Soundbars

[UVACoug]

Are soundbars even worth it these days? I've been looking at them lately, and I'm not convinced that they are (at least not in my situation). There are a lot of new high-end ones with Dolby Atmos that are super expensive. This one looks pretty awesome:

https://en-us.sennheiser.com/ambeo-soundbar

But I don't think I want to drop $2,500 for a soundbar. I have cathedral ceilings in my main living area, so I'm not even sure one of these Atmos bars would even work in my house.

My TV has pretty good sound without any additional speakers, so I don't want to invest in something that is only going to add marginal value. I also already have a receiver and speakers that aren't set up, which I'm sure would be better, but my living area is open concept and I don't really want to run speaker wire everywhere. A lot of the higher end soundbars have rear speakers too, which kind of defeats the purpose in my mind.

Has anyone bought a soundbar recently and found that it added significant value for the price? The new Sonos Arc system looks like it might be pretty good, but again the price is a bit ridiculous.

[Bo Diddley]

Are soundbars even worth it these days? I've been looking at them lately, and I'm not convinced that they are (at least not in my situation). There are a lot of new high-end ones with Dolby Atmos that are super expensive. This one looks pretty awesome:

https://en-us.sennheiser.com/ambeo-soundbar

But I don't think I want to drop $2,500 for a soundbar. I have cathedral ceilings in my main living area, so I'm not even sure one of these Atmos bars would even work in my house.

My TV has pretty good sound without any additional speakers, so I don't want to invest in something that is only going to add marginal value. I also already have a receiver and speakers that aren't set up, which I'm sure would be better, but my living area is open concept and I don't really want to run speaker wire everywhere. A lot of the higher end soundbars have rear speakers too, which kind of defeats the purpose in my mind.

Has anyone bought a soundbar recently and found that it added significant value for the price? The new Sonos Arc system looks like it might be pretty good, but again the price is a bit ridiculous.

We bought the Sonos Arc along with the two wireless surround speakers. We're happy with the sound, and it's much better than simply using the TV speakers. We haven't added the sub yet, because as you say, it all costs a lot. It already has a decent bass response, but no doubt the sub will round it out nicely.

Edit: I take that back, we got the Beam instead of the Arc for our bedroom. Got it from Costco. With your vaulted ceilings, you might prefer the Arc.

[Donuthole]

Ive had two Vizio sound bar systems. The first cost $250 from Costco (or maybe Sams—not sure). Came with a subwoofer and satellite speakers that connect via Bluetooth. Zero complaints for the price. It lasted about 7 years before it died this summer. (Looks like a capacitor went bad on the motherboard—I have it set aside to fix as an experiment).

In the meantime, I bought another Vizio system from Best Buy. This one was about $500. Again satisfied, though doesn’t seem any better than the $250 system I had.

This is the one I recently bought:

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/vizio-5-1-2-channel-soundbar-system-with-6-wireless-subwoofer-and-dolby-atmos-black/6288824.p?skuId=6288824

Looks like they now have a $250 option that gets good reviews (these were out of stock earlier this year when my old one died, or I probably would have gone with this.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/vizio-5-1-channel-sound-bar-system-with-wireless-subwoofer-black/6416784.p?skuId=6416784

[Jeff Lebowski]

We have a couple Samsung sound bars to go with two Samsung TVs. Bought them at Costco. Price was very reasonable and a nice upgrade over the TV speakers. We have an LG soundbar too and it works great.

I would like to try a 5.1 soundbar system but my wife rarely lets me crank it up as it is. Half the time I am watching TV with earbuds connected to my Roku remote.

[Pelado]

Are soundbars even worth it these days? I've been looking at them lately, and I'm not convinced that they are (at least not in my situation). There are a lot of new high-end ones with Dolby Atmos that are super expensive. This one looks pretty awesome:

https://en-us.sennheiser.com/ambeo-soundbar

But I don't think I want to drop $2,500 for a soundbar. I have cathedral ceilings in my main living area, so I'm not even sure one of these Atmos bars would even work in my house.

My TV has pretty good sound without any additional speakers, so I don't want to invest in something that is only going to add marginal value. I also already have a receiver and speakers that aren't set up, which I'm sure would be better, but my living area is open concept and I don't really want to run speaker wire everywhere. A lot of the higher end soundbars have rear speakers too, which kind of defeats the purpose in my mind.

Has anyone bought a soundbar recently and found that it added significant value for the price? The new Sonos Arc system looks like it might be pretty good, but again the price is a bit ridiculous.

What are the receiver and speakers you have? Most of the time, good quality speakers will outperform even the best soundbars. Atmos effects are generally much better coming from dedicated speakers placed on or near the ceiling rather than trying to reflect it off the ceiling. Plus, relatively few titles are even mixed for Armos.

