I know little to nothing about audio, but i would like to upgrade my setup...

[Carlosp17]

I've recently bought my first 4k tv, an LG C1, awesome tv, but i've noticed that the audio is not good enough (i have to constantly turn the volume to 70-80% and even then the voices are low in comparison), so i am looking at either a soundbar or bookshelf speakers, my 2 main options at the moment are:

• VIZIO M-Series 5.1 M51ax-J6
• Edifier S1000MKII

Honestly i don't have too much experience so i would like to read your comments, which one is the best, do i need for example an amplifier to connect the speakers to the TV?, other options. Will the 5.1 setup on the vizio be much better than the 2.1 on the bookshelf speakers?. Are the dolby atmos, dtx, eARC specifications on the soundbar actually worth it ?

 

I've tried researching about this topic and it looks that soundbars are easier to setup but worse in performance than the speakers, but on the other hand, i have absolutely no idea how amplifiers work or how i should decide one or even IF i need one.

 

It will mainly be used for movies, series, youtube videos and podcasts

[rice guru]

6 hours ago, Carlosp17 said:

I've recently bought my first 4k tv, an LG C1, awesome tv, but i've noticed that the audio is not good enough (i have to constantly turn the volume to 70-80% and even then the voices are low in comparison), so i am looking at either a soundbar or bookshelf speakers, my 2 main options at the moment are:

• VIZIO M-Series 5.1 M51ax-J6
• Edifier S1000MKII

Honestly i don't have too much experience so i would like to read your comments, which one is the best, do i need for example an amplifier to connect the speakers to the TV?, other options. Will the 5.1 setup on the vizio be much better than the 2.1 on the bookshelf speakers?. Are the dolby atmos, dtx, eARC specifications on the soundbar actually worth it ?

 

I've tried researching about this topic and it looks that soundbars are easier to setup but worse in performance than the speakers, but on the other hand, i have absolutely no idea how amplifiers work or how i should decide one or even IF i need one.

 

It will mainly be used for movies, series, youtube videos and podcasts

If your not too familiar with stuff like amplifiers a pair of active bookshelves are not a bad start to go with. Which the edifiers happen to be. You don't need an amp for them.  The Vizio will most likely not sound better than the edifier but you will at least have a more surround sound experience due to the rear channel speakers provided in the kit. I often reccomend though for most setups a 2.1 or 2 channel setup with good speakers will be better than any cheap 5.1 setup especially for general audio quality. This Vizio kit being one of them. I'm unsure if what you have available but some good setups to consider are the swam m50w. Edifier s350 db. A cheaper set for edifier but comes with a sub which adds a nice amount to the movie watching experience.  If we are looking into more balanced sounding monitors a pair of Adam t5v are great but I personally reccomend these more for budget home studio setups over something like home theater but will work well for such a setup. If your still wanting a 5.1 surround experience I personally wouldn't go any cheaper than a swan jam and lab 6

[geo3]

100% go for the powered bookshelves over a sound bar. Also recommend getting speaker stands like these (or others) to get them up and away from reflective surfaces that will muddy the sound and also to get them inline with the screen instead of below it. 

[Carlosp17]

15 hours ago, rice guru said:

Edifier s350 db

Thank you very much for your reply, this sounds like a very interesting option, the other ones are not available in my country.
I have a small questions, how should i do the connection? I would assume that wired would be ideal in tearms of latency an that, so i could use optical conection for the speakers and the tv, am i wrong ? or bluetooth is the way to go? or are other options?

I am aware that eARC had that advantage in that sense, but i don't know exactly how it would be in this case.

[rice guru]

43 minutes ago, Carlosp17 said:

Thank you very much for your reply, this sounds like a very interesting option, the other ones are not available in my country.
I have a small questions, how should i do the connection? I would assume that wired would be ideal in tearms of latency an that, so i could use optical conection for the speakers and the tv, am i wrong ? or bluetooth is the way to go? or are other options?

I am aware that eARC had that advantage in that sense, but i don't know exactly how it would be in this case.

If your TV has coax or optical I would go with those. Coax tends to sound better but if you don't have that as an option then optical works. Earc is more for sound bars or AVRs