get better performance from just about any other brand you'll pick.

Bluetooth from phone.... as long as the soundbar has the feature then sure, play your podcasts that way. The soundbar won't control your lights by voice (or anything else) though. For that you need voice enabled device hooked in to the house Wi-Fi. Amazon Echo Dot would probably do. If you buy a soundbar with a line input connection then you could combine the two devices.

Cheers for the reply. I'm not sure on exactly what size tv to get at the moment. I should get the keys to the property in a couple of weeks and then I plan to measure up the room to work out what would work best in the space.

Re. sound, is there a general consensus on soundbars vs a 2.1 speaker setup? I was original in favor of a soundbar as I think they generally look better though I would like decent sound quality (even though I don't intend to play any music really loudly!)

lucid · 4 May 2018 at 02:04

dhokes said:
Cheers for the reply. I'm not sure on exactly what size tv to get at the moment. I should get the keys to the property in a couple of weeks and then I plan to measure up the room to work out what would work best in the space.

Re. sound, is there a general consensus on soundbars vs a 2.1 speaker setup? I was original in favor of a soundbar as I think they generally look better though I would like decent sound quality (even though I don't intend to play any music really loudly!)

That's not an easy question to answer because, in part, it depends what you mean by "2.1 speaker setup". It also depends on budget, of course. One other important factor; loudness and quality are not the same thing.

Being as this is a forum for a PC vendor, I'm going to take the view that 2.1 for you might include PC speakers. They'll work, but what's okay sat at a desk top with the speakers within arms reach doesn't necessarily translate to working okay when you're sat 10-12ft away (3.5-4m in new money

). On a very simple level, remote control: Kind of a gimmick for simple stereo or 2.1 desktop speakers, but absolutely essential when the speakers are at the other end of the room. Then there's the sound focus.

Speakers that are properly designed to work close up (what we call Nearfield Monitors) require a tweeter (the high frequency driver) with a very wide dispersion. This allows the speakers to produce a fairly large pocket of sound around your seat at the desk where the sound tone stays reasonably even. We call this the Sweet Spot. Hi-Fi speakers have a much narrower dispersion patter because they're sending sound over a far larger distance to the listener. Where stereo speaker maintain the left/right character of the stereo mix when you're sat on the sofa 10ft away, Nearfield Monitors struggle. They have too much dispersion over that kind of distance, the high frequency sound overlaps left and right too much for a convincing stereo image.

Cheaper 2.1 kits are a bit too compromised by price for the tweeters to be that precise. Their Achilles Heel is the sound getting harsh and brittle as volume increases. You see, the sound intensity diminishes quite quickly over distance. While it doesn't take much power to make quite a loud sound from a speaker very close by, it takes a huge increase in power to make the same volume when you're listening from 10ft away. It's something like a 30 fold increase going from 2ft to 10ft.

At low power levels the speaker drivers stay well within their performance specs. They're not working particularly hard, so it's not difficult even with fairly cheap units. However, it doesn't take anything like a 30 fold increase to put the drivers under some strain. The poorer the design the earlier the sound starts to get harsh. We're not talking about big volumes here, either. General telly watching volume is all you need to get to for some speakers to start showing their ragged edges.

Budget sound bars suffer the same way in terms of harshness, and it doesn't have to be immediately obvious. If you find the sound of any audio system fatiguing to listen to after 10 or 20 minutes then it's generally because, subconsciously, you're dealing with the way distortion is changing the sound. This is what I find with Bose domestic gear. People that have it either don't play it so loud or don't listen for so long.

The bottom line is you get what you pay for. Two stereo speakers and an amp beats a sound bar for quality, loud or quiet, but may not fit in with your plans for the room. Sound bars are a compromise, but there are some that are passable for music. You may end up trading features such as built-in Bluetooth though to get the sound quality.

dhokes · 4 May 2018 at 18:35

lucid said:
That's not an easy question to answer because, in part, it depends what you mean by "2.1 speaker setup". It also depends on budget, of course. One other important factor; loudness and quality are not the same thing.

Being as this is a forum for a PC vendor, I'm going to take the view that 2.1 for you might include PC speakers. They'll work, but what's okay sat at a desk top with the speakers within arms reach doesn't necessarily translate to working okay when you're sat 10-12ft away (3.5-4m in new money ). On a very simple level, remote control: Kind of a gimmick for simple stereo or 2.1 desktop speakers, but absolutely essential when the speakers are at the other end of the room. Then there's the sound focus.

Speakers that are properly designed to work close up (what we call Nearfield Monitors) require a tweeter (the high frequency driver) with a very wide dispersion. This allows the speakers to produce a fairly large pocket of sound around your seat at the desk where the sound tone stays reasonably even. We call this the Sweet Spot. Hi-Fi speakers have a much narrower dispersion patter because they're sending sound over a far larger distance to the listener. Where stereo speaker maintain the left/right character of the stereo mix when you're sat on the sofa 10ft away, Nearfield Monitors struggle. They have too much dispersion over that kind of distance, the high frequency sound overlaps left and right too much for a convincing stereo image.

Cheaper 2.1 kits are a bit too compromised by price for the tweeters to be that precise. Their Achilles Heel is the sound getting harsh and brittle as volume increases. You see, the sound intensity diminishes quite quickly over distance. While it doesn't take much power to make quite a loud sound from a speaker very close by, it takes a huge increase in power to make the same volume when you're listening from 10ft away. It's something like a 30 fold increase going from 2ft to 10ft.