Why not hook up the receiver and the front three speakers and see if you like that better than just the TV? As a test, you could also put up the satellite speakers with the speaker wire just in the open, and test the types of shows you like to watch both with and without them on. You might find that the satellite speakers either 1) add a lot to your viewing enjoyment, 2)add value but not enough to permanently wire them in, or 3) are superfluous.

Do you like action-type movies/shows? If so, a quality subwoofer will add a lot. Don't get one of those small 8-inch subs that often come with sound bars. They are not good subwoofers. How big is the room?

If the speakers you already have aren't much better than the TV audio, then I would recommend spending up to that $2,500 budget on better speakers. You could actually get a well-performing 5.1 setup (or 3.1 if you skip the satellite speakers) for less than that.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[falafel]

Ive had two Vizio sound bar systems. The first cost $250 from Costco (or maybe Sams—not sure). Came with a subwoofer and satellite speakers that connect via Bluetooth. Zero complaints for the price. It lasted about 7 years before it died this summer. (Looks like a capacitor went bad on the motherboard—I have it set aside to fix as an experiment).

In the meantime, I bought another Vizio system from Best Buy. This one was about $500. Again satisfied, though doesn’t seem any better than the $250 system I had.

This is the one I recently bought:

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/vizio-5-1-2-channel-soundbar-system-with-6-wireless-subwoofer-and-dolby-atmos-black/6288824.p?skuId=6288824

Looks like they now have a $250 option that gets good reviews (these were out of stock earlier this year when my old one died, or I probably would have gone with this.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/vizio-5-1-channel-sound-bar-system-with-wireless-subwoofer-black/6416784.p?skuId=6416784

I too have a vizio that I bought because it was cheapish and because I was matching it with a vizio tv. It works well and sounds much better than the TV speakers. The only issue I have is that it needs to have a hard reset once every 2-3 months. I don't know why it does that, but it always comes back fine. But its annoying.

I have a LG sound bar that goes with a LG tv. It was a little more than the vizio and works flawlessly. I like that you can use the tv remote to control the soundbar as well, as long as you have an ARC connection.

[Donuthole]

I too have a vizio that I bought because it was cheapish and because I was matching it with a vizio tv. It works well and sounds much better than the TV speakers. The only issue I have is that it needs to have a hard reset once every 2-3 months. I don't know why it does that, but it always comes back fine. But its annoying.

I have a LG sound bar that goes with a LG tv. It was a little more than the vizio and works flawlessly. I like that you can use the tv remote to control the soundbar as well, as long as you have an ARC connection.

Both of my vizio systems have connected through optical outputs and have worked pretty seamlessly. They are both automatically controlled by the Dish remote. The first system was also controlled by the Vizio tv remote. The current system is not controlled by the LGTV remote for some reason.

The first system had optical output only; this system does have an HDMI port, though I'm not currently using it (because all my HDMI ports are taken). What is the advantage of using the HDMI connection as opposed to the optical connection?

[falafel]

Both of my vizio systems have connected through optical outputs and have worked pretty seamlessly. They are both automatically controlled by the Dish remote. The first system was also controlled by the Vizio tv remote. The current system is not controlled by the LGTV remote for some reason.

The first system had optical output only; this system does have an HDMI port, though I'm not currently using it (because all my HDMI ports are taken). What is the advantage of using the HDMI connection as opposed to the optical connection?

As I understand it, the ARC system allows you to capture the sound from all of your sources. If you have an optical connection, you are only getting the signal from that one device (i.e. the Dish box) and not from your Xbox or whatever. At least, not without disconnecting the optical cable from your Dish and connecting to the the Xbox.

[UVACoug]

Ive had two Vizio sound bar systems. The first cost $250 from Costco (or maybe Sams—not sure). Came with a subwoofer and satellite speakers that connect via Bluetooth. Zero complaints for the price. It lasted about 7 years before it died this summer. (Looks like a capacitor went bad on the motherboard—I have it set aside to fix as an experiment).

In the meantime, I bought another Vizio system from Best Buy. This one was about $500. Again satisfied, though doesn’t seem any better than the $250 system I had.

This is the one I recently bought:

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/vizio-5-1-2-channel-soundbar-system-with-6-wireless-subwoofer-and-dolby-atmos-black/6288824.p?skuId=6288824

Looks like they now have a $250 option that gets good reviews (these were out of stock earlier this year when my old one died, or I probably would have gone with this.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/vizio-5-1-channel-sound-bar-system-with-wireless-subwoofer-black/6416784.p?skuId=6416784

I've read good things about the Vizio soundbars. The new Elevate system looks pretty cool (it has front facing speakers that rotate up in Atmos mode):

https://www.vizio.com/en/sound-bar/elevate/P514a-H6

I've seen it on sale with a pretty steep discount too. Not sure I want to pay extra for the Atmos though if it isn't going to work with my ceilings. I've seen mixed responses on that issue.

We have a couple Samsung sound bars to go with two Samsung TVs. Bought them at Costco. Price was very reasonable and a nice upgrade over the TV speakers. We have an LG soundbar too and it works great.

