Sound Bar Discussions (Yamaha, Polk, Etc)

[wysiwyg]

Mainly for the cleaner look. I would rather avoid running wires to feed the back speakers, if I could. Plus it's a very smalll place in my condo.

[cooper83]

I didn't say anything about rear speakers. You're going to have wires going from your AV receiver to the soundbar & other components. Why not make one of those a centre channel and a couple of speakers on either side? All the wires will be in front, potentially hidden by the TV stand.

Is the TV wall-mounted?

[wysiwyg]

Not, it is not wall mounted. True, a 3.1 setup could be an option.
I'd just prefer to have the simulated surround, if all possible and avoid extra speakers. I don't even care much about a subwofer. It's mainly for radio streaming/music and a little TV (mostly news).

[Khorn]

I am close to buying a "secondary" system for our bed/sitting room area. It will consist of an approx 50" LCD tv, an Oppo 93 universal player and what appears to me to be a good answer in a non critical (but reasonable sounding) A/V system the ZVOX 580 under TV or "Base" unit. This will only be used as a 2 channel system.

Anyone have experience with the ZVOX 580 in a similar situation?

[Khorn]

As nobody here has any experience with the ZVOX 580 does anyone have eperience with the ZVOX 550 or any of their products? If so, your opinion would be appreciated.

[57]

I have seen/heard a couple of these in my optimization travels. They did not impress me as much as some of the better sound bars. One installation in a fairly large room didn't sound any better than a single speaker under the TV, although it is better than the TV speakers. This was a couple of years ago, so newer models may be better.

As discussed in this thread, for a sound bar to work well (provide a surround experience), you usually need a fairly small room and walls so the sound can bounce off them. If you have the room, even a fairly inexpensive HTiB provides a better surround experience, but I realize some people don't wish to have 6 speakers...

[Khorn]

Originally Posted by 57

As discussed in this thread, for a sound bar to work well (provide a surround experience), you usually need a fairly small room and walls so the sound can bounce off them. If you have the room, even a fairly inexpensive HTiB provides a better surround experience, but I realize some people don't wish to have 6 speakers...

First, I don't care about or want surround. The idea here is a second system in our bed/sitting room as mentioned in my above post. Size is a consideration as well as reasonable reproduction for TV audio as well as music.

I suppose I could find a reasonably decent quality stereo integrated amp and a pair of speakers for around 1K. I also have a Klipsch KSW 12 subwoofer sitting around doing nothing that I could throw into the mix. I guess looking for something as small as the Zvox wasn't too practical.

[ChannelMaster]

Hello soundbar enthusiasts. I currently own the Yamaha 3000B soundbar with discrete subwoofer and would like to upgrade to the YSP5100) because it's substantially larger for better stereo image and built-in 4x1 HDMI switcher.

As anyone here ever sampled the sound difference between the beefy 3000 and somewhat thinner 5100? Thanks.

[Spike4881]

This is what I don't understand: there are a plethora of sound bar options out there that range anywhere from 150.00 to 2000.00. Yet they are almost all pathetic when it comes to inbound connections.

It took me a while to get my Sony (see signature) and was the only one I could find with three inbound hdmi connections - all for 250.00. Yet many I've seen have only 2 optical inputs for three times the price. Odd.

[cooper83]

Spike4881, I agree. Not sure what the holdup is. I saw a Polk Audio bar at Costco last week that had 2 or 3 inputs - only one of which was optical. Was twice the price of the Sony if I recall. Pretty pathetic.

[Dwayne Gorniak]

Does anyone have any experience or feed back on the Yamaha YHT-S400 Home Theater system? From what I can tell, this seems to be an older model. I have an opportunity to buy one for my wifes sitting room for $329.99 which seems like a heck of a deal and it has good ratings.

Here is a link: http://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio..._u/?mode=model

As I said earlier, this will be for my wife's sitting room that is just off from the kitchen and dining room area and she does not want a conventional Home theater system like I already have in my Home Theater room with a tonne of equipment. It will be primarily for T.V. shows, movies and mostly music. She love to have the music blaring while working around the house. We have started auditioning sound bars and so far have been leaning toward an LG NB3520A from Future Shop. We have listened to the Samsung as well and the Samsung is louder, but no where near as crystal clear as this LG unit. We have also listened to the Polk and Pyle units and the LG unit just blows all of these away for sound and clarity. However, I have not had a chance to audition the Yamaha YHT-S400 system. But It seems like a deal that I don't want to pass up.

Any feedback will very appreciated.

[fjacky]

Anyone recommend a sound bar for this? I was hoping for the Colby one (good price) bubt I guess I didn't have the proper audio hookup on the tv. I have 'optical digital audio out', 'audio in rgb/dvi', hdmi and usb. Will any of these work for a sounbar? what slot on back of tv am I needing?

was thinking of the 'Philips Speaker Bar with Subwoofer (CSS2123B)' from futureshop

thx

[57]

Are you trying to connect the internal tuner of the TV to the bar? If so, that's usually an optical connection - obviously you need one on the TV and the bar.

If you're trying to connect other components for audio, you need the same connection on both devices. Here's the FAQ on Cables & Connections:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=76085


And here's a useful post - FAQs, Search Tips, Optimization, etc

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=57741

[fjacky]

I'm just trying to get a little better sound out of my TV.. was thinking a soundbar may beef it up a bit. Didn't realize there were so many diff kinds and connections. At first I thought they were pretty much all of the same... except for the quality.

oh well.

thx

[tungstene]

Saw this post about sound bars, so I figured I wouldn't start yet another post and would just keep the infos in one convenient place.

Sooo....

I'm looking for a sound bar for my TC-P50ST50. I obviously want the best sound I can have, whatever the model and maker (Panasonic, Samsung, Yamaha, Sony, etc...). I also don't want to fight it to make it work and debug it every time I want to use it. Being able to play my iPhone/iPod on it would be great also.

I've tried looking around for reviews but it seems that nobody can come up with a strong and definite pick on a specific sound bar.

So, since I have a Pana, might just go with a Pana sound bar so they can work together at their best (through ARC). I found the SC-HTB450 around 300$ that looks nice (can split the speakers, bluetooth connectivity for iPhone, ARC, 2xhdmi and 2xoptical), but does it sound right? That's the real question...

So, can anyone help me? Should I go Panasonic or is there something out there that does the job better?