Good Sound Bar?

[BMXTRIX]

My situation is that I need a sound bar.

It doesn't have to be a surround sound version, stereo or surround is fine.

I am looking for a solid upgrade over the internal speakers built into the LCD which will be a 70" Sharp. Wiring surround sound is not an option.

It is possible I may go with some side-mounted speakers and an A/V receiver, but I would like to avoid doing this to keep the cost in check.

My requirements:
It must be able to take the digital audio output from the Sharp TV.
It must accurately auto turn on/off or have discrete on/off commands which I can trigger from a universal remote reliably.
Similarly, the volume up/down/mute commands must be remote controlled, which I believe is standard.

My experience with sound bars up to this point has been the Polk Audio SurroundBar 50 which is a non-amplified version so I've paired it with a Denon receiver and everything has been great.

What has been the various experiences for people with these products?

 

[TLS Guy]

My situation is that I need a sound bar.

It doesn't have to be a surround sound version, stereo or surround is fine.

I am looking for a solid upgrade over the internal speakers built into the LCD which will be a 70" Sharp. Wiring surround sound is not an option.

It is possible I may go with some side-mounted speakers and an A/V receiver, but I would like to avoid doing this to keep the cost in check.

My requirements:
It must be able to take the digital audio output from the Sharp TV.
It must accurately auto turn on/off or have discrete on/off commands which I can trigger from a universal remote reliably.
Similarly, the volume up/down/mute commands must be remote controlled, which I believe is standard.

My experience with sound bars up to this point has been the Polk Audio SurroundBar 50 which is a non-amplified version so I've paired it with a Denon receiver and everything has been great.

What has been the various experiences for people with these products?

Just be aware that there are now TV programs and BD discs that have flags to stop digital audio being sent out via the SPDIF outputs of a TV. I don't know how many discs have this, but it is allowed.

I found this out helping members and reviewing the new TV user manuals. They are all explaining this now.

This continues the forcing of HDMI. That is a big problem, because as TVs get thinner the audio gets worse for obvious reasons.

I have no idea of the quality of sound bars.

 

[j_garcia]

My TV is super thin and the speakers sound surprisingly decent, for a thin TV that is. If I were going to add a little stereo setup just to compliment the sound, I'd go with a compact amp (PE DTA-100?) and some on-walls or something like that over a sound bar most likely. Or a pair of powered speakers like the Audioengine A5+s or A2s, though that kind of ups the budget.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

It's hard to recommend without knowing your budget, but it would be a rather safe guess that anything came out of D&M is not terrible

Audioholics reviewed (video) TVee model 30 and seem to like it
You could get it refub for a bit less here:
Server error

 

[zieglj01]

^^^
Look at the TVee model 30

 

[FirstReflection]

Well, from all of the sound bars I've heard (which, admittedly, certainly isn't all of them), the only ones worth a damn, IMO are Yamaha's. They're rather pricey, but they do everything you're looking for and they sound better than any of the other soundbars I've heard - all of which have been pretty bad.

The other option is to use a regular receiver and get some on-wall speakers. In particular, several manufacturers make speakers that have the Left, Center, and Right all built into one, long, on-wall cabinet. Something like the Revel LCR8 for example. The Revel on-walls are the best on-wall speakers I've heard for their fairly resonable price point. They're still not cheap though

 

[j_garcia]

The other option is to use a regular receiver and get some on-wall speakers. In particular, several manufacturers make speakers that have the Left, Center, and Right all built into one, long, on-wall cabinet. Something like the Revel LCR8 for example. The Revel on-walls are the best on-wall speakers I've heard for their fairly resonable price point. They're still not cheap though

That's why I recommended powered speakers. No receiver needed. Speakers cost more, but with no amp or receiver, it may end up being a little less expensive.

 

[BMXTRIX]

I am leaning towards the Polk SurroundBar 50 which needs to be paired with an A/V receiver. The use of flags to kill the digital output really blows me away and destroys reliability, which is king IMO.

I've done the Polk a couple of times now and it remains one of the best reviewed bars on the market to my knowledge since it's all speaker and requires an external A/V receiver.

I believe we will see more and more sound bars with HDMI inputs on them, and I believe there are already some out there which can do this, but I simply have no ideas which ones they are, how well they work, and how controllable they are. I don't want to spend five hours researching this, but I really do need to do so I expect.

**sigh**

This is not for my personal setup, but for client's installations and on-walls just don't work with the space really - nothing L/R of the display or even bookshelf speakers will work. Tight spaces with limited above/under room. So, this discussion really needs to stick with sound bars only (unfortunately).

 

[PENG]

I am leaning towards the Polk SurroundBar 50 which needs to be paired with an A/V receiver. The use of flags to kill the digital output really blows me away and destroys reliability, which is king IMO.

I saw a Polk one in Costco and it seems to come with a small sub. It looked nice and small, not sure about the model number. I can't recall the exact price but I thought it was expensive for a sound bar system unless the sub on display was included in the price.

 

[BMXTRIX]

The current generation of Polk systems typically DO include a wireless subwoofer with them, so what you saw did include the wireless subwoofer. The worry is that with that type of sound bar with certain shows or Blu-ray movies that the audio may not be output from the digital out on the TV at all and we will not have any audio. That would really suck being unsure of when we will, or will not, get audio.

 

[walter duque]

Just something for you too look at. PlasmaLCRlist

 

[ParadigmDawg]

I normally PM bmxtrix for this type of question but I don't really think it would help on this one....

 

[apple916]

ebay and craigslist has good deals on Yamaha YSP soundbars at ridiculous prices. Pair it with a decent sub and you'll be happy.