Soundbar or Echo Studios & Sub....

Conanius

Conanius

Conanius

Soldato
Joined
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So I'm about to buy a new TV in the lounge.

To give a baseline for 'what I think is good' - I've currently got a 40" Samsung 4k TV that came with a soundbar. All in from John Lewis it was probably £600 for the pair about 3 years ago. I think this sounds OK, but could be punchier.

I previously had an Onkyo Amp with 5.0 Setup (Morduant Short - 2 floorstanders, 2 Bookshelves and a centre) ... I thought this was epic. I was a fool for selling but hey, that's life.

I had watched a few reviews, and a lot of people were saying that a pair of Amazon Echo Studios with their Sub was surprisingly good for the price - £500. I'm "all in" on Amazon home speakers already, so this would integrate well.

However, I've seen Samsung have some good deals on if you buy a soundbar with a qualifying TV - 50% off. So their higher end sound bars suddenly seem a bit more reasonable - Something like the Q800T would be ~£400 and the Q900T about ~£550....

What do people think of these suggestions?

I think you're getting the idea of the budget. Open to suggestions and recommendations.
 
I use an, at the time a decade ago, expensive Yamaha soundbar, which I bought because at the time my daughter was a toddler and my partner's cats would poo, wee and vomit all over the place.

For me, the inconvenience of having to clean cables and the risk of my daughter pulling cables or speakers over meant the soundbar made practical sense.

Was it as good as my 20 year old 5.1 NAD and Mission set up? No.

I'd say, you either use a soundbar because you like a decent sound and accept the compromise for reasons or you go multi speaker set up.
 
Sorry, I accept whatever I get wouldn't be as good as separates. Like you however, two young kids and two dogs.

At the moment I'm just trying to understand:

- if anyone has the echo studios and sub, and what they thought of them
- if anyone has had a go with any of the more expensive Samsung Soundbars, and were they anygood
 
So, update. I went for two Echo Studios, a Fire TV Cube and the sub. The Sub is due to come in a couple of weeks. I'd also bought a new TV in the Prime Day deals - an LG Nanocell 55NANO86.

I have to be honest, I'm really impressed with the Echo Studios. Setup was a piece of cake once everything had all the latest software updates applied. I'm already an 'Amazon Echo Household' so integration into this ecosystem was really nice.

Sound wise - they are super clear at low volumes, and have plenty of power at the top end. It is a *significant* improvement to the old Samsung Soundbar I had. However, being critical I really hope the sub gives a bit more punch.

For the price I got it all for on Prime Day, I am very happy.
 
Conanius said:
So, update. I went for two Echo Studios, a Fire TV Cube and the sub. The Sub is due to come in a couple of weeks. I'd also bought a new TV in the Prime Day deals - an LG Nanocell 55NANO86.

I have to be honest, I'm really impressed with the Echo Studios. Setup was a piece of cake once everything had all the latest software updates applied. I'm already an 'Amazon Echo Household' so integration into this ecosystem was really nice.

Sound wise - they are super clear at low volumes, and have plenty of power at the top end. It is a *significant* improvement to the old Samsung Soundbar I had. However, being critical I really hope the sub gives a bit more punch.

For the price I got it all for on Prime Day, I am very happy.
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So does this only work through the Fire TV Cube? If you watch Sky it wont work?
 
Conanius said:
Correct. I don't have Sky, and whilst I have VM internet I don't forsee myself getting a set top box. We use Netflix/Prime/NowTV for streaming.
Click to expand...

Ah thats killed it for me then which is a shame. I would happily have the fire tv as an additional device but I have other devices such as blu ray player and Sky box.
 
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