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icehockeyboy
08-05-2013, 11:27
Pondering on one to replace my Monitor Audio Radius speakers (3) at the front end of the set up. They are a pair of 45's and one 180

Any suggestions as to what to get, or whether to do it at all? :scratch:

icehockeyboy
10-05-2013, 11:46
Hello............anyone here.........? :scratch:

Alex_UK
10-05-2013, 12:02
This is a hifi forum, Craig. ;)

DSJR
10-05-2013, 12:14
Yamaha are reputed to make some good soundbar style products, but I have no experience of them and am unlikely to in all honesty.

if you want a quality change and the processor allows this, why not look for some good cheap actives for front and centre duties. Should be a clearer and better controlled sound if you choose right...

Good luck :)

NRG
10-05-2013, 12:16
Sonos now do one but it's £600! Panasonic, LG, Sony, Yamaha all do them at various price points...

Alex_UK
10-05-2013, 12:17
I was being flippant, so sorry for my sarcasm! I haven't listened to any for a good few years, but I did have a play when I was bored one day in a local TV shop and the Yamaha one was OK, but will have been long replaced now. Is it because you want to remove proper speakers from the room, Craig? I doubt very much moving to a soundbar would be an upgrade from what you've got other than for aesthetic reasons.

icehockeyboy
17-05-2013, 11:06
This is a hifi forum, Craig. ;)

So why is there an AV section, and an AV section dedicated to AV speakers and subwoofers?

I rest my case.:ner:

icehockeyboy
17-05-2013, 11:07
I was being flippant, so sorry for my sarcasm! I haven't listened to any for a good few years, but I did have a play when I was bored one day in a local TV shop and the Yamaha one was OK, but will have been long replaced now. Is it because you want to remove proper speakers from the room, Craig? I doubt very much moving to a soundbar would be an upgrade from what you've got other than for aesthetic reasons.

Nail on head really, it is for aesthetic reasons. :)

Macca
17-05-2013, 11:10
So why is there an AV section, and an AV section dedicated to AV speakers and subwoofers?

I rest my case.:ner:

There's no section for Soundbars though, is there? I rest my case :D

icehockeyboy
17-05-2013, 11:31
There's no section for Soundbars though, is there? I rest my case :D

You got me there my learned friend! ;)

Macca
17-05-2013, 12:53
Nail on head really, it is for aesthetic reasons. :)

Forget aesthetics - live in a dump. It's not only liberating, it sounds better too ;)

Ali Tait
17-05-2013, 13:10
Aye, a tidy room is a poor sounding room!

icehockeyboy
18-05-2013, 08:10
Forget aesthetics - live in a dump. It's not only liberating, it sounds better too ;). :lol:

StanleyB
13-07-2013, 18:49
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.

chelsea
13-07-2013, 19:01
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.

StanleyB
13-07-2013, 19:37
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.

Ammonite Audio
14-07-2013, 10:30
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.

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.

chelsea
14-07-2013, 11:31
Maybe I need to hear one then.

dahdit
03-12-2013, 19:23
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/soundbars/jbl/cinema-sb400/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.

synsei
03-12-2013, 19:31
Aye, a tidy room is a poor sounding room!

I'm well sorted then... :lol:

Clive
03-12-2013, 20:49
I agree with previous comments, new tellies now are built assuming you'll use a soundbar and indeed pushing you to do so. Cheaper telly, expensive soiundbar.

Oldpinkman
04-12-2013, 06:28
Samsung now do a valve one so that must sound good. And you can tube roll. All that burning in. I expect you could get isonoe feet...

On a slightly more serious note I am not sure how many realise (as I hadn't) that you can get av amps with preamp outputs. This lets me run centre and sub and rear surround from the av power amp but front left and right from the 2 channel pre and power amp. So I don't have to duplicate front av and 2 channel speakers and don't compromise 2 channel quality :)

StanleyB
04-12-2013, 09:56
On a slightly more serious note I am not sure how many realise (as I hadn't) that you can get av amps with preamp outputs. This lets me run centre and sub and rear surround from the av power amp but front left and right from the 2 channel pre and power amp. So I don't have to duplicate front av and 2 channel speakers and don't compromise 2 channel quality :)
It is possible to do that with ordinary amplifiers if they are connected to the TC-7220 amp/speaker switch of mine. I am actually amazed how many people have two amps or/and two pairs of speakers.
But I still prefer to use a soundbar for the TV in my bedroom. One remote controls both TV and soundbar, which is very handy.

