Soundbars?

turbobob

My dad was asking me about upgrading the sound on his TV. Its a wall mounted 50" plasma. A large amplifier and multispeaker system with the associated cabling around the room is not really practical or desirable, and he is not an "audiophile". But some sort of surround sound capability is wanted.

One possibility I've suggested is a soundbar. Are these likely to be suitable or are there better options?

I've had a quick look on some websites and found a Yamaha YSP600 for around the £300 mark. It seems to be quite well reviewed. Are there any others around the same price to look at?

Secondly the TV is bolted into the wall on an adjustable mount. How would be the best way to locate something like this? I assume the best place would be below the TV. Can you get some sort of shelf that attaches to the existing mount or something?

Thanks

alanrowell

A soundbar is never going to be as good as dedicated speakers and the reviews I've seen all mention that it has a limited sweetspot - where the surround sound works

Generally there will be an option to wall mount a soundbar but not for the YSP600.

Have you considered a proper system using wireless rear speakers?

aliEnRIK

A soundbar would produce far better sound quality then the tv. Yamaha ones are the most well known so I cant really suggest any others

As for location, I dont know of any brackets as such as theyre designed to sit below the tv on some form of shelf. Youll probably have to make your own

turbobob

Thanks. I thought it might be the case that they had a limited "sweetspot" but that might be OK. Good to hear it will be a substantial upgrade on the standard TV speakers though, which is really the aim. Thanks for the tip on wireless rear speakers. Its not something I've thought about but that might be acceptable.

Mounting it sounds like it could be an issue - I'm not sure if he's keen to drill into the wall again, although looking around I've seen some low profile equipment stands/cable management systems that might do the job.

Marty_J

As Rik correctly points out, a soundbar will sound better than the TV does, but any pseudo-surround effect it can create is likely to be very limited, and it won't sound anywhere near as good as a decent amp and set of speakers.