Spec me sound bar/speakers

Soldato
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Hi all

Looking for a sound bar or speaker system for our home TV, Not looking for anything flash just something to make films more enjoyable, Not got a massive budget so the cheaper the better... Under £100

Im not expecting anything amazing for cheap but anything will beat the TV built in speaker...

Cheers
 
Soldato
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I'd probably get Wharfedale Diamond 9.0 and a T-Amp. That'll cost you £100. Not a soundbar, but stereo speakers so you could upgrade/add AVR, center, sub, rears later on. With a soundbar you're stuck with it.
 
Man of Honour
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Hi all

Looking for a sound bar or speaker system for our home TV, Not looking for anything flash just something to make films more enjoyable, Not got a massive budget so the cheaper the better... Under £100

Im not expecting anything amazing for cheap but anything will beat the TV built in speaker...

If it has to be a sound bar under £100 then go for something where your options are kept open. The JVC TH-W513B @ £69 does a reasonable job at that.

Connectivity: Optical is a must IMO. The bloodbath of TV price-cutting might seem like great news for us consumers, but much of those savings come at the expense of lesser-used features. Headphone jack is useful because there's a chance that the TV remote can work the volume going to the sound bar. However, headphone jack is one of the features that is slowly disappearing from tellies, so you can't rely that it'll be around on the next TV you buy. That means any budget sound bar with only headphone jack as a connection would be useless. The JVC has optical too. That'll be around as a connection for far longer.

The JVC also has a coax in connection. If you have something with a coax out such as a DVD player or one of those TVs that uses coax rather than optical then the JVC is ready.


Sound quality is pretty decent, by all accounts. There's not a lot of bass of course, but dialogue is said to be very clear and it does go loud too.
 
Man of Honour
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The stereo speakers and T-amp is a small stereo Hi-Fi system. The amp has connections for speaker wire. The speaker have connections for speaker wire. It's no surprise then that you need to buy some speaker wire to make the hook-ups. :D Red goes to red, black to black. That side of it is child's play.

What's slightly more complicated is getting a signal from the TV then controlling the volume. If the TV has a headphone jack then one of these cables will do just fine. Play around with the TV remote and see if it will alter the volume through some headphones. If yes then it's do the same through the cable to the amp.

s-l300.jpg


If there's no headphone jack socket on the TV then you'll need to get the Optical signal and run it through a converter to give stereo phono (red/black or red/white plugs). While the optical converters aren't massively expensive (under £10 from the auction site or rain forest) it does need power. That'll be either from a USB socket on the TV, or from a wallwart power supply - so you buy the version of the converter that comes with a 3 pin prong UK plug. You may need to buy an optical cable, and you'll definitely need a stereo phono cable. Individually none of these are expensive items, but the cost does start to mount up.

The Achilles Heel of the T-amp though tends to be volume control. If you have to go the optical route now or in the future then the T-amp is going to leave you stuck high and dry because the vast majority don't have any form of remote control at all. Getting up every time you need to change the volume will get old real soon. There are some T-amps with IR remote, but IMO they look like they came from the 1970's CB radio store, and the remotes they use are those little credit card style jobs. They're okay from a metre or two, but they don't have enough power to get a signal across a living room or cope with bright sunlight interfering with the IR signal.

71kB8hmtE%2BL._SY355_.jpg


Stereo speakers should give more bass than the sound bar. Whether a T-amp has enough balls to make them go loud is another matter.


If you still like the idea of stereo speakers, but you want the convenience of remote control, have a look at the Edifer Studio R1280T @ £89. They're stereo speakers with amplification built in. You'll still need a jack to stereo phono cable, or an optical converter + cables, but at least you have a decent remote control to that side of it is covered. Oh, and as a loyal Overclockers forum member I think you get free shipping too. That can't be bad :D
 
Soldato
Joined
6 Sep 2016
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9,440
The stereo speakers and T-amp is a small stereo Hi-Fi system. The amp has connections for speaker wire. The speaker have connections for speaker wire. It's no surprise then that you need to buy some speaker wire to make the hook-ups. :D Red goes to red, black to black. That side of it is child's play.

