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Are Sound Bars a Racket?


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Are Sound Bars a Racket?
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drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2021-07-26, 14:57

Bought a new 24" television after ours got zapped.

The sound quality is beyond awful.

Apparently a common complaint.

Are sound bars a racket?



...
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chucker
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: near Bremen, Germany
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2021-07-26, 15:06

My understanding is they fit conveniently but produce rather mediocre sound by necessity.
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Bryson
Rocket Surgeon
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: The Canadark
 
2021-07-26, 15:22

I like mine. (Sony HT-S350). I use it with my 49" Sony TV that has weak and feeble speakers that never did the job.

Separate speakers may well sound better but I spend my entire working life dealing with cable management and multiple speaker placement, I don't want to do it at home too.
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2021-07-26, 15:50

I love my Sonos bars. I have a Playbar and a couple of Beams and they sound great. Much better than the ones included with the TVs for sure. I mean, clearly your purpose will determine if a bar is good enough. I think in your other thread you said this was for a dining room, so I'm guessing audiophile quality is not a concern. You could likely get a small speaker that plugs into a headphone jack on the TV to be your speaker that would easily handle a wider range (bass, mid and treble) compared to the crappy included speakers.

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
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kscherer
Which way is up?
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Boyzeee
 
2021-07-26, 15:50

There are good sound bars, and there are bad sound bars. Good ones sound great, bad ones don't.
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chucker
 
Join Date: May 2004
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2021-07-26, 16:13

Quote:
Originally Posted by kscherer View Post
There are good sound bars, and there are bad sound bars. Good ones sound great, bad ones don't.
This guy sound bars.
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kscherer
Which way is up?
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Boyzeee
 
2021-07-26, 17:02

Quote:
Originally Posted by chucker View Post
This guy sound bars.


It seems so obvious.
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chucker
 
Join Date: May 2004
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2021-07-26, 17:04

Quote:
Originally Posted by kscherer View Post


It seems so obvious.
The Wirecutter TV, with K Scherer

First and last episode: “some products are great, and others aren’t. We recommend you buy some of the great ones
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kscherer
Which way is up?
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Boyzeee
 
2021-07-26, 17:06

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PB PM
Sneaky Punk
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Vancouver, BC
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2021-07-26, 20:02

Greatness is always in the eye of the beholder. Sound bars are are great for smaller spaces, but the general rule of thumb with sound is that all in one systems simply cannot replace a good set of old school speakers at a similar price point. The drivers simply aren’t physically large enough. A good sound bar will still beat just about all built in TV speakers. A bad sound bar, just isn’t worth it.
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drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2021-07-27, 01:47

I'm an uninformed idiot, and shopping is difficult now. I ordered an inexpensive sound bar from Vizio, the same brand as the little TV. Turns out the little TV only has audio output from a headphone jack. No optical line out, no RCA audio line out. After futzing with it a while I stopped myself and moved it to a service issue.
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PB PM
Sneaky Punk
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Vancouver, BC
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2021-07-27, 09:02

That’s common, low end TVs don’t have sound outputs other than HDMI. If one the HDMI port is marked as having HDMI ARC you should be able to control the sound bar volume with the TV remote.
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2021-07-27, 09:09

If your TV is this one then it does have ARC and you should be able to feed the sound bar from the TV with HDMI. If you give us specifics we can help you get it hooked up right.

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
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drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2021-07-27, 09:25

I was stroking out from sleepytime when I posted my last comment.

"moved it to a service issue" should have been "moved it to a larger television in another room"



T that IS the television that I got, and it's very decent for where it's set up.

The sound bar was so much deeper from front to back than I realized, which took up too much room on the dining room table where it's set up - so what I've done is gone back to the little $20 Logitech computer speakers that are fed by that audio output earphone jack.

The little speakers just fit this space better.

Still, I'm interested in understanding what an ARC HDMI connection is and how I could have hooked it up.

The new sound bar on the television in the other room sounds fabulous, especially with the bass speaker that came with the setup.

Can't wait to watch something on it, properly, but I first need to break down the cage that we were using to keep our cat with lymphoma in - she's still alive (for now), but she reacted SO badly to being caged that I will not put her into it again and need to get it back to the friends who loaned it to me.


...

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RowenaVera
BANNED
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Join Date: Jul 2021
 
2021-07-30, 09:46

Glad you bought a TV with good sound. And bad luck will buy bad sound.
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kscherer
Which way is up?
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Boyzeee
 
2021-07-30, 10:38



I bought my last sound bar from Toledo Sound.
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psmith2.0
Mr. Vieira
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
 
2021-07-30, 13:26

I think those words are engraved on the Lincoln Memorial. I seem to remember them from my visit to DC a few years ago.
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RowenaVera
BANNED
I am a filthy spammer.
 
Join Date: Jul 2021
 
2021-08-01, 06:47

Quote:
Hi! My name is mud, and I am an idiot. Glad you bought a TV with good sound. And bad luck will buy bad sound. Radio stations, too, should choose reputable and ad-free websites like internetradiohoren.de[/url].
Thanks for sharing.



Paul doesn't like you. Go away!

~ Kscherer

Last edited by kscherer : 2021-08-01 at 11:12.
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psmith2.0
Mr. Vieira
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
 
2021-08-01, 07:42

Ken? When you wake up, find your hammer.
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PB PM
Sneaky Punk
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
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2021-08-01, 14:33

I though I smelled some nasty fish here yesterday, must be why I was sick last night. I was right.
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chucker
 
Join Date: May 2004
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2021-08-01, 17:04

Are tennis implements a racket?
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