HDTVs

Dude get the Zvox I linked!

I'm installing a guys new smaller TV room with HTPC which has a sound bar on Sunday, going to see how impressed I am with it before I make a decision.

Anyone have this?http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-UN32F5...UN32F5500AFXZA

Thinking about picking it up for my bedroom. btw.. My Panasonic Plasma took a dump yesterday. Second time in 3 years the panels blew. I love those TVs but man they got cheap with some of the panels.

I am in the market for a sound bar as I currently run off my new 75 inch Samsung's speakers and to put it bluntly, its fucking horrible.

Traditional Surround will not work for me as my set up is a diamond shape so no really good spot to put rear speakers, I am looking for a high quality sound bar, but so far the only that has knocked my socks off is the Bose SR 1. But at $1499 I just cant pull the trigger no matter tingly it makes my balls feels. Its nice because it is smart enough to take readings of your room and provide 5.1 surround based on your set up, Carpet, walls furniture all change the sound. In theory it learns the surroundings and adapts to your room. Its pretty much Skynet. I also really like the simplicity of the sound bar set up.

Anyone have any advice on a higher end soundbar that less than $1000 but can still pound out true 5.1 surround? So far I have heard nothing that can hold a candle to the Bose, but its old tech so there must be something out there ?? Right??

Anyone owned a SR 1? Half the reviews I read are 1) omg best sound ever or 2) omg Bose is overpriced market hype.




PS - the Samsung smart apps and allsare media server are amazing, I have retired my PS3 from streaming. Allshare runs all my 1080p movies with no glitch (so far)

Are you sure a 5.1 setup won't work? Doing a 5.1 you don't use Rears, you use Side speakers. Rears should only be used in a 7.1 and I'm pretty sure you can squeeze Side speakers into a "Diamond Shaped" room.

I am by far an audiofile i have not bought a new audio equipment (outside of an ipod) in a decade. My conclusions are from online research and asking sales chumps at various retailers.

Ok here is my Man Cave, its a work in progress and constant negotiation with the Wife. This set up is new as the couch is only a few months old and the TV is only a week old.


I lied, its not really a diamond shape room, but i have the tv in the corner so it it acts like a diamond.






The reason it is in the corner is for the sectional to get maxium viewing angles, as well as i NEED to see the tv from my computer set up which is just behind the couch. Really i watch most of my TV at the computer playing games (damn you MMOS!)



Yes that is a Lazy boy as a computer chair, yes its as fucking great as you think it would be. This happend due to my computer chair dying the same week as my Grandfather 7 years ago. This was my bandaid solution but worked out like gang busters. The whole point of this set up is as follows. When sitting at the computer the TV looks like a 3rd monitor, due to distance it apears to be in the same position and scale as the 2 computer monitors.

Sorry for the bad angle, when you sit lower (ie lazyboy) it works out.










So rerollers, Where would you put speakers considering 75% of viewing time is sitting at the comp, and 25% is in the very center of the sectional?


Sure i could do receiver and 2 front speakers, but i really want to try and stretch for surround sound, thats why i am thinking Sound bar with Virtual surround might be the best bet.
All advice is appreciated.

you might like this sucka and its on sale
Amazon.com: MartinLogan Motion Vision Gloss Black 5-Channel Soundbar: Electronics

Best Soundbar | The Wirecutter

Hey Nester,
I can attempt to help you but answer a few quick questions;
Budget
Neighbors ( apartment or house)
Room dimensions ( if possible include viewing distance from TV and front wall )
What audio equipment do you have now ( receiver, speakers, subs etc.)
Are you allowed to hang speakers from the wall

Please don't buy a sound bar, at a minimum a properly setup 2.1 system will have a very convincing surround effect and sound much,much better.

forin_sl said:

Hey Nester,
I can attempt to help you but answer a few quick questions;
Budget
Neighbors ( apartment or house)
Room dimensions ( if possible include viewing distance from TV and front wall )
What audio equipment do you have now ( receiver, speakers, subs etc.)
Are you allowed to hang speakers from the wall

Please don't buy a sound bar, at a minimum a properly setup 2.1 system will have a very convincing surround effect and sound much,much better.

Click to expand...

1) $1000, could go up to $1500 if i think its a larger jump in quality, not apposed to buying part now and adding on to it in later years.
2) My Basement in my House, neighbors house is about 20feet from my exterior wall.
3) The room is 21x14, the main movie viewing/ps3 area is about 12-14.5 depending on where you sit, typical 12 for games and 14.5 for movies. I would focus the sound on the sofa as even though i watch most tv from the computer which is 18 feet ish from the tv. While i do watch most regular tv from the computer area it's generally not as important or dedicated viewing.
4) Nothing
5) Allowed, yes. Generally not excited about the idea, but could be convinced.

Dude, with that budget and freedom you should do a proper setup, not buy a fucking Soundbar. Especially not a $1500 soundbar.

Vvoid - he can have it sound good at both his computer and the couches if he gets a Receiver that allows a Zone 2 setup for alternate channels.

Sean_sl said:

Vvoid - he can have it sound good at both his computer and the couches if he gets a Receiver that allows a Zone 2 setup for alternate channels.

