New sound bar vs. old 5.1 surround in a box
- Thread starter Talenvor
- Start date
Soundbars are for people like me who don't like tremendous large sound and the speaker clutter that goes with them. The tv room in this house had a pretty horrific Bose wall system that I ripped out and got rid of. I've got a Yamaha 4100 that sounds really good at low-medium volume which is the level I use 99% of the time. I'm not an audiophile or gearhead; I just want clean crisp sound and this delivers.
Surround Sound Speaker setups are not for everyone if people don't like dealing with wires and stuff, but Soundbars are not a replacement for Surround Sound. If all you want is a front sound stage they're a decent cheap and easy alternative. It's pointless for the guy to replace his current setup with one though. Personally, if all I wanted was a front sound stage, I'd piece together a 3.1 system with real speakers over a sound bar.
I think he'd be best off getting some wireless add-ons for his two surround speakers and properly placing them if he doesn't want to run wires, they're probably easy to setup and it'd likely be a better use of his money then buying a new sound bar.
After reading some of the advice on here I was really torn on what to do. Decided to stop at Costco today and picked up the Sony soundbar just to see what it would sound like in my living room. With Costco's generous return policy I can try it out for a week (or 3 months if I wanted) and return it if it sucks. Honestly, I am pleasantly surprised! Overall the old surround sound system and the soundbar were very similar, but the soundbar was richer, or had greater sound variety, if that makes sense. I was watching some bluray movies to test the sound (TDK, Star Wars, LoTR, Harry Potter) and also ran a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound test file I found. Wow! There were some sounds I heard that I NEVER heard on my old system. There was a helicopter flyby on the test file that was extremely impressive on the soundbar and just so so on my old system when I listened to them back to back. I guess having an old system, set up as a 3.1 really since the rears weren't in the rear, was really selling me short.
If money wasn't an issue, I'd just buy a new receiver, speakers, and sub, but money IS an issue right now and for $115 bucks I'm going to be hard pressed to find a reason not to chuck my cluttery old surround sound for the soundbar.
Or as Sean just said, maybe I should keep the old system and just add wireless rears. Haven't priced it but Ill take a look, thanks.
If money wasn't an issue, I'd just buy a new receiver, speakers, and sub, but money IS an issue right now and for $115 bucks I'm going to be hard pressed to find a reason not to chuck my cluttery old surround sound for the soundbar.
Or as Sean just said, maybe I should keep the old system and just add wireless rears. Haven't priced it but Ill take a look, thanks.
I know all about money being an issue, but if you can squeeze a bit more out then I'd try going with something like this for $248:
http://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-HT-S3500...dp/B0077V88V8/
I've had both the same model of Sony Sound Bar that you're trying out and a higher end model of the Onkyo stuff and while HTiBs aren't exactly fantastic that line is night and day better than that sound bar.
You could also try taking a gamble on this open box HT-S5500 from Newegg that's a better model and only $280 (regular price is $350):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2E16882120201R
http://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-HT-S3500...dp/B0077V88V8/
I've had both the same model of Sony Sound Bar that you're trying out and a higher end model of the Onkyo stuff and while HTiBs aren't exactly fantastic that line is night and day better than that sound bar.
You could also try taking a gamble on this open box HT-S5500 from Newegg that's a better model and only $280 (regular price is $350):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2E16882120201R
Grimmlokk
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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Yeah...
I agree on the whole sound bar vs. real surround stuff, but you guys are awful. Dude has a C-note to spend and an old shitty system that he never set up right and you guys are giving suggestions way out of the price range and talking about embedded systems and shit.
There's a thread for home theater in a box type stuff, but no real dedicated generic Stereo/Surround Sound thread. Someone should start that. I know we have a lot of posters that are very in to their home theaters.
He didn't say heonlyhad 115 to spend on it and stretching from 115 to 250 is a feasible thing, I assumed he probably thought full systems were around 500+ or something.
Shonuff
Mr. Poopybutthole
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Oh no, some anonymous guy on the Internet that I would never associate with in real life doesn't like me. Irrelevant.
Shonuff
Mr. Poopybutthole
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/thread. The tech just isn't there yet, despite what some salesperson working on commission tells you. Systems are better than they were, you can actually hear some directional sound, where a couple of years ago, you couldn't. And then the general quality is nowhere near as good. All you used to get was one big block of sound like it was all coming from one speaker.
Shonuff
Mr. Poopybutthole
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When I first start dabbling in home theatre, my first HTIB was an Onkyo, and it would still probably kill soundbars now.
Kuriin
Just a Nurse
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O. M. G. This was hilarious, lol. Reminded me when I read Robinson Crusoe in the original English and I had to put it down and buy the Americanized version, lol.
Been thinking about getting a soundbar for the bedroom. I don't really care about surround sound in that room. All I want is something better than the shitty built-in tv speakers. Not sure how it would work with the boxes I have in there, though. I have a Blu-ray player, cable box, and a Slingbox (that uses components) all going to the tv. I suppose that I would need a receiver in order to hook all of that stuff up to a soundbar. Or not? Please edumacate me.
The way my system is hooked up, the cable box and blueray player go into the TV and then the optical out goes from the TV to the soundbar. No receiver needed. You should be fine just with a soundbar, assuming your TV has enough inputs for everything.
My bedroom TV has everything except an optical out, so I guess that makes things more difficult.
I bought aZvox 555and a 32" TV for my mom for Christmas as it had to go into a armoire.The TV sits on top of this soundbar and its sounds ok for what it does, but a little pricey at $399.
Jorren
Maximum Derek
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Lets be real here though. Youre talking about $200-$300 soundbar vs a $1000+ 5.1 or 7.1 system. No shit it will sound better.
I got a $300 LG soundbar with a subwoofer for my TV last year. And while it probably does not compare to Lyricals $25,000 home theatre room set up, it sure beats the fuck out of the built in speakers on the TV.