Soundbars or true surround?

200sols said:
The thing is no matter how 'high end' you cant reflect rear sound effects with any accuracy from the front soundstage. It just doesnt work, but if your happy with that limitation then its fine.
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I don't think i or anyone else has said that it's accurate. What a soundbar, a good one, is near enough for both the price and the ease of install to be a very viable option if you really don't have the room or the inclination to go full surround.

And i absolutely do not agree that ""you cant reflect rear sound effects with any accuracy from the front soundstage." I have spent about half my working life doing that same thing on a daily basis from any number of different mixing desks worldwide.
 
kitfit1 said:
Ohhhhhhhh, nitpicking now are we ? Get a life. It's accurate enough when you are using a top end sounbar. Of course it's not 100% accurate, but then a £3000 full surround system isn't either.
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Not nitpicking, just calling you out for contradicting yourself and you clearly didn’t like it.
 
Thank you for all of the posts - well for most of the posts.....no, thanks for them all, always good to get healthy debate.
I think I'm going to go the 5.1 route and just replace my ageing speakers - the Yamaha RX-V581 is a capable receiver and I think if I budget myself somewhere in the £500 - £600 max to replace my speakers and sub I should be able to get something I'm happy with.
In fact, after reading through a number of threads elsewhere, I've been looking at:

Wharfedale DX-2 at around £350
Monitor Audio 5.1 Mass (Older version) at £499
Monitor Audio 5.1 Mass (2019 version) at £599

I've got limited space for rear speakers and alas some of the recommended Q Acoustic units simply won't fit.
I hear good things about the Monitor Audio equipment, I did notice that on the 2019 version the centre speaker is "just another satellite" as opposed to every other setup I've seen where the centre always seems to be a bigger, more powerful speaker than the 4 satellites. However I am sure they know what they are doing.
 
FWIW - I have a Sony HT-XF9000 which is an Atmos soundbar. I know people here are rightly saying that it won't beat speakers in the ceiling, but I'm astounded at what it's able to achieve.

I've been very impressed with it so far.
 
I've dabbled with home cinema for a few years had the latest tech at the time and just grew bored of it plus the clutter in the living room was too much for the mrs so they had to go. Moved onto a sonos soundbar and sub. Couldn't be happier the trade off is fine.

But eventually i plan to go up into the loft and create a chill space with projector sound dampening all the works. But thats about 5-6yrs off :(
 
ubern00b said:
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 :)
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Yup, i packed all my 5.2 floorstanders away and bought the HW N950, i was sick of the clutter so wanted something decent to replace my 5.2 and this is a good soundbar, that guy agw 01 is just being a snob.
 
hornetstinger said:
Buy a house with a bigger room? My speakers don't dominate the room
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lol, the N950 soundbar is perfect for my needs and gaining a nice living room again instead of floorstanders taking over , I have no desire to move at the moment, wouldn't anyway just to fit some speakers in, I have two living rooms only one is for TV stuff.
 
phrases said:
I've dabbled with home cinema for a few years had the latest tech at the time and just grew bored of it plus the clutter in the living room was too much for the mrs so they had to go. Moved onto a sonos soundbar and sub. Couldn't be happier the trade off is fine.

But eventually i plan to go up into the loft and create a chill space with projector sound dampening all the works. But thats about 5-6yrs off :(
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imagine if you had bought a decent soundbar.

the sonos is mid range with high end pricing.

pointless buying a sonos sub if you don't have any other sonos speakers dotted throughout your home.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
imagine if you had bought a decent soundbar.

the sonos is mid range with high end pricing.

pointless buying a sonos sub if you don't have any other sonos speakers dotted throughout your home.
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Yes i am quite aware of what it would be when i purchased it and at that time the soundbar market wasn't as overcrowded as it is now. I already bought into the sonos eco system with a couple of ZP amps so it made sense to opt for.

Why would anyone buy a sub WITHOUT sonos speakers anyway?
 
phrases said:
Yes i am quite aware of what it would be when i purchased it and at that time the soundbar market wasn't as overcrowded as it is now. I already bought into the sonos eco system with a couple of ZP amps so it made sense to opt for.

Why would anyone buy a sub WITHOUT sonos speakers anyway?
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i meant soundbar - was a typo

200sols said:
Why?
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see above. as for why buy sonos soundbar and sub without anything else sonos in your home. the whole point of sonos is a wireless full home speaker system. as in speakers in the kitchen, dining room, living room, patio, bedrooms, etc so you can enjoy full wireless sound throughout the whole house.

if you are in the market just for a soundbar then pointless buying sonos unless you already have the sonos ecosystem elsewhere or are planning on upgrading to it elsewhere.
 
This notion that the alternative to a soundbar is "floorstanders taking over" is a bit ridiculous. It is entirely possible to build an acoustically and aesthetically pleasing system without recourse to a soundbar or floorstanders. There are a number of great options out there for quality surround sound. In fact, I'd actually posit that -for movies- pound for pound you will get better results going for satellites rather than floorstanders or soundbars.
 
200sols said:
Makes sense. Personally I see Sonos like apple, overpriced for what it is, but a polished product and has brand appeal.
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sonos is master of wireless as in power cord only but it's limited in codecs it can accept and expensive and should only be bought if you are planning on integrating it within multiple rooms.

personally i've never really found the need to have the same sound going to multiple rooms. but if you have a rather large house and having a party it could be useful.
 
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