Looking to replace my 5.1 with a soundbar?

pumaz

pumaz

pumaz

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Joined
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Nottingham
My son has recently moved out and my wife said I can have is room for my project as long as I de-clutter the Lounge!

Basically I have a 50" LG plasma, Yamaha RX-A810, KEF T-2 Sub + 5 KEF Eggs, HTPC, Virgin TiVo and the last 5 games Consoles! (PS3, PS4, 360, Xbone, Wii U). She just wants the lounge for TV, Movies and Music and her thoughts are TV, TiVo, Soundbar and something to play Kodi, Netflix and Spotify but NO games!

Is it possible ro buy a soundbar that sounds as good as my KEFS for movies and music under £500? We're not audiophiles and tend to like a more heavy bass sound. My system is getting on a bit and although we paid a lot for it I never thought it was that great!

My project btw is to turn the room in to a shrine for gaming, So all the consoles will go in there along with a big TV and some comfy beanbags :)
 
get a new center and pair of fronts run 3.1
firetv should run spotify/ netflix
transplant htpc into wife friendly case (node 605 looks good), chuck it all in a nice ikea besta unit
pic of current unit with gear may be helpful
 
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The HTPC is hidden behind the sub, it's a Mini-ITX Silverstone SG05 so really quite small.

Not thought about adding different speakers etc. I'm intrigued by soundbars but never actually heard one, if I could get a decent sounding one I could lose the Receiver as well but would it be too much of a loss?
 
pretty minimal already, suspect its the wires, OH's don't like wires.
Take all the goodies to the man room, how about a soundbase sits under the tv, as soundbar may block the remote.

Canton DM50/75 seem to have good reviews
 
She wants a new Cabinet so we could get one that would accommodate a soundbar and a soundbase as long as it sounds good could be an option to :)

My wife basically doesn't like wires, speakers stuck to the wall, loads of things plugged in and having 6 gaming devices in the lounge, she doesn't want the lounge to be used for anything other than TV, Movies and music.

This is what she'd want.

TV
TiVo Box
Firestick (kodi, Spotify etc.)
Soundbar and sub or similar with no wires trailing
A new cabinet with cupboard or draws and space/slots for TiVo and Soundbar.

I know it sounds harsh but I do get my own man cave :D
 
Yamaha YSP range is what you want to be looking at. However they aren't cheap especially brand new. However second hand you can get them for a song on avforums. Usually less than half price new.

Will it rival seperates, no chance, it's not physically possible. Will it have good bass, yes especially if you buy one with a separate sub. The Yamaha YAS range however is cheap and basic, YSP is much better in terms of sound quality.
 
^^^^^^

Fully agree with the above post. I've had a YSP 2500 for the last 2 years and it's great, and certainly is not lacking in the bass department lol. When i bought it, it was £800 but RS has them priced at £499 at the moment which i think is a bit of a bargain to be honest. It really is just about the best thing to have other than a full blown surround system, looks good, sounds good and does exactly what it says on the tin.
 
Thanks guys going to google the ysp now, how does it perform with music? I can't really do the whole demo thing because of lack of places and time.
 
pumaz said:
Thanks guys going to google the ysp now, how does it perform with music? I can't really do the whole demo thing because of lack of places and time.
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To be honest, i have never used it to play music as such because i've got a proper hi fi system for that. One thing i can say though is that i do have a lot of bluray concerts and it does very well with them. In my opinion, as long as you are not an audiofile it's not bad. Most wives would never spot the difference lol..............................i would though and i guess you might as well :D
 
pumaz said:
Thanks guys going to google the ysp now, how does it perform with music? I can't really do the whole demo thing because of lack of places and time.
Click to expand...

the digital processing and surround sound mimicking is terrible with music i find. i tend to switch to stereo mode and it then sound good for what it is.

the yamaha soundbars have lots of directional speakers that bounce sound off walls, similar to atmos upfiring speakers that bounce sound off ceilings.

i have bought 2 yamaha ysp 1600's and a YAS 101. The YAS 101 was around £160-£170 new and I paid around that or cheaper for second hand YSP 1600's. I can add subs to them if need be but I found them capable enough for a bedroom setup where I tend not to listen to them too loud. However the second one I bought for parents living room and it's plenty loud when called upon.

IMO soundbars are very expensive for what you get and with soundbars you need to pay a lot to get decent sound compared to traditional speakers.

I would always advise wherever possible 3.1 > 3.0 > 2.1 > 2.0 > soundbar.

I found with the YAS 101 dialogue was too quiet as it was more of a 2.0 setup with no centre channel. The YSP 1600 is more of a 3.0 setup thanks to multiple directional speakers in the middle. Some guy on here bought one of the top of the range ones RRP of around £1500 in a richer sounds sale for £800 ish iirc. New models are out now so not many good deals to be had as they will sell well being new. Second hand is a good option though.
 
YSP2500, as others have said, it is a brilliant piece of kit. It will never match a true individual setup but having had both, can really say it was a brilliant purchase.

Even now it still surprises on certain scenes and manages to bounce off rear channel sounds behind your ear.
 
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