T.V. soundbar

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So I'm sitting with the captain of my pool league team and his wife last Wednesday night.

Got to talking about how lousy flat screen T.V. sound is.

They are both in their late 50's.She tells me that he is so hard of hearing that they watch T.V. with the closed caption on so

he doesn't blast the sound.

I told her about me buying a new set for Super bowl and the sound was so bad I bought a $100 sound bar and its great.

She says did it make a big difference, yes it did because now the sound is coming straight at you rather then down out of crummy little speakers.

They both said they had never thought of a sound bar to help with this problem.

And they can well afford $100 for a basic sound bar.
 
If one goes to about $150 one can get a wireless remote sub woofer. I got a deal last spring on a LG and it has Bluetooth so one can link to phone or tablet for music too. Was a great way to enjoy audio and video in the 5th wheel camper
 
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Yep...the 'new' center channel speaker...imagine that.

I've heard this scenario so many times...his high f hearing is Tango Uniform, so he misses all the consenants and can't make out the dialog. So he cranks up the volume, driving the MRS. nuts so she leaves the room because she can't stand the noise.

Of course MR. won't get hearing aids either....

Most often not only are their loudspeakers just lousy, the 'center channel' is often sideways and way up on top of an entertainment center where the dialog would be best heard at the opposite end of the room.

Thus stuff is important....and it matters.

Glad they 'heard' the light....
 
I had a rear firing panasonic plasma tv parked infront of the enclosed breezeway window.
You literally couldnt hear it unless it was on volume 100.

I got a samsung soundbar on craigslist (289$ msrp) for $90
still working good.

Later on I rearranged the living room with new couch and put the TV in front of an actual wall..
The sound was still anemic but at least twice as loud.
 
I've been thinking about getting a sound bar, but had a question. Do I have to raise the volume with the sound bar remote, or will the TV remote still raise the volume on the sound bar? If the TV remote will still work for it, then I might get a couple for various TVs around the house. But if I have to use different remotes, it's not going to be worth it to me.
 
Originally Posted By: sicko
I've been thinking about getting a sound bar, but had a question. Do I have to raise the volume with the sound bar remote, or will the TV remote still raise the volume on the sound bar? If the TV remote will still work for it, then I might get a couple for various TVs around the house. But if I have to use different remotes, it's not going to be worth it to me.


That is sound bar and tv specific. Some sound bars car learn the volume signals from the tv remote. You would get remarks that the tv speakers are off when you signal the soundbar though.

I simply use logitech harmony remotes to meld all the different devices together.
 
Sound bars are a lame excuse of an alternative, IMO. Play the sound through the stereo you already own, for the price of a cable to connect the source to the amp.
 
Originally Posted By: Olas
Sound bars are a lame excuse of an alternative, IMO. Play the sound through the stereo you already own, for the price of a cable to connect the source to the amp.


You are assuming everyone has a stereo sound system.
 
Originally Posted By: marine65
Originally Posted By: Olas
Sound bars are a lame excuse of an alternative, IMO. Play the sound through the stereo you already own, for the price of a cable to connect the source to the amp.


You are assuming everyone has a stereo sound system.


Right. Or assuming they have one on every TV, in every room. Sometimes a sound bar is the right solution for a smaller TV in a smaller room where you don't want to wedge in an entire A/V 5/6/7.1 system.
 
Originally Posted By: Olas
Sound bars are a lame excuse of an alternative, IMO. Play the sound through the stereo you already own, for the price of a cable to connect the source to the amp.


I threw out the stereo. It was old and crackling. The speakers were also 19 years old.
Got rid of a ton of wiring.

The soundbar is plenty for the 12x16 living room

I have considered going back to a full surround system eventually.

It is a HW-E450 Samsung.. is it audiophile? no. But easy solution for $90

The voices on the TV are extremely clear.
 
Originally Posted By: Olas
Sound bars are a lame excuse of an alternative, IMO. Play the sound through the stereo you already own, for the price of a cable to connect the source to the amp.


Know your audience, bud. No one with a sound bar uses it over a system on purpose; the concerns are either cost or space.

Not a lot of space in my condo living room. Besides, the Yamaha sound bar sounds absolutely amazing; to get an equivalent sound quality from a surround sound system I'd have to spend a lot more. The sound stage is irrelevant, because the space is too small for a truly immersive experience with surround sound, anyway! The drivers in the Yamaha crank out tight lows, with accurate reproduction, along with smooth mods and silky highs (ok, the highs could use some work, but for the price...)

I have an Energy powered sub, but, again, condo...I do care about my neighbors. Unlike most, some sound bars (my Yamaha included) really can pump out some bass, without having to turn the volume all the way up so as not to drown out the mids. Most sound bars don't have independent drivers, though. You get what you pay for (and then some, if you keep an eye out for deals! Got mine refurb'd)
 
Originally Posted By: Rand
Originally Posted By: Olas
Sound bars are a lame excuse of an alternative, IMO. Play the sound through the stereo you already own, for the price of a cable to connect the source to the amp.


