Soundbar/Home Theatre in a Box

[Igottago]

Anyone know anything about sound bars? Do they actually work well in replicating surround sound? I like the fact that its just one speaker without needing to wire up speakers all over the place. Less clutter is better in my books. Anyone own one of these things?

I'm looking to get a decent sound solution for my condo. Just got a new LCD tv a few months ago, looking to compliment it with some decent sound. Use xbox 360 and shaw pvr with it. Also, the ability to hookup an ipod is big for me. I don't need anything too powerful, as I said I'm in a condo so I won't be able to crank this thing.

Those of you living in condo's/apartments, what are you using for sound?

[photon]

I've read that the sound bars are quite good if you get a decent one, I think it was the Yamaha one I was looking at. At the time I looked they were quite expensive though compared to a similar normal type system, but the compactness and not having to run wires was nice, and for a lot of people their TV isn't in an ideal listening environment anyway, so the sound bar actually does some processing to try and compensate for that. The ones I saw had a mic that you'd hook up at the listening position and then it would do all kinds of calibration with your room, bouncing sound off walls and stuff to approximate surround.

But I've never actually used one.

[Nage Waza]

I don't think they are good, I would save money and go for a simple yet quality stereo system. Nothing wrong with that at all, and if you want killer sounds, simply throw on some headphones for the 360. I don't think there is any replacement for speaker location, so there is basically no such thing as surround without surround speakers. A solid set of stereo speakers is still pretty good.
Or go with surround speakers.

[bossy22]

Depends on what kind you get. My main floor is quite open, and I didn't want speaker wires everywhere so I got a soundbar. I tried a few out and ended up with the polk audio soundbar. We've had it for about 5 years now. It sounds great, and we're quite happy with it. Not as nice as a full stereo system, but for our purposes, it works quite well.

[Igottago]

Yeah, the speaker wires everywhere is what is putting me off a home theatre setup. I like to make the most of the space I have so I'm trying to keep a clean and simple setup, which a soundbar would seem to fit.

I guess I can probably go into a store and listen to one to hear how it sounds first hand.

How much was your polk audio one?

[photon]

Store's not going to give much help since it's the angled speakers bouncing off the walls combined with the signal processing of the soundbar that gives the surround effect.. you need to let it go through its setup in your specific room.

I'd just buy one from a place that allows full returns (FS, BestBuy, etc) so you can switch if it doesn't work out.

[bossy22]

Originally Posted by Igottago

Yeah, the speaker wires everywhere is what is putting me off a home theatre setup. I like to make the most of the space I have so I'm trying to keep a clean and simple setup, which a soundbar would seem to fit.

I guess I can probably go into a store and listen to one to hear how it sounds first hand.

How much was your polk audio one?

IRC it was around $1100 with the Harmon Kardon reciever and the polk audio subwoofer. I bought it at Visions and was the third one I tried. I did what Photon suggested and bought the Bose system first, which didn't sound that good in my space. Then I tried a Yamaha system, and then the Polk.

[Igottago]

Originally Posted by bossy22

IRC it was around $1100 with the Harmon Kardon reciever and the polk audio subwoofer. I bought it at Visions and was the third one I tried. I did what Photon suggested and bought the Bose system first, which didn't sound that good in my space. Then I tried a Yamaha system, and then the Polk.

Thats a lot more than I want to spend. Most soundbars I've seen online don't need a separate reciever, they have that built in.

I'm looking at a sony model for around $500.

This one actually:

http://www.sonystyle.ca/webapp/wcs/s...52921666166163

[Crispy's Critter]

I have one, and unless you have a room with no openings, or at least doors on the openings they don't work right, as they rely on sound waves bouncing off the walls to make the surround properly. With openings you lose sound out the openings, so it's not bouncing where it's supposed to.

I ended up buying a low profile sub that fits under my couch, so I have wires running around the outside of the room for that, and then I bought some wireless rear speakers. Works great now, but I was a little dissapointed with it on it's own.

*edit* I have this model, which isn't exactly the same as the sound bars you are looking at, but same idea:

http://www.soundmatters.com/fullstagehd/

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by Igottago

Those of you living in condo's/apartments, what are you using for sound?

I had a Denon/Klipsch setup in my condo. Never cranked it, but it was still quality sound. Pretty much the same as in my house (upgraded the amp since).
I wouldn't go with a sound bar as the only method of surround sound, personally. If it was a secondary viewing area maybe. But put them side by side with an actual surround sound setup and you'll be able to tell the difference quite easily.

