Getting better sound out of my tv without a 5.1 system

[moffatmimi]

I've been lurking on the site for a while now and figured it was time to get some opinions on how to proceed. We just got a new Samsung 8000 series smart tv. While it is awesome, the sound sucks. We already have a dedicated theatre room with a full on home theatre set up so this tv just needs better sound period.

This is our "living room" tv. The point was to have a good looking tv that is not the focal point of our open concept modern house. The speakers need to be small and stylish to fit into the rest of the look of the house. I'd like the speakers to be able to handle tv/movie and sound great with music. The speakers will be hooked into a receiver that will connect to the tv via hdmi. We watch and listen to music and video streamed through the ethernet from a NAS and regular old Netflix. I haven't decided if I am going to keep the HD tv box with the tv or not but it would connect to the receiver via HDMI.

The tv is situated in the "living room" though that room is open to the rest of the house. The tv itself is mounted on a small wall (aprox. 50 inches wide) with a full flex mount that we angle into the room. This means the sound will be projected in the living room (not the full open space of the house) which should help with the desire for smaller speakers. The living room itself has 3 walls and a large opening into the rest of the house.

As the tv is currently angled into the room, the speakers can't be anymore than say 50 inches from each other so that they can be under the tv somehow, same issue for a soundbar. Budget is not a huge consideration as we have so many other constraints to consider. Lets just say nothing outrageous like over 2000 pounds.

Wondering if we should just go with a couple of reasonably sized bookshelf speakers into the receiver, a 2.1 system with smaller speakers and a sub, or a soundbar?

Help!

 

[drichardb]

Have you already got a receiver? If not, is the £2000 to include one or not?

 

[moffatmimi]

It can or if I can avoid the big clunky reciever than that's better Currently thinking of getting a streamer and hooking it into the tv via the hdmi cable and then connecting to powered speakers or soundbar with optical out. Will have Sonos in the house so could use their new sound bar. Also looking at the paradigm Millenia and MilleniaOne sytems and the Focal stuff.

 

[drichardb]

If you already use Sonos then for simplicity the Sonos Bar (and possibly subwoofer) is the obvious choice but I would definately listen to others before splashing out that kind of cash.

 

[moffatmimi]

Earlier this week I went and listened to the paradigm Milennia CT, the paradigm soundbar and some sonos stuff in a stereo store. The CT is a scaled down version of the M1 and I was impressed by the quality. I did an A/B test against the soundbar and I liked both for different reasons. The paradigm rep just happened to be in the store and made a few useful remarks. First, the soundbar was designed to be wall mounted and it will not perform as well on a stand. And secondly I asked it the M1 sounded twice as good as the CT (as its twice the price) and he said "almost but not quite twice." Hmmm

He also said that the CT was a request from Apple to fit that price point. Interesting.

I also checked out some Sonos stuff. Amazing how different it sounds in a dedicated store rather than a big box store. Anyway I was very impressed with the sound quality. I figured you would sacrifice it for all that functionality. The store had two play 3's hooked up as a stereo with the sub attached. It was amazing. Based on that, I think I'll hold off and check out what the sonos soundbar will sound like.