Sound bar for TV?
 

Need a decent sound bar for our TV. Anything that has ok sound without having to hookup multiple speakers. Low profile would help based on our setup but I suppose we could always elevate the TV on a box.


Thoughts?

LMAO

My fiancee and myself are looking for one of these too.

I think we are sold on a Bose we've seen at Best Buy.

However, I too would appreciate the planet's feedback.

Jesus, Bose? Are you making stripper money or something?!

We make decent money.

It's $400. She wants it more than I do. But happy wife, blah blah blah.

And she bought $1000 worth of stuff for her work just now. So we plan on using her points/money from that towards the sound bar.

You aren't even married yet!!!

Make that bitch miserable so that when you get married and treat her better, she loves you even more.

She treats me too good as it is.

I gotta enjoy the fun while I can.

This guy gets it.

Heck yea. I'm a married man. You have to learn quick!

I don't know about dropping $400 for something like this although I imagine Bose is definitely great top of the line sound.

I did just pick up an hourly job on the side of my full-time job. :hmmm:

Giving handjobs in dark alleys is tax free. Watch out for arthritis though. :thumb:

Stop trying to derail my thread with your perverse comments.

I'm trying to get us a great sound bar here!

AND you get to work your own hours.

Assuming you're decent and charge $20 a tug that's only 20 handies bro.

You could get a little crazy and go double fisted. That just depends how badly and quickly you need that sound bar.

I have a samsung sound bar. Love it. Highly recommend one.

Can you link which one? We have 3 Samsung TVs and love them. I'd be willing to bet their sound bars are pretty good.

http://www.amazon.com/Wood-Technolog.../dp/B003FPNDPG

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...gL._SX425_.jpg

my in-laws have the bose soundbar with the wireless sub and it sounds pretty good, im more of a multi speaker surround kinda guy myself

i paid about two-thirds the price of the bose for my 5.1 speakers and they blow it away

if it's a space issue i would still go multi speaker with something tiny like bose acoustimass

Kind of in no man's land, BOSE is smoke and mirrors to mask subpar sound by projecting false depth, but then that's kind of a sound bar's job. I'm confident that in the long run your be much happier with nicely placed bookshelves and a modest subwoofer, even bluetooth models. But I'm equally confident you're convinced that the unobtrusive nature of a sound bar trumps sound quality.

I'd suggest looking at the Vizio and Yamaha models [that have bluetooth subs you can tuck away anywhere] before pulling the trigger on the BOSE.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...le-t-5-ag-2-20

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...le-t-5-ag-2-20

That wireless subwoofer is great! Didn't know stuff like that was out there. That's the biggest one you have to find a place for but wireless takes out the chord since we have a built in wall entertainment center that makes placement tricky. I'll try to post a picture tomorrow so you guys see what I am working with. Not the most room with a whole wall of cutouts and only a certain amount of space where the TV is located.

We looked at soundbars but we went with this little onkyo 2.1 setup instead. It does have the two speakers but works nice for our setup. The sub is wireless.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B008YD...&robot_redir=1

Picture of setup.

Not a lot of room around the TV, hence my thinking sound bar is good so it won't block TV signal on right side of TV.

I have a Sony and I really like it.

I have an LG. I'm not sure of the model but it has Bluetooth capabilities and a wireless subwoofer.

It sounds great, particularly playing music, and is about as incognito as one could get. I have it nailed to the wall above my TV and the woofer right next to the TV stand. As a whole, it basically takes up no space.

I want to say it was $299 about 3 years ago.

I have this

http://www.polkaudio.com/products/surroundbar6500bt

I listened to a bunch of soundbars over the year(s) and this one sounded the best to me, I love it. Also has a good warranty.

Please don't buy Bose. Buying Bose is like buying Monster cables or Beats by Dre headphones. You're paying for marketing, not product. Not that Bose produces crap, but you can get the same quality at a significantly lower price. I wish I could give you specific soundbar recommendations, but I don't know much about them as I can't for the life of me figure out why someone would choose to go that route.

