Soundbar recommendation

[Isgolo]

I'd like to gift a soundbar to my parents, and I am looking for something around 200€, max of 250€.

It will be used for movies.

Any suggestions?

[paddy-stone]

Personally at that price point, you might be better off getting a 5.1 surround system instead... depends on their layout of course though.

[Isgolo]

20 minutes ago, paddy-stone said:

Personally at that price point, you might be better off getting a 5.1 surround system instead... depends on their layout of course though.

This is the place of the TV, I'm not sure if a 5.1 would fit, tbh

[nox_]

11 minutes ago, Isgolo said:

This is the place of the TV, I'm not sure if a 5.1 would fit, tbh

 

Spoiler

 

Would recommend getting small'ish powered speakers like these :https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00R3ILWVS/ref=dp_cerb_2 way better than any soundbar.

[paddy-stone]

7 minutes ago, Isgolo said:

This is the place of the TV, I'm not sure if a 5.1 would fit, tbh

I have these  https://www.amazon.de/Logitech-Z906-3D-Stereo-Lautsprecher-5-1-Dolby-Surround-Sound-Fernseher-Wohnzimmereinrichtungen-Schwarz/dp/B004PGM9KY/

 

They are great, but would require you to have wires go either round the room or underneath carpets to the rear speakers, so bear that in mind. Also the sub is a little large and would have to sit in front of the entertainment unit.

[Isgolo]

30 minutes ago, paddy-stone said:

I have these  https://www.amazon.de/Logitech-Z906-3D-Stereo-Lautsprecher-5-1-Dolby-Surround-Sound-Fernseher-Wohnzimmereinrichtungen-Schwarz/dp/B004PGM9KY/

 

They are great, but would require you to have wires go either round the room or underneath carpets to the rear speakers, so bear that in mind. Also the sub is a little large and would have to sit in front of the entertainment unit.

And what about a 3.1? Is it a good option?

[paddy-stone]

19 minutes ago, Isgolo said:

And what about a 3.1? Is it a good option?

Couldn't say, as I have never used one. 2.1 however is OK I guess, but I prefer having 5.1 speakers to cover all angles, plus decent bass.

[Isgolo]

1 minute ago, paddy-stone said:

Couldn't say, as I have never used one. 2.1 however is OK I guess, but I prefer having 5.1 speakers to cover all angles, plus decent bass.

I'll try to plan for a 5.1, but I,m not sure i can install the speakers in the back

[Isgolo]

31 minutes ago, paddy-stone said:

Couldn't say, as I have never used one. 2.1 however is OK I guess, but I prefer having 5.1 speakers to cover all angles, plus decent bass.

Short question, in a 5.1 the rear speakers have to be literally behind you or can they be on the sides?

[paddy-stone]

1 minute ago, Isgolo said:

Short question, in a 5.1 the rear speakers have to be literally behind you or can they be on the sides?

They are at opposites to the front speakers, so like this pretty much

 

[paddy-stone]

They don't have to be that far behind you though, if your sofa is against the wall for instance, you'd mount them on the walls to the sides of the sofa.

[Isgolo]

1 minute ago, paddy-stone said:

They don't have to be that far behind you though, if your sofa is against the wall for instance, you'd mount them on the walls to the sides of the sofa.

Thank you, i'll take the 5.1 then and mount them on the wall

[paddy-stone]

1 minute ago, Isgolo said:

Thank you, i'll take the 5.1 then and mount them on the wall

No worries, I hope your parents enjoy them as much as I do

 

Just FYI, you'll want to lower the level on the sub output, that gets LOUD! ... I had to play around with the levels on each of the different zones to get the best sound. The rear speakers mostly do atmospheric sounds, unless the focal point of the sound goes that way, for instance if a plane flies overhead.

When you're setting it up I recommend using either a testing video for 5.1 sound, or a movie where you kinda know what it should sound like ideally.

Do your parents use the PC for the source? if so it might be best to use the SPDIF/digital output to the sub where the wires all go... that's the best I have found anyway. If you have problems PM me if you like and I'll try to help.

[paddy-stone]

Oh, I forgot... that system gets discounted  quite often, so you could wait for an offer if you want.. or check other retailers. I got mine for just £130 when on offer, and for that price it is an awesome buy.

 

Oh, and don't forget speaker brackets if you need them.. they are not supplied with the unit as all the satellite speakers are desktop mountable.