At low power levels the speaker drivers stay well within their performance specs. They're not working particularly hard, so it's not difficult even with fairly cheap units. However, it doesn't take anything like a 30 fold increase to put the drivers under some strain. The poorer the design the earlier the sound starts to get harsh. We're not talking about big volumes here, either. General telly watching volume is all you need to get to for some speakers to start showing their ragged edges.

Budget sound bars suffer the same way in terms of harshness, and it doesn't have to be immediately obvious. If you find the sound of any audio system fatiguing to listen to after 10 or 20 minutes then it's generally because, subconsciously, you're dealing with the way distortion is changing the sound. This is what I find with Bose domestic gear. People that have it either don't play it so loud or don't listen for so long.

The bottom line is you get what you pay for. Two stereo speakers and an amp beats a sound bar for quality, loud or quiet, but may not fit in with your plans for the room. Sound bars are a compromise, but there are some that are passable for music. You may end up trading features such as built-in Bluetooth though to get the sound quality.

Thanks for the detailed reply.

Re. soundbars, I'm considering the higher end bars (with a budget around £900 with some leeway). Maybe the Samsung HW-K950 or the Sony HT-XF9000... There are so many features, I'm not sure whether I should opt for dolby atmos, dts... :s

Alternatively, a 2.0 or a 2.1 speaker setup with an av receiver (such as the Sony STR-DN1080) and 2 small-ish speakers (as I don't want them to take up too much space in the room) and maybe even a subwoofer. Though I have no knowledge of receivers/speakers.

lucid · 4 May 2018 at 22:03

You have a £900 budget for audio, but only a £450 for vision. Do you think you've got the balance right there?

The Samsung K950 is a Dolby Atmos sound bar. That's why it retails around the £1100 mark. I think I'd rather have my tongue nailed to the telegraph pole outside than spend that kind of money on a Samsung sound system

There are a lot of companies jumping on the Atmos bandwagon because it's trending. That doesn't make them good or the right solution though.

For a start, sound quality. Where you're spending a couple of hundred quid I'd still put Samsung behind the proper audio companies such Yamaha, Q Acoustics, JBL, Polk, Cambridge Audio, Harmon Kardon, Canton, Dali in terms of sound quality. Where the Samsungs, Sonys, Panasonics, LGs (the vision brands) of this world would have an advantage is with features. A £200 Samsung or Panasonic is likely to include a wireless sub, Bluetooth, smart apps, NFC and lots of other bells and whistles, whereas the products from audio brands will concentrate on getting good sound and leave all that other crap out. As the budget increases then so does the gap in audio performance. Don't get me wrong. The vision brand stuff does improve, but the audio brand gear just leaves it in the dust.

One thing none of the companies can do though is beat physics. Small speakers do not make bass. The smaller the speakers then the less bass they make. Simple. End of.

All companies play around with porting inside the speaker cabinets to boost bass response a bit, but when all said and done there's no substitute for driver size. If the main speakers or soundbar are restricting the size of the drivers that can fit, then a sub makes a whole heap of sense.

TheVoice · 6 May 2018 at 15:20

Samsung make some good mid-range soundbars, but I wouldn't go spending £900 on one. The HW-MS650 is good and you can add the wireless rear speakers and wireless sub to it if you want to expand.

dhokes · 6 May 2018 at 15:41

lucid said:
You have a £900 budget for audio, but only a £450 for vision. Do you think you've got the balance right there?

The Samsung K950 is a Dolby Atmos sound bar. That's why it retails around the £1100 mark. I think I'd rather have my tongue nailed to the telegraph pole outside than spend that kind of money on a Samsung sound system There are a lot of companies jumping on the Atmos bandwagon because it's trending. That doesn't make them good or the right solution though.

For a start, sound quality. Where you're spending a couple of hundred quid I'd still put Samsung behind the proper audio companies such Yamaha, Q Acoustics, JBL, Polk, Cambridge Audio, Harmon Kardon, Canton, Dali in terms of sound quality. Where the Samsungs, Sonys, Panasonics, LGs (the vision brands) of this world would have an advantage is with features. A £200 Samsung or Panasonic is likely to include a wireless sub, Bluetooth, smart apps, NFC and lots of other bells and whistles, whereas the products from audio brands will concentrate on getting good sound and leave all that other crap out. As the budget increases then so does the gap in audio performance. Don't get me wrong. The vision brand stuff does improve, but the audio brand gear just leaves it in the dust.

One thing none of the companies can do though is beat physics. Small speakers do not make bass. The smaller the speakers then the less bass they make. Simple. End of.

All companies play around with porting inside the speaker cabinets to boost bass response a bit, but when all said and done there's no substitute for driver size. If the main speakers or soundbar are restricting the size of the drivers that can fit, then a sub makes a whole heap of sense.

Hmm. Okay after doing some more research, I'm considering OLEDs with 4k HDR support. I'm currently considering the LG OLED55B7V though maybe the 65" (£1000 more?!) depending on the size of the room. Given the layout below, do you think I should go for 55" or 65"?

Re. budget - I'm happy to pay the going rate for a low/medium end OLED so up to £2500. Given this, the audio is around £750.

A rough floorplan (red - sofa, green - tv)

I can get better measurements once I can view the property.