Soundbar advice?

Legend

Legend

Legend

Soldato
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31 Dec 2006
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Can anyone recommend a decent soundbar (circa £150 budget) that is wall mountable and fairly low profile (about 70mm max depth)? Would like one to go under TV which is on the wall, but can't have it protruding too much. Width isn't an issue as it's a 65" TV.

I would like something that works well at low volumes for night time use as the TV is in the bedroom. It won't be blasted at max, so nothing uber powerful is required. I see quite a few come with wireless subs, but not sure if that's required or not. I'm guessing most thinner profile soundbars without subs might not have any bass at all, so perhaps a sub would be advisable? I've never owned a soundbar before so any advice would be much appreciated. :)
 
It's above your budget, but the Yamaha YAS107 is £199 on a deal at the moment, and it has something called ClearVoice which does what you want; good sound at low volumes.

Sound bars range in price from under £30 to well over £1,000; so while a budget of £150 might be a chunk of cash to you, it's still at the shallow end of the price range for audio systems. That means the designers are making some tough choices to hit a price point, and that is reflected in their choice of whether or not to include a sub.

On the cheapest sound bars it's not an option. There isn't enough money to include a sub that would be worth a damn. But at first sight, from £70 upwards, it seems there's no clear pattern. Some products have a sub. Some don't. That's the case all the way through to at least £700, so clearly some brands see it as less essential. There is a pattern then. Companies that know what they're doing with sound won't compromise the design of the main sound bar to include a sub that wouldn't really be that effective. Their engineering already produces reasonable bass from the sound bar.

This means that the brands that cave in first are the ones where audio performance is lacking. They're banking on a certain type of buyer: It's the person who chooses quantity over quality.

The YAS107 doesn't come with a sub because the Yamaha engineers know they can use that budget to better effect in the sound bar. However, they do include a subwoofer output socket, and here's the clever thing; the sound bar senses when there's a sub connected and it automatically adjusts its frequency range to make better use of the sub. As a result, not only will the sub play the deeper bass notes, but the YAS107 will play cleaner and louder too since it starts to hand off bass to the sub below 100Hz.

The sub out socket is wired, so any third party subwoofer with a Low Level input socket can be added. It doesn't have to be a Yamaha sub. There are also wireless link kits that turn any ordinary wired sub in to a wireless one.
 
lucid said:
It's above your budget, but the Yamaha YAS107 is £199 on a deal at the moment, and it has something called ClearVoice which does what you want; good sound at low volumes.

Sound bars range in price from under £30 to well over £1,000; so while a budget of £150 might be a chunk of cash to you, it's still at the shallow end of the price range for audio systems. That means the designers are making some tough choices to hit a price point, and that is reflected in their choice of whether or not to include a sub.

On the cheapest sound bars it's not an option. There isn't enough money to include a sub that would be worth a damn. But at first sight, from £70 upwards, it seems there's no clear pattern. Some products have a sub. Some don't. That's the case all the way through to at least £700, so clearly some brands see it as less essential. There is a pattern then. Companies that know what they're doing with sound won't compromise the design of the main sound bar to include a sub that wouldn't really be that effective. Their engineering already produces reasonable bass from the sound bar.

This means that the brands that cave in first are the ones where audio performance is lacking. They're banking on a certain type of buyer: It's the person who chooses quantity over quality.

The YAS107 doesn't come with a sub because the Yamaha engineers know they can use that budget to better effect in the sound bar. However, they do include a subwoofer output socket, and here's the clever thing; the sound bar senses when there's a sub connected and it automatically adjusts its frequency range to make better use of the sub. As a result, not only will the sub play the deeper bass notes, but the YAS107 will play cleaner and louder too since it starts to hand off bass to the sub below 100Hz.

The sub out socket is wired, so any third party subwoofer with a Low Level input socket can be added. It doesn't have to be a Yamaha sub. There are also wireless link kits that turn any ordinary wired sub in to a wireless one.
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Thanks, that makes sense and the 107 looks like a good shout actually. I don't mind spending that... figured I would need to push my budget a little. I like the size of it, definitely low profile enough for my needs, and seems to get solid reviews. :)
 
Legend said:
It's rather obtrusive from the wall that one... 13cm, which is a slight problem.
Click to expand...

it's a much better soundbar though.

the problem with speakers is. the better the speaker the bigger it usually is. this is why modern tv's have crap speakers. because they have made the tv's so thin and so compact there is no space for speakers. so they put tiny speakers in which results in a rubbish sound.

so the bigger the soundbar chances are the better the sound will be. that isn't a rule written in stone but it's something which should happen given the law of physics and how speakers work.

your budget would also lend me to say buy second hand off avforums classifieds. you will get a much better sound bar. i would say soundbars around the YSP2700 and above is where you really start to see them offering 5.1 levels of sound in terms of quality, surround reproduction and bass.
 
Yamaha YSP-1000 owner, it's big, old, lacks support for modern audio formats and could probably do with a sub for the sake of argument, but those 40+2 drivers combined with SkyQ via optical is better than any of the more modern LG/Samsung/Panasonic sound bar+ subs i've experienced - the technology has moved forward, but I really rate the Yamaha in this area.

Context: I came from a mid range Onkyo 5.1 set-up that supported HDMI and modern digital audio processing and active sub, the soundbar was an almost throw away (used) purchase when I realised that toddlers + cats and floor standers weren't an ideal combination. Youngest child is now 8 and I haven't felt the need to move the speakers back into the lounge ... yet.
 
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lucid said:
It's above your budget, but the Yamaha YAS107 is £199 on a deal at the moment, and it has something called ClearVoice which does what you want; good sound at low volumes.

...
Click to expand...


Thanks for the recommendation on that, I picked one up for the in-laws this weekend and set it up. I was actually pleasantly surprised with it, has a nice 'full' sound to it which is something I've found others I've heard didn't offer.

The bass on offer, whist not earth shaking is quite nice and I don't think you'd really want a sub with it but it's nice to have the option.
 
Scottland said:
Thanks for the recommendation on that, I picked one up for the in-laws this weekend and set it up. I was actually pleasantly surprised with it, has a nice 'full' sound to it which is something I've found others I've heard didn't offer.

The bass on offer, whist not earth shaking is quite nice and I don't think you'd really want a sub with it but it's nice to have the option.
Click to expand...

Glad you and in-laws are happy :)
 
Scottland said:
Thanks for the recommendation on that, I picked one up for the in-laws this weekend and set it up. I was actually pleasantly surprised with it, has a nice 'full' sound to it which is something I've found others I've heard didn't offer.

The bass on offer, whist not earth shaking is quite nice and I don't think you'd really want a sub with it but it's nice to have the option.
Click to expand...


There's no mains power required for the 107 is there? I couldn't see it on any pictures. Is it just optical/HDMI connection required?
 
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