Reply to: Soundbar, soundbar+sub, or full surround sound?

[northernladuk]

I used to use the introduction to Tomorrow Never Dies with the jet taking off etc.

I use mine for the restaurant scene in When Harry Met Sally to fool the neighbours in to thinking I'm still getting some.

[WTFH]

This.

I use both the helicopter scene in Apocalypse Now and the Morpheus rescue sequence in The Matrix to test/setup a new surround sound system.

I used to use the introduction to Tomorrow Never Dies with the jet taking off etc.

[northernladuk]

Don't forget to play this to test how good your Subwoofer is.... If the house doesn't shake when it kicks in get a bigger one

[Dark Black]

...Subwoofer & speakers is much better than a soundbar in my experience.

....Try the helicopter scene in Apocalypse now or the pyramid in Stargate. Honestly the fuller sound and positioning is worth it.

....Go to richer sounds or others with a listening room and ask to hear the difference. That is free.

This.

I use both the helicopter scene in Apocalypse Now and the Morpheus rescue sequence in The Matrix to test/setup a new surround sound system.

[vetran]

you might as well go the whole hog especially if you are in a position to cable.

Subwoofer & speakers is much better than a soundbar in my experience.

Try the helicopter scene in Apocalypse now or the pyramid in Stargate. Honestly the fuller sound and positioning is worth it.

its £250 -> £1000 (bottom end) against £80 -> £500.

I have a £500 Panasonic blu-ray one which had great ratings. It was on reduced and it was a choice between a £150 Blu ray player and a £250 surround sound I didn't regret it.

Also you want your home TV room to wow its decadent luxury not just a room with a TV!
Speakers will sell the experience.


Go to richer sounds or others with a listening room and ask to hear the difference. That is free.

Try Harmony hub + remote , alexa or phone control. if you want one remote and simple scenes.

[bobspud]

Sonos playbar and a couple of Play:1 speakers for the rear, then decide if you need a sub

Oh you _NEED_ the sub

[b0redom]

Depends on your budget really. I've been really quite impressed with my Denon AVR-2300 paired with a set of Cambridge audio minx speakers - very small and unobtrusive, but produce a great sound when they're paired with the matched sub. In a room like you're talking about you could run d-line trunking around the skirting boards to hide the cables too. That's what I've done in my lounge - stops kids tripping/falling over them.

https://www.richersounds.com/product...o-avrx2300-blk <- amp

https://www.richersounds.com/product...camb-min22-wht <- speaker

https://www.richersounds.com/product...-minx-x200-blk <- sub

The amp also does spotify and some 'smart' stuff too. I added also added a wired FireTV so the whole thing can do Amazon, Netflix, Plex, iPlayer etc.

[Hobosapien]

...I'll definitely have a dabble with 7.1 next time I need to invest in some kit but the Samsung we've got is fine.

PAH, you need 10.2

Surround Sound, surrounded by speakers.

[northernladuk]

I think it makes a ton of difference. The woofer gives great bass and the surround sound does make it more immerse. We love ours. We watch TV with it on all the time now. The TV speakers alone sound crap now.

I'll definitely have a dabble with 7.1 next time I need to invest in some kit but the Samsung we've got is fine.

[d000hg]

I'm not sure I've ever experienced a proper surround system outside the cinema. Can it actually do better spatial effects than a pair of headphones, or is in music, are decent pair of headphones what all these expensive systems are trying to emulate?

[SeanT]

Full surround sound, or a Yamaha YSP

[Hobosapien]

Bluetooth is so ubiquitous now that searching "wireless headphones" on Amazon, that's all I seem to get. Is there a special term for the other kind like yours? Or are they basically obsolete these days?

UHF or RF seems to be the term used, though the digital alternatives probably give better sound quality. Mine are Sennheiser ones and on Amazon there are a few other makes at various price points.

The bluetooth ones are commonly used for connecting to a smartphone while out and about so for home versions look for those that have a docking station that does the communication bit from the TV (some have digital inputs so no need for separate DAC) and also charges up the headphones when docked so not in use.

[d000hg]

Ah, so they're a set of generic wireless headphones... I hadn't realised that even existed other than headphones with a radio built in for listening to the radio on the train.

Bluetooth is so ubiquitous now that searching "wireless headphones" on Amazon, that's all I seem to get. Is there a special term for the other kind like yours? Or are they basically obsolete these days?

I have seen a 3.5mm -> BT converter which works both ways so I could in theory have two... plug one into my TV and my trusty headphones into the other. But it seems a bit daft!

[Hobosapien]

Is that a bluetooth DAC or something different/proprietary? I'm not aware what standards are used for wireless audio though I'm sure it predates bluetooth... on the other hand wireless headphones that didn't at least support bluetooth would seem silly. I suppose the potential advantage of a non-BT setup is you can have multiple headphones whereas BT is 1:1 (I think)?

No it's all low tech, regular optical digital input to analogue DAC. The only wireless bit is between the headphone base station (that doubles as a charging dock) and the headphones themselves. Uses FM apparently for the wireless bit, so the neighbours can tune in to my TV/Movie soundtrack on their radio if they so wish.

The more high fidelity wireless headphones probably do the digital decoding on the headphone side and use bluetooth or alternative/proprietary method for sending the signal.

[d000hg]

The wireless headphone set up I have is via the optical sound output from my LG Plasma (it has LG Sound Sync but not got the right kit for that, and no dedicated headphone output socket) into a cheap DAC (£30 from Maplin IIRC) that the wireless headphone base station plugs into using a normal 3.5mm headphone jack so nothing fancy required.

I do have to change the TV sound output from speaker to external speaker (digital PCM) whenever I want to listen via the headphones or vice versa, which is a bit of a pain on the lazy scale.

A soundbar may well have a headphone socket so can use wired or wireless as an additional option.

Is that a bluetooth DAC or something different/proprietary? I'm not aware what standards are used for wireless audio though I'm sure it predates bluetooth... on the other hand wireless headphones that didn't at least support bluetooth would seem silly. I suppose the potential advantage of a non-BT setup is you can have multiple headphones whereas BT is 1:1 (I think)?

LG Sound Sync is what we have though I haven't looked into what kit you can get on that platform.

Sonos playbar and a couple of Play:1 speakers for the rear, then decide if you need a sub

I had considered Sonos but is it actually the best tool for the job? The bar itself costs as much as a decent surround sound system so I assume we're getting towards a grand for that setup... since we don't plan to use this room for music that seems massive overkill!