Soundbar (?& Subwoofer?)

Nod

Nod

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An upgrade to a Samsung HD telly has seen the number of inputs and outputs drop a little and I can no longer connect my old 5.1 amp and speakers to the telly or Blu-Ray player. The sound from the TV isn't too bad but I'm sure a bit more air movement would improve it. Anyone got any suggestions as to which soundbar would be best (up to £150 would be ideal but prepared to go a bit over that if the extra is worth spending) and how much difference a sub would make at sociable volume levels bearing in mind we live in a semi and the sub will be close to the party wall.
 
The TV does but the AV amp doesn't.

Having removed the surround speakers (well, all 5 of the things), we seem to have a bigger living room! Still got the main speaker stands out but with lamps on rather than big black boxes. Shelf space where the rear ones were too. Centre was in a box under the TV. Amp was a bloody great lump that took up most of the old TV stand (and was always warm, even on standby).
 
yeah old amps are a bit monster like. i just replaced my old 5.1 amp with a newer HDMI amp and i swear its half the weight..

still wouldnt be without a proper 5.1 system though personally. but then i have fairly small KEF speakers.
 
I think the only film I watched that really put 5.1 head and shoulders above anything else was Saving Private Ryan and even that was only really the first 15 minutes or so. Jurassic Park wasn't bad through it but not as immersive as SPR. (IMO!)

Did have a play using my bass guitar amp and 4x10 cab as a sub... NOT neighbour friendly!
 
I had the same problem with my old 5.1 system, and bought the Samsung HW45O soundbar. This version is wireless to the subwoofer, which can be placed anywhere in the room. It's very good and does away with all the speakers and wires etc. I bought it on special offer from Currys at £229, but I am told the HW350 is just as good, with the main difference being that it is wired to the subwoofer.
 
Thanks Alan. I reckon a trip to see Mr Richer's emporium is on the cards to have a listen. I don't need wireless for the sub - there's room behind the TV stand (open glass shelves) for it. Plenty of room on the shelves for the bar too!
Managed to pick up the stand from Sainsburys of all places. £69.99 for new stock, £34.99 for tatty boxes or £12.99 for VERY tatty box taped up! Being a cheapskate, I picked up a VERY tatty box, making sure I could get any missing parts or simply return it for a refund but it's all there - even had a set of extra bits of threaded bar in the box. Obviously the extras had fallen out of the other VERY tatty box so we took them back so the other person can pick them up when they discover the shortage!
 
Nod said:
I think the only film I watched that really put 5.1 head and shoulders above anything else was Saving Private Ryan and even that was only really the first 15 minutes or so. Jurassic Park wasn't bad through it but not as immersive as SPR. (IMO!)

Did have a play using my bass guitar amp and 4x10 cab as a sub... NOT neighbour friendly!
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That may be a limitation of old amplifier technology and/or setup. Certainly new onkyo amps for example (which come with the setup mic which takes the guesswork out of setting up) are very good.
 
neil_g said:
That may be a limitation of old amplifier technology and/or setup. Certainly new onkyo amps for example (which come with the setup mic which takes the guesswork out of setting up) are very good.
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I'd ditto that about Onkyo amps. The auto-setup via the mic is great!

My sub's next to the party wall but I've set it to always come on at it's lowest volume, it's hardly noticable at low volumes but easy to crank up when needed ;)

I know it's a little over your budget but this is pretty much the amp I've got (mine's a little older without built-in wifi) http://www.richersounds.com/product/av-receivers/onkyo/txnr626/onky-txnr626-blk

With these compact speakers http://www.richersounds.com/product/speaker-packages/tannoy/sfx5.1/tann-sfx5.1-blk (although I think you could probably get cheaper/smaller if you want). I've got a couple of larger Kef speakers for the fronts so I run 7.1 :D

If you're anything like me..... a £150 soundbar will sound OK but you'll always want that little extra ;)
 
Trying to get away from lots of boxes, hence the soundcard option being so attractive. Where small speakers usually fall down is at the low end (of the frequency range) which is where the sub should help.
 
I bought an LG NB3530 at Christmas from Currys http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/tv-dvd...ntcmpid=display~RR~TV,+DVD+&+Blu-ray~21328899 Twin optical inputs and bluetooth as well. I use it connected to a Humax freeview box and a Sony blu-ray player, it switches on and off with either device automatically. The sound is excellent and the subwoofer does help there. The speaker bar itself is long and thin but the sub is very big (36cm high 30cm deep 17cm wide) bigger than it looks in the pictures. At £175 it's a wee bit over budget but a good buy.
 
That LG looks a bit big for the TV we've got! It's a mere 32" set (plenty big enough for our house) on a stand that's 31 1/2" wide.

Can anyone see much wrong with the Yamaha YAS 101 Bl? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Yamaha-YAS101bl-SoundBar-Built-In-Subwoofer/dp/B005WNOD6M#productDescription and also are all optical interconnects pretty much the same? I know some more expensive analogue ones are more robust but this would be a static installation so that's less important. If you do get better with a little extra cash, I don't mind spending it but if the supplied one will do the job, I can get a long way on the £20 or so an upgrade is likely to cost!
 
It gets good reviews just about everywhere that one.
 
Nod said:
That LG looks a bit big for the TV we've got! It's a mere 32" set (plenty big enough for our house) on a stand that's 31 1/2" wide.

