Soundbar questions

Dswankey

Lunatic Member
What I'm hoping to achieve with this thread is answers from folks here who currently use a soundbar.

I do not watch a lot of television when I do it's either a sporting event, documentary, nature show or the occasional series and movie. I think we can all agree that internal speakers of most TV's these day sound terrible. I'm just looking for somewhat better sound and clearer dialogue

My first question

If I get one that has the ability to decode 2.0 & 5.1 does the unit itself know to switch between the 2 specific to the programming?

What is HDMI (ARC)? as opposed to Optical and I hope this doesn't open a can of worms but from experience which would you say is most preferable?

Do soundbars play well with OTA programming and the accompanying audio signal?
 
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I think we can all agree that internal speakers of most TV's these day sound terrible.
first: a BUMP:beerchug:

second: I don't ever remember TV speakers not sounding terrible.

Well, except for my uncle's all in one console that wasn't all that bad.
 
Usually, if it's a crappier soundbar, it will downmix to 2.0, no matter what signal it is fed. Nicer ones that have multi-channel ability can play in 3.0, 3.1 (with a matching subwoofer), or even 5.0 - 5.1 (again, with a matching subwoofer).

Soundbars can go from about $100 for a basic Polk or similar, to $1000+ for something like these:

https://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio_visual/sound_bar/ysp-5600/index.html

Or, if you want a real beast that can do Atmos and everything else you can throw at it check out:
https://us.creative.com/soniccarrier/

I have demo'd it and it's wild.
 
Usually, if it's a crappier soundbar, it will downmix to 2.0, no matter what signal it is fed. Nicer ones that have multi-channel ability can play in 3.0, 3.1 (with a matching subwoofer), or even 5.0 - 5.1 (again, with a matching subwoofer).

Soundbars can go from about $100 for a basic Polk or similar, to $1000+ for something like these:

https://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio_visual/sound_bar/ysp-5600/index.html

Or, if you want a real beast that can do Atmos and everything else you can throw at it check out:
https://us.creative.com/soniccarrier/

I have demo'd it and it's wild.

Thanks for the feedback!

As for the Yamaha and the Atmos great suggestions but I'm not planning on spending a lot of money as I just want to upgrade the sound plus I don't watch enough to warrant the expense. I will say that I won't be going the cheap route either. I'd like to be in the 2 to 4 hundred range
 
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I do not watch a lot of television when I do it's either a sporting event, documentary, nature show or the occasional series and movie. I think we can all agree that internal speakers of most TV's these day sound terrible. I'm just looking for somewhat better sound and clearer dialogue

I'm in your camp as well. I don't watch a lot of TV--news, weather, sports, documentaries and re-runs of ancient shows--not a big movie buff, and the ones that I do like to drag out occasionally are too old to have modern encoding for audio. I WAS an early adopter of HT (5.1) a couple of decades ago, but it just wasn't worth it--running wires everywhere, placing speakers everywhere, and the constant "need" to upgrade to the next best thing--why do you think used AVRs are a dime a dozen?

I use soundbars with a sub on all of my TVs, and they all fall in the $200-500 price range. They are all wired (no wireless BS), and they do just what I need. They can fill the room with sound, and can simulate/expand an HT effect--I know--they are not a "proper" HT set-up, but CNN is not THAT much better in 9.2 than 2.0.

And yes--the speakers in most TVs suck--but what do you want out of something that has to work in a 1.5" space? My laptop has "Dolby Advanced Audio by Harman Kardon", but it ain't no stereo, either.
 
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Since you rarely watch TV, avoid the expense of a soundbar and turn on your TV's closed captions.
 
I use a ZVOX Sound Base that works great for my bedroom application and has a sub out also.
 
Since you rarely watch TV, avoid the expense of a soundbar and turn on your TV's closed captions.

Seriously? I never said I rarely watch tv and the purpose of the thread in my initial post is to find some answer to the questions posed.
 
The speakers that came with my Elite Pioneer Plasmas are very acceptable for most tv listening. Yes the bass falls off rapidly starting around 70 HZ, but that's OK.
 
What I'm hoping to achieve with this thread is answers from folks here who currently use a soundbar.

I do not watch a lot of television when I do it's either a sporting event, documentary, nature show or the occasional series and movie. I think we can all agree that internal speakers of most TV's these day sound terrible. I'm just looking for somewhat better sound and clearer dialogue

Clearly I misunderstood your statement.
 
Your question about ARC is that is an Audio Return Channel. It’s on most of the current TVs and from what I understand, it allows the audio pass-through from a blu ray or DVD player connected by HDMI to the TV. Someone more technical than me can explain it better.
 
Your question about ARC is that is an Audio Return Channel. It’s on most of the current TVs and from what I understand, it allows the audio pass-through from a blu ray or DVD player connected by HDMI to the TV. Someone more technical than me can explain it better.

Actually the "return" part means that the audio returns from the TV to your receiver for playback. If you are watching OTA tv or the web via a smart tv your can return the audio so you can play over speakers hooked up to the receiver using one one HDMI cable between the receiver/soundbar and your TV.
It can be tricky to get to work properly so you may end up getting the audio out of the TV by digital optical/coax or RCA cables. What audio out does your TV support? Most will only support 2.0 out from the TV and maybe or may not be both digital and analog. Figure out what the TV can do then look at soundbars and if they are compatible.

Pass through is a feature in a receiver that allows you, for example, to watch a cablebox show connected from the cablebox to a receiver then to the TV on your TV without having to turn on the receiver. The signal can passively "pass through" the receiver. Usually only the last source selected on the receiver before powering off can be watched this way.
 
IME just about all TV's will support 5.1 on the digital output when using the TV's internal tuner. When using an external source many only support 2.0 on coax/optical out.
 
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