I submit you'd ultimately be happier with something like this

http://sunnybankhifi.com.au/catalog/...oducts_id=1521

http://sunnybankhifi.com.au/catalog/images/S215.jpg

You could easily put brackets on your pillars to hold the individual front speakers and take your time finding appropriate places to put your rear surrounds. Don't know if this comes in a wireless config, but I'm sure there is someone offering a similar form factor and bluetooth.

$1300 Baby Lee?


That might be a shade overkill.

If I were to go small surround, Mirage is my choice:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...PL._SX425_.jpg

I mostly showed it for form factor, though Cambridge Audio is a speaker company I can vouch for. MoF, I may have some of those cubes at my parents' I could sell you cheap, though you'd need an amplifier for them. I had some and now my parents use some. Can't remember if I gave them to them or they bought their own before I upgraded and I just boxed them up.

Edit: it also looks like that store was vastly overpricing the set. Listed as $800 at Sound and Vision

http://www.soundandvision.com/conten...speaker-system

Cambridge has always made decent stuff.

I have a Vizio and love it..have bought their TVs for about 7 years and I love them so I decided to get the sound bar and haven't been disappointed

I couldn't go without my 7.1 surround system.

More than likely we will do some shopping around before we buy but we've both had Bose products before and been really impressed.

I'm sure we will go with Vizio or something which I would be perfectly fine with.

http://m.bestbuy.com/m/e/product/det...=1218890758277

Thoughts on that?

Total crap /CP hifi experts

I had a cheap Vizio soundbar for a while but didn't like it (plus the remote stopped working after 6 months). Since I have limited space, I decided to combine the soundbar with the 5.1 surround system and got this passive soundbar.

http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-...black--300-684

The soundbar acts as the front left and right speakers as well as the center channel. It sounds great and is a lot cleaner than having a bunch of separate speakers (which made the wife happy). Another plus is that it uses my Harmon Kardon amp rather than the shitty built in amps that powered soundbars use.

Sent my fiancee that Vizio link and her response:

"I want the Bose." LMAO

Lewdog, I use the Vizio similar to what Baby Lee posted. You might start with that just to see if you like them. For $150 you are not out much, if you want to upgrade later you can easily move the Vizio to another room. I enjoy my Vizio soundbar though! . Here is a link that has a lot of info on soundbars. The second link is if you are on budget. Happy hunting.

http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-soundbar/

http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-budget-soundbar/

**** I hate Bose.

Back in the day on 10th street in Columbia Mo there was 10th street Audio.

They'd let you audition 10 different speakers in different rooms before purchase. Small store, but they cared and knew their $3it.

Boston Acoustics, NHT, Bose, Yamahaw, M&K (would still JIMP for an M&K setup), etc. Mostly high mid-priced to low end.

The Bose sounded like complete $3it even compared to standard Pioneer systems. Having a Bose system in the 90's was like having an emachine and talking about your "sweet gaming rig."

Maybe my perspective isn't right, but that area looks like it's gonna want more than just a soundbar.

Cool looking house, by the way.

Thanks. We love it. And we removed those wall sayings which were pasted around the house. The one above the TV says "Make each day your masterpiece." :facepalm:

Those were the first things we took down.

It is a fairly large sized area with the kitchen/dinning off the the right of the picture. We sit at the kitchen bar many times while eating and watching TV. I was having trouble running any kind of wire from the TV spot down the columns on either side to those two bottom openings next to the fire place. If you were to suggest something bigger, where would you mount/place the speakers with this setup? That's what I am having trouble with which is why a sound bar sounded easier.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have this one and I Love it. $170 delivered via Amazon. Blue tooth ready, LCD screen, great depth, excellent sound quality and the 3D sound feature is impressive. The one negative it that it doesn't seem to sync with my Samsung TV remote so I have to use two remotes but Im sure more tech savvy folks could figure a way to make it work.

By the looks of this thread is seems she is very uneducated.

