Budget Soundbar or surround sound system?

JJ!

JJ!

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My 10 year old budget Sony surround sound has died so needs replacing.

Budget is no more than £300. Looking for something fairly compact. It's only a small ish living room and semi detached so can't go full out bass crazy!

Any suggestions? Seems so much out there!!
 
Got a Richer Sounds relatively local? If so, get yourself down there and listen to a few demos of their soundbar stock.
 
As per nods post if you can get yourself somewhere where you can test then that will help as no two systems are the same.

We are similar to you with a compact living room etc so when i renewed our system i opted for an LG soundbar plus sub package.

The stereo of the soundbar is perfectly capable of beating built in TV speakers and the sub......whilst not very powerful, does do enough to balance out the treble of the sound bar and make listening pleasant.
 
I usually check techrader, whathifi, etc and see if its anything they all agree on. I would recommend a Bluetooth one though so it can double up as a music player linking your phone.
 
what ever you get make sure it can connect to your tv.
 
Have you been happy with your Sony model - do they do an new upgraded version ? As above try Richer sounds, John Lewis is very good - they tend to have quite a few out and will price match to a shop.

Make sure you listen to them though, as sound is an individual thing, what 1 person likes another might not...
 
Q Acoustics media 4 is what we have - it's awesome. Richer Sounds recommended it when I was looking for one and was going to spend more money than this
 
I ended up with a John Lewis own branded sound bar, which is actually made by LG, sound quality is good enough for me.

Also my local John Lewis store tends to sell a lot of discounted goods which are things like online order returns, backed up with the same warranty you'd get if it's brand new. Only difference is most of the time the box has been opened.
 
Other day in Sainsburys they had a Sony Soundbar & woofer for £99
 
For me it was important to get one with a HDMI TV connection. Because the TV can power the sound system ON and OFF when the TV is switched on. As well as control Volume UP/DOWN via the TV remote control. I don't want to have to use 2 separate remote controls all the time, when it is not necessary with HDMI.

I'm no expert, and don't know if all HDMI systems are fully compatible with different makes.

Bluetooth. Yes its handy, and add some flexibility.
 
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We have the optical connection which allows us to control the TiVo and the TV through the Bose remote for everything, it was just a easy and quick set up.
It will allow cable, TV, BD-DVD, Game, Bluetooth and Aux, Volume and TiVo functions.
 
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