Hi all,
I'm looking for buy a soundbar but have no idea as I have never bought one before. Can you please recommend some good ones?
Thanks
Soundbar recommendations please
ds007ol on 26/07/2024 - 16:08
Comments
I bought a Bose Soundbar 600 - its simple - but it works well, sounds nice - all I needed. You can add a sub to it, but I havent done this.
Samsung q series or LG Bar series.
I have Samsung q800c bought via EPP and it is great. Works fine. Especially if you have newer Samsung tv, it can use tv speakers as well to create more surround sound.
Samsung qn90c. Really happy with it. Previously didn't like soundbars. Previous setup was over $20k-30k retail, but moved to a smaller house. The speech is really clear on this soundbar
Q990C* ^
We got the JBL bar 1000 and have liked it compared to our old 5.1 setup. I like the rechargeable rear speakers that most of the time live in the main soundbar and we break them out for movies. You could leave them plugged in using USB C if you like but we choose to keep them on the bar.
I have the Bose 900 without a subwoofer, which does not disappoint. I love it. We live in a semi attached townhouse for context though so we don’t have cinema level volume!
Music sounds fantastic and because of how it’s placed, the Dolby Atmos works surprisingly well. I can hear effects above me and to my left and right.
Love my Bose 600. Atmos and bass is great even without the sub. However managed to find a cheap hack to add a Logitech sub when I need to actually feel the rumble.
Happy with my Sonos Arc, Sub and two Ones for surround
Have you tried blutoothing your tv to your stereo? Its almost certainly an upgrade to sound quality and possibly free if your tv and stereo have blutooth
Samsung Q series. The Q series has been at the top of many peoples best soundbars lists since they first launched a few years back. I got an older version of their premium model, the HW-Q950A (latest model is called the Q990D) that came with a wireless sub & wireless rear speakers for $350 off Trade Me, the sound is pretty incredible with great channel separation, the rears add upward firing height speakers for Atmos so you hear bullets and helicopters whizzing over your head, it's pretty good, plus it gets surprisingly loud.
If you're buying new then look for old stock of the C models (Q990C, Q700C, Q800C) as there may be stores reducing these in price because the D models are now released. Just remember that the 700 and 800 don't come with rears you'll have to purchase the rears separately for around $300, and I highly recommend that whatever brand you decide to go with if you like movies and want the most immersive sound experience you need to have separate physical rear speakers.
Something to look out for if WIFI latency is important to you is to make sure you have a wired subwoofer. I previously owned an LG soundbar with a wireless subwoofer, and it kept interfering with my WIFI, I tried changing locations of the subwoofer placement, changing WIFI channels but it still did not work. Saw lots of soundbar with a wireless subwoofer has the same problem.
For example by pinging google without the soundbar turned on, i get a stable 40ms+ ping. but when the soundbar was on, randomly I would get a few 500ms+ packets every 1 or 2 minutes. If you play games or video call often this will be an issue.
Could you not just change the channel your Wifi router is using?
Which router you have? Try channel 48 and see if that helps.
Download netspot app, and tune your wifi, find the channels that aren't occupied and switch the router to those channels.
Sonos Arc with Sub. If you have some space at the back you can also mix it up with 2 other back speakers for a full movie experience.