Soundbars - waste of money?

JustAnotherSaver · 9 September 2018 at 5:42PM

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?

comeandgo · 9 September 2018 at 5:56PM

We bought a sound bar and would not be without it now. My husband has slight hearing problems and the sound bar made things easier for him.

Frozen_up_north · 9 September 2018 at 6:01PM

I use the Hi-Fi as auxiliary sound, mainly for music.

The often rearward facing speakers on modern "thin" TVs aren't particularly good, but can work to some extent if a TV is in a corner with walls to reflect the sound.

I did consider a sound bar, but they don't easily sit under our TV, which sits on a multi-shelf Hi-Fi/video unit in a corner of the room. The sound bars seem to be very wide, too wide as far as I'm concerned. Clearly a TV sitting on something as large as a dining room sideboard, or a sound bar fixed under a wall mounted TV would probably work.

I think it's as much about location as sound quality with sound bars, they improve on the thin sound from a TV, but are nowhere close to a decent HiFi system.

RumRat · 9 September 2018 at 7:55PM

Any soundbar (even a cheap one) will improve the sound from your TV. Obviously, if you are prepared to spend the quality rises...

EssexExile · 9 September 2018 at 8:00PM

I bought a small hi-fi system, it wasn't much more than a decent soundbar & the sound is better.

bxboards · 9 September 2018 at 8:13PM

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.

JustAnotherSaver · 9 September 2018 at 8:22PM

The TV we have that i'm talking about is:

Panasonic Viera 58DX750B LED HDR 4K Ultra HD 3D Smart TV, 58" With Freeview Play/freetime and Art Of Interior Switch Design

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.

I liked the idea of soundbars over say surround sound speakers because they sit nicely under the TV and don't take up any extra space.

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.

whatchudidjustsay? :eek:

GunJack · 9 September 2018 at 9:33PM

We had to get one...as someone pointed out above, the speakers on these very thin & flat tv's are usually very small and face backwards, i.e. away from the viewer, which makes for a totally unsatisfactory sound. It might be ok if you sit 3-4 feet from the tv, but I daresay most people are further away than that.

As for the sound mix on (especially) films & tv, for some weird reason the sound mixing people seem to want to have any background noise & effects way louder than dialogue, which infuriates me no end...the soundbar may help with that if it's EQ settings can be tweaked enough to boost <3KHz and attenuate over that, but it's certainly not a given...

JustAnotherSaver · 9 September 2018 at 9:38PM

I suppose i should get in there now with a what would you recommend question.

I guess that will then depend on what i'm prepared to spend so let's say a budget of about £200.

GunJack · 9 September 2018 at 9:57PM

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

I suppose i should get in there now with a what would you recommend question.

I guess that will then depend on what i'm prepared to spend so let's say a budget of about £200.

A more pertinent question, as we found when looking for one, is "what size do I need to fit where I want it to?"

e.g. if the tv is on it's own legs, how much ground clearance do you need for the soundbar to not obscure a line at the bottom of the picture, so the sb height could be important...likewise, if your tv cabinet is only 100cm wide, having a 120cm wide sb isn't such a good idea

System · 9 September 2018 at 10:19PM

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

I suppose i should get in there now with a what would you recommend question.

I guess that will then depend on what i'm prepared to spend so let's say a budget of about £200.

£200 gets you a good choice of decent ones.

Richer Sounds has a good range including some that come with an additional bass speaker which I would advise on getting.

https://www.richersounds.com/tv-home-cinema/soundbars.html

Soundbars - waste of money?

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