Soundbar or bookshelf speakers

Psycho Sonny said:
do you want them to focus on gimmicks? or on the sound quality and the amp?

my AVR is tucked away in a corner on the floor behind a sofa. i can't even see mine. so i don't care about how it looks.
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Bluntwrapped said:
Thanks all.

The Q acoustics 2000i 5.1 bundle looks pretty nice. Pricing up everything individually makes the £399 bundle seem like pretty great value.

It's not quite as minimal as I'd like and the sub does look massive. I'm not sure my neighbors would be too impressed. I'm in the top floor flat of my block lol. I was tempted to go for this but I will keep looking for now.

I'm not overly fussed about having a sub at all to be honest or rear satellite speakers. After listening to my Ruarks the bass is actually great, more than enough for me.

Are there any there three channel (left, right and centre) active separates out there without the need of rear satellite speakers, or a sub?

How would I downmix 5.1 to 3.0 if I buy the speakers separately?
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That subwoofer is tiny.

As for volume during quiet and explosions you want to use dynamic range compression, it keeps the loudest and quietest parts closer to each other. If you think bass from little standmounts in movies is enough, you need to go and listen to a decent system.

A AVR will downmix 5.1 to to 3.0 or 3.1. Or indeed 2.0.
 
hornetstinger said:
That subwoofer is tiny.

As for volume during quiet and explosions you want to use dynamic range compression, it keeps the loudest and quietest parts closer to each other. If you think bass from little standmounts in movies is enough, you need to go and listen to a decent system.

A AVR will downmix 5.1 to to 3.0 or 3.1. Or indeed 2.0.
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Peoples living arrangements are different to other peoples i could go out spend £3000 on a system tomorrow but there is no way id be able to put it to good use. And having a 5.1 is something we couldn't do in our room if we moved to a bigger house that be fine we moved 2 years ago from a big house due to my daughters leaving home i love my music and don't mind spending the Dali we went for and the Sub cost £1200 and its great for us. Nope it does not beat seperates and AVR but the Dali will beat a fair few that is on the market for the quality of sound. The Ruarks are nice little standmounts i wouldn't use them for a living room but there great for a bedroom. We could sit here all day and say spend this or that some people don't either have the money so this forum is a nice place for some people on a small budget or don't have the room for a decent size system. Not been funny Hornet you must have plenty of time on your hands looking around the net looking at Audio gear. you been on this forum just under a year and already made just over 2 thousand 700 comments you must excite your Mrs very much LMAO :)
 
Psycho Sonny said:
do you want them to focus on gimmicks? or on the sound quality and the amp?

my AVR is tucked away in a corner on the floor behind a sofa. i can't even see mine. so i don't care about how it looks.
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Both would be nice. It seems crazy to put so much development into the guts of thing yet leave the crappy looking exterior as is. I work within the design industry so on a personal OCD level this really annoys me lol.
 
I got a Bose Solo TV speaker to replace my 5.1 amp as we don't have a particularly large lounge, suits our needs fine and is simple to setup.
 
hornetstinger said:
That subwoofer is tiny.

As for volume during quiet and explosions you want to use dynamic range compression, it keeps the loudest and quietest parts closer to each other. If you think bass from little standmounts in movies is enough, you need to go and listen to a decent system.

A AVR will downmix 5.1 to to 3.0 or 3.1. Or indeed 2.0.
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I live in a top floor flat and I've previously had the police at my door due to some git of a neighbour phoning them and saying I was having a party. This was back when I had my 5.1 system and sub connected and Super 8 playing. Quiet one minute then boom!

Until I move out and find a place of my own I'm not interested in owning a sub. I appreciate how important bass is but then I value my privacy more. Having my door broken by two policemen understandably ****** me off, and to the point I disconnected and ripped everything out the moment they left.
 
Maundie said:
I got a Bose Solo TV speaker to replace my 5.1 amp as we don't have a particularly large lounge, suits our needs fine and is simple to setup.
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You don't have the room what do you mean you down graded to the Bose solo your crazy how big was that system. Sorry thought id ask cause Hornet will tell you off for downgrading LOLOL. No more downgrade talk on this forum and people should have a budget of around £5000 or your not to comment and ask for peoples views much love Hornet LOLOL
 
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lol I wish I had a spare 5k to spend. Whatever I do decide on will need to be budgeted for. I can see how it would be quite easy to go completely mental and spend more than I really need. Quite similar to my PC hardware habit lol.
 
You can go on forever especially when it comes to audio whatever budget your on some people are over the moon with a £100 little system and it sounds great for them what people hear and what sounds good differs to others
 
Way over budget for me at the moment but has anyone had any experience with the Philips Fidelio B5? With the exception of the price it looks ideal for me due to living in a small rented house so not being able to run cable everywhere, having the ability to detach the satellite speakers for 4.1 surround when watching films sounds like a good compromise or would I better off with a cheaper simpler soundbar?
Also what are peoples thoughts on the Denon Heos home cinema soundbar, seen it going for £399 and looks like it could be expanded into 5.1 down the line.

Secondly if sound is transmitted wirelessly via Wifi or bluetooth from a HTPC will the audio still benefit from 5.1 and all the fancy DTS and the like tricks?
 
Real speakers will almost always sound better, so long as you're not comparing £100 speakers to a £800 sound bar, etc.

However for what they are soundbars can sound great and are always better than the TV.
 
No doubt about it, you buy an AVR and bookselfs and build your system slowly if needs be.