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This makes sense to me. Get a receiver that has 2 x speaker zones. Zone 1 would be setup for TV viewing from the couch, Zone 2 would be speakers setup for sitting at the computer. My parents do the same thing except Zone 1 is speakers for the TV and Zone 2 is their outside/deck speakers.

And yeah, I'm on a little bit of a budget and working for someone who doesn't give too much of a fuck, but if I were dropping $1k-1.5k... definitely buy a full getup. Soundbar seems silly for what you're trying to do and the budget you have.

Then again I have little knowledge in this area so take that all with a grain of salt.

To clarify the original budget was about $500-750. I am also Canadian so everything will be 10-20% more expensive with less selection. Then I heard the Bose SR 1 and it blew my socks off, obviously I had trouble pulling the trigger at $1500 so here I am. I would really like to stay below $1000, but if it something that can last me a decade or two and give me substantially more value I could save up a bit more. I am not going to buy till after xmas, we typically have some good boxing day sales (Canadian mini black Friday after xmas) but we will have to see how much Xmas costs this year.

Thank you for your comments thus far.

mkopec_sl said:

Picked up a cheap 40" for my kids gameroom and soon to be ps4. Got it for $245

Click to expand...

I ended up getting the same TV because, fuck, it's so cheap.

Have you hooked it up to a PC or anything like that? I've seen one review that mentions ghosting, but no one else has said anything about it. If that ends up being the case I may offload this one on my wife and take our bedroom TV for my office.

What's a good, inexpensive soundbar that's worth getting?

Draegan_sl said:

What's a good, inexpensive soundbar that's worth getting?

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ProbablyAmazon.com: Sony HTCT260 Sound Bar Home Theater System: Electronicsif you are looking to go cheap. There really isn't anything better unless you spend at LEAST $100 more, nothing comes close at the ~$200 price point.

Nester_sl said:

1) $1000, could go up to $1500 if i think its a larger jump in quality, not apposed to buying part now and adding on to it in later years.
2) My Basement in my House, neighbors house is about 20feet from my exterior wall.
3) The room is 21x14, the main movie viewing/ps3 area is about 12-14.5 depending on where you sit, typical 12 for games and 14.5 for movies. I would focus the sound on the sofa as even though i watch most tv from the computer which is 18 feet ish from the tv. While i do watch most regular tv from the computer area it's generally not as important or dedicated viewing.
4) Nothing
5) Allowed, yes. Generally not excited about the idea, but could be convinced.

Click to expand...

Ok Nester here are a few options
I am not sure what the Canadian price will be so if they are over budget my apologies

If you want the equipment to last and build on over a few years you will have to buy a decent AVR ( these things change every year ) so it best to find one with the most options at the best price. Saying that, the best one for price to performance I found is thisAmazon.com: Onkyo TX-NR818 7.2-Channel Network A/V Receiver (Black): Electronics

As for speakers, here are a few options.
If you want an affordable 5 or 7 surround speaker option then go with these Pioneer speakers I recommended to Sean a few months ago ( i have a pair as well )Amazon.com: Pioneer SP-FS52-LR Andrew Jones Designed Floor standing Loudspeaker (each): Electronics
They show up on sale very frequently ( mine were $90.00) at Best Buy a few months ago. These will last a while and sound great for the price.

Another option for speakers
The receiver I suggested has what they call pre/outs so you can use it to bypass the internal amp in the receiver, to an external amp or to speakers with a built in amp
These speakers have an internal amp and digital crossover and sound fantastic.... I've heard them and for the price they are a great value.Amazon.com: KRK Rokit RP10-3 Mid-Field 10-Inch 3-Way Powered Studio Monitor: Musical Instruments
You could buy 2 of these for a stereo pair now and add later if you want. Make sure you look at the size and can fit them where you want them, they are fairly large and heavy

QSC K series are similar speakers to the KRK's but are about $750 per speaker (Treyarch uses these in their HT demo room)


Subwoofer
Most important part of a HT system. A good sub will make or break a sound system.
SVS's cheaper subs are great for the price, I generally prefer sealed subs they go lower but are not as loud as ported.
If you can buy multiple subs I would go for sealedHigh Performance Compact Sealed Subwoofers - SVS
It sounds like you will probably use a single sub so I would recommendMaximum Performance Ported Subwoofers - SVS


What I would do if I were you is to buy the receiver and a pair of the pioneer speakers at this point your around $1,000
If you want more then buy the SVS sub (cheapest one if 499). At this point if you still want more you can always buy more subs ( 1 of the same subwoofer each corner of the room is ideal)

The matching bookshelf speakers from pioneer (Amazon.com: Pioneer SP-BS22-LR Andrew Jones Designed Bookshelf Loudspeakers: Electronics) are sold in pairs and you can mount them on walls or place them on stands and for the price these can be added at any time. As a married man you can always sneak the cheaper stuff in later, its getting past the initial price hump with the wife that is always the problem.


I am sure I missed something but let me know if this has helped.



Forin

RE Pioneer Prices: I got the whole set on sale (minus the subwoofer) of 2 front Flootstanding Speakers - $75 each, 1 Center speaker - $106, and 2 Bookshelf Speakers - $75 for the pair, for a total of $331.

If you catch sales you can get an amazing set there for a really low price. Reviews have said they compete with sets that cost upwards of $2 Grand and they really are fantastic speakers.