Put that bitch in her place please.

Bose is definitely off my radar thanks to the good people of CP.

Looks like I will probably do my usual go to BestBuy. Look at shit. Then buy for cheaper on Amazon. God I love Amazon.

Yep, they should change the name to BestShop (and buy elsewhere).
Let us know what you find.

I'm not sure if they are still doing it, but because Best Buy had turned into a glorified showroom, they started an online price matching policy that included amazon and other major online retailers.

You recommended that the space probably needs more than a sound bar. Any suggestions? I suppose I won't have a hard time running wire horizontally through those pillars but running them down is a pain. But I suppose I wouldn't have speakers in the bottom cutouts on the sides of the fireplace so I guess that's a moot point. Do they make wireless setups for all speakers?

Interesting. I did not know that. Thanks.

Do you a place/room for a receiver/amp, because there are tons of 3.1/5.1/7.1 speaker sets that will give you better sound and a fuller presence than a soundbar, but they'll need amplification in most all cases. I'm sure you can find a wireless solution out there if you have the scratch.

I don't own a receiver but we definitely have place for one. So those setups require plugin to a receiver for amplification purpose?

Yes, twin lead wire for each speaker. If it's not provided, 12 gauge lamp cord at HD or Lowes will work [they sell it by the foot or in 50 and 100 foot rolls], and an RCA connection to the sub, like below but you only need a single lead [those are usually included]. You'll also want wall brackets to mount your speakers, they can be as big or small, simple or fancy as you like. Finally, you need a connection from your TV to the receiver. HDMI is most advanced and simplest [it can carry stereo, 3.1, 5.1 and 7.1 depending on the signal the TV receives], but you can go as far down the totem as another pair of RCA jacks, though then your surround sound would be simulated [Dolby Pro-Logic] by the receiver from an analog stereo signal received from the TV.

http://thumbs3.ebaystatic.com/d/l225...KHFrhW9E6g.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ite-cables.jpg

http://a248.e.akamai.net/pix.crutchf...B-o_right.jpeg

Baby Lee: What about something like this.

System gets good reviews and isn't super costly.

http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_i...seq=1&format=2

Receiver?

http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_i...seq=1&format=2

The receiver would probably be all right, can't say much for the speakers as I've never heard speakers from Monoprice, but the sub only goes down to 50Hz, which most decent bookshelf speakers go that low on their own. I'd look for something that AT LEAST goes down to 33-30Hz in the sub area, or just get a set of better bookshelves and skip the sub. You don't have to spend $1K on a primo speaker set, but $89 probably isn't going to get you anything of quality new. $300-700 or so is the range you should like at. Maybe look around and see if you can get a good deal on that $800 MSRP Cambridge Audio setup I listed above, or something comparable. Maybe scout your electronics stores for floor models.

I would suggest, if you have one at your convenience, going to a higher end store than Best Buy for at least a listen to see if you yearn for better than you see at BB. You might, you might not, but the experience is worth the effort before shelling out dough. Nothing like hearing something that you fall in love with and kicking yourself 'for $75 more $$!! :cuss:'

EDIT TO ADD: A truly good quality sub need only get you to 20Hz 'flat' ie, with little tapering of sound at the low end. That's fairly firmly established as being as low as you can hear, though some go even lower [at great expense] so you can FEEL the low end in your body. So use that as a barometer when assessing how much you want to spend for subs betwen 30-33Hz down to 20 [hint, you'll probably not find a truly flat to 20Hz sub for less that $800-1000 for it alone]. But still, 50Hz cutoff is pretty useless, unless you're using it in a small room like on your computer, where it'll be a little better than a boom box.

For the money, you cannot beat Hsu Research subwoofers. Check out their website, as sometimes they even have scratch and dents. Plus, cosmetically, they offer piano black finish, which is nice to look at. Some of their least expensive stuff will get you down to the 20Hz range, and I believe they have a few that go down lower than that at the higher end.

