Soundbar advice please

Mottie

Mottie

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I’m looking to get a sound bar for my TV. It’s only an old one but might be changing it in the near future. It’s a Panasonic TX-40CX680B. It has 3 HDMI ports and one digital audio port. I mainly want it for clearer quality speech. Currently I am using an old Bose I dock with a 3.5mm cable. Gets on my nerves though because I need two remotes and it has to be reset each time I use it as the sound goes off when I switch the telly off.

Having a bit of a battle with Mrs M as she hates 'boom boxes' as she calls them - we used to have a Sony speaker system with about 6 mini speakers around the lounge plus one big bass box and she says 'we're not living in a ****ing cinema' so I'm looking for one without the bass speaker, preferably no longer than about 70cm, volume must be able to be controlled with the TV remote and if I could Bluetooth my music from my iPhone, that would be a bonus! Don’t want to pay silly money for one, probably up to about £300 (ish).

Any tips or pointers of what I would need and what to avoid would be appreciated.
 
Aside from the length of 90cm, I'd say that a Yamaha YAS107 is a perfect fit for your needs. It has HDMI ARC which means that the TV remote will control the volume of the soundbar via HDMI communication. There's Bluetooth and there's 4K pass through via the units other HDMI ports. Currently it's on a deal at £165.
 
@Lucid. Thanks but too long for me. Size-wise, I like the look of this one and it seems to be able to do what I want - dialogue mode for speech clarity, Bluetooth and bass on only if I need it so will give that a go. A few more questions if you don’t mind; This can be connected with either an HDMI cable or an optical cable. What’s the difference and why two methods of connection? Can both methods of connection be used at the same time?
 
i had a bose system connected via an amp to the TV as an input and on moving, we decided to change to a SONOS beam, And its excellent, no base box
https://www.sonos.com/en-gb/shop/be...Y20ymyXlWNa16aR_BTgaAngxEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Do you have a HDMI Arc input on the TV

I also have the app on my phone & on the Macbook, and so play music and radip through it along with all my media stored

I plan to extend the system at some point as well,
 
I bought the Cambridge Audio surround system.

3 x minx 20, 2 s minx 10 and 1 x X200 sub woofer.

The speakers are tiny

It was miles more than I intended to spend but the sound is fantastic....not boomy at all, just natural for watching TV dramas etc. Mind you it was £800 about 5 years ago, so I guess it's even more now.
 
Notch7 said:
I bought the Cambridge Audio surround system.

3 x minx 20, 2 s minx 10 and 1 x X200 sub woofer.

The speakers are tiny

It was miles more than I intended to spend but the sound is fantastic....not boomy at all, just natural for watching TV dramas etc. Mind you it was £800 about 5 years ago, so I guess it's even more now.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that sounds like something we had, it was a Sony 5.1 system with DVD player. Long gone - it made the walls vibrate! Just looking for a half decent tv speaker.
 
Mottie said:
@Lucid. A few more questions if you don’t mind; This can be connected with either an HDMI cable or an optical cable. What’s the difference and why two methods of connection? Can both methods of connection be used at the same time?
Click to expand...

Optical just delivers an audio signal. It doesn't provide any way of one device controlling another. Also, the optical output on most TVs is fixed to a specific level and cannot be altered. This means unless the soundbar can learn the volume control codes from the TV remote, then you will need two remote controls with you; TV and soundbar.

HDMI ARC delivers exactly the same sound quality as optical, but also includes this device-to -device communication via HDMI.

"Why both methods of connection?" - there are older TVs that don't have HDMI ARC, and so optical gives some compatibility.

"Can they be used together?" - What would be the point? The soundbar treats each individually, so they're on separate inputs. But even if they weren't, where you have ARC then that's the connection method that you would gravitate towards. You would stop using optical because two remotes gets tedious.
 
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My Sonos Playbar uses optical, it's a lovely Soundbar but a bit spendy (great for music as well with the 5.1, Sub and Play:1's).

It has two receivers to read the TV remote, completely automatic so just use TV as normal (autoplay setting), no faffing about.
 
Ordered the Bose TV speaker from John Lewis yesterday. Been down to collect it from my local Waitrose this morning. Plugged it in, connected HDMI lead to the ARC, chose 'Home cinema' on my TV sound menu and it’s up and running. The clarity of speech and the Bluetooth music from my phone is outstanding to my old ears. I’d definitely recommend it. (y)
 
Not sound bars, but we have a Sonos smart speaker.. well 2 actually, and my son has a Bose smart speaker. I don't like the sound from either, the Bose is too boomy and the sonos too tizzy.
 
EddieM said:
Not sound bars, but we have a Sonos smart speaker.. well 2 actually, and my son has a Bose smart speaker and marketed as such. I don't like the sound from either, the Bose is too boomy and the sonos too tizzy.
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I agree - a soundbar will be too 'boomy' for me but this is a dedicated TV speaker. Clear enough with speech on standard settings but it has a extra dialogue setting on the remote for even clearer speech.
 
Mottie said:
I agree - a soundbar will be too 'boomy' for me but this is a dedicated TV speaker. Clear enough with speech on standard settings but it has a extra dialogue setting on the remote for even clearer speech.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you are loosing your hearing Mottie.

I SAID 'IT LOOKS LIKE YOU ARE LOOSING YOUR HEAR DEAR CHAP'.

:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:

Andy
 
Mottie said:
I agree - a soundbar will be too 'boomy' for me but this is a dedicated TV speaker. Clear enough with speech on standard settings but it has a extra dialogue setting on the remote for even clearer speech.
Click to expand...
Could you take a peek at the data plate please Mottie and tell me the consumption wattage, Bose seem to be a little coy in publishing it.
Cheers
 
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