I would like to try a 5.1 soundbar system but my wife rarely lets me crank it up as it is. Half the time I am watching TV with earbuds connected to my Roku remote.

I have a Samsung TV, so a Samsung sound bar would probably make sense. The higher end ones get great reviews, although there seems to be some problems with this years' models and last years models (which got great reviews) look like they're mostly sold out.

Maybe I should just get a non-Atmos bar that is decent and relatively cheap to see if it makes a difference before investing too much.

[UVACoug]

We bought the Sonos Arc along with the two wireless surround speakers. We're happy with the sound, and it's much better than simply using the TV speakers. We haven't added the sub yet, because as you say, it all costs a lot. It already has a decent bass response, but no doubt the sub will round it out nicely.

Edit: I take that back, we got the Beam instead of the Arc for our bedroom. Got it from Costco. With your vaulted ceilings, you might prefer the Arc.

The Arc looks great. I've heard a lot of good things about Sonos, but haven't gotten any of their speakers yet. Might make sense to start with the soundbar and add on to it if I like it. We'll see.

[Donuthole]

As I understand it, the ARC system allows you to capture the sound from all of your sources. If you have an optical connection, you are only getting the signal from that one device (i.e. the Dish box) and not from your Xbox or whatever. At least, not without disconnecting the optical cable from your Dish and connecting to the the Xbox.

Well that can't have anything to do with the HDMI port, because i'm not using the HDMI and the sound bar, subwoofer and satellite speakers all work on every device connected: Dish, AppleTV, Switch, BlueRay and Chrome.

[UVACoug]

What are the receiver and speakers you have? Most of the time, good quality speakers will outperform even the best soundbars. Atmos effects are generally much better coming from dedicated speakers placed on or near the ceiling rather than trying to reflect it off the ceiling. Plus, relatively few titles are even mixed for Armos.

Why not hook up the receiver and the front three speakers and see if you like that better than just the TV? As a test, you could also put up the satellite speakers with the speaker wire just in the open, and test the types of shows you like to watch both with and without them on. You might find that the satellite speakers either 1) add a lot to your viewing enjoyment, 2)add value but not enough to permanently wire them in, or 3) are superfluous.

Do you like action-type movies/shows? If so, a quality subwoofer will add a lot. Don't get one of those small 8-inch subs that often come with sound bars. They are not good subwoofers. How big is the room?

If the speakers you already have aren't much better than the TV audio, then I would recommend spending up to that $2,500 budget on better speakers. You could actually get a well-performing 5.1 setup (or 3.1 if you skip the satellite speakers) for less than that.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

This is the receiver I have:

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-Qh7hCW...-AVR-1613.html

It's several years old, but got great reviews when I bought it. Worked great when I had it set up.

I have a 5.1 set of small Energy speakers:

https://www.newegg.com/energy-take-5-pack/p/N82E16882269004

They also sound great. No subwoofer though.

I have no doubt that setting up what I already have would improve the sound significantly. And I'm sure I could improve it more with even better speakers. I just don't want to hassle with the wires, but maybe it'd be worth it to figure out how to put them in the walls.

The other issue I have is that it seems like there's not a great place to put the rear speakers. I'd probably have to get some speaker stands, which isn't that appealing. Might be the best option though. There is a beam behind the coach that I might be able to attach them to, but it is pretty high. Maybe if I angle the speakers down correctly though it would work.

A soundbar seemed like a good solution, but now I'm thinking it might be best to figure out how to get my receiver and speakers set up right.

Does anyone know anything about wireless speakers? I can't imaging they sound as good as hard-wired ones, but maybe that's an option.

Edit: Also, just remembered that the receiver I have doesn't support 4k or HDR, which is probably a deal breaker. I'd probably want to get a new receiver if I went this route.

[falafel]

Well that can't have anything to do with the HDMI port, because i'm not using the HDMI and the sound bar, subwoofer and satellite speakers all work on every device connected: Dish, AppleTV, Switch, BlueRay and Chrome.

Then I don't know. Maybe you have some other unifying connection? I'm pretty sure that's what the ARC connection is meant to do.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.tomsguide.com/amp/us/hdmi-arc-faq,news-26262.html

[UVACoug]

Well that can't have anything to do with the HDMI port, because i'm not using the HDMI and the sound bar, subwoofer and satellite speakers all work on every device connected: Dish, AppleTV, Switch, BlueRay and Chrome.

You probably have the optical out through the TV. That's what I did in my prior setup, but optical doesn't transfer the top audio formats anymore; just a basic digital audio signal. HDMI will probably give you better sound.

[Bo Diddley]

I've got a Samsung TV, and my Sonos Beam connects through the ARC HDMI connection. I have a separate DVD player connected to the TV as well through another HDMI connection. The TV remote controls the sound seamlessly, and it works like a charm.