Looking for a 'sound base', like a sound bar but to stand the TV on...

peanutismint

peanutismint

peanutismint

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I have a pretty decent 5.1 surround setup in my living room but when I want to watch a movie on the smaller TV in my bedroom I find the sound (and especially the bass) lacking.

A friend of mine in the US has some pretty neat 'sound bases' (not sure if that's the right name but that's what I'm gonna call them...) on his TVs in smaller rooms, basically a little 2.1 or 3.1 (I'm guessing) sound bar that goes under your TV and contains maybe a subwoofer and a couple of speakers for front L&R and a centre channel. IIRC he has one made by Bose and a cheaper (I'd assume) one by Vizio (which I think is an American brand). Both sound pretty good for a smaller room where you wouldn't want a full surround setup but you'd like a better audio experience, but I don't know anything about these kind of setups (or if they even have a definite name - sound 'base'??!) so if anyone has any experience with these I'd love to hear about it.
 
Was bored waiting one day and had a listen to a load of soundbars and soundbases. The base type (put the TV on top) sounded far better to my ear. Think they weren't trying to force the virtual surround so much.

Not much help as can't remember which ones I tried but currys had a few to listen to.

Being a bedroom TV though you might need to consider others sleeping (shared party wall etc) and look for one with levels adjustment.
 
You should find that "soundbase" or "sound base" are both valid search terms and generally recognised as the generic description of the sort of products you have seen. Also thry searching for "sound bar" or "soundbar" as often all the products are lumped together as TV speakers.

They'll make an improvement over the TV's own speakers simply because there's more space in them to fit more- and larger-drivers. If you're completely new to audio-visual tech and soundbases in particular then here's a bit of a Soundbases 101 to get you going:

Remotes and volume control
- Any soundbase working from TV's Optical Out connection can't have the volume changed directly by the TV. Optical Out has (or should have) a fixed volume level. To change the sound level you'll have to use the soundbase remote control. There are two special conditions that change this though. First, the soundbase has to be able to be programmed to recognise the IR signal from the TV handset, (the Sonos soundbase and soundbar does this.) Second, the TV must have the menu option to switch off the internal speakers. Both conditions have to be met before the TV remote will then control the soundbase volume. If that seems like a lot of hard work tracking down the right product then you're correct. A simpler solution is something along the lines of a Harmony remote which can can control and co-ordinate working the TV/Sky/Virgin box for picture whilst sending IR volume signals to the soundbase.

TBH though, there's an even simpler answer: Buy a soundbase with HDMI. The solution is HDMI control (CEC / BraviaSync etc) so have a look if your telly has HDMI ARC and then look for soundbases with HDMI ARC as well.


Built-in subwoofer
- They're not really built-in subwoofers as there isn't the space for 12" long throw speakers with a 10lb magnet, not least because something like that takes up the same space as a football which is a bit of challenge inside a 2" deep speaker plinth :D Nevertheless, the bass speakers do add some depth to the sound so that's fine as it'll generally sound heaps better than the TV anyway.


It has Bluetooth and NFC and Wi-Fi and Netflix and makes the coffee and...and...and
- Yeah? But how does it sound? When you're shopping for this kind of gear - and yes, you should be shopping in person for this sort of gear to hear how it sounds rather than just buying online - the salespeople will love telling you how many bells and whistles it has. That's because they get a bit blasé to the basics being around this gear all the time. The toys are nice, but if the speaker doesn't sound any good then those toys aren't going to make up for the shortfall.


It's the same make a the TV so it works better with it
- Some of the best soundbars and soundbases come from companies that have sod all to do with making tellies. They're made by audio companies, by people who listen to sound, and who spend their working lives making speakers. Canton, Yamaha, Polk, Cambridge Audio, Q Acoustics all spring to mind.

Conversely, some of the worst ones come from companies that do make TVs. LG is mediocre at best on soundbars, and one of my customers insisted on buying a £700 Sony soundbar with his 65XE9005 and honestly he could have got better sound at half the price.


Richersound or Superfi might be decent places to start as they stock a fairly broad spectrum of product.
 
peanutismint said:
All useful info, thanks guys. I've found someone selling a Panasonic SC-HTE80 nearby for £60 so might give one of those a try...
Click to expand...

I would be interested to hear your opinions on this as I am looking for one for the same reasons as you, the SC-HTE80 looks like a reasonable choice looking at some reviews.
 
Well that's good to know. I've heard the bass isn't room-shaking but hopefully it'll be good enough (and certainly better than my current Panasonic TV speakers!). I'll post back if/when I get it...
 
I've got the sonos playbase. I wasn't sure whether to get it at first (my mate has the playbar without a sub and thought it lacked bass). I have been pleasantly surprised at the different between the playbar and the playbase.

I've got mine paired with my play1s so getting 5.1 (well, minus the 1, as I don't have the sub but the playbase itself has pretty good range).

edit - just re-read, you looking at the panasonic for £60, so guessing this might be overkill for a second TV.
 
Kol said:
edit - just re-read, you looking at the panasonic for £60, so guessing this might be overkill for a second TV.
Click to expand...

Yeah, just looking for something cheap as a nice addition to a small room! :-)

In the end, the Panasonic SC-HTE80 lady was a typical Facebook timewaster, but I managed to find a local guy selling a Cambridge Audio TV2 soundbase (only the v1 though, unfortunately - no HDMI) for £70 so I went for that and I'm pretty pleased with it after one night's listen. I've got it hooked up via optical and 'learned' my TV's volume controls so I can control with the TV remote. Unfortunately my older Panasonic TV doesn't seem to allow to turn internal speakers off, so I had to just turn the volume down to zero and use the 'channel up/down' buttons to control the soundbase instead of the TV volume, but it works perfectly. Nowhere near as good as sitting in my home cinema setup with full 5.1 surround, but fine for watching old episodes of Frasier in the bedroom :-)
 
I have the Cambridge Audio TV5 v2, it’s great. HDMI with ARC so you can control the sound with the tv remote. And the sound quality is very good, quite bassy, but you can adjust the level with the remote.
 
Nice! I heard the v2 also has a slightly beefier amp as well. To be honest when I bought it I thought it was a v2 but when I went to pick it up was disappointed to find it was only a v1... It was my mistake though, and I don't think I need an HDMI input for my setup so it's not too bad.
 
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