Soundbars - waste of money?

JustAnotherSaver

We could fit a 120cm long one on ours. Probably a tad longer like 130cm but then that'd be beyond the width of the TV then and to the edges of the stand and look crap.


Height could be 50cm to the base of the TV. Possibly stretch to about 65cm MAX

thescouselander

Personally I don't like soundbars - they're miles better that the standard TV speakers but are still compromised by their small packaging. I've got a small DAC with amp - this one to be precise

https://www.teac-audio.eu/en/products/ai-101da-120651.html

and some bookshelf speakers. It works very well for TV and music.

Mobeer

Richer Sounds had a £99 in store only deal which was surprisingly good to listen at home, and very compact. I'd much rather have separates though.

Some TVs have "dynamic range" controls or similar, that allow you to reduce the difference between loudest and quietest sounds, which could help if you are concerned for the neighbours.

Norman_Castle

I generally have to put the subtitles on when watching movies because too often i can't make out what they're saying unless the volume is up to what i know is a ridiculous level. We watch a lot of action movies so there'll be frequent random bursts of sound, so what's an ok level of noise one minute can be very loud the next

Try adjusting the sound settings on the tv. Speech setting should help you hear whats being said or try flat setting. Movie settings seem to turn everything up giving a noisy and confusing soundstage.

motorguy

bxboards wrote: »

Just a get a DAC with optical in, and connect to your stereo via a 3.5mm to coax stereo cable.

Will sound far better - you can find a DAC on Ebay for under a tenner.

A lot of people dont have a stereo so you're making a big assumption there. Also assuming that the stereo speakers are in the same area of the room / house

tweeter

My next door neighbour's started to loose their hearing and we had to contend with their sound bar racket. Fortunately they got the message and now they have headphones.;)

chrisw99

I got a relatively cheap £125 Samsung soundbar, with a bluetooth subwoofer, and it's fantastic, really brings everything to life.
I'm surprised how good the virtual surround works, I'm playing games on my PS4 and it still freaks me out when I hear voices to the side and behind me even though I have no speakers there.

I do find I sometimes have to put it in "night" mode which levels out the sound a bit making speech louder, and big sound effects quieter.

When our neighbours went on holiday and left us the key to feed their hamster, I did a few experiments, had it blasting away a live concert, couldn't hear anything next door, tried it higher at next feed time, still couldn't hear anything. It got to the point where it was painful in our own house, ornaments wobbling off the shelves, and still couldn't hear anything that I thought - great, no longer need to worry about how loud to have it before the neighbours complain!

coffeehound

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

It's against a flat wall in the middle on top of a solid oak TV stand. The side walls are a good distance from the TV.

Have you tried moving the TV away from the wall a bit? The sound is worse the closer they are to the wall. If you havent already, its worth going into the sound menu and switching off all effects and see how that sounds first, then try out the suggested sound enhancements one at a time. Richer sounds website indicates which products have won which awards which can indicate the good buys.

googler

As suggested above; if you already have a decent HiFi system for music use in the same room, connect the TV to that.

If you don't, buy one in preference to a soundbar.

motorguy

googler wrote: »

As suggested above; if you already have a decent HiFi system for music use in the same room, connect the TV to that.

If you don't, buy one in preference to a soundbar.

Soundbars - especially at the price point the O/P is proposing - offer a fantastic sound upgrade over the standard internal speaker. Wholly worth doing.

Investing in a full on HiFi system seems like a sledgehammer to crack a walnut - and also i'd suggest you're not going to get that much of an advantage by spending the same amount on a HiFis system over what would be a very good sound bar at that price.