Soundbar maybe

pauLAW

pauLAW

pauLAW

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I am looking for a good sound solution for my new 37" LCD TV.

I use it for gaming and watching Sky and the build in speakers on the TV are not very good at all so I want to have some decent sound!

I was at first looking into some 2.1 sound systems but a soundbar could be a good solution? I want good quality sound and the bar would reduce the wires around a relatively small bedroom!

Any suggestions? I dont want to go much over £100
 
There was a panasonic one doing th rounds a few days back cant remember where I saw it or the price :(
Ill have a scout abotu and see what I turn up
 
I've seen a few decent ones, but under £100 is harder....with competitors rules I can't name one place I've seen a Sharp one for £70 and they had plenty of stock...
 
I could spend £150....just wanted to make sure it was a good idea to go with a soundbar.......would 2.1 be better/worse?
 
I wouldn't spend £150 on a soundbar for that price its going to be barely an upgrade to your TV audio. They are out there in this price range and if you really want one trying googling SHARP HTSB200 and SHARP HTSB400 £100 and £150 respectively.

For £150 personally if I didn't already have one I would spend it on an amp and speakers and hook that up. You can pick up a reasonable entry level system for £150 and will be a massive improvement over TV audio and any all in one soundbar.

Have a look at Wharfedale Diamond 9.0. speakers for around £60 and CAMBRIDGE AUDIO TOPAZ AM1 or CAMBRIDGE AUDIO TOPAZ AM5 £80 and £120 pounds.

If you want a 2.1 system then for the money you probably won't do much better than these http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SP-001-AE&groupid=702&catid=22&subcat= at £120 They once rated 5 stars from What Hi-Fi, they are quite old now and have been surpassed in sound quality by other models and has now dropped to 3 stars but for £120 you cant go wrong. I would certainly choose them over a £150 soundbar. review here http://www.whathifi.com/Review/Acoustic-Energy-Aego-M-System/
 
pkryder has a good point......I have always thought about getting seperates so maybe this is a good time to do so?

Would an amp be easy enough to hook up to my TV? its not something I have even looked into....I guess its just as simple as the red and white cable to and from?

Its my birthday coming up......extra money maybe! :D
 
Defo wouldnt spend a lot of money on a soundbar, not going to sound too special at all.
And yeah if your tv has rca outputs you could hook them up to the reciever
 
No it doesn't sadly, not analogue anyway. I think that's one of the disadvantages of these super slim LED TV's, lack of connectivity.
 
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Well, the only choices you have are either use the headphone out, or to get something that uses digital connection. Using the headphone out to connect an amplifier is not ideal, but without RCA on your TV, it's all you can do, without getting something that can use the digital connection from the TV.

TBH, if it were me, I'd look to get something which will use the digital out. I just tried my amplifier connected to the headphone out on my TV, and it sounded a bit crap compared to using the RCA connection.
 
optical out > receiver > 5.1 speakers is your best bet, but in that case I'd probably go optical out from source (ie dvd/sky whatever) to receiver
 
Hi again

Thanks for all the advise on this.

I am now at the stage where I have no idea what to buy for the LG LE5300 to have good quality sound. The TV is in my bedroom which is not huge.....If my TV cannot connect to an amp of separates then how am I going to be able to hook it up to anything? how would a standard 5.1 kit connect to the TV?

Im worried now that ill spend big on something that I cant use with the TV.

I do not want to hook the sound system to the source because the main source is the PS3....I will also be using Sky, other consoles.

Thanks again
 
Only thing you can do, as far as 5.1 is concerned, is get a receiver and a 5.1 speaker package. For £100 though, there are none. Onkyo make a 2.1 system, where the amp and all the gubbins are built into the subwoofer, and it has a good range of connections, but its more than double your budget at £230.

I have seen someone mention in a similar thread on another forum, a cheap DAC, that will take the optical from the TV and convert it to analogue, so you can connect an amp. That is an option.

Behringer MS40, or Edirol/Cakewalk make a similar equivalent, I forget the model number. They are stereo multimedia speakers, which have a built in DAC, so will take the optical from the TV. The Edirol's are more expensive at around £140, but are better than the Behringer's. Behringer's cheaper MS range of speakers, do get some flac for various issues.

Cheapest alternative of all, is to buy some 2.1 PC speakers for about £40-£50, and use the headphone jack on the TV. The fact that using a headphone jacks to connect a stereo amp, is a poor choice, doesn't matter too much. The majority of PC speakers, expecially the cheaper ones, are nowhere near as good as decent a stereo amp and speakers, so the quality difference shouldn't be an issue. It'll certainly be far better than the TV's speakers, that's for sure.
 
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