Soundbar vs 5.1 physical speakers

413x · 10 Jul 2018 at 09:34

Asking for a friend

He has moved into a new house and has a decent TV. But uses the internal speakers (lol)

He was round mine and blown away by my setup (monitor audio rx6, rx Center, rx fx dipole rears.
Ive also now got a xxls400 sub.

Obviously this takes up a lot of space. And he asked about sound bars. I have absolutely no idea if sound bars can compete.
To be honest I dont know anyone personally with anything like what I have

Compared to my setup above.. Can a sound bar even compete? I know they have clever positioning etc but unsure of if its a gimmick.

Opinions?

TheVoice · 10 Jul 2018 at 11:19

Compared to what he'll be used to, I think he'll be impressed. I've got the Samsung HW-MS650 with the optional wireless rear speakers and it's a better set-up than my entry-level Onkyo 5.1 system was. There are some pretty high-end soundbars around too with Atmos etc but they obviously come at a cost.

Yamaha also do a range of soundbars that can convincingly mimic positional audio by bouncing the sound around the room, but you really need the right position and room shape for it to work well. I had a Yamaha one briefly before the Samsung and wasn't impressed with it.

sideways14a · 10 Jul 2018 at 11:20

A good soundbar can sound pretty decent against a crap separate setup but a good multi speaker system always sounds better.

lucid · 10 Jul 2018 at 12:36

sideways14a said:
A good soundbar can sound pretty decent against a crap separate setup but a good multi speaker system always sounds better.

^ This

413x · 10 Jul 2018 at 13:24

I was hoping (after spending so much) and expecting that to be the consensus. I will get an idea of his budget and suggest something

Thanks

Psycho Sonny · 10 Jul 2018 at 14:05

413x said:
I was hoping (after spending so much) and expecting that to be the consensus. I will get an idea of his budget and suggest something

Thanks

i have a very similar setup to yours.

bx6's, bx2 rears, with a matching centre. xxls400 sub from BK.

so close in fact i would say they should sound pretty much the same if used with the same amp. i use a yamaha.

when it comes to soundbars. you need to spend big money to get even close to decent seperates.

he will need to spend around £1200 on either the yamaha atmos soundbar or get the one below it which is around £600 ysp 5600 or ysp 2700. both of them are very very good.

otherwise samsungs come highly recommended. again he wants to be spending £600+ on a samsung soundbar. the samsung also come with rear speakers and subwoofers. so they aren't an all in 1 soundbar. as in they can have the bar, plus 2 rear speakers and a subwoofer. so that is an additional 3 speakers on top of the bar. if he truly wants an all in 1 then it has to be the yamaha. the yamaha also has sub out so if in future he wants more bass he can.

either way he can't go wrong with both yamaha or samsung.

remember i have the same sound system as you. well i have bought 3 yamaha soundbars and recommended 1 to a mate who bought one. the 2700 and 5600 are really good for what they are.

stay away from sonos. it's good for wireless speakers but it's sound bar is crap.

hornetstinger · 10 Jul 2018 at 14:10

Soundbars aren't bad parents have q acoustics qtv2 it's good for the £150 price tag. but issue I have is connectivity and upgradability. Also once you start spending several hundred on a soundbar it's worth spending on separates.

If you think your sounds good then try listening to higher end systems.

Oh since you have dipoles they are designed to be used at 3 o clock and 9 o clock. Not rears. If your fx speakers have dipole and bipole mode try changing them to bipole..I've used and owned both types.

413x · 10 Jul 2018 at 14:23

I'll this to him.

Incidently I also have a yamaha av receiver driving mine!

V1067 if i remember correctly.

Psycho Sonny · 10 Jul 2018 at 14:51

413x said:
I'll this to him.

Incidently I also have a yamaha av receiver driving mine!

V1067 if i remember correctly.

i can't remember mine off the top of my head but it was top of the line. anyway they will both have the yamaha sound to it so yeah our systems will be very very similar. obviously room differences will make a huge difference.

if he has the room and can do wires then obviously seperates is the way to go. but you know yourself the BK sub alone was what £500 ish? add another £500+ on for an AVR. that means you have spent £1K+ and you still need to buy 5 speakers. it soon add ups to like £2500.

so spending £500-£1200 on a soundbar is a lot cheaper. but the downside is no upgrade path the whole thing needs to be thrown out and start again.

pro's and con's to both.

if he can i'd get him down to a local AV shop or a chain like richer sounds or john lewis and test out their soundbars. samsung and yamaha specifically. and then he can compare them to what your seperates sounds like from experience.

MOOGLEYS · 10 Jul 2018 at 14:58

I went from a Denon amp and Q acoustics 5.1 speakers to a Yamaha YSP-2700 and could not be happier for Movie and Game usage. I would say if anything it sounds better as the sound is much wider than before.....