Adding a sound bar to 2 channel stereo??

[Charlie Jefferson]

I was watching The Dark Knight on Blu Ray last night with my wife, and whilst we both thoroughly enjoyed the slightly overlong spectacle, I couldn't help thinking about enhancing my sound.

My system is geared almost entirely to stereo music playback but I was wondering if a soundbar would work with my current set up. My PS3 is optically linked to my DAC, and works wonders accordingly, but is a bit overwhelming when it comes to striking an enjoyable balance between dialogue and extraneous, multiple sound effects.

I kept having to turn the sound down a notch when things exploded, then up a bit when the scene was mostly dialogue driven.

I want to avoid 5.1 set ups, so any 2 channel add ons anyone can suggest.

Would a soundbar fit in here, and if so, how?

Budget: £500 max.

 

[Anonymous]

I have to say that a soundbar is a great solution, i own one myself, a Yamaha one and have had no regrets since buying it as i did replace my old 6.1 setup as i thought it took up so much room in my house. So i think a soundbar is a great idea, it will give you a better feel of surround sound from a one box solution, a good model to suggest would be the Yamaha YSP-600, it cost's around £400 and has even HDMI inputs too.

In regards to your setup, ive never owned a DAC but i can imagine that the soundbar would be used mostly for films, games, tv sound etc, if you run your DAC through the soundbar, i think it might not give you the sound your after on your films as your suppose to connect your gear such as a PS3 straight to the soundbar directly. The DAC would probably fit into a seperates type of surround sound setup like having a AV receiver, CD player, PS3, speakers etc but means having to move away from a one box solution.

Regards> M

 

[Charlie Jefferson]

Thanks for that PS.

So am I right in thinking that it's a soundbar OR my current set-up, not an integration of both?

Now I think about it, I understand that to do the latter would require another amp of the kind you mention. Is that the only solution?

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah sadly i think it's one or the other, a DAC is used in a seperates system and not with a one box cinema system, the only way you can still use the DAC is treating that as seperate system all together, use it for music as a hi-fi but if you were using the PS3 as your CD player, then i can understand the problem. Your best to get a seperate CD player and use it with your DAC and get the soundbar for your home cinema needs.

I think option 2 is having a seperates AV receiver as mentioned before and i think that could be the only other solution, some top end AV receivers have a DAC i think built in, so that could one way to have a complete setup but you are talking about spending quite allot of money to achieve this.

I personally would keep the music to one side and the home cinema the other, like i said before, if you are using the PS3 as a CD player, then i would advise getting a dedicated seperate CD player as it would sound better for starters. As for the PS3, have it connected to the soundbar for home cinema surround sound on your films aswell as your games would come through this too.

Regards> M