Soundbars V 2.1 Setup

[hifi]

I recently purchased a new TV LG C3 65 connected to my setup via optical will a decent soundbar sound better i find this hard to believe ?

 

[Messiah]

What is your set-up?

(If it is in your signature I cannot view this when accessing this site via mobile - but signatures do show on a tablet / PC. 😁 )

Regardless, some sound bars I find quite decent but I think a standard 2.1 system gives you more flexibility with speaker placement etc and make it easier if you want to upgrade to full surround in the future.

 

[nopiano]

I recently purchased a new TV LG C3 65 connected to my setup via optical will a decent soundbar sound better i find this hard to believe ?

I very much doubt it. Soundbars are great if you find the inbuilt speakers a bit weedy or not clear enough. But they aren’t Hifi to my ears.

Are you getting any sync problems via optical, as that’s the only issue I have found with a 2022 model LG OLED telly? It's fine with its own speakers, but not with my old soundbar (well, it’s actually a Canton sound base). I think HDMI ARC can solve it, but that’s not a facility on my Canton.

 

[twinkletoes]

It really depends how much space you have I guess and you fancy having that space.

I’m going to assume you already have a home theatre system, it may be a down grade but not all sound bars are created equal, sound bars like the amebo is a fine a very fine piece of audio equipment what ever way you look at and it and could certainly replace your traditional avr and you wouldn’t be missing much I don’t think.

Where sound bars fall down I find is with music they always sound very narrow to me but that might not be a problem for you.

 

[Juzzie Wuzzie]

I expect your set-up would be hard to beat without a relatively serious investment into a soundbar. Even with the optical connection not giving you access to the latest and greatest audio formats (which is somewhat irrelevant on a 2.1 system). So my gut reaction is to concur with your belief.

FWIW - I run soundbar(s) for my television / projector viewing but retain 2.0 for hifi listening where I have the space. Where I don't have the space, I run a single system (currently, a soundbar).

In my perfect world, there would be a compact 3.1 network received (like a WiiM Amp with an extra centre channel).

 

[hifi]

I very much doubt it. Soundbars are great if you find the inbuilt speakers a bit weedy or not clear enough. But they aren’t Hifi to my ears.

Are you getting any sync problems via optical, as that’s the only issue I have found with a 2022 model LG OLED telly? It's fine with its own speakers, but not with my old soundbar (well, it’s actually a Canton sound base). I think HDMI ARC can solve it, but that’s not a facility on my Canton.

no issues at all.

 

[hifi]

Thanks all 👍

 

[hifi]

I very much doubt it. Soundbars are great if you find the inbuilt speakers a bit weedy or not clear enough. But they aren’t Hifi to my ears.

Are you getting any sync problems via optical, as that’s the only issue I have found with a 2022 model LG OLED telly? It's fine with its own speakers, but not with my old soundbar (well, it’s actually a Canton sound base). I think HDMI ARC can solve it, but that’s not a facility on my Canton.

After thinking about it i did have a issue when i first got it and was playing around with the settings the tv speakers were fine but the optical started clicking ! i had too reset the sound settings to default too resolve the issue maybe try that.

 

[Corpus_Chain]

Soundbars are a compromise product. They're popular at the moment as people who have no sound system whatsoever discover that they can improve the sound from their TV with a simple and convenient product. But no soundbar will beat a really good hi-fi or surround sound system. It might be possible to get an improvement in sound from a hi-fi if your hi-fi is terrible, but I would never advise someone go the soundbar route over the hi-fi or surround sound routes if sound quality is their primary concern.