Compact soundbar recommendations?

beardybrewer

I've a 18x12x8 foot lounge and am downsiding my 5.1 system to a soundbar. We only use the stereo for movies these days so it's really the fullness of sound from a good action flick and enough control to hear the dialog I'm concerned about. It's not a huge room (but not tiny either with its tall ceiling) so we're going for a 43" TV. For that reason I feel a 2" (60ish cm) soundbar would fit best.

I got really excited about the Sonos Beam being the right size and price. However I've seen far too many comments about the bass response and the £700 cost of a subwoofer is really off-putting.

What are some good choices for compact soundbars (with or without sub) with enough oomph to watch action films in the < £500 price range?

Though it's really designed for a PC, i have the Creative Soundblaster X Katana. You can hook it up to a tv though through Optical. The sound is amazing. Nice and compact too.

beardybrewer

Wow that get great reviews although not sure if it will work as well for a tv as it's designed to be sat right in front of.

I've been looking at the Yamaha YAS-107 which looks promising and even has a sub out I could use with my exiting subwoofer (although hopefully not).

Going to go to Curry's tomorrow as they're meant to have the Yamaha and Sonos Beam. I just get the feeling that Sonos is this Apple-like cult of fanboys who need to circlejerk their justification for buying a £700 subwoofer. I'll take a listen to the other compact soundbars if any of it is working. Last time I took a look the showroom was in a bad state for actually being powered on and able to test them.

Here's a question: where's is there a good place to hear some soundbars in or near Galway city?

MAJJ

beardybrewer wrote: »

Wow that get great reviews although not sure if it will work as well for a tv as it's designed to be sat right in front of.

I've been looking at the Yamaha YAS-107 which looks promising and even has a sub out I could use with my exiting subwoofer (although hopefully not).

Going to go to Curry's tomorrow as they're meant to have the Yamaha and Sonos Beam. I just get the feeling that Sonos is this Apple-like cult of fanboys who need to circlejerk their justification for buying a £700 subwoofer. I'll take a listen to the other compact soundbars if any of it is working. Last time I took a look the showroom was in a bad state for actually being powered on and able to test them.

Here's a question: where's is there a good place to hear some soundbars in or near Galway city?

As a long standing happy customer I'd suggest posting your query on the Richersounds forum in boards, they'll give you advice and options.

trashcan

I'd really love some advice here. I have a 32 inch LG tv, fairly basic model. Has one HDMI, one USB and a scart. Sound on it isn't great, so I'd like to get a soundbar. Haven't really got a clue, and my main question is about the connections. What I'd mainly be watching is music (watching on YouTube, or DVD, mainly live gigs, and the odd drama on Netflix. )I use the HDMI connection for my chromecast, or DVD player, but from what I can see online soundbar s connect to the tv though optical cable or HDMI, so how could I connect a soundbar if my one HDMI is in use. (tv doesn't have an optical input ) Would a soundbar allow me to
Connect to HDMI directly (sorry if I've phrased that badly - I'll admit I'm a bit of a Luddite when it comes to these things.

I'm not looking for anything too extravagant, €2-300 price range maybe.

beardybrewer

You're in a tough situation until you upgrade your TV. Maybe you could get an interim solution by getting an HDMI switch with an audio output. I found one that had an analog audio out for less than £20. This one has an optical output so perhaps that would work?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Splitter-JayMag-Optisch-TOSLINK-Extractor-Black/dp/B07FJZFVCT/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1540485676&sr=1-2-spons&keywords=hdmi+audio+switch&psc=1