Soundbars or true surround?

stoofa

stoofa

stoofa

Soldato
Joined
4 Mar 2003
Posts
12,499
Location
Chatteris
I enjoy having a surround sound system. It isn't particularly good - but I just love sitting at home and having the sound coming at me from all directions, especially when watching films.
The core of the system is a Yamaha RX-V581 and attached to it are rather old, nay ancient, Onkyo surround speakers (5) and Sub. These actually came with an Onkyo surround setup many moons ago.

These speakers are starting to show their age - getting sound distortion, they really should have been replaced a long time ago.
I want small, bookshelf style speakers, to decided on the Monitor Audio Radius 45's for the 4 corner speakers. Something Monitor Audio (possibly 200) for the centre speaker and then look into Sub options.
This won't be super expensive, but the 45's are £100 each, throw in a good Centre and sub and the price will begin to climb.

I read reviews of £1100+ Soundbars that can offer "near 5.1 experience" but do they? I have also seen Soundbars with wireless rear speakers and wireless Sub as well - seems like a very neat and tidy way of doing things, albeit expensive.

Are there any sensible priced Soundbar options that can offer a good surround experience? Without breaking the bank?

At the moment, Sky Q and PS4 Pro connect to the Yamaha RX-V581. I'm assuming Soundbars offer multiple inputs too? So everything would connect to it and then ARC (eARC) back for surround sound directly from the TV?
If I wanted to add more HDMI devices, capacity to increase via the soundbar would be nice.

I'm not an audiophile, I'm not a person with a bottomless budget for audio equipment and the rather pathetic and old Onkyo surround speakers have been fine, only needing replacement due to obvious sound distortion these days.

Cheers for the pointers.
 
My personal preference as far as sound bars are concerned, and go to brand would be Yamaha. They have far more experience designing and manufacturing quality audio equipment than the likes of Samsung and LG but are probably the least commonly bought in the consumer market. I imagine most people buy a Samsung TV and Samsung sound bar to go with it.

I bought my Mum a Yamaha YSP-1400 a couple of years ago. For what is a budget unit (I think I paid £200), I was very impressed with it both musically and for movies. Most decent soundbars can try to emulate surround sound. The YSP-1400 has 8 front firing drivers which I imagine will use delay techniques to present a 'wider' sound.

For me, soundbars are a compromise to where you can't have a decent speaker setup. They look clean and appealing but even a soundbar/base offering 5.1 and costing £1100 will lose out to a full size, full range speaker setup costing far less.

Have you thought about keeping your receiver but looking at the 2nd hand market for speaker replacements?
 
stoofa said:
I enjoy having a surround sound system. It isn't particularly good - but I just love sitting at home and having the sound coming at me from all directions, especially when watching films.
The core of the system is a Yamaha RX-V581 and attached to it are rather old, nay ancient, Onkyo surround speakers (5) and Sub. These actually came with an Onkyo surround setup many moons ago.

These speakers are starting to show their age - getting sound distortion, they really should have been replaced a long time ago.
I want small, bookshelf style speakers, to decided on the Monitor Audio Radius 45's for the 4 corner speakers. Something Monitor Audio (possibly 200) for the centre speaker and then look into Sub options.
This won't be super expensive, but the 45's are £100 each, throw in a good Centre and sub and the price will begin to climb.

I read reviews of £1100+ Soundbars that can offer "near 5.1 experience" but do they? I have also seen Soundbars with wireless rear speakers and wireless Sub as well - seems like a very neat and tidy way of doing things, albeit expensive.

Are there any sensible priced Soundbar options that can offer a good surround experience? Without breaking the bank?

At the moment, Sky Q and PS4 Pro connect to the Yamaha RX-V581. I'm assuming Soundbars offer multiple inputs too? So everything would connect to it and then ARC (eARC) back for surround sound directly from the TV?
If I wanted to add more HDMI devices, capacity to increase via the soundbar would be nice.