Baby Lee, what about something like this. I'm still researching. And while I don't have a set budget, I really don't want to spend the cash for a super top of the line system.

This unit comes with great reviews, receiver/speakers together. Price seems very reasonable. I'd probably mount two of the speakers on the pillars above the TV and place two in the cutouts to the side of the TV.

http://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-YHT-497...zg_bs_281056_2

Amazon is running some specials on their best selling home theater systems too.

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-E...pe_row3_b2_t//

Last thing. If you get a system with many speakers, do most people put two of the speaker behind or to the side of the seating area? I don't really want to run or have a way to run speaker wire for that because we have openings on both sides of our living room and I sure as hell don't want wire being visible there. Does anyone put all 5 speakers in the front by the TV?

As you can tell, I am not the least bit tech savvy.

ROFL

The picture may be deceiving but to me no sound bar is going to fill that room. Is this where you do most you tv watching?

If it were me id say f the soundbar and 5.1 or 7.1 system. Just get 2 floor staning speakers and a sub in that room.

If you have a entertainment room that is less open thats where I would go 5.1 or 7.1.

There are so many good speaker companies at much affordable prices than Bose. Dont fall for the marketing ploy. The put 1o cent speakers and hardware in those things then engineer the hell out of it to get some semblance of sound.

Yeah, **** Bose. If you're set on a soundbar, Polk is the way to go, IMO.

And I don't know where you live, but I'd go somewhere other than Best Buy to check them out. You won't have a clue how they actually sound. Nebraska Furniture Mart or somewhere similar will help with that more the Best Buy.

If its a wifey thing and it has to be a soundbar take a look at these.

From Pioneer and designed by Andrew Jones a renowned speaker designer.

http://www.cnet.com/products/pioneer-sp-sb23w/

I have heard these also and as far as a soundbar goes its about as good as you will get. I caution you though the look of your room you wont find anything thats sounds like what you heard in a showroom at your home. That room is to open and requires a much more substantial system.

That may be a tough pill to swallow for the wifey.

http://www.zvoxaudio.com/divinity-ca...ase.555/1.html

Yup that's correct. In a 5.1 system there are two speakers at the back of the room, left and right fronts, a center, and a sub. For my back speakers I used flat paintable speaker wire and you can't tell it's there at all. It's more expensive than regular speaker wire but my wife didn't want wires all over the wall lol. If you spend any amount of time in that room watching tv/gaming/music then I really think the extra effort is worth it for a 5.1 system. That's a big room for a sound bar.

I guess more importantly what is your budget? What is the price point you are willing to pay so get real sound into that room?

Are you willing to buy used. If u are people nearly give away awesome equipment to but the latest greatest. Keep eyes peeled for anything Dynaaudio or Paradigm, def tec, BW, SVS.

Look Craigslist or Audiogon.

Paradigm are some really nice bang for the buck speakers made up here in the great white north lol, my first home theatre setup had them and they rocked.

I bought this for my dad last christmas and he LOVES it. He despises complicated remotes. That was his big issue with his last surround system. He would screw up the remote and I would have to come over and fix it. This is so simple, he can't screw it up. The wireless subwoofer and back speakers (5.1 surround with a sound bar?!?!?!) are one of this biggest selling points of this system. No wires to run from the sound bar to the back of your living room. It sounds almost as good as my 7.1 surround system (which disappoints me a little bit). oh, and it also has bluetooth. He used to love the iPod dock on his old system, but he hated never being able to see what song he was on without getting up to look at the little iPod screen. Now he plays music with his iPad over bluetooth. He had to place a couple of old encyclopedias under his TV to raise it a bit, but the sound bar covers them. This is definitely worth a look.

http://youtu.be/h6NNnEDXGsY

I want a sound bar but I have a mount that lets the tv swing out too have my bed. What do I do then?
Posted via Mobile Device

Or you could dedicate a room like a friend on another forum.



His room made an episode of comic book men on AMC.

http://i62.tinypic.com/2vc9h7k.jpg
Here is the one I bought.

