Sound bars/ Surround Bars

[reju]

How good is this technology? Can it replace the traditional 5.1 or 7.1 setup?

I have heard that Polk Audio Surround Bar 42/ 50 etc., are good products?

And it is expandable to 6.1/7.1. I found this quote from their website, interesting:
"If you have a 6.1 or 7.1 receiver, hook up either a single rear channel speaker or two surround back speakers to the "surround back" speaker outputs of the receiver. Then, hook up the rest of the channels, including the left and right surround, to the SurroundBar as usual. It combines the ability of SurroundBar to deliver continuous wrap-around soundstage with solid rear imaging from the single hard-wired rear speaker(s)."

Does any one have experiences with similar setups? Are they better? comparable? or better avoided?

 

[reju]

39 views and still no comments!
So this looks beyond normal experience for most!

 

[Shuvc]

I haven't heard any. How much does the Sonodyne surround bar cost?

 

[vea]

I have heard one of the earlier yamaha ysp series few years back. they rely on directing sound beams and bouncing it off walls to simulate rear speakers. It was difficult to set up and you could actually hear sound flying past your ears and that was cool! But i believe they are very dependent on the room size, shape, furniture etc. I havent heard the Polk bars, but i believe they rely on timing the sound coming from different drivers to simulate surround effect. This, i think is more efficient and room characteristics is less important. But all considered, it is only a convinience device and is not a match for hard wired home theatre set up. Its too expensive for the sound you get out of it. My suggestion would be to consider it only if you cannot wire five speakers due to reasons other than budget, and if you are desperate for surround sound.

 

[moserw]

I have heard/auditioned Philips and Yamaha. Don't remember how much Yamaha was quoted, but Philips has two models at 39K and 49K. Sound was not that impressive, but then again they were displayed/played in an open space and not a controlled environment. Soundbars will sound great in closed spaces and also with highly reflective surfaces/walls where the sound will bounce off to give the surround sound FX. They are good for those with limited space around the house and also for those who don't want to drill holes/hang speakers on the walls.

I would go the route of a dedicated HT system, but then that's me and I have wall mounted both my HT system speakers.

Finally, soundbars do a good job but will never equal the performance of a dedicated HT system and at those prices you will get a good dedicated HT setup.

 

[reju]

OK guys, I think will not explore more on this option!

 

[marsilians]

Reju

You will be balancing the flexibility in setup vs. performance and marginal savings in money when considering soundbars vs. HT systems. In order of priority, I would put

Soundbar << HTiB << AVR based HT << Separates (pre-amp, pwer amp) based HT or music system

in a general sense (considering comparable prices for AVRs and separates, HTiB, etc.) So ou get the idea.

 

[phantom76]

When I was in US recently, I purchased this sound bar from Memorex. While Memorex is not known as a great audio brand, this piece is quite an exception. I saw that this was on sale at Radio Shack and grabbed a unit quickly. Was listening to it with my iPod in my Hotel room for more than a month and the sound quality is simply superb. The unit is very heavy at about 9kg. The amount of air it moves through the bass vent is amazing. All this without a sub woofwer.

Back home, I paired it with my Panasonic 32LX800c (The sound bar is also 32") and what a remarkable transformation in audio experience. Very punchy bass with crisp highs makes a wonderful movie watching experience. It is only stereo - I dont have space for 5.1 - but the SRS true surround really makes an impression!

Best of all, I got this for only $99 and it is almost at par with some of the psuedo 5.1 sound bars that are sold for more than 25k in India. It also came with a wall mount kit.

If you are in US try to see if you can grab one of these. You won't be disappointed. It can improve the audio on any LCD/Plasma dramatically. More reviews here: Memorex Sound Bar

 

[unleash_me]

Home Theater: The Power of One

 

[mridulgoel]

Guys

Soundbar as in is something that is considerable only when there is lack of space, and the person is ready to compromise on quality a bit, in startup segment...

Most of the Soundbars available in the market are either Multimedia based or are self amplified single units, try to work on Bose Theory of reflections...

Even if you get nice front experience the surrounds will fade you off...

But yes if you are lacking in space and room design check out this product...

Q Acoustics, Worlds one among the best speaker brands have come out with two superb solutions for there customers...

1). Q.A.V. - 5.1 channel...

It can be installed like this :
Front LCR(Left, Center & Right) - Underneath the TV
Subwoofer - On Wall
Rear Speakers - On Top Corner of Wall, Facing angled Down.
Shown Below :

These speakers are well powered @ 75w @ 6ohms.
The Subwoofer @ 120w Active.

The Front LCR can easily be mounted onto 37" to 50" Flat Screen TV.

It works pretty well with Denon-1509...with Cambridge DV99 DVD Player.

Priced @ Rs.68,000 for 5.1 Package + Reciever + Cables + DVD Player, etc...
The Special Price Package gives you all for Rs.90K including :
5.1 QAV + Denon 1509 + Cables & Connectors

This product has got excellent reviews by What HiFi, HiFi-Choice, HiFi World, Home Cinema-Best Buy, etc...

Visit : Q Acoustics - Q-AV - Q Acoustics' brilliant design team have clearly achieved the seemingly impossible. To attain the exc...

---------------

2). Q-TV2 - 2.1...

This is a brand new launch of the Company...

This product is for those who are not satisfied with the sound output/quality of the Day to Day on Diet Slim TVs...

This product is for the TVs Sized between 32" - 42" Flat.

This product works as the side speakers of the TV, with a subwoofer @ its back...as shown below :

This product comes ready to be mounted behind the Flat TV.
If you want to wall mount the TV along with the Speaker system, then there are special mounts available for the same @ a small cost.

This product will be launched in India by 1st Week of October...

You can try on these @ our Knightsbridge Demo Apartment...
Make sure you take an appointment, else you will find yourself watching around the Birds in the building...As there are quite nice ones there...

 

[pannags]

Hello ...

I was exploring the option to buy a soundbar instead of a pair of floorstanders. This thread helped me understand the intricacies better as well as proved that a good "search" is useful before jumping and starting new "threads"

 

[yogi1771]

Which is the best sound bar available in the market now in India at 50k price range.

 

[venkatcr]

Sound bars have not caught on well, and you have only a few brands available. Sonodyne may be available at around 50K, while Yamaha is around 75K. Philips also make one though I am not aware of the price.

Cheers

 

[spirovious]

+ 1 to above as Yamaha has good reviews.
Yamaha entry level is available for around 55k.

 

[fran_elite]

Hey Reju U were supposed to buy the Polk RTi A9 speakers??