Sound bars are terrible in comparison and can't compete with a proper AVR with solid speakers.

Its a more expensive route but ultimately in a different class. When you're watching a film and the whole room literally vibrates, its quite something.


General rule of thumb for me is your speakers should cost the same as your TV/monitor if not a little more. They're generally timeless and will outlast most of your electronics.

Also a good speaker is a good speaker. A good TV can have banding or bad uniformity, a bad monitor can have dead pixels or uniformity issues or back light bleed etc.


A good speaker.. is just a really god damn good speaker :)




On the case of AVR aesthetics.. just lmao. buy the best receiver you can, dont worry about looks. You'll find all the nice little nobs actually come in hand at times. I would rather have an atmos-possible amp with atleast 7 speaker outs and 2 sub outs + audessey than some sleek looking crap.

also amps can get hot, much alike pc cases, theres a reason why they're fairly big.
 
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aoaaron said:
No doubt about it, you buy an AVR and bookselfs and build your system slowly if needs be.

Sound bars are terrible in comparison and can't compete with a proper AVR with solid speakers.

Its a more expensive route but ultimately in a different class. When you're watching a film and the whole room literally vibrates, its quite something.


General rule of thumb for me is your speakers should cost the same as your TV/monitor if not a little more. They're generally timeless and will outlast most of your electronics.

Also a good speaker is a good speaker. A good TV can have banding or bad uniformity, a bad monitor can have dead pixels or uniformity issues or back light bleed etc.


A good speaker.. is just a really god damn good speaker :)




On the case of AVR aesthetics.. just lmao. buy the best receiver you can, dont worry about looks. You'll find all the nice little nobs actually come in hand at times. I would rather have an atmos-possible amp with atleast 7 speaker outs and 2 sub outs + audessey than some sleek looking crap.

also amps can get hot, much alike pc cases, theres a reason why they're fairly big.
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The biggest problem is if you don't have enough room or neighbours to worry about, I'd love to have a decent setup but I already have to worry about it with my old Sony AIO theater system.
 
Just because a setup is decent doesn't mean it has to be loud or obnoxious. Loud does not equal good.
 
Not all soundbars are poor. Maybe a lot have the room for a 5.1 system. And a lot of us Don't what comes out my Dali is nothing short of brilliance but then again its not really classed as a soundbar by Dali themself's even though its shaped as one
 
Doogles said:
The biggest problem is if you don't have enough room or neighbours to worry about, I'd love to have a decent setup but I already have to worry about it with my old Sony AIO theater system.
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Room is maybe a valid concern although Honestly 2 books shelfs, a centre and an AVR isn't THAT much in terms of space IMO and a lot of them in oak look quite nice.

as someone else said, good setup does not equal "omg i can bring the house down". its all about the quality and detail within the music which is on show and the level of immersion which virtual surround can't compete with.
 
Bluntwrapped said:
Hi guys,

I am looking to buy a new TV and I'm considering a few options for external speakers.

I bought a pair of Ruark MR1's a few weeks back and I've been so impressed with them I considered getting another pair for connecting to my existing and new TV when I have it.

My only concern is constantly jumping up and down to adjust the volume while watching something with low dialogue then loud explosions, it really does do my head in :( I want to stop this if at all possible.

Would a sound bar with a center speaker help? Up until now I haven't done a huge amount of reading so I'm not sure what is available and how it would compare to a stereo set-up.

Is a surround soundbar likely to produce more consistent levels across various films/series than down mixing from the TV to stereo?

Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks.
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What TV do you have?

And what's your budget?

Sound bars are much better now than what they used to be. I have a very expensive XTZ speaker system in my movie room but I wanted something decent in my Living room as well but I didn't want the fuss of laying wires and tidying etc. So I went looking at sound bars. My budget was less than £400, I tested a ton of them, some I even had for a week at home. I picked the Samsung HW-K650, sound quality is really good.

Different sound bars work better in certain room types. The Yamaha 2500 recommend earlier relies heavily on the room shape to get the best sound.
 
I had a Denon M35DAB Micro System that I was using as external speakers for the last 10 years or so, when purchasing the new tele it came with a Soundbar bundled - Sony HTCT80.

The difference between the two is absolutely amazing - As in, the soundbar was a complete pile and forced me to go out and spend money on a pair of new (to me) Monitor Audio RS1 speakers which are absolutely brilliant.

Just my 2c. I live in a high-ceiling apartment, the sound bar just sounded... flat and horrible.
 
Thanks for the input all great to have a mix of feedback from everyone. @melmac - my dad recently bought the same sound bar and it does sound pretty good. I'm only comparing it to the built in speakers of the TV though. As you said for the price it is really decent compared to the cost of other soundbars. After having a read I probably will end up going for separates but I'm yet to fully decide.

I'm still using my old Sony 1080p 40v4000 for now. I bought it over 7 years ago for £400 and while it's now a little dated, 1080p still looks absolutely stunning. I'm hoping whatever I go for next will be as good and last as long as this has. Absolutely brilliant TV, if the bezel wasn't so chunky I'd be tempted to keep using it. I'll be looking to upgrade probably just in time for Christmas to a 55". If I can squeeze the extra cash from elsewhere I'll maybe go for one of the OLED LG's.

Lol reading up aesthetics when it comes to AVR design isn't something many others seem to think about. I wouldn't mind having whatever I do go for on display under the TV, so a chunky black brush finished box wouldn't be my first choice. I do prefer the silver finish but again some look like they were built back in the 80's and only missing the VCR to sit on top lol.
 
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