Yes, if you run 5.1/7.1 you will have speakers to the side/rear of you seating position. You could feasibly just put all the speakers up front and just run a 5/7 channel stereo program, but if you wanted to do that you're really just best served with a 2.1 setup. Given your space in the pic, you would run the speaker wire under your carpet if you wanted a 5.1/7.1 setup.

Here is the picture again for those that didn't see what I am dealing with. I don't think it is as big a space as the picture makes it, however.

Openings on both sides of this room and I really don't want to run wire under the carpet and I'm not really sure I would rip up the carpet, put the wire down and put the carpet back down. That's not my speed as I am not super handy.

2.1 setup might be my best bet for better sound than a sound bar but easier setup that surround sound as I don't want to mess with running wire under the carpet. The two speakers could go on the bottom two cutouts as I can run the wire down those columns. Wireless woofer could go on the side/back of the couch

Thoughts?

Yea I have eliminated Bose from contention. Much better options as seen in this thread from those who have made suggestions.

We do pretty much all our watching in this room.

The two speaker option might be easier for me to install to get good sound without having to run wire. However, I did see a 5.1 Sony system that has two wireless rear speakers which would alleviate that problem of wire for back speakers and still give me surround sound.

Here's the Sony 5.1 with wireless rear speakers to avoid the mess of wires in this room.

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-BDV-N7100...d+sound+system

I have no opinion on wireless speakers as I have not had any dealing with them. My concern is with all the things in the house useing wireless would there be issues of breaking up.

My Home theator I use Mackie HR824 studio Monitors they have dedicated amps. It is a 5:1 setup in my basement. I use a prepro as I do not need an amp the speakers have. But still have the wire issue. My sub is a DIY I got the parts from Partsexpress. For a little over 300 bucks it will out perform most any Sub costing 1000.00.

My Living room is just a 3:1 with some older Cambridge tower speaks and another DIY sub. I have a Onkyo receiver that has a setting that mimics surround sound. Works fine for me.

The Mackies are same as the video I posted in that guys batcave. The ones up high in the corners. They are legendary home theater performers for the buck.

If the speakers in back are still going to be near a wall, there are all sorts of wall plates, so you can route your surround wires through the wall and reconnect in back.

http://images.cableorganizer.com/arl...2W-in-wall.jpg

You want the center speaker as close as possible above or below the TV, it will carry the bulk of dialog.

You want the fronts moderately wide, the pillars left and right are a fairly ideal for mounting [black]. If you want a broader soundstage, it is a decent decision to mount them farther apart on up on the horizontal beam [red, center stays where the black center is above the TV].

You want the surrounds at least even with, preferably somewhat behind, the listening position.

Did I mention I am not super handy??? Routing wire through the wall....yikes!

LMGTFY

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/NwXAWsp9wps" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

If you're truly skeeved by long wires, put off by the price of wireless, and intimidated by fishing wires inside walls, I still would suggest 3.1 over just stereo. Getting dialog into a dedicated center channel keeps it from sounding like you're watching TV in a stadium.

Did you see the link of the wireless rear speaker from some companies like Sony and Samsung I posted a few posts back to alleviate the wire running to the back of your seating? I know other companies probably make wireless rear speakers too, those are just the few I found. Any idea the reliability of the wireless connection for those back speakers? That might be a better option for me to spend a bit more up front for ease of installation. I'm just not comfortable routing wire under carpet or in walls and doing that myself.

Better video of the Batcave.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVgQseleVNw

Look close, some of the 'wireless' solutions are a wireless receiver that plugs into a wall socket in the back of the room, from which you still run wires to the speakers in back.

Which is fine if it works for you, but don't necessarily think you just set a speaker anywhere and it magically starts playing.

Right but I could put that receiver behind the couch by the wall socket and run the two back speaker wires along the baseboard and up the wall on both sides of the sectional and they'd wouldn't be going across a walking area, right? That's how they work? Run speaker wires from that receiver to the speakers I have behind the couch?