Soundbar with extra possibilities.

chalky024

Hi gang,

Looking for a soundbar surround system that won't require running wires to the surrounds. I already have one room dedicated to home cinema and my wife would prefer to keep the room the soundbar is going in to, looking as normal as possible. With this in mind and after looking at reviews I almost pulled the plug on the Samsung HWQ990F from you but she has now thrown me another curveball. She would like to be able to listen to her CDs and is hoping I can also reinstate my turntable for old school vibes. I'm wondering if I go down the Sonos route and add something like the ERA300 to a Sonos soundbar/sub combo, would I be able to connect the ERA300 to an Amp via bluetooth and use them as a stereo pair when not using the soundbar?

Hope this all makes sense to you.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

corazon

I just ordered the HWQ990F today from Richersounds. Best price I could find and it is highly rated. Should be here in a few days. Surely you can Bluetooth from a CD player or find some kind of adapter?

chalky024

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123986626#Comment_123986626

Probably could but I'm looking at adding a turntable also. My thinking is to link the surrounds to a Bluetooth amp and use them as a stereo pair when not in use for surround duties if possible.

Richersounds.ie: Kenny

Hi Chalky.

Thanks for the post.

There would be no way to connect a normal CD Player to any off the Sonos soundbars as they only have an HDMI input on them.
For connecting a CD player you would need to find a soundbar with RCA inputs which is very rare to be honest.
You could try getting one that has a separate optical input and then by a CD transport and run optical to the soundbar. Again this can not be done with the Sonos ones.

The Sonos ERA300 can not be connected to an amp via Bluetooth as they are a blue tooth receiver rather than transmitter.
You could use a Bluetooth turntable to connect to the ERA300 and then out to the Soundbar.
For this to work you would need to unpair the ERA300 if it was set up as 5.1 with the soundbar.
Once unpaired you can Bluetooth the turntable to it and then group it with a Soundbar.
If you wanted to go back to watch a movie in surround sound then you would need to re-pair the rear (ERA300's)

Most turntables would come up against the same issue as you require RCA inputs to connect a turntable.
The only turntable we have that can connect directly to Sonos would be the Victrola Stream or if you go down the Bluetooth turntable route.

https://euro.richersounds.ie/p-15056-victrola-stream-carbon-works-with-sonos-streaming-turntable.aspx

In regards to the Samsung HWQ990F, you can not use the rears of this as separate stereo speakers as they are designed to pair up with the Samsung soundbar.
It has an optical as well as HDMI inputs so you could connect up a CD transport to this and if you used a Bluetooth turntable you could connect to this via Bluetooth.
Bluetooth connection for a turntable isn't ideal but it will work and give an okay sound.

Let me know your thoughts.

chalky024

Hi Kenny,

Thanks for the info. It's more or less as I expected. Just to clarify though, I was thinking if I had a bluetooth transmitter on my amp (which would have the turntable and CD player connected to it) that I could transmit to the Era 300's as a stereo pair for audio listening, leaving the soundbar out completely. I don't fancy the idea of having to disconnect from the soundbar and then reconnecting when using the soundbar though. That would become a bit tedious after a while. It's probably easier to just have a dedicated stereo pair for music though that adds to the number of speakers in the room.

I'll be in touch when I've had the conversation😁

Cheers

Richersounds.ie: DavidS

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123988953#Comment_123988953

Thanks for getting back to us chalky04.

The Era 300s would be a great option as a wireless stereo pair.

Please don't hesitate to drop us a post once you've had the conversation though!

Kind regards

David

Richersounds.ie: John

…hmmm,

if you could wait a short while (I'm not sure exactly how long TBH) , we should have the new WiiM soundbar , that will connect via the WiiM App to any WiiM amp which you could connect your Turntable and CD player to as well and the whole system would then talk to each other…

You could achieve the same with the a Denon HEOS setup including the HEOS Bar 550:

https://euro.richersounds.ie/p-205249-denon-home-soundbar-550-black-dolby-atmos-soundbar.aspx

and a Denon HOME AMP:

https://euro.richersounds.ie/p-208487-denon-home-amp-black-network-stereo-amplifier.aspx

The only complications are 1: it's a good bit more expensive than the planned Wiim Soundbar 2: your Turntable would need to have a built in Phono Step up amp(most turntables have this) 3: Your CD player would need an optical out - this is because the Denon HOME amp only has a single analogue input (Turntable) / Single Optical input (CD) / HDMI input for TV sound..

A bit complicated, but doable!

Keep us posted with any creative thoughts :)

Have a great weekend,

John Mc & Crew

chalky024

Hi John,

The whole HEOS ecosystem seems interesting but I'm not sure about the Soundbar 550. It appears there are better options out there. Do you guys have any experience of the JBL Bar1300X Mk.2? The corner that the TV sits in may be a little tight for the Samsung. The JBL is pretty much the same width as the TV with the surrounds removed and from what I've seen online, the system performs quite well. It might be a better option for the location.

Richersounds.ie: John

Hi Chalky024,

thanks again for the mail and apologies for the delay getting back to you.

We have seen most of the new JBL Bar MK's up to the Bar 1000 MK2 but we have not had the 1300 II yet unfortunately.

Looking at the 1300 II , alongside lots of HDMI options, it does have an optical input so you should be able to use your CD player, but unless your turntable has BT it would not work.

If the 1300 Mk2 is interesting for you I can reach out and check best price and ETA for you no problem.

ATVB,

John Mc & Crew

chalky024

Hi John,

That would be great, thank you. I'll be measuring up the corner in the next day or two to get a better idea of how things would fit. I would prefer that whichever unit I go for has a little bit of space to throw the sound out into the room and since there's furniture built in, it may stifle the larger Samsung to an extent.

What do you think of the JBLs that you've seen so far?

Richersounds.ie: Kenny

Hi Chalky024.

The JBL bars are decent but its hard to beat the Sonos soundbars.
We are excited to hear how the Wiim ones will perform as we recon they are going to give Sonos a run for their money.

chalky024

Hi Kenny,

I believe so but am I correct in my info that there have been issues with Sonos' support in the past? I remember hearing that a huge amount of owners were not very happy at the time. I know that JBL haven't been leading the way but from what I've I've seen online the Mk.2 version of the Bar 1300 might be the best they've produced. It might also offer me more flexibility? A lot will depend on price and when it's available. The WiiM might be available by then.

Richersounds.ie: Kenny

Hi Chanlky024.

I'm not too sure to be honest.
I know a while ago Sonos changed the app and some people were not happy but I have to say I use Sonos at home and have had Zero issues.

JBL make great products but I'm not too familiar with their soundbar as we have never really had any of the big ones in for demo and to play around with.

On the Wiim products, we are all really looking forward to when the soundbar drops as I think it will give Sonos a run for their money.