I'm not an audiophile, I'm not a person with a bottomless budget for audio equipment and the rather pathetic and old Onkyo surround speakers have been fine, only needing replacement due to obvious sound distortion these days.

Cheers for the pointers.
Click to expand...

BIB: Beg to differ. Anyone, and I do mean anyone who asks a question along the lines of "what's my best choice for sound" is by very definition an audiophile. Within reasonable lower limits, budget doesn't really enter in to it. What you mean is that you're not an audio snob or some kind of audio elitest. That's the same for most of us here. We just want to know we're making good choices before purchasing. :D

There are some very good, albeit pricey, sound bars now that the market is maturing. Yamaha have been there for a long time with their YSP sound projector range. Samsung joined the party relatively recently after the acquisition of the US high-end brand portfolio under the Harman Kardon umbrella.

Philips is the only brand I am aware of making true wireless rear speakers. By that I mean there's no speaker wire attaching one active surround speaker to a second passive unit, and there's no mains cable trailing to a plug socket somewhere. TTBOMK, everyone else has one or both compromises, so they only class as wireless in the sense that there's no physical connection between the front and rear of the room.

Pound for pound, your upgrade to better surround speakers and a decent sub will still give you the greatest fidelity. I have to be honest though, the R45s wouldn't be my first choice for small front speakers. The tweeter in them faces the back. That's good for surround, but less so for front sound-stage speakers.
 
Last edited:
Samsung N950 blows me away every time I listen to something. I came from a B&W 600 series with a BK Monolith sub 5.1 setup (Yamaha RX-V765 amp) and this holds it's own. The Mrs refused to move into our new house with my existing set up and 'wires every where' and this was the compromise. Expensive as you say but ticks all of the boxes of keeping the Mrs happy and also keeping me content. Worth a listen anyway :)
 
agw_01 said:
I think I'd rather swap the Mrs than lose a Monolith to a soundbar and 8" subwoofer :D
Click to expand...

Looking at the Monolith and P12-300SB myself actually. What are BK like in terms of build quality/reliability. I trust their design, but unsure on longevity.

Sorry, bit of a thread hijack.
 
Last edited:
Rossi~ said:
Looking at the Monolith and P12-300SB myself actually. What are BK like in terms of build quality/reliability. I trust their design, but unsure on longevity.

Sorry, bit of a thread hijack.
Click to expand...

I bought mine second hand from a guy who had it 4 years. I had it for 5 years. Guy I sold it to is on these forums and that was ~3 years ago. I could find him and ask him but I think that probably tells you everything you need to know.
 
BK are the OEM for REL and MJ Acoustics too. That's got to hold some merit surely.

How big is your room Rossi and what's your primary use? The P12 and Monolith are completely different beasts.
 
For movies, get a Monolith. No question.

I have a 5x4m room and the Monolith handles whatever I throw at it without breaking a sweat. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I'm semi-detached :o
 
If you already have an AVR then I would get new speakers second hand. Whatever is local to you. Second hand monitor audi or q acoustics for the value for money sector.

i own a full 5.1 setup with a BK XXLS400 and I also own a Yamaha YSP-2700 and Yamaha YSP 1400/1600.

it's just not realistic to install 5.1 in every room there is a tv. if i had to do it all again i'd still get the 5.1 as they suit the room. however if my room is different i would go with yamaha 2700 or if i wanted to spend more the samsung N950's. my dad owns the samsung and it's very good.

Anything from the YSP2700 upwards is simply mindblowing how good they are for a soundbar.

the YSP 1400 is good for wall mounted soundbar option. it is weak though.
 
I went from a 5.1 system to a soundbar. Not top of the range stuff, a reasonable mid range system to a mid range soundbar. I just wanted less clutter and cables around the living room. For general use I'm happy with a soundbar, it offers punchy clear sound but I do miss genuine surround sound when gaming and watching films. Soundbars in my experience, just cannot replicate that, even ones that advertise being able to.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom