Sound bars what's wrong with them?

The Running Man

The Running Man

The Running Man

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Hi I am looking at a sound bar with sub for myself but I have read things such as sound lag via optical connects, or BT dropping out.

When I look on eBay 99% of them for sale are seller refurbished items. I mean do these things just break? Are they all faulty?

Does anyone have a recommendation I don't want to spend over say £130 ideally...
 
I tried a £100 sound bar and sent it back, ending up spending double that but it was reduced from £300

Better specced ones have a sound timing function so you can increase and decrease by 10MS, mine is on +10MS and never had to change it from that

Mine hasnt broken, about a year old, sometimes the sub doesnt connect, probably one in ten pairs, you just power the sub off and on again and it pairs in seconds

Really like mine, it odes exactly what I wanted it to do which is improve sound over the standard crappy speakers and so I can actually hear what people are saying as I struggled before
 
Nothing is wrong with them.

I bought a £50 Bush special last year with no expectations other than to see if I'd get on with one. I've still got it and use it exclusively for my living room viewing.
I'm no audiophile and couldn't give a rats bumcheeks about response times, frequencies blah blah but I'm perfectly happy with the sound quality as its much better than the TV speakers and it's built in sub works really well.
 
They work but they are not Hi Fi per say. The whole reason for their existence is because TV has gotten so thin there isn't enough room to put in good speakers so manufacturers saw an opportunity to make money from selling it to you separately.

Think of them as built in TV speakers as the bar for sound quality then you won't be disappointed and may be even pleased as some do come with a sub.
 
Father-in-law just sent one back. He bought it with his TV (MIL didn't want wires everywhere), and it was very inferior to his ancient speakers plugged into a hi-fi that he was running the TV though.

Sound bars are just too expensive, too poor sound quality (with the tricks they use to try and simulate multi-speaker surround), too limited when compared to similar money spent on a proper surround amp/speakers.

It's just another gimmick sold to those that don't know any better who are too scared to wire up some speakers, and who suffer from the normally substandard sound on TV's made to be thin above all else.
 
Steampunk said:
Father-in-law just sent one back. He bought it with his TV (MIL didn't want wires everywhere), and it was very inferior to his ancient speakers plugged into a hi-fi that he was running the TV though.

Sound bars are just too expensive, too poor sound quality (with the tricks they use to try and simulate multi-speaker surround), too limited when compared to similar money spent on a proper surround amp/speakers.

It's just another gimmick sold to those that don't know any better who are too scared to wire up some speakers, and who suffer from the normally substandard sound on TV's made to be thin above all else.
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Surely depends what model you have. You can't tar them all with the same brush.
 
yamaha is the make you want to go for.

although for £100 all your going to get is a pretty crappy soundbar tbh. the decent ones are all £300+.

https://www.avforums.com/review/yamaha-ysp-5600-dolby-atmos-soundbar-review.12447

that is yamahas top of the range model at £1900.

at your budget however I think you should be looking for 2.0 or 2.1 speakers with optical in and using the optical out of your tv if it has one.

if you must buy a soundbar at that price point then yamaha have a very low end budget model that will sound okay nothing special.

https://www.avforums.com/review/philips-fidelio-xs1-soundstage-review.12318#sectionAnchor44373

https://www.avforums.com/review/sony-ht-xt3-sound-base-review.12468#sectionAnchor45185


basically you get what you pay for with a sound bar. cheap ones tend to suck.

I have a YSP 1400

http://www.whathifi.com/yamaha/ysp-1400/review

the only downside to it is no HDMI input. but it's for a bedroom setup so not a huge issue. for the living room i have a 5.1 setup.

Steampunk said:
Father-in-law just sent one back. He bought it with his TV (MIL didn't want wires everywhere), and it was very inferior to his ancient speakers plugged into a hi-fi that he was running the TV though.

Sound bars are just too expensive, too poor sound quality (with the tricks they use to try and simulate multi-speaker surround), too limited when compared to similar money spent on a proper surround amp/speakers.

It's just another gimmick sold to those that don't know any better who are too scared to wire up some speakers, and who suffer from the normally substandard sound on TV's made to be thin above all else.
Click to expand...

you wot m8?

soundbars aren't trying to compete with speakers.

soundbars are for those that don't want wires everywhere or don't have the space for speakers.

that's like saying motorbikes are crap because you cannot do your grocery shopping and you should buy a car. well motorbikes aren't a replacement for cars.
 
Bassmansam said:
Ugh, okay. My sound bar cost 300 and is a huge improvement over the tv speakers.
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But for £200 you could have got a far better Yamaha amp with surround speakers and an active sub.

It's like they've sold you a TV with poor speakers, then take a load more money for acceptable TV speakers, when you could have had a proper surround amp. And at the end you've only got improved TV speakers, not a proper surround sound.

It smacks of those crappy "cinema systems" that were nothing more than a DVD player connected to crappy speakers via bell wire. Those became a thing because manufacturers saw a new market they could sell into for those who didn't know better.
 
i got a refurbished LG one for £130 quid over a year ago and i'm very happy with it.
Much better sound quality than the tv and doesn't take up much space (which stops me from getting a proper amp setup).
 
I've had my Phillips sound bar for over 6 months now and am really pleased with it. I appreciate it won't be as good as a proper audio setup however we didn't have the funds or the space for a full setup so the soundbar suited our needs perfectly.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Think of them as built in TV speakers as the bar for sound quality then you won't be disappointed and may be even pleased as some do come with a sub.
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This

They are not, nore will they ever be up to scratch with a proper surround sound (I say proper to highlight not the shirty bluray\speaker combo's).

However, as an improvement of your built in tv speakers, yes they can be good.
 
Got a Panasonic one myself (SCHTB880), a great improvement over the sound from my Panasonic plasma, auto switches from sources such as Sky, BD/DVD etc. Not had any issue with BT playback for audio. Think it was around £350 for the unit. Mounted on the wall ties in nicely with the Panny TV/BD player.

It's not a patch on my 7.1 seperates system that it replaced, but i get less grief from the wife. Currently looking to redeploy the 7.1 into a new extension we had done, but my viewing habits for movies/tv have changed since having a child, so dont have as much time (or money) to spend on that hobby.
 
Got mine with my tv and blue ray from elk mill - Sony one for just under a £100.

It's fine for what I want it for and doesn't have any lags or droup outs that I have seen so far?
 
Yeah I mean I use my old creative gigaworks t20 on my tv.. Seems to do the job but was thinking about a receiver, but decent ones are way expensive. I thought a sound bar might be just right, especially one with a separate sub.

But why would the sound need adjusting +\- 10ms? Is is the post processing in the TVs themselves that creates the need for a delay or something?
 
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