Do you need a soundbar?

squarehead94

squarehead94

squarehead94

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As per title
Ordered a samsung qn90a and wondering if a soundbar is needed. I've never owned one and I am not an audio extraordinaire, just unsure if standard speakers will suffice

Example of one I'm considering is the Yamaha Sr c20a.
Thanks for your help
 
squarehead94 said:
As per title
Ordered a samsung qn90a and wondering if a soundbar is needed. I've never owned one and I am not an audio extraordinaire, just unsure if standard speakers will suffice

Example of one I'm considering is the Yamaha Sr c20a.
Thanks for your help
Click to expand...

Generally TV speakers are utter trash, the high end Sony ones where screen is speakers was pretty good.
Soundbars are much better than the supplied flat panel speakers, but are still not as good as a dedicated audio system.

If you have the money, space and into audio- and don't have neighbours, I would strongly recommend getting a AV system. Something like £400 AVR with Q Acoustics 3020i for mains, rear, with matching center and a good sub will trounce any soundbar. Plus be upgradable and swap components as needed.

Bit like console versus PC's...soundbar is console analogy, PC is seperates...wanna change GPU no problem (AVR) want to change case no problem (sub) etc etc.
 
There’s an ocean of difference between cheap and expensive soundbar too. Very cheap bars (£150-250), are still an improvement, but have quite a lot of flaws. The £400-600 mark will get you a very solid bar, possibly with Dolby Atmos and around 6-7 speakers. Once you over that and approach the £1k mark, you start getting something very substantial in performance and often, size too. My Samsung bar is 4ft wide and weighs nearly 9kg. It’s a lump. You also get more channels and speakers in the bar, and some even come with wireless rear speakers to give you even better surround sound. You normally get a very good sub with it too. My sub is literally wall shaking.
 
goldy6660 said:
Was also going to suggest this, I've had gen one for a year and it's awesome compared to the TV audio
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robfosters said:
There’s an ocean of difference between cheap and expensive soundbar too. Very cheap bars (£150-250), are still an improvement, but have quite a lot of flaws. The £400-600 mark will get you a very solid bar, possibly with Dolby Atmos and around 6-7 speakers. Once you over that and approach the £1k mark, you start getting something very substantial in performance and often, size too. My Samsung bar is 4ft wide and weighs nearly 9kg. It’s a lump. You also get more channels and speakers in the bar, and some even come with wireless rear speakers to give you even better surround sound. You normally get a very good sub with it too. My sub is literally wall shaking.
Click to expand...

Having bought a new TV and got persuaded to buy a decent soundbar I fully expected to be blown away by the TV and send the sound bar back. The opposite happened soundbar blew me away and the TV was little underwhelming.
 
You've spent £1280 on your TV, i'd suggest that whilst a £180 soundbar will be an improvement, you'd be better off adding a bit to the budget to get something a bit more substantial - you don't need to go mad and spend another £1000 on top if you don't want to but it'd do the TV more justice to up the budget on the sound.
 
The Atmos function works best with lower ceilings. If you have a standard size of around 8ft, that gives the overhead channels enough bounce to get back down to you with minimal loss of volume or definition. Very high ceilings though, make this difficult, and the effect is somewhat lost.
 
A sound bar with a sub makes a huge difference, especially if the TV is in a large room.

Can’t comment on Samsung TV speakers, but the built-in ones in the last 2 Panasonic TVs I’ve owned have been severely lacking in presence.
 
My living room won't be massive to be honest, space is a tad limited so definitely won't have room for a sub too. I just read some reviews that suggested for the money the yamaha mentioned in OP was a great improvement.
I dont want to get a cheap and nasty but likewise having just dropped 1280 on the TV I don't have a big budget for a soundbar. Shame the songs beam gen 1 is still pricey used, they look great.
 
I definitely will be getting something once I move I to a house. The sound of the LG CX is fine but I know for sure it'll be better with a decent sound system. Looking at a Sony HT A9 but they are literally not in stock anywhere haha
 
I have a Beam 1, and an Arc, both in different rooms, both with Sonos One's as rears. The soundbars themselves, even the arc on their own underwhelmed me, a little disappointing compared to the sound on my Samsung Q95, they were both a step up, but not enough to justify the outlay, and I have a big room with that TV in it.

However the moment I added the Sonos One rears it was night and day, I would personally say if you are going to get a half decent soundbar, budget for the rears too. I don't have the subs, I live in an apartment, but though I haven't heard the system with a sub, I can't say I miss it either, I am happy with the setup, night and day over the TV speakers, but get the rears!
 
martin363 said:
I have a Beam 1, and an Arc, both in different rooms, both with Sonos One's as rears. The soundbars themselves, even the arc on their own underwhelmed me, a little disappointing compared to the sound on my Samsung Q95, they were both a step up, but not enough to justify the outlay, and I have a big room with that TV in it.

However the moment I added the Sonos One rears it was night and day, I would personally say if you are going to get a half decent soundbar, budget for the rears too. I don't have the subs, I live in an apartment, but though I haven't heard the system with a sub, I can't say I miss it either, I am happy with the setup, night and day over the TV speakers, but get the rears!
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You don't realise what you're missing not having a subwoofer.
 
When you've got your soundbar, watch a film with the soundbar on, then rewind and watch the section with the soundbar off. You'll wonder how you ever coped without one.
 
I don't have a soundbar (have avr), but on general tv like soaps / news, sometimes the AVR doesn't turn on due to buggy HDMI ARC I think, and I forget to check it. When watching something proper it enrages me when the TV speakers are playing.
 
When i bought my 65" Q95T last year i paired it with a Q800T 3.1 soundbar with the rears, the different is night and day, well worth it. soundbar tech has come on so much its amazing the sound you can get on such a small footprint, i have a AVR full 5.2.2 2k atmos speaker set up in the other room and i was so suprised with the soundbar
 
squarehead94 said:
As per title
Ordered a samsung qn90a and wondering if a soundbar is needed. I've never owned one and I am not an audio extraordinaire, just unsure if standard speakers will suffice

Example of one I'm considering is the Yamaha Sr c20a.
Thanks for your help
Click to expand...

All TV speakers suck, even a cheap $50 soundbar will beat the pants off speakers in the TV no matter how expensive the TV was.

So I always recommend people get a soundbar no matter what their budget is because it's always an upgrade
 
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