[Isgolo]

17 minutes ago, paddy-stone said:

No worries, I hope your parents enjoy them as much as I do

 

Just FYI, you'll want to lower the level on the sub output, that gets LOUD! ... I had to play around with the levels on each of the different zones to get the best sound. The rear speakers mostly do atmospheric sounds, unless the focal point of the sound goes that way, for instance if a plane flies overhead.

When you're setting it up I recommend using either a testing video for 5.1 sound, or a movie where you kinda know what it should sound like ideally.

Do your parents use the PC for the source? if so it might be best to use the SPDIF/digital output to the sub where the wires all go... that's the best I have found anyway. If you have problems PM me if you like and I'll try to help.

Thanks for the tips, I'll be setting everything up next month for my father's birthday!

[GamerDude]

IF you have the space and place to mount rear speakers, sure a 5.1 system would be great. But do consider that you'd have to run cables to you rear speakers, and speaker placement is quite important as well. As it's for your parents, a simpler setup would be more ideal as it'd not require routing of cables to the rear speakers. Don't get me wrong, a decent 5.1 speaker setups trumps a soundbar in terms of audio quality and immersion, no doubt about that. But for older folks (like me), I'd not want to deal with the extra effort of routing cables for the rear speakers as well as the speakers in front (extra clutter of cables).

 

For me, when I was setting up a better sound system (than crappy TV speakers) in the apartment I was moving into, I needed something good enough to hear dialog when watching movies, and loud enough for me to 'get into' the movie. A 5.1 speaker system would be ideal, but I lacked the space for speaker placements. So, to simplify matter, and have less of a cable clutter, I decided to go with soundbars. I decided to go with a 3.1 soundbar in the Samsung K651, dialog is clear and the wireless sub woofer (just a power cord to the wall socket, no other cable) is a plus. Maybe I'm getting old and just hate dealing with cables, I dunno, but it's certainly made life easier for me.

 

My nephew has the Z906 while I had the Z5500 a ways back, excellent multi-media speakers to be sure. I even had a Creative Surround Station for my rear and center speakers for 5.1 gaming, wish I have the space for it now, but since I'd shifted to a small apartment, I'd had to sell off the speakers and the Surround Station and settle for soundbars.....just offering a perspective from an older user.

[paddy-stone]

9 hours ago, GamerDude said:

IF you have the space and place to mount rear speakers, sure a 5.1 system would be great. But do consider that you'd have to run cables to you rear speakers, and speaker placement is quite important as well. As it's for your parents, a simpler setup would be more ideal as it'd not require routing of cables to the rear speakers. Don't get me wrong, a decent 5.1 speaker setups trumps a soundbar in terms of audio quality and immersion, no doubt about that. But for older folks (like me), I'd not want to deal with the extra effort of routing cables for the rear speakers as well as the speakers in front (extra clutter of cables).

 

For me, when I was setting up a better sound system (than crappy TV speakers) in the apartment I was moving into, I needed something good enough to hear dialog when watching movies, and loud enough for me to 'get into' the movie. A 5.1 speaker system would be ideal, but I lacked the space for speaker placements. So, to simplify matter, and have less of a cable clutter, I decided to go with soundbars. I decided to go with a 3.1 soundbar in the Samsung K651, dialog is clear and the wireless sub woofer (just a power cord to the wall socket, no other cable) is a plus. Maybe I'm getting old and just hate dealing with cables, I dunno, but it's certainly made life easier for me.

 

My nephew has the Z906 while I had the Z5500 a ways back, excellent multi-media speakers to be sure. I even had a Creative Surround Station for my rear and center speakers for 5.1 gaming, wish I have the space for it now, but since I'd shifted to a small apartment, I'd had to sell off the speakers and the Surround Station and settle for soundbars.....just offering a perspective from an older user.

Yep, good points there. I'm an older person myself, but still a techie and so don't really mind dealing with cables etc, it's a regular occurrence and necessity unfortunately in my world. It took me maybe a few hours to route the cables properly and mount the rear speakers to the walls etc... for the front speakers it was a simple matter of cutting the cables to length to reach the sub and drop those behind and through cut-outs in my media cabinet to reach the sub. The only downside of my set-up really, is that the sub has to sit in front of the media centre ( the sub will fit in a cubby, but the vibrations from the sub are too annoying).

 

In an ideal world we wouldn't need cables for any of our tech, and I'm hoping that becomes a reality at some point. But truth be told, if and when we do reach that point we know for sure that there'll be leaps forward in bandwidth/speed necessity and cables will be the solution again