TV Audio: "Home Cinema kit" or Amp + Speakers

[gingerjedi]

I have had a Sony Home Cinema "kit" for the past 12 years and it has done the job admirably.

Were I do go down the route today, I would probably opt for a Soundbar, tbh, that has a separate Subwoofer, USB and HDMI pass-through as well as a Bluetooth connection.

The separates route, for me, is too much of a hassle, but will satisfy the purists. Considering that 99% of what I listen to is MP3 / MP4, it is never going to be "Hi-Fi", due to the inherent compression and lossy format.

WHS^

I have 500W Sony amp and Kef 5.1 speakers, the kids are forever bashing into the rear satellites and marking the walls, my wife puts a plant pot on the sub and hides the front speakers with family pictures.

A soundbar wouldn't be quite as effective but it would be a much tidier solution.

[vetran]

WHS^

I have 500W Sony amp and Kef 5.1 speakers, the kids are forever bashing into the rear satellites and marking the walls, my wife puts a plant pot on the sub and hides the front speakers with family pictures.

A soundbar wouldn't be quite as effective but it would be a much tidier solution.

Panasonic 1KW Blu-ray home theatre. not too bad but the wife insists on piling crud on the sub, then I put something like Dark Knight and it falls off or gets thrown off by me in a tizzy because of the rattle.

much clearer audio than telly alone, agree there are normally audio modes on my Panasonics its in both tv & HT.

[d000hg]

A soundbar could be a good compromise, I'll have to investigate further. Although an initial look found the first few have HDMI & optical input only, and I thought my TV only had audio-out in the form of red/white wires (and 3.5mm).

Hmm.

[BigRed]

Yamaha YAS101 Black | Soundbar | Richer Sounds mentions ClearVoice technology, otherwise an expensive amp and/or tweak the equaliser settings on the TV.

[VectraMan]

Yamaha YAS101 Black | Soundbar | Richer Sounds mentions ClearVoice technology, otherwise an expensive amp and/or tweak the equaliser settings on the TV.

Has 24KHz HRTF (Head Related Transfer Function). Wow!

Soundbars look interesting, though I'm sceptical that anything that small can produce decent sound, especially bass obviously. And I can't see surround as anything other than a gimmick that you'd get bored of after 5 minutes. I want the sound to come from where the action is, which is on the screen.

[d000hg]

Soundbars normally come with a separate subwoofer, it seems - like 5.1 systems. I'm kind of with you on the surround sound thing, apart from anything else I can't be arsed screwing speakers and cables all over the place. Maybe if I was a movie buff, otherwise stereo is just fine.

[Platypus]

Yamaha YAS101 Black | Soundbar | Richer Sounds mentions ClearVoice technology, otherwise an expensive amp and/or tweak the equaliser settings on the TV.

Look at the one and two star reviews on Amazon

I like the idea of a soundbar to improve my TV sound, but can't find one which attracts enough praise

[hyperD]

Look at the one and two star reviews on Amazon

I like the idea of a soundbar to improve my TV sound, but can't find one which attracts enough praise

I've got a Dell soundbar on my monitor which I use to stream films from my NAS in the kitchen - it's OK but the sound isn't brilliant over the boiling saucepans, exploding things in the oven and microwave and shouting from GF#1.

Just my 2 Hertz.

[northernladuk]

Sound bars work by bouncing the surround sound off the walls so gotta make sure your room is set up for them. We have a open wall on one side and a window on the other so a sound bar wasn't suitable at all.

Good point about the cables but the subwoofer is unidirectional so can go anywhere. The only issue is the wires for the rear two speakers. My other half wasn't having it on that basis but I managed to fit them under the carpet and run them up behind a cabinet we have at the back so not a cable in sight. The black box in the corner wasn't to her liking but once she got used to the sound she hasn't mentioned it since.

[d000hg]

Look at the one and two star reviews on Amazon

I like the idea of a soundbar to improve my TV sound, but can't find one which attracts enough praise

There are loads of soundbars on Amazon with average 4-4.5 stars and quite a decent number of reviews...