[Kjesse]

Originally Posted by bossy22

IRC it was around $1100 with the Harmon Kardon reciever and the polk audio subwoofer. I bought it at Visions and was the third one I tried. I did what Photon suggested and bought the Bose system first, which didn't sound that good in my space. Then I tried a Yamaha system, and then the Polk.

A popular saying is, friends don't let friends buy Bose, and I subscribe to that wholeheartedly. Photon needs to convert! They are garbage packaged to look nice. This was true in the 80's when I first tested them, and even more so now. Currently, they are tuned for very low volumes and artificially enhance the sound at those volumes, but do not perform compared to even much cheaper speakers and receivers.

Also, sound bars do not work as advertised, they use artificial processing to create a false sense of surround sound. If you're happy with that, so be it, and those in certain high rise condo situations might not have a choice.. .but eventually you will realize the sound is not what you first thought it was in the store.

A good 2 speaker system combined with a 10 or 12 inch sub and a decent receiver will sound much better than a "fake" surround system like a sound bar. If you can't run rear speakers, focus on getting better sound up front.

Also, if you buy a good subwoofer, you will only buy it once in your lifetime. And there are resources online where, if you have a few skills you can make a sub for a few hundred dollars which performs much better than one that costs 1500 plus. Those 8" subs with powered drives are awful sounding in even a small condo. Get a 12", and it will more naturally reproduce lower frequencies using lower power... and the sound won't rattle or sheer at even medium volume like an 8" will.

EDIT: I should add I'm in a condo (or more specifically, something which is a called a "stacked townhouse" such that I have someone underneath me, and can't run wires through the floor). For the two surrounds, I had to run 100 feet of speaker wire (70 feet for the right, 30 feet for the left) through the walls which took days of part time cutting, patching and filling drywall, but it was worth it if you really want good sound with wires unseen.

[Igottago]

I checked out a soundbar at the Sony store yesterday. Sounded pretty good to me. I understand what a lot of you are saying about being better off with a receiver and a couple of good speakers, but the space saving and clutter free design is a big deal to me, until I move into a house, which probably won't be for years. As far as the surround sound not being as good, I can probably live with what it does offer. The sony one I'm looking at is reasonably priced and has a lot of connection options. Thanks for the input guys.

[Hack&Lube]

The cheapest option would be to go for an old/used reciever with dolby processing and digital SPDIF that comes with a sub and some speakers. Then get some wireless speakers to jury rig for the rear. Could probably do it for under $250 and have it sound much better than a sound bar. I just hooked this up for my parents with a 10 year old Pioneer reciever set connected via optical to a new HDPVR and I built a home theatre PC for them out of extra parts with a BR drive and it sounds amazing.

[red sky]

Bit of a bump here. I am looking at soundbars for a secondary viewing area as others have said, they prefer the clean look and really it will be used primarily for regular TV.
Any (newer) recommendations?

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by red sky

Bit of a bump here. I am looking at soundbars for a secondary viewing area as others have said, they prefer the clean look and really it will be used primarily for regular TV.
Any (newer) recommendations?

I bought the Vizio from Costco for $99 for my inlaws. Pretty impressive for a $100 item.

[Igottago]

Wow...nice work bumping my 2 year old thread.

Just to inform you, after starting this thread I did end up buying a Samsung Sound bar.

Pros: Great sound on normal settings (not virtual surround sound), very clean look, wireless subwoofer, syncs with the volume of a samsung tv.

Cons: Virtual surround sound wasn't great...it did a decent enough job replicating surround sound but because you can't adjust volume of individual channels like real surround sound, voices and speech during movies would sound very muddled. I ended up leaving it on normal sound all of the time.

Its a good product if you want a clean setup that will give you better sound for your tv viewing...but it isn't nearly good as discrete surround sound speakers.

I've since switched to a 5.1 channel speaker and reciever system.

[Aleks]

Originally Posted by Bertuzzied

I bought the Vizio from Costco for $99 for my inlaws. Pretty impressive for a $100 item.

I bought the one with the wireless sub in the US. It was a very good deal and sounds amazing

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

[OldDutch]

Originally Posted by Igottago

Thats a lot more than I want to spend. Most soundbars I've seen online don't need a separate reciever, they have that built in.

I'm looking at a sony model for around $500.

This one actually:

http://www.sonystyle.ca/webapp/wcs/s...52921666166163

I have that Sony model from 3 years back. Love it.

Have it in my living room, and it is more than enough for even most movie watching.

I have a high end 5.1 downstairs and I seldom use it. My Sony is great and is a more convent location.

I would buy another one in a heartbeat.

[red sky]

Yeah, from my quick research and for its purposes I like this one:

http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/produ...7a41c0070fen02

Although I am not completely found of the receiver, I do like the wireless sub and the HDMI inputs.