Spec me a sound bar

I was thinking of posting in that thread you mentioned yesterday saying pretty much what you've just said here but decided to have another mince pie instead.

I'm not sure what drives him to often try to make out that only emulating his system or setup is the best way for them. i.e. it's so cheap and simple to run wires everywhere.

I normally dread to see someone ask an audio related question as he'll normally be one of the first to reply and it's a toss up if he'll just simply answer the question or make out he's knows their situation better than them and try to get them then to emulate his setup in some way.

I'm now out of mince pies, hence this reply. ;)

Same reason I stopped responding tbh, it was argue the points or keep stuffing my face and food won out! :cry:

I don't get it either, it's beyond fatiguing and I try to give him the benefit of the doubt because sometimes he seems to improve. It's like dealing with an addict that constantly slips up, only with bloody home theatre audio gear of all things.
 
Thanks both.

Kind of want to get this sorted before the other half comes home, do you think £1000 is too much for the 990F and I should wait or would you be happy paying that?

I think it probably is given you can very likely get it for close to £500 down the line, but all things are relative. If you don't mind paying that much and there's a time limit/window for it, just pull the trigger and be happy.

A few of the regulars on here don't understand the wife situation. :cry:
 
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I think it probably is given you can very likely get it for close to £500 down the line, but all things are relative. If you don't mind paying that much and there's a time limit/window for it, just pull the trigger and be happy.

A few of the regulars on here don't understand the wife situation. :cry:

Not a wife yet, just a long suffering girlfriend! But she has more of a reason to leave me if I mess it up!
 
Thanks mate. Just frustrated to feel stupid for looking at a soundbar I guess.

You know what I've found is good for frustration - mince pies! :)

There's absolutely no need to feel silly or stupid considering a soundbar. I have a pretty decent 7.2.4 setup (that I'm quite happy to post pictures of if anybody asks :p) but know that is not for everyone and a soundbar can cover many needs more than adequately

I recently went to stay with one of my oldest friends and he has a Samsung Q990F and it did a very impressive job so if you can pick up something along those lines I'd be surprised if you didn't get on well with it.
 
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Hard question it’s a superb Soundbar but at £1k it’s hard as it has been a lot less. Samsung tend to do deals and cash back quite regularly but I have no idea when the next will be. I suppose I doubt you will get a better soundbar for £1k. I had a complete Sonos Arc setup with sub and rears and I honestly think the 990F sounds better than that so in that sense it’s a good deal.
 
I’ve not had a brilliant experience with them in the past, I wonder if John Lewis might price match.

Worth a go otherwise you've got PRC direct or Amazon same price. Can't say I've ever had a problem with RS and if a product online doesn't give the 6 year warranty, then usually a phone call sorts that out. ;)
 
Do what most do and just ignore him, he's just attention seeking as usual.


As Simmz has said, there's plenty of adjustment via the Samsung SmartThings app..



I've got the Q930F and the dialouge is superb, which is one of the reasons why I got it (my old LG was just dreadful).
I paid £480 and couldn't be happier with it.


That's handy being able to adjust individual channels, I thought that would be an AVR only sort of feature. The last sound bar I had was a Sony one, pretty decent and had a dialogue enhance feature with multiple levels, but it still never got dialogue sounding clear enough for me. Even my current AVR setup has the centre channel volume increased slightly even after calibration. Dialogue clarity is something I seem to struggle with.
 
That's handy being able to adjust individual channels, I thought that would be an AVR only sort of feature. The last sound bar I had was a Sony one, pretty decent and had a dialogue enhance feature with multiple levels, but it still never got dialogue sounding clear enough for me. Even my current AVR setup has the centre channel volume increased slightly even after calibration. Dialogue clarity is something I seem to struggle with.

My old av pre had dialogue enhance it worked very well it boosted frequencies where the human voice reside, option of upto +6dB without boosting other effects (as you do when just increasing center channel level) On certain AVR's this can only be applied with certain formats, on mine it worked for everything. Used it for Tenet and other Nolan movies
 
Does it make the audio sound weird?

The dialogue enhance with my AVR does make dialogue louder, but I often find it isn't always as clear because it seems to amplify the lower frequencies of the vocals as well, which is often what is making it sound muddy. The best method I've found to get crystal clear dialogue is to manually adjust the EQ for the centre channel, in particular the lower frequencies. But then you lose a bit of the deeper vocal timbre which can sound a bit meh with the majority of content.

The dialogue enhance with my previous Sony soundbar was quite subtle and not particularly effective. However, that was a while ago and only a mid-range soundbar. I can't comment on the latest Samsung stuff, but I suspect it's pretty good.
 
Do you folks find the voices still sound like they're coming convincingly from the TV/TV area when using a soundbar?

I've always had this issue with the speakers I've got at my parents where female voices in particular don't really sound like they're coming from the actors' mouths. I tried to do a lot of tweaking and positioning over the years but just learned to live with it.
 
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