Oldpinkman
04-12-2013, 10:30
It is possible to do that with ordinary amplifiers if they are connected to the TC-7220 amp/speaker switch of mine. I am actually amazed how many people have two amps or/and two pairs of speakers.
But I still prefer to use a soundbar for the TV in my bedroom. One remote controls both TV and soundbar, which is very handy.

It's not quite the same. The TC-7220 would attach one pair of speakers to 2 power amps and switch the relatively high current speaker lines between 2 amplifiers. If my AV amp doesn't have line level output - only speaker level output, then speaker level is the only thing I can switch. Now whilst I am hardly the most obsessive cable worshiper on the forum, I feel speaker cables affect the sound, and I'm not rushing to include a switch in the circuit. I know a good friend who might take the piss out of me for that, but old prejudices die hard. Its for that reason I am looking for a stax energiser which includes an amplifier and takes line level input, rather than the old traditional power amp switch arrangement for those headphones.

Either way, switching the speaker output is not the same as switching the line level signal.

StanleyB
04-12-2013, 11:02
Now whilst I am hardly the most obsessive cable worshiper on the forum, I feel speaker cables affect the sound, and I'm not rushing to include a switch in the circuit.
I shall put trust in the words of those who have actually bought a TC-7220, instead of putting my trust in your feelings. A cable is not a switch, so whatever influence the cable has on the sound is irrelevant to the switch. They are two differently manufactured items.

Effem
04-12-2013, 11:09
I have a Samsung 42" plasma and the sound really is atrocious through it's built-in speakers. A lot of programmes and fillums have terrible dialogue so you crank up the volume to hear what the feck these actors are all mumbling about and the speakers immediately distort :steam:

Bought a Goodmans sound bar and although the SQ isn't all that much better in tonality terms than the TV's speakers, at least it doesn't distort when you crank up the volume a bit.

Macca
04-12-2013, 11:34
My Sony Bravia is a rear screen DSP jobbie so has a cabinet, although quite shallow compared to a CRT and sounds pretty good - 4 drivers fire downwards and out through an exponential horn that runs across the bottom of the cab. Picked it up new for a song, figured it would last me 8 years and it has done, even doubling as a computer monitor. I don't know why they bother even fitting speakers to the panel TVs. never heard one that sounds any better than dreadful.

icehockeyboy
04-12-2013, 22:40
Never bothered eventually, but what I should do is access the sound menu in the Onkyo and tweak the centre speaker controls.

Jonboy
04-12-2013, 23:07
Samsung now do a valve one so that must sound good. And you can tube roll. All that burning in. I expect you could get isonoe feet...



I had a play with one of those in pc world the other week using my phone via its blue tooth connection, it looks the part with its nice little valves glowing behind the small front window but for me that's where it ends the sound was less than impressive IMHO

I had more fun making people jump by controlling it from the other side of the shop and blasting them with Dianna Krall as they went past, made me chuckle anyway

Oldpinkman
05-12-2013, 06:38
I shall put trust in the words of those who have actually bought a TC-7220, instead of putting my trust in your feelings. A cable is not a switch, so whatever influence the cable has on the sound is irrelevant to the switch. They are two differently manufactured items.

Stan - forget the switching element. With my arrangement the 2 key speakers in my av system are driven by my 2 channel power amp. If I was happy with them driven by a yamaha av amp I could plug my 2 channel Iinto a spare av input and do away with a speaker switch box that way.

A speaker switch box is a solution, but a line level pre-out on the av amp is a much better one if your 2 channel amp is better than an av amp as mine is. Significantly. :)