I threw out the stereo. It was old and crackling. The speakers were also 19 years old.
Got rid of a ton of wiring.

The soundbar is plenty for the 12x16 living room

I have considered going back to a full surround system eventually.

It is a HW-E450 Samsung.. is it audiophile? no. But easy solution for $90

The voices on the TV are extremely clear.




Same here.
I had a full surround with a receiver.
After the fourth receiver in 14 years died, I went with a Vizio surround system with a soundbar. Less than $200. out the door.
It has excellent sound and was less expensive than the receiver I was going to buy.
My only complaint is if I am not careful in the winter months, I either shutoff or adjust the infrared heater we use in our family room.
Seriously doubt that I will ever go back to a receiver based surround system again.
 
My dad is old school, he has a large stereo receiver cabinet with Sony ES receivers, amps, etc, and a 5.1 system.

He likes to have the movie experience at home.

I could care less personally, I think its a waste of space.

I have a 50 inch TV (changhong) mounted to my wall in my living room and it gives more sound than I would ever need.

However I have listened to the bose soundbar at the bose outlet store a few weeks ago, and was very impressed with that sound in a small package.

I guess if we listened to concerts or music on the TV, that would be worth it, but I don't need to blast the nightly news or the weather report.
 
I like the Vizio soundbars, and would recommend at least a 3.0 if they're looking to improve vocals. The 2.0 or 2.1 will improve the sound quality greatly, but having the third center channel is nice for clearly hearing voices and can be adjusted to really boost the clarity of dialogue.
 
I bought a ZVOX Soundbase similar to this one several years ago. Mine has two subs as opposed to three shown here:

http://www.zvoxaudio.com/divinity-cart/item/4007701/zvox-audio-soundbase.770/1.html

This is the top dog and it's not cheap but the sound is quite amazing and the ability to put dialog up front makes a world of difference. Bass is plentiful when needed and music sounds very good. Surround? In a word, NO but it can make the sound stage wider. It's nothing near a full fledged surround system but light years above most sound bars and will fill a large room with detailed clear audio. The one I purchased, now obsolete, has a 125 watt amp built in.

Point being is that if you want more than a sound bar but don't want to deal with the complexity of a full surround system this might interest you. They make several models and also sound bars as of late.
 
Originally Posted By: marine65
So I'm sitting with the captain of my pool league team and his wife last Wednesday night.

Got to talking about how lousy flat screen T.V. sound is.

They are both in their late 50's.She tells me that he is so hard of hearing that they watch T.V. with the closed caption on so

he doesn't blast the sound.

I told her about me buying a new set for Super bowl and the sound was so bad I bought a $100 sound bar and its great.

She says did it make a big difference, yes it did because now the sound is coming straight at you rather then down out of crummy little speakers.

They both said they had never thought of a sound bar to help with this problem.

And they can well afford $100 for a basic sound bar.


Flat screen sound is routed to my old stereo system, the tv speakers aren't used. With 120 W RMS per channel, and bookshelf speakers the sound is all you could desire. Better than most home theater systems with those small satellites. Didn't cost more than a set of RCA cables.

But if that would fail, and the JVC amp in the basement aswell, I'd go with something like a soundbar aswell.

My only complaint now is that dialogues are usually recorded fairly quiet, and explosions way too loud...
 
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Originally Posted By: Triple_Se7en
Why don't new TVs come with an attached sound bar?


Makes the TV more expensive, and "the cheaper one has speakers aswell, we'll just get that".
 
Originally Posted By: Jetronic
Originally Posted By: marine65
So I'm sitting with the captain of my pool league team and his wife last Wednesday night.

Got to talking about how lousy flat screen T.V. sound is.

They are both in their late 50's.She tells me that he is so hard of hearing that they watch T.V. with the closed caption on so

he doesn't blast the sound.

I told her about me buying a new set for Super bowl and the sound was so bad I bought a $100 sound bar and its great.

She says did it make a big difference, yes it did because now the sound is coming straight at you rather then down out of crummy little speakers.

They both said they had never thought of a sound bar to help with this problem.

And they can well afford $100 for a basic sound bar.


Flat screen sound is routed to my old stereo system, the tv speakers aren't used. With 120 W RMS per channel, and bookshelf speakers the sound is all you could desire. Better than most home theater systems with those small satellites. Didn't cost more than a set of RCA cables.

But if that would fail, and the JVC amp in the basement aswell, I'd go with something like a soundbar aswell.

My only complaint now is that dialogues are usually recorded fairly quiet, and explosions way too loud...


This is true. I wish my T.V. had a steady sound setting.
Maybe it does, just never looked for it.
 
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