Aye, a tidy room is a poor sounding room!
After having tried a couple of sound bars with separate subwoofer I didn't find them suitable for my own needs and listening style. So I have had to persevere with the inbuilt TV "speakers".
But I ran across a description of the Yamaha YAS-101 sound bar that caught my attention. It was the fact that it had two bass unit built into the sound bar, with the option of adding an additional external subwoofer if required. The unit comes with two optical inputs, which means that I can connect my DVD player to it as well, and it can be programmed to switch on/off and change volume control levels via the normal TV remote control. So I don't have to go looking for separate remotes when I need to control its main functions. Total cost to me was £150 delivered.
Sound wise it ticks all the boxes that I need it for. Bass is separately adjustable and goes very deep. Treble and midrange are good enough for me with enough detail to keep me happy. The fact that all the drivers are in one bar makes a huge difference in the presentation that I was looking for.
It can be rested on a stand or hung on the wall. Mine is fitted to the wall right under the TV. A very good buy and well worth considering if you don't want to be lumbered with where to place a separate subwoofer box.
Website: http://www.homehifi.co.uk
Website: http://www.beresford.me
Website: http://www.homehifi.asia
Location: Devon
Posts: 1,903
I'm stu.
Don't see the point for these soundbars.
Most tellys i've had are fine on most stuff.
If it's music or film i just stick it through the hi fi.
301/Puresound 2A3/quite large Grf cab horny ones.Eminence/Coral/Le cleach
It's one of those things that if you don't try out you wouldn't know what you were missing before. As I am using mine in my bedroom it would be a bit impractical to install a hifi in the room. So the sound bar strikes a good enough balance between practicality and audio quality expectations. Modern flat screen televisions are lousy audio sources.
Website: http://www.homehifi.co.uk
Website: http://www.beresford.me
Website: http://www.homehifi.asia
What? Have you heard a brand new telly recently? I'm with Stanley on this, having recently bought a new Philips LED TV (which does have truly excellent picture quality) I was truly shocked at its audio quality via built-in speakers, despite it having a third driver on the back that is supposed to enhance sound quality. It appears that this is the norm nowadays, and manufacturers seem to assume that a TV will always be hooked up to an AV system. I suppose it's part of the compromise that accompanies the trend towards very slim TV chassis profiles, which can only accommodate tiny speakers. My solution was to use a pair of small Bose computer speakers connected via the TV's headphone output, since all the soundbars that I looked at were either very expensive or very ugly, or indeed both.
It is possible to get decent audio quality from a slimline chassis - take a look at the speaker arrangement inside an Apple iMac and there's an object lesson in quality design, but that design carries a price that most people are not prepared to pay.
Location: Devon
Posts: 1,903
I'm stu.
Maybe I need to hear one then.
301/Puresound 2A3/quite large Grf cab horny ones.Eminence/Coral/Le cleach
Location: Kent
Posts: 76
I'm Steve.
Did you get one Craig? I've got a Klegg egg system that's always been great for films but the sound is so bad from a new flatscreen TV that I'm thinking of getting a soundbar for constant use. This JBL one caught my eye http://www.richersounds.com/product/...b400/jbl-sb400 but Stan's Yamaha looks good and is £100 cheaper. One feature on the JBL is bluetooth connectivity which might be good if you have a bit of a shindig and can just pass the tablet or phone around.