We’ve decided we want to get a sound bar for our TV. I’ve tried researching and reading reviews, but so far, I’m just confused. We aren’t looking for a theater experience - we just want better sound than our TV offers, and we don’t want to spend a ridiculous amount of money. But we aren’t shopping by price alone, since cheaper is often just cheap…
So, home theater buffs or sound bar owners, what should we look for and what should we avoid? We would rather not have another remote on the coffee table, and we don’t have particularly discerning ears. Our living room isn’t that huge, and we don’t use gaming systems, and we’re not pining for a super-duper subwoofer. We’d just like a nice system to augment our LG TV.
What model TV? Does it already have stereo speakers? My first thought would be that a low cost sound system would be no better than the built-in speakers.
Do you already have a home stereo system? The first thing I would try is running a stereo RCA cable from your TV to your stereo and seeing how that sounds to you.
If you use a device like a Roku that wants internet access to play your shows, one thing to watch out for is sound bars that have wireless subwoofers. These can interfere with your home wifi in close proximity to the set, and make that Roku/whatever work erratically.
Our TV is an LG 47LE5400 LED/LCD model. It’s got a dongle so we can get Netflix from our wireless router. Our stereo, such as it is, sits in a different room and the speakers and components are too big to fit with the TV.
The Roku box is for the bedroom TV - pretty far from the living room and normally, we’re either watching TV in the living room or the bedroom, but not both, so I don’t think interference will be an issue.
We stopped at Best Buy this afternoon, but there was no one available to answer questions for us, and they didn’t seem to have much of a selection - of course, they could have been well picked-over for the holidays. I remember Circuit City used to have a speaker room where you could test-drive different models in relative quiet - does anyone offer that any more?
Not any big box store I know of. Bose has some retail outlets where you can do it, but I personally don’t think their gear is worth the premium of their name.
OTOH, odds are very good that in a medium to large city you’ll find a number of AV stores, usually offering higher end gear. You can probably listen to some there and buy cheaper elsewhere, though I usually feel bad doing it.
A couple of things, probably showing my own dated information. I assumed it would have a pair of stereo RCA lines out that would run into just about any stereo But it doesn’t. It only has one analog headphone output, and one digital audio output. Odds are if you have an older stereo, connecting it to your stereo will be problematic.
So I don’t have anything more of use to offer, except to make sure that whatever you choose has an optical digital audio input.
I assume this is the TV that you’re buying the sound bar for. Then yes, a sound bar + wireless subwoofer could interfere with your Netflix viewing, something you really can’t know until you bring it home. Save the packaging and receipt and see what happens and if Netflix is suddenly balky. You may have no problems.
Ah, yes, the connectivity options are something to consider. When we bought our sound bar a few weeks ago, it seemed like quite a few had a digital connector (Toslink), but not all. Our television had audio pass through to a digital connector, which we used to hook it up to the soundbar. The OP should make sure the proper ins n outs are available. Digital is preferred if you can go that way.
Headphone and Stereo RCAs are convertible from one to the other, although sometimes going from Stereo RCA -> Headphones without an amp can be problematic because the sound will be too quiet (at line level). Sound too loud from the headphone jack isn’t usually a problem because the TV volume will usually control it. That said, you want a sound bar with optical in and to connect it with an optical cable. Edit to add, using, for example, this: Amazon.com: Hosa CMR-206 3.5 mm TRS to Dual RCA Stereo Breakout Cable, 6 Feet,Black : Electronics
Honestly just about any soundbar with a separate subwoofer is likely to be quite a bit better than your TV speakers. You might consider trying walmart first since if you don’t like whatever you get, the returns there are no questions asked. Something like this: Robot or human?
Would be just fine. That guy plus an optical cable (Robot or human?) would be all you need. Note that the Sound Bar I mention above has HDMI in and out so you could us it like a receiver (ie cable box->hdmi->sound bar->tv), but since you have netflix, etc built into the TV you just want to run an optical cable from the TV to the sound bar instead and leave everything hooked up to the TV.
I have DirecTV, and the DirecTV remote is integrated to operate the TV and sound bar.
I have the Boston Acoustics Tvee Model 30 and am happy with the sound quality, except for two annoying things:
(1) the subwoofer is relatively weak such that the volume has to be turned on so loud before it starts to work, and
(2) the remote cannot adjust volume when at an angle to the sound bar; it has to be almost directly in front of it. Removing the sound bar’s metal grating cover alleviates this so I am considering drilling a hole in the cover where the remote’s signal is received.
Other than those two annoyances we’re happy enough with it.
I’ve been thinking about a soundbar as well and one thing I’m wondering is whether any of them are designed to attach to the bottom of the TV? Because we have Dell LCD monitors in the office and Dell sells a soundbar that neatly attaches to the bottom of their desktop LCD monitors. It even connects to the monitor for power. It would mean slightly less clutter on the TV table if it could be mounted.
The usual thing is to mount the TV on the wall and also mount the sound bar on that wall, either above or below the TV. I’m not aware of any general scheme that lets you attach the sound bar to the television, and I’d think you’d need to buy that sound bar from the manufacturer of the television for them to lock together somehow.
I, too, have been looking into sound bars recently, and I find myself leaning toward pedestal models (ones you can put a TV on top of). In the $400-600 price range, my top two picks – based solely on online research – are the Bose Solo and the SpeakerCraft CS3. I won’t be spending that kind of money any time soon, but when I do I think I’ll go for the SpeakerCraft. I don’t think I’ll put my 50" plasma TV on top of it, though: more likely I’ll stick it on a shelf and put either my Blu-ray player or my TiVo on it.
Man, this is way more complicated than I thought. Silly me - figuring you pick out one you like, plug it into your TV, and there ya go… Looks like I need to get familiar with the back of my TV so I know what kind of inputs/outputs I’ve got. Or I can just let my husband deal with it - would it be mean of me to dump it all in his lap??
Yes they are. She just has to see what connections she has on the back of her TV.
If FairyChatMom wants her TV mounted on a table top or on a stand, there are free-standing speaker systems available. Maybe even vertical free-standing soundbars.
