Soundbar
- Thread starter Cosmic182
- Start date
A relative got a Cambridge Audio TV2 recently on clearance (was only £120) which is a pretty acceptable sound base, certainly far superior to the TV. You can probably do better with your budget. Having heard the TV2 though I'd definitely get a -base rather than a -bar, just because you can fit a much bigger woofer in there (or more than one).
The Cambridge TV5 v2 is in your budget (£300) - I'd try and listen to one of them first if I were you. 5 star on whathifi too.
The Cambridge TV5 v2 is in your budget (£300) - I'd try and listen to one of them first if I were you. 5 star on whathifi too.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 21 Jun 2006
- Posts
- 38,367
Yamaha YSP range > all
however £300 won't get you much when it comes to yamaha unless you go second hand
however £300 won't get you much when it comes to yamaha unless you go second hand
Caporegime
- Joined
- 13 May 2003
- Posts
- 34,564
- Location
- Warwickshire
Just got a YSP-2700 and while it's way beyond your budget, maybe there are some second hand ones for less.
Pro: very clear sounds especially centre channel, nice bass without being overpowering, good connectivity if you want to hook it up like a 'proper' AV amp, passes through 4k@60Hz, looks great, well built, wireless sub
Cons: expensive, I can't get a dramatic surround effect (though my room's an awkward shape), seems to have occasional handshaking issues with my HTPC, you need to change a setting to enable deep colour on the HDMI port
Pro: very clear sounds especially centre channel, nice bass without being overpowering, good connectivity if you want to hook it up like a 'proper' AV amp, passes through 4k@60Hz, looks great, well built, wireless sub
Cons: expensive, I can't get a dramatic surround effect (though my room's an awkward shape), seems to have occasional handshaking issues with my HTPC, you need to change a setting to enable deep colour on the HDMI port
Caporegime
- Joined
- 13 May 2003
- Posts
- 34,564
- Location
- Warwickshire
It'll sound a lot better to use your hifi setup. The soundbar won't come close for sound quality and impact, however it depends how much you value a) surround effects in movies and b) a neat solution in the room.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 21 Jun 2006
- Posts
- 38,367
Thanks Participant
For my Hifi, do I just connect the tv to my amp via RCA phono cables?
you could buy an avr and then use that as a pre amp to floorstanders and amp to surrounds if you want to upgrade to more speakers in future. having a centre channel is usually crucial for clear dialogue.
also RCA connections are pretty much dead when it comes to tv's, does your tv have them?
they have ARC (HDMI) and optical out these days
Thankfully, despite a whole raft of soundbars on the market there are really two stand outs in your budget.
The Yamaha YSP-1600
http://www.richersounds.com/product/soundbars-sound-base/yamaha/ysp1600/yama-ysp1600-blk
Q Acoustic Media 4
http://www.superfi.co.uk/p-15095-q-...zoPwSobaMmliBKXAhZIkYv363go337Mz-UaAlUe8P8HAQ
If it's basically the best sounding soundbar for your money, i'd argue it's literally these two and these two only.
Yes - you can spend more and yes the YSP2700 is bloody awesome... Although with it being around £900 new you'd be better off going full on 5.1 at that price range.
I'd personally go for the YSP-1600 - as it has both in and out HDMI 2.0 ports so you can pass a 4K and HDR signal via it. The Q Acoustic Media 4 is just pure awesomeness though, some people would be put off by the optical in only but lets face it.. With a soundbar, that's much less of a concern.
Also yes - running the 3050s would be better. Much better.
The Yamaha YSP-1600
http://www.richersounds.com/product/soundbars-sound-base/yamaha/ysp1600/yama-ysp1600-blk
Q Acoustic Media 4
http://www.superfi.co.uk/p-15095-q-...zoPwSobaMmliBKXAhZIkYv363go337Mz-UaAlUe8P8HAQ
If it's basically the best sounding soundbar for your money, i'd argue it's literally these two and these two only.
Yes - you can spend more and yes the YSP2700 is bloody awesome... Although with it being around £900 new you'd be better off going full on 5.1 at that price range.
I'd personally go for the YSP-1600 - as it has both in and out HDMI 2.0 ports so you can pass a 4K and HDR signal via it. The Q Acoustic Media 4 is just pure awesomeness though, some people would be put off by the optical in only but lets face it.. With a soundbar, that's much less of a concern.
Also yes - running the 3050s would be better. Much better.
Last edited:
Just run an optical cable from your TV to the amplifier - job done and enjoy
That easy?
Last edited:
Yup - that's it. Should work fine. Set your TV to pump out a Stereo single.
Granted i've no experience of this, i've only owned AVRs. Looking at the amplifier it has optical in though, so should be straight forward.
Last edited:
Surely it's just the optical in?
Run optical cable from the TVs optical out to the amplifiers optical in - switch the input the optical. Or am i missing something? I'm assuming your speakers are wired to your amplifier?
Last edited:
Starting to get a bit less simple.
Ok my honest recommendation? You've bought an OLED TV. Quite a significant investment in your TV, I'd say take your £300 and spend it on an AVR. Hook up your Q Acoustics to it. Then you've got a great base which you can build from if you want 5.1 in future.
I know many say you'd need to spend allot on an AVR to get similar stereo music performance as a quality amplifier, having never owned one I don't know... Then again your amplifier is pretty long in the tooth.
Excellent!
this sounds simple having explained in layman terms.Would you recommend the SONY STRDN860 AVR?
My Q acoustics have two sets of speaker cable inputs so I presume I can have them connected up to both my Hifi amplifier and an AVR and they'll just switch accordingly?