Can anyone see much wrong with the Yamaha YAS 101 Bl? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Yamaha-YAS101bl-SoundBar-Built-In-Subwoofer/dp/B005WNOD6M#productDescription and also are all optical interconnects pretty much the same? I know some more expensive analogue ones are more robust but this would be a static installation so that's less important. If you do get better with a little extra cash, I don't mind spending it but if the supplied one will do the job, I can get a long way on the £20 or so an upgrade is likely to cost!
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The Yamaha gets good reviews and certainly one I'd be looking at if I was after a new sound bar.

I've not listened to it, but Sainsburys had a Sony sound bar and Sub on offer from £150 to £99 yesterday at our local store...
 
Saw some in Sainsburys but couldn't find any prices on the shelves. They were in the full price area though so probably not a bargain!

Going to phone Richer Sounds tomorrow to see if they've got one of the Yamahas in stock or can get one in for me. They apparently sound pretty good as they are but can have a sub added at a later date if wanted.

How about the interconnect? I'll probably stick with the one in the box for the time being and maybe get one from Amazon if I decide on an upgrade. Then again, I might be able to get Richer Sounds to chuck one in as a sweetener!
 
Do expensive optical cables offer any real benefit on budget ones given that it'll only be a 1 metre run at most?
 
Nod said:
Do expensive optical cables offer any real benefit on budget ones given that it'll only be a 1 metre run at most?
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No.
 
As a caveat to my terse "no".... Audiophiles get far too precious about digital cables. Whilst it is technically possible for different SPDIF cables to sound different (due to a design flaw with SPDIF) the differences are relatively small so you need to be spending serious money on the audio reproduction system to stand a chance of even noticing the difference, let alone being able to consistently spot any difference. I say that as someone who has both an inordinate amount of money tied up in audio equipment AND someone who understands the mechanism that can make different SPDIF cables sound different.

Personally, I use a £3 5m optical cable between my streamer and inordinately expensive DAC.
 
neil_g said:
o'rly? (cant be arsed to find the owl image)
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SPDIF is a serial protocol which embeds the data together with the clock. Recovering the clock accurately from the stream is the single most important job of the sink. Getting the data back is easy by comparison. Getting the clock back, but inaccurately, and you introduce extra jitter to the digital to analogue conversion process which is what causes distortion.Different cables can make it harder to get the clock back accurately, so can add to distortion. By accurately, I mean so the clock edge is exactly where it should be in time.
 
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Digital is digital, it either works, has issues due to poor build quality or it doesn't work.
 
arad85 said:
SPDIF is a serial protocol which embeds the data together with the clock. Recovering the clock accurately from the stream is the single most important job of the sink. Getting the data back is easy by comparison. Getting the clock back, but inaccurately, and you introduce extra jitter to the digital to analogue conversion process which is what causes distortion.Different cables can make it harder to get the clock back accurately, so can add to distortion. By accurately, I mean so the clock edge is exactly where it should be in time.
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so what specifically affects the getting the clock? the quality of the fiber for example?
 
arad85 said:
No.
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neil_g said:
nope. ive been running a 5m from these guys for ages and the build quality is spot on:

http://www.thatcable.com/category/Digital-Optical-Audio-Cables/sub

just like HDMI a digital signal will either work or not. spending £10/100's wont improve this.
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Dale_tem said:
Digital is digital, it either works, has issues due to poor build quality or it doesn't work.
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Thanks for confirming my suspicions! I'll stick with the in box supplied optical cable and upgrade if I'm sure it's necessary.

Soundbar ordered through Richer Sounds since the one the local branch has in stock is reserved for someone else. Don't mind waiting for a few days. Much!
 
neil_g said:
so what specifically affects the getting the clock? the quality of the fiber for example?
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Not looked into fibre much, but with coax it is reflections of the high frequency signal due to resistance mismatch that causes the timing to be jittery. I guess with fibre, things like purity and construction will make a difference that can be measured. Whether it can be heard is another matter...
 
'Bar arrived and installed. Took longer to pay for it (by card) than to install. Setup very easy - plug in optical interconnect and mains. Wonder why it sounds a bit weird until realising the TV sound was still on... Only had the TV running through it so far, will try a DVD over the weekend. Sounds better than the TV's built in speakers (which was, after all, the whole point!) Sales adviser in Richer Sounds didn't even suggest an interconnect upgrade and when asked about it said there was no point at the price point of the soundbar. Possibly on a much more expensive system but he reckoned that most audiophiles could only tell the difference if they could see the cables...

Thanks for the help and reassurance.
 
arad85 said:
Audiophiles get far too precious about digital cables.
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Nod said:
...but he reckoned that most audiophiles could only tell the difference if they could see the cables...
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Shock horror... Hi fi shop salesman knows what he's talking about ;)

Glad you are sorted :)
 
That's why I referred to him as a Sales Assistant rather than a salesman! Richer sounds are usually pretty good, they're just as happy for you to go in to buy as they are for you to go in to shop.
 
Nod said:
That's why I referred to him as a Sales Assistant rather than a salesman! Richer sounds are usually pretty good, they're just as happy for you to go in to buy as they are for you to go in to shop.
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Could you read that again and rephrase, makes no sense to me??
 
Shop = browse, ask for advice etc.
Buy = purchase/spend the money
 
Yup.

Also, a sales advisor will answer questions about the products honestly and as fully as he can (of course, salesman also refers to saleswomen and he can be read as she too) whereas salesmen will sell whatever they want to, often not what the customer actually wants or needs.
 
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