What soundbar do I buy?

LukieBoy007 · 1 Feb 2015 at 17:49

Hi,
I'm looking to purchase a soundbar for my Sony W7 42" TV around the £250 price point.

I've been looking at the Philips HTL5140B for £240 and it seems pretty good, the main attraction being the height of it as the TV sits pretty low down, sound quality appears to be decent as well.

The Orbitsound M9 also sounds good, but the height of it really puts me off. What other soundbars would you recommend for around £250?

Thanks,
Luke.

LukieBoy007 · 9 Feb 2015 at 20:46

Looks okay, nothing special. What other options do I have?

LukieBoy007 · 9 Feb 2015 at 22:39

Hmm I have been looking at the Sony's due to match the Sony TV, they don't look too bad I guess and are pretty slim which is good as the TV I have is very low. How do you find the Sony XT1? Thanks!

LukieBoy007 · 10 Feb 2015 at 19:55

Harl0 said:
Have you looked at the Sonus range?

If you mean Sonos, then yes I have as I already own a Play 1 but £600 for the Playbar seems a bit steep. I have considered it though, as it does look/sound really good!

gregorius said:
An alternative to using a soundbar (if you're willing to consider it) is a mini-hifi system. I run a Denon DM39 into Dali Zensor 1 speakers for TV sound, with excellent results. A quick look around suggests that you can get a package deal on these for under £300.

Well it's for a bedroom so I thought soundbar instantly as it doesn't take up too much room. However, if it can be done fairly cheaply and with not too much space being used with cables all over the place I will consider it!

Thanks

LukieBoy007 · 10 Feb 2015 at 20:10

Ok so I've been watching some stuff on the Sony HTXT1, and it does look pretty promising as it doesn't take up too much space. I'm a bit worried about the bass on it though, how would it compare to say a soundbar (with subwoofer) around the same price? Such as a Sony HTCT370? Also, as it's a Sony soundbar/base, does this mean I can use my TV's control (which is a Sony TV) to change the volume rather than a separate remote?

LukieBoy007 · 14 Feb 2015 at 19:43

TheHitMan-1973 said:
Not only a good soundbar but T.V stand to perfect

Just to let you know, I've gone for the Sony HTXT-1 as I managed to get it for £200, will arrive during the week, will let you know how I find it!

LukieBoy007 · 18 Feb 2015 at 23:21

Should be here tomorrow so I'll let you know then.

LukieBoy007 · 19 Feb 2015 at 13:26

Received it about an hour ago, first impressions were very good as it's very stylish and goes well with my Sony W7. Sound quality is great, much better than the TV speakers (obviously...), so far watched a tiny portion of Edge of Tomorrow and sounded very good, bass is pretty impressive for something without an external sub, Bluetooth/NFC works very good as well. Goes pretty loud, but I won't be having it that loud anyway.

Options are very good as well - you can alter the sub volume, bass, treble, voice levels and there are presets for different sources (movie, music, game, standard etc). Movie has a more punchy, realistic sound to it (as you'd expect) whereas music sounds great too. There's also a preset which automatically adjusts depending on the source, and it's worked pretty well so far.

To answer your question andshrew, you can either have the display at full brightness, dimmed, or off completely.

Loving it so far!

LukieBoy007 · 21 Feb 2015 at 20:07

I did look at the Yamaha series, the 130 in particular but as Waltagon said, the height of it put me off, as well as the appearance of it in general.