What's slightly more complicated is getting a signal from the TV then controlling the volume. If the TV has a headphone jack then one of these cables will do just fine. Play around with the TV remote and see if it will alter the volume through some headphones. If yes then it's do the same through the cable to the amp.

s-l300.jpg


If there's no headphone jack socket on the TV then you'll need to get the Optical signal and run it through a converter to give stereo phono (red/black or red/white plugs). While the optical converters aren't massively expensive (under £10 from the auction site or rain forest) it does need power. That'll be either from a USB socket on the TV, or from a wallwart power supply - so you buy the version of the converter that comes with a 3 pin prong UK plug. You may need to buy an optical cable, and you'll definitely need a stereo phono cable. Individually none of these are expensive items, but the cost does start to mount up.

The Achilles Heel of the T-amp though tends to be volume control. If you have to go the optical route now or in the future then the T-amp is going to leave you stuck high and dry because the vast majority don't have any form of remote control at all. Getting up every time you need to change the volume will get old real soon. There are some T-amps with IR remote, but IMO they look like they came from the 1970's CB radio store, and the remotes they use are those little credit card style jobs. They're okay from a metre or two, but they don't have enough power to get a signal across a living room or cope with bright sunlight interfering with the IR signal.

71kB8hmtE%2BL._SY355_.jpg


Stereo speakers should give more bass than the sound bar. Whether a T-amp has enough balls to make them go loud is another matter.


If you still like the idea of stereo speakers, but you want the convenience of remote control, have a look at the Edifer Studio R1280T @ £89. They're stereo speakers with amplification built in. You'll still need a jack to stereo phono cable, or an optical converter + cables, but at least you have a decent remote control to that side of it is covered. Oh, and as a loyal Overclockers forum member I think you get free shipping too. That can't be bad :D

I think speakers and T-amp will be better in the long run. Have a Q Acoustics soundbar it's excellent at £150. But if OP has interest in "standard" speakers I think it's best to go this route.

Little bookshelfs won't offer the bass of a decent soundbar with a sub, but a subwoofer (that is the typical AV one) can be added later. Plus can get whatever he likes, from one similar to a soundbar, to a stonking high end 15" sealed or ported box, so rather having a "all in one" soundbar, you have option to add standard AV components, replacing the T-Amp (which aren't expensive) with a standard AVR. He has all those options. With a soundbar you have nothing. Plus choose the sound presentation you want, by choosing amp/speaker combination.

And then have mass connecitivity options with AVR's.

yeah as for IR remote power, but then you have option to get a learning remote. My URC-850 is 10x better than the crappy credit card style remotes, so once you learn the codes, it works fine. Plus I must have 20+ components added into my remote, all seamless blending. From HDMI switches, to bias backlight, source, AVR & TV power up and down, to AVR & HDMI input.

Just thinking for long term, may be bit more fiddly, and as you say unlikely to get remote control volume unless he looks about, but far more options later (and reusing that T-amp is one option, maybe for bedroom or PC audio system) plus they're not expensive so not a huge outlay.
 
Man of Honour
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Cheshire
I think speakers and T-amp will be better in the long run. Have a Q Acoustics soundbar it's excellent at £150. But if OP has interest in "standard" speakers I think it's best to go this route.

Little bookshelfs won't offer the bass of a decent soundbar with a sub, but a subwoofer (that is the typical AV one) can be added later. Plus can get whatever he likes, from one similar to a soundbar, to a stonking high end 15" sealed or ported box, so rather having a "all in one" soundbar, you have option to add standard AV components, replacing the T-Amp (which aren't expensive) with a standard AVR. He has all those options. With a soundbar you have nothing. Plus choose the sound presentation you want, by choosing amp/speaker combination.

And then have mass connecitivity options with AVR's.

yeah as for IR remote power, but then you have option to get a learning remote. My URC-850 is 10x better than the crappy credit card style remotes, so once you learn the codes, it works fine. Plus I must have 20+ components added into my remote, all seamless blending. From HDMI switches, to bias backlight, source, AVR & TV power up and down, to AVR & HDMI input.

Just thinking for long term, may be bit more fiddly, and as you say unlikely to get remote control volume unless he looks about, but far more options later (and reusing that T-amp is one option, maybe for bedroom or PC audio system) plus they're not expensive so not a huge outlay.

That's all well and good if someone is looking to start the journey towards a stonking-great home cinema set-up. Sometimes though, or a lot of the time, somebody just wants a bit better sound on the TV.
 
Soldato
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That's all well and good if someone is looking to start the journey towards a stonking-great home cinema set-up. Sometimes though, or a lot of the time, somebody just wants a bit better sound on the TV.
Excatly, I'm going the other way the full seperates surround sound went a few years back swapped for an all in one sub/sat system which has now gone and will likely be replaced with a soundbar/base
 
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