I just got a soundbar and I’m really enjoying it

RamblinE

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My wife and I have traditionally consumed TV through our computers. The centerpiece of our home entertainment has always been a two channel stereo and we didn’t even buy our first TV until six months ago. That TV though is pretty cool. It’s a Roku TV and it consolidates all of our streaming content through its OS. Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, HBO, YouTube, etc. Still though I had been sticking to my iPad and a pair of headphones to consume the shows and content that I watch on my own.

Then I won an LG soundbar through a sales contest at work. (They’re one of our vendors). It’s an SJ4Y-S. It’s connected to the TV via optical out and it has a little woofer that’s fed signal wirelessly.

I’m not a big consumer of TV but I do like certain shows and the soundbar is offering more volume, less shrillness, more definition to the sounds and overall more clarity. Even a decently recorded and produced YouTube video like an NPR Tinydesk concert sounds pretty good however I’d still prefer my dedicated headphone setup for something like that. I can’t argue with free. It’s hard to say it’s worth the $200 asking price when I didn’t really pay that out of pocket. I’m just hoping this doesn’t start a new dragon chase leading me into home theater. I have downsized my listening hobby to a headphone setup that I am very happy with. I really hope I’m not about to start down a new long and expensive road. I’m trying to save for a house here.
 
I've heard quite a few sound bars and would have to agree that they are pretty darn nice especially for the foot print. Obviously they aren't going to sound as good as a giant system with speakers all over the place and a rack of amps and processors in the closet but for taking up a few inches under the TV you can't go wrong.
 
I've heard quite a few sound bars and would have to agree that they are pretty darn nice especially for the foot print. Obviously they aren't going to sound as good as a giant system with speakers all over the place and a rack of amps and processors in the closet but for taking up a few inches under the TV you can't go wrong.

No.
Space.
:)

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What did you use before the sound bar? Equipment wise?
With my computer I’d been using a 24inch 1080p tv as a monitor for years now. It’s not so small when set up on a desk. I’d use my Musical Paradise MP301 with either AKG K240DFs or K240 Monitors. With my iPad I’d use my AKG K550s (low impedance and sensitive enough that anything can drive them).
 
I've heard quite a few sound bars and would have to agree that they are pretty darn nice especially for the foot print. Obviously they aren't going to sound as good as a giant system with speakers all over the place and a rack of amps and processors in the closet but for taking up a few inches under the TV you can't go wrong.
Yeah. The footprint is a big thing. We have a 4 cube expedite flanked by two 8 cube expedites full of my wife’s DVDs and books as the centerpiece of our space with the TV in the middle on top of the 4 cube. The sound bar is a bit long however I’m planning to mount it on the front of the expedite beneath the TV. The little powered woofer is already in place off to the side of the whole set up. It’s going to be pretty clean.
 
RE: My own 24" LCD TV set also sounds borderline horrible via its internal speakers (improvable to just bad via the tone controls plus activation of the SRS TruSurround feature). As I don't really need "big" sound, when watching TV, I've simply hooked up a cheap, old 2.0 computer speaker set by Logitech (X-140).

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini
 
When I do a TV upgrade, hopefully later this year, a soundbar is in the plans. I even plan on wall-mounting it beneath the TV screen, so I can keep the space beneath it open. If it has a sub and/or surround speakers, those will have to be wireless, as I am not going to run anything special for a trivial application such as TV. I don't watch movies anymore, so the home theater rabbit hole I fortunately will never fall into. (Been there, done that.) We use it mostly for gaming, and my occasional NHL games.
 
We have a had a sound bar in the bedroom for a few years now. We use a Marantz 5.1 system in the living room for movies etc......we just have a $99 Best Buy model but does exactly what it is supposed to do" Makes the TV easy to hear. My mother in law has a top of the line LG sound bar with the wireless sub and I was pretty impressed at how good it sounded. Not like 5.1 but damn good! Two channel stereo plain flat sucks for modern TV and BluRay/DVD. Everything is mixed for with a center channel for dialog......even commercials sound good. I only use two channel for music but for movies and TV a sound bar or 5.1+ is far superior.
 
I'm not a big A/V guy. I always have just 2 Chanel stereo no surround sound for me just don't want it.
I added a Vizio sound bar with its little wireless sub and surround speakers. Holy cow for what it does it is fantastic.
I know there are A/V guys that would think that is blasphemy but I'm more into 2 Chanel stereo. I say they work great.
 
When I do a TV upgrade, hopefully later this year, a soundbar is in the plans. I even plan on wall-mounting it beneath the TV screen, so I can keep the space beneath it open. If it has a sub and/or surround speakers, those will have to be wireless, as I am not going to run anything special for a trivial application such as TV. I don't watch movies anymore, so the home theater rabbit hole I fortunately will never fall into. (Been there, done that.) We use it mostly for gaming, and my occasional NHL games.

Thats just what I did it will work great for you.
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The ones I've heard are great - I think its pretty impressive how the 5.1 versions shoot sounds behind your shoulders for the rear channels. Thats a great space and hassle-saver IMO
 
I watch movies from streaming sources and DVD/Blu-Ray. I even, heaven forbid, watch regular TV, broadcast and cable, with the audio coming from my system.

I've been using my system to listen to TV audio since purchasing a Pioneer TVX-9500 (TV audio tuner) in 1978. When I bought my first mono VCR I connected it to my system. TV/HT audio is still connected to my system. Now the audio is processed by an HT pre/pro. After all the years of using my system for TV/HT sound any sound bar at all just wouldn't cut it. In addition, none of the internal speakers on any of my current TV's have ever been used.
 
I wall mounted a 65" above my fireplace. I didn't connect it to my system because it's a mix of vintage and home built equipment. None of it has a remote except the CDP. Once I get and new mantle up I plan to add a sound bar.
 
Our old Phillips 46 in TV has been a great unit but the down firing speakers made it difficult to hear most any program. A cheap and simple sound bar made a huge difference. It has three sound modes and while we usually leave it on the "normal" it does have a "surround" mode that does a decent job of making it sound more surround like. While they do not compare to a real HT setup, they are simply zillion times better than any internal TV speaker.

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Stock TV speakers are pretty terrible, and as the displays get thinner the speakers get worse it seems. The soundbar definitely makes sense if you don't want to get into a full surround rig and don't happen to have your 2 channel conveniently located to take on TV sound duty.
 
g73: Yup, the older CRT TV sets typically weren't that bad. So one could say my cheap Logitech PC speaker set solution brings my cheap JTC LCD TV set back to the sound quality level of my old Sony CRT TV set - which, of course, still was far from HiFi quality level, but at least pretty acceptable sounding.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini
 
Yeah. The footprint is a big thing. We have a 4 cube expedite flanked by two 8 cube expedites full of my wife’s DVDs and books as the centerpiece of our space with the TV in the middle on top of the 4 cube. The sound bar is a bit long however I’m planning to mount it on the front of the expedite beneath the TV. The little powered woofer is already in place off to the side of the whole set up. It’s going to be pretty clean.
Was it you that worked for Bose?

I've got a buddy who bought one of their sound bars, and he raves about it.
I was kinda shocked by the footprint, to be honest. He asked me to throw together a little riser so his TV could be over top of the sound bar. I blindly just did it based on his measurements, and after it was done I looked at it and figured something was wrong. I figured NO WAY was the 'nook' tall enough, but it was.

I've got a full HT system in the basement, but we often just watch movies on the bedroom flat panel. I've often thought about looking into a sound bar for that TV.
 
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