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home audio buffs, surround sound or soundbar?


Cheech

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Here's what I got: I have a 60in TV that's wall-mounted in a corner, and currently have a receiver that's pretty dated (6.5/7years old, can be re-purposed elsewhere in the house if need be) and speakers that are kinda shitty and way too big for the new layout of my living room. I have a split-level, so my living room is open to the kitchen but slightly below it, and I also have a closet with washer/dryer in the living room as well, so there's sometimes competing sounds. There is no way in hell I can set up anything remotely close to a standard center soundstage, and the only 2 continuous walls are the one that the TV is mounted on and the one behind the couch.

Anyway, I've been hearing decent things about the soundbars, and am wondering if anyone has used them in place of a traditional audio setup. It certainly would be cheaper, as I'd be shelling out about 300 bucks in decent speakers on top of 300 bucks for a decent receiver vs. $250 for a good Amazon rated soundbar (Sony CT150) Running speaker wire isn't a terrible deal for me.

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I set up my room with a sound bar and then said "Screw this." Got the Klipsch Quintets and haven't looked back.

Sound bar was great sound quality but I didn't like how it was completely one directional.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

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I set up my room with a sound bar and then said "Screw this." Got the Klipsch Quintets and haven't looked back.

Sound bar was great sound quality but I didn't like how it was completely one directional.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

Can you elaborate on the one-directional bit?

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Is there attic above the room? If so, surround sound is the only way. What he means by one directional is that the sound is coming straight at you not from around you.

No on the attic, ceiling is out of bounds unless I take on some serious drywall work. I can get underneath the subfloor, although it's the crawliest of crawl spaces to get there. With the odd geometry of the room having the TV in the corner, it doesn't lend itself well to have speakers spread apart. I'm not necessarily against one-directional sound, I currently only have my center, left, and right + sub set up now and it's not terrible, but with the size of the speakers it's not a sustainable solution.

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The sound bars are nice if money is an issue if not go with a full receiver. I have a sound bar in my bed room and although its far better than the TV speakers its not that good. The sound is very directional like previously mentioned. Bose makes the only soundbar worth buying and its over 1000 bucks.

Here is my TV in my living room its corner mounted with a speaker on each side, two in the back and a subwoofer in the corner it sounds great

2013-02-26_20-33-23_885_zpscb2e8cc1.jpg

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Can you elaborate on the one-directional bit?

As hard as they try to "emulate" surround sound, you can completely tell that the sound is just coming from that bar. Action scenes, etc., I just don't like hearing everything coming from one spot.

I bought the highest-end Klipsch soundbar available, and highs, lows, etc. were AMAZING. I just couldn't get over the 'positioning' of the sound.

The whole Klipsch system I bought, at full retail price, would be about $300 over what just the soundbar would be. But in my opinion, is still very worth it.

Obviously the surround sound set-up is quite a bit more work, though, what with a receiver and all. So figure out how much effort your system quality is worth for you. I can be a pretty big audiophile.

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No on the attic, ceiling is out of bounds unless I take on some serious drywall work. I can get underneath the subfloor, although it's the crawliest of crawl spaces to get there. With the odd geometry of the room having the TV in the corner, it doesn't lend itself well to have speakers spread apart. I'm not necessarily against one-directional sound, I currently only have my center, left, and right + sub set up now and it's not terrible, but with the size of the speakers it's not a sustainable solution.

I have a 5.1 system and love it, its on whenever the tv is. However, if you are pleased with the sound coming from the setup you described there, then you shouldn't have an issue going to a soundbar. It is the same leap in quality from a tv's internal speakers to a soundbar, then to a soundbar and surround (as I am sure you know if you already have a setup). Its also vastly simpler to wire and figure out mounting positions. My dad has surround sound, but bought a soundbar for normal tv usage instead of movies (only 1 setting at a time so it would be a pain to re-program everything just to watch a movie, thereby defeating the purpose of it). He really likes it and I was presently surprised about the quality.

I'm sure I'm beating a dead horse on the topic of "one-directional", but I figured I would give an example. If I am playing a video game and something rustles the grass behind me, I actually can tell its behind me because that is where the sound is coming from (because I have surround sound). With the soundbar, you wouldn't be able to distinguish from the side of you and behind you.

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I have a 5.1 system and love it, its on whenever the tv is. However, if you are pleased with the sound coming from the setup you described there, then you shouldn't have an issue going to a soundbar. It is the same leap in quality from a tv's internal speakers to a soundbar, then to a soundbar and surround (as I am sure you know if you already have a setup). Its also vastly simpler to wire and figure out mounting positions. My dad has surround sound, but bought a soundbar for normal tv usage instead of movies (only 1 setting at a time so it would be a pain to re-program everything just to watch a movie, thereby defeating the purpose of it). He really likes it and I was presently surprised about the quality.

I'm sure I'm beating a dead horse on the topic of "one-directional", but I figured I would give an example. If I am playing a video game and something rustles the grass behind me, I actually can tell its behind me because that is where the sound is coming from (because I have surround sound). With the soundbar, you wouldn't be able to distinguish from the side of you and behind you.

I get the directional aspect of it, but given the geometry of the room as it relates to positions where I can wall-mount speakers (I also have to dance around hallway openings, a patio door, and the aforementioned laundry closet), the position of the TV, and seating, mounting speakers becomes a pretty substantial chore, and I thought that even though if it was one-directional, that a proper soundbar would be able to push out enough sound to make it worth it.

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I get the directional aspect of it, but given the geometry of the room as it relates to positions where I can wall-mount speakers (I also have to dance around hallway openings, a patio door, and the aforementioned laundry closet), the position of the TV, and seating, mounting speakers becomes a pretty substantial chore, and I thought that even though if it was one-directional, that a proper soundbar would be able to push out enough sound to make it worth it.

Mount them high up in corners, pointing down?

If you're not an audiophile and aren't worried about being "immersed" in the sound for games and such, you'll be happy with either.

Though I will never go back to a non surround system..

lul sending this frum mai fone so kewl!

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Just for a bit of closure, I ended up going the soundbar route. I should have done a little more research, as I thought all soundbars had wireless subwoofers, but apparently the one I went with (Sony HT-C150) does not. Either way, I'm happy with the performance thus far, it did need a little tweaking out of the box (bass level was pretty anemic), but after that so far so good.

I'll have to do the mother of all sound system tests, Top Gun, later on this week when I have some more time.

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When the tweeter in my center channel, and the amps in my powered subs gave out, I pretty much quit the surround sound setup. I don't watch many movies anyway. I'm contemplating fixing the center and a sub amp, but I have repurposed the rear surround speakers, so they would need replaced, too. Still thinking about it, since we have added blu-ray player, and stream movies once in a while. Maybe I would watch more if I had 5.1 working again?

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