my almost 15 yo Denon receiver died couple of days ago and I’ve started thinking dropping the whole receiver+standing speakers system in favor of soundbar+sub, I was looking at the Klipsch Cinema 600 and the idea of having a single bar under the tv and a remote 10" sub really seems appealing, I suppose I can also go for the Cinema 800 for having Dolby Atmos support but I’m looking more for a general opinion on soundbar vs home theater experience, do people like their sound?
currently I have Polk Audio TSi300 which have dual 5-1/4" woofers and a tweeter which sound ok at low volume (which is totally acceptable, for low volume late night watching I turn the tv speaker a bit higher to get some more mid/high) but pretty good when playing medium/loud, so I wonder if these ~3" woofers on most soundbars actually can deliver decent sound both for music listening and watching a movie?
any other soundbars systems I should be looking at?
I guess some sacrifices should be made in favor of smaller footprint, but if the result pretty close and not that plasticky sound of portable speakers I’m good with that… I mean I like my JBL extreme to listen to some background music in the garden but I would not want to watch a movie with that type of sound, that’s my main concern with soundbar small-ish boxes…
until recently I had 2.1 and honestly I was pretty happy with it for long time, but when I moved recently I gave my 8" sub away so I’m basically on stereo mode now, I do miss the sub on occasion but can’t say I’ve used it that much with these speakers… I don’t mind having 3.1 with a center but I don’t like the extra two speakers for 5.1, extra power cords and stands and whatnot. I mean sure it’s nice and all but I’d prefer 3.1 or 2.1 for most times. my living room built in a way that I can’t mount both surround speakers on a wall, I’d have to use stands which I’m trying to avoid.
but this Klipsch Cinema 600/800 system can be expanded from 3.1 to 5.1 with wireless surround speakers, they only need power so I have the option to upgrade to 5.1 in the future…
The Klipsch cinema 600/800 look decent. I would also check out the Magnat SBW 300. I haven’t heard these in person but Magnat are great.
You could also go 3.2.1 or 2.2.1. This would add wires but if you make sure that the atmos fit on top of the main speakers then the footprint would be kept as small as possible.
I recently went through a similar decision making process. I wanted to get back into home theater and didn’t want the bulk of my old system that I sold when I moved to Thailand. I listened to everyone online and bought the full Sonos system with sub and satellites for some serious $. It sounds pretty amazing for what it is, but it just doesn’t compare to a real speaker setup. The stereo separation just isn’t there. Super easy setup though.
I returned all of that and bought some used/some new components. Ended up with a full Paradigm 5.1 system and a higher end Onkyo receiver.
The plus side is that home theater components are quite cheap these days because most people prefer the soundbar route.
that’s exactly what I fear, honestly I still have my speakers which are pretty good, I might add a bigger sub later but the receivers are not that cheap, from a quick look a decent Denon receiver costs more then for example the Klipsch Cinema 600/800 bundle, and honestly I had good experience with it, unlike some Pioneer I had before that so I think if I choose to remain with home theater system I’ll stick with Denon…
I really want to try a slim setup but I don’t want it to sound like a portable speaker, I will be really bummed if it sucks, and having slim box + small woofers screams “dsp intervention” to mask the lack of proper driver movement like in a real speaker…
Denon is great, always upgraded to a new Denon. My previous one the 1909 did have the most confusing remote of all time though. Still no idea what half of the buttons did
I also bought the Sonos System, pieces at a time over the last three years. I began with the Beam Gen 2 and quickly bought the sub & one’s as rears.
After throwing myself fully in and getting a Panasonic UB820, I began to question if a wired system w speakers would be a major improvement. So, I bought an RSL system, receiver, and the Speedwoofer MKII.
I ran that system for two weeks and completed testing on various formats. In my opinion The Sonos System bested it on many fronts. Mainly with the bass response. The SUB Gen 3 to my ears killed the Speedwoofer 10in.
So I sent it back and upgraded my Beam Gen II with the Arc. I could t be happier. The system almost literally blows the windows off my living room when I’m rocking it.
My main use case for it is watching 4KUHD Blu-ray’s. With music your mileage may quite vary.
…individual speaker sourround experience is always a unique thing…
but with all that spacial audio techniques in recent years, a proper sound bar can pretty much do the same trick…and a dedicated additional sub is all that u could still miss for any sort of full range experience…but if it’s the right sound bar, even that is no deal breaker anymore…
so, if ur not into a full blown home cinema sourround experience with super wide screening and frequently more than 7 guests at once totally entertained, this will totally do…
You could always buy a setup at a place like Best Buy, try it out, and return it if it doesn’t work out like you want. That’s exactly what I did.
You might end up loving it! Like the other posters here, there are a ton of people that love the Sonos systems. It is definitely easier than a full setup. The DSP stuff they have going on with room correction and everything is pretty magical. It will definitely best an average home theater setup.
I think it’s definitely worth a shot. Listen to all of the people here who love the setup. You’ll never know until you try it.
I changed my large floor speakers to a much smaller wall mounted speaker in white and they look amazing. They don’t take up any space and looks great. Also montes the smallest ones in the ceiling for true atmos. It sounds absolutely amazing and friends usually are blown away by the sound. Can show pictures later from my house
In the living room I changed quite good Speakers (kef ls 50) for a quite cheap soundbar from a company that‘s only active in Germany and neighbouring countries (Nubert if anyone is interested).
While this is a total downgrade from a theoretical sound quality level, the characteristics of the room, especially the sitting position directly at the back wall opposite to the TV made really listening to music not a really a joy before, so the nicer form factor was very welcome.
Here are some pictures. They blend in much better when seeing them IRL
Also built the TV bench from an ikea furniture and remove the glass from the doors and replaced with speaker cloth so I could have ventilated storage for the receive and ps5 etc.
Thank you so much! I actually really love it and it sounds really really good!
The SB-1000 sounds way bigger than it really is and I’m very happy with it. Would definitely buy it again if I had the choice
The receiver is a Marantz SR7012 that I got when I bought my tv that had some of the hdmi 2.0 specs like ALLM (auto low latency mode) and this was the only (that I knew of) receiver that could handle it. Very happy with it as well. Also have a special fan sitting on top of it for even better ventilation and it matches perfectly in design… even if that doesn’t matter much since it’s all hidden.
