Soundbars - waste of money?

JustAnotherSaver

NaughtiusMaximus wrote: »

The OP was I think referring to the problem of the dialogue being quieter than sound effects and music

Yes. It's annoying & it's got to the stage where now i don't even wait to see how the film will pan out, i just put subtitles on from the start because i know it's easier that way than rewinding.


The problem is you (I) find that i read all the subtitles, even when i can hear what they're saying.



Having watched plenty of Asian martial arts movies and anime this isn't really anything new to me but still i'd rather watch a movie without subtitles if i can if it's English.

almillar

Surely a simpler way would be to simply take the audio from the TV to the sound bar, whether that be via a phono plug or ideally optical cable.

We've various boxes attached to our TV via HDMI, the only link to the sound bar is via an optical cable from the TV

It might be, yes, and I've limited experience with soundbars, but 'the done thing' in AV is to plug everything into the amp, and connect it to the TV - amp does the switching.

TVs very often, even via optical, will only pass on 2 channel sound, rather than 5.1 - that might matter less with a soundbar.

The OP was I think referring to the problem of the dialogue being quieter than sound effects and music

If this is the real problem, stick with the TV sound. Improving the sound will make this problem worse - crappy speakers play the human voice not badly, adding a soundbar will add in the bass you're missing to the music and effects, which will just drown out the voices further.

ChrisK....._3

TV speakers are alllllllllllll lousy - Back in the Day when TVs weighed about the same as a small familay car they had full built-in amps, subwoofers and decent size speakers - Since the 'flat screen' TV they simply cant produce anything other that a pathetic squeak

My TV is plugged into my hifi amp, through 100 watt subwoofer and into my ceiling mounted speakers and they sound great - We watch You Tube concerts and they sound brilliant - We're looking forward to Glastonbury next year, although not sure my neighbours are )

Watching a modern flat screen TV without some sort of sound enhancement is simply not an option - ANY soundbar (£10 one) will make ANY TV sound 10000000 times better, but if you really care buy an amp and 2 speakers

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

At the moment i'm just curious about them, enough to do a bit of asking to see if it's something i may be interested in picking up (although i've been told previously not to waste time with cheap versions).


I'm just wondering are these worth buying? What do they offer?


Our speakers in the TV don't seem to be the best, although the wife claims they're fine & that i'm just deaf (maybe). 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 & the TV is against the party wall. Maybe i'm too considerate?


Now i don't imagine that a soundbar is for this kind of issue but i do wonder what one offers. Is it just heavy levels of bass?

JustAnotherSaver

That's one thing i forgot to mention - i jumped on that richer sounds and had a look


It amazed me how many soundbars there were where i'd never heard of the brand name, and they weren't cheap either.



I don't know if some of these brands are big in the world of soundbars but i'd never heard of them. Obviously i've heard of the likes of Panasonic, Sony, Samsung, LG so on & so forth but Roth, Polk & Acoustic Energy for example i've never heard of.

RumRat

Roth, Polk and AE are well known for high end speakers. So, I would imagine their soundbars won't be cheap or rubbish.

david39

I believe that films in cinemas play the dialogue through two channels with speakers behind the screen. These channels and speakers are optimised for speech and so the audience clearly hears the dialogue. The rest of the soundtrack is played through other channels.
When the channels are later reduced in number for transmission by television, the dialogue channels are merged with the others and no longer are primed for optimum speech clarity, hence they get partly 'lost' in with the other sound channels.
Hence the reason why cinema film dialogue on television is sometimes difficult to distinguish.

almillar

^ David's explanation above demonstrates a bit why actually having 5.1 speakers (that's front left, right, rear left, right, centre (the one at the screen) and the 0.1 is the subwoofer), is good - that centre speaker is usually voice only - you know, that person talking on the screen), whilst effects and noise can be thrown all around. Shoving all of these speakers into one box, clearly involves compromises.

RumRat

almillar wrote: »

^ David's explanation above demonstrates a bit why actually having 5.1 speakers (that's front left, right, rear left, right, centre (the one at the screen) and the 0.1 is the subwoofer), is good - that centre speaker is usually voice only - you know, that person talking on the screen), whilst effects and noise can be thrown all around. Shoving all of these speakers into one box, clearly involves compromises.

Not exactly correct.....Cheap soundbars are just basically 2.1 stereo, so act as you suggest. Once you get into the mid range they have speakers for 5.1, or even 7.1 in some cases, with a dedicated centre channel, but, still project only from the front.
If you go to the higher end models using Dolby Atmos etc then you will experience major sound advancement with full surround simulation.
Spending less than £500 on a soundbar, for a serious TV set up, is a waste of money. However, for your average lounge viewing, mid range is fine....That said, any soundbar is going to be better than the inbuilt TV speakers.

letsbehonest

I have been using a Denon tv sound base DHT T110 for over 4 years now the TV sits on top of it and the sound is very good indeed. It has a blu tooth facility and a night mode and 4 different sound scapes. Have a look at it I highly recommend it. Costs about £130.

another_casualty

I've yet to read all the posts here. However, I may as well give my opinion fwiw in the meantime
I think that it's true that soundbars/ soundstages and stereos improve the sound without a doubt .
There are a lot of things to consider also , like if you have your tv on a cabinet or fitted on a wall / whether you have a hfi / whether you could use ceiling speakers etc .
There are even speakers that look like picture frames which are fairly inexpensive off Ebay . Just make sure you have thick Speaker wire to connect .

I find soundbars and soundstages to be good for tidy compact solutions . The high end ones fron Kubick/ naim available in richer sounds are supposed to be really good . Bluetooth is important for everything this day and age .

I have a Cambridge audio tv2 , purchased from richer sounds a few years ago .Really good sound . However, when I moved into my present flat, I got a my tv mounted to the wall . I got a cabinet to hide my vinyl,but also to hold my stereo where it sits under the tv
I must say , I prefer that . The separation seems to be an issue that at the moment , hasn't quite made into soundbars so far .its only a matter of time that they do . We live in a compact world .