Help me find a soundbar with minor special snowflake details.
August 3, 2013 5:17 AM Subscribe
So, I just got paid for an unexpected freelance gig and I'd like to spend some of it on a great-but-not-necessarily-amazing midrange soundbar for our 32" Panasonic TV set.
Our current system:
- 10x10 room, no windows, one door, tv and couch against opposite walls. (the couch is actually in a little inlet allowing for surround speakers to be placed directly left and right, if that makes a difference to the answers). This is a rental, but we are here at least another year.
- 32" TV into which all of our components are connected (mostly via HDMI)
- A set of older 5.1 computer speakers jury-rigged as the audio out, but they are not delivering "true" 5.1 sound, only a facsimile due to the connectors. Also the signal is kind of crappy due to the hack i used to get them to connect at al.
What I'd like:
- Soundbar offering a reasonable facsimile of 5.1 sound, with good bass response (i'm somewhat of an audiophile but i'm not a huge stickler for analog tubes and perfect everything...this is for watching tv after all). We're on the first floor of an old house, so we dont have to worry about bothering the neighbors downstairs since there aren't any.
- Would like to spend $250-350, would not really like to spend more than $400, but if there's some amazing model i'm completely missing, then I'll have a look
- It's important to me to have the ability to connect via Bluetooth
- It's important to me that it have a separate input for my Xbox audio, since one of the reasons I want to switch is that pushing that sound through my TV and back out has too much delay for Rocksmith to work well.
- Form factor doesn't make a huge difference (though if its tall, an IR pass-through is a cool feature). There is room for a wireless sub-woofer elsewhere in the room
People seem to like the Sony CT-260, but i found it lacking in inputs. I've also looked at several of the Yamahas (which is a brand I've liked historically and happens to be on sale at Amazon today) but they also assume that all the devices would be routed through something else.
It seems like the best configuration would be to continue to pull everything through the TV and then go optical out to the soundbar if possible, but i'm not sure if my TV would just down-mix everything. But not sure if that matters with a soundbar either.
Thanks for any insight you may have.
Our current system:
- 10x10 room, no windows, one door, tv and couch against opposite walls. (the couch is actually in a little inlet allowing for surround speakers to be placed directly left and right, if that makes a difference to the answers). This is a rental, but we are here at least another year.
- 32" TV into which all of our components are connected (mostly via HDMI)
- A set of older 5.1 computer speakers jury-rigged as the audio out, but they are not delivering "true" 5.1 sound, only a facsimile due to the connectors. Also the signal is kind of crappy due to the hack i used to get them to connect at al.
What I'd like:
- Soundbar offering a reasonable facsimile of 5.1 sound, with good bass response (i'm somewhat of an audiophile but i'm not a huge stickler for analog tubes and perfect everything...this is for watching tv after all). We're on the first floor of an old house, so we dont have to worry about bothering the neighbors downstairs since there aren't any.
- Would like to spend $250-350, would not really like to spend more than $400, but if there's some amazing model i'm completely missing, then I'll have a look
- It's important to me to have the ability to connect via Bluetooth
- It's important to me that it have a separate input for my Xbox audio, since one of the reasons I want to switch is that pushing that sound through my TV and back out has too much delay for Rocksmith to work well.
- Form factor doesn't make a huge difference (though if its tall, an IR pass-through is a cool feature). There is room for a wireless sub-woofer elsewhere in the room
People seem to like the Sony CT-260, but i found it lacking in inputs. I've also looked at several of the Yamahas (which is a brand I've liked historically and happens to be on sale at Amazon today) but they also assume that all the devices would be routed through something else.
It seems like the best configuration would be to continue to pull everything through the TV and then go optical out to the soundbar if possible, but i'm not sure if my TV would just down-mix everything. But not sure if that matters with a soundbar either.
Thanks for any insight you may have.
with good bass response
If you want proper bass response you're not going to get it without an external sub here. Many soundbars seem to come with one, or at least are able to connect one as an upgrade. If you want the best you can get out of just a bar, look in to polk audio models. They are absolute freaking wizards at getting lots of bass out of small-ish drivers and when i looked before i decided to just get full speakers they had models with every feature you mentioned in that price range.
Overall, and especially for that price... is there a specific reason you don't just want a receiver and speakers? A set of nice used speakers and a quality receiver could be had easily on craigslist for that price and would absolutely annihilate any soundbar you could possibly find. I have a >$600 new pair of infinity towers i got for something like $140 on there(and which i would absolutely never need a sub with, these could remove the windows and door from my apartment), and i regularly see polk, klipsch, and other great speakers go for cheap as well. Whole 5 channel sets too. There's plenty of stuff out there that's slim and doesn't take up much space in a room but sounds awesome.
If you spent 200 on speakers, and 200 or less on a good receiver with all the inputs you could ever want(and hdmi switching with hdmi output for the tv!) you would be rocking. You could likely easily spend less too if you hunted a lot and are in a major city with a heavily active craigslist.
posted by emptythought at 11:53 PM on August 3, 2013
If you want proper bass response you're not going to get it without an external sub here. Many soundbars seem to come with one, or at least are able to connect one as an upgrade. If you want the best you can get out of just a bar, look in to polk audio models. They are absolute freaking wizards at getting lots of bass out of small-ish drivers and when i looked before i decided to just get full speakers they had models with every feature you mentioned in that price range.
Overall, and especially for that price... is there a specific reason you don't just want a receiver and speakers? A set of nice used speakers and a quality receiver could be had easily on craigslist for that price and would absolutely annihilate any soundbar you could possibly find. I have a >$600 new pair of infinity towers i got for something like $140 on there(and which i would absolutely never need a sub with, these could remove the windows and door from my apartment), and i regularly see polk, klipsch, and other great speakers go for cheap as well. Whole 5 channel sets too. There's plenty of stuff out there that's slim and doesn't take up much space in a room but sounds awesome.
If you spent 200 on speakers, and 200 or less on a good receiver with all the inputs you could ever want(and hdmi switching with hdmi output for the tv!) you would be rocking. You could likely easily spend less too if you hunted a lot and are in a major city with a heavily active craigslist.
posted by emptythought at 11:53 PM on August 3, 2013
Response by poster: I suppose most of the reason that I'm not that interested in receiver/speakers is that i nkow what a rabbithole that whole world can be, and i'm not necessarily looking for "holy fuck amazing" sound since this is a rental, and the portability and one-step sounds more attractive than comparison shopping for a receiver, a set of speakers, cable, and then wiring everything up.
That said, i'm happy to take recommendations. I had a Yamaha receiver and Acoustic Research speakers way back when that i was pretty happy with.
posted by softlord at 8:53 PM on August 5, 2013
That said, i'm happy to take recommendations. I had a Yamaha receiver and Acoustic Research speakers way back when that i was pretty happy with.
posted by softlord at 8:53 PM on August 5, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
For this reason i'd recommend running everything as hdmi through your audio device before the tv. Which obviously means i wouldn't recommend a sound bar with 0 hdmi. (its weird, amazon has a chart of the sony sound bars, and the model up, and the model down have 3 hdmi inputs, but this middle model doesnt).
If sound bars don't have the variety of inputs you need, you may need to step up to a all in one 5.1 system, or receiver + speakers. Also note, there are inexpensive hdmi switches, in case all you need is extra hdmi ports.
posted by TheAdamist at 5:43 AM on August 3, 2013