Standalone Soundbar Recommendations

[TheAsiassassin]

I'm looking to finally upgrade from TV speakers and to a good soundbar. Due to some very personal reasons I’d rather not get into, a dedicated subwoofer and/or satellites are unfortunately out of the question, so I'm really looking for something that sounds great all on its own; this means ease of expansion is a non-factor, and for as many great things as I've heard about it, full sets like the Samsung Q990/930 series simply will not work for me.

 

I'd say the primary use case is Movies and TV; right now I'm streaming but I also watch Blu-rays fairly often and in either case I'd like to finally experience (the best possible) Atmos. I game somewhat regularly (primarily PlayStation 4 & 5 at the moment) and have also thrown Spotify up on the TV from time to time before as well for ambient music. I'm situated at the end of my room instead of the middle; with a wall immediately on one side of me, something with room correction would be preferable but not necessarily required. I'm hoping to not spend much more than $600-$700 and am willing to buy open-box/used.

 

In my search so far, these seem to be the general front-runners (with approximate eBay pricing):

• Sonos Arc (or SL variant) ~$680
• Sony HT-A7000 ~$580
• Bose Smart Ultra (or 900) ~$600
• Klipsch Flexus CORE 200 ~$500

Does anyone have any advice on which of these I should go with, or have other recommendations I should consider?

[ChrisLoudon]

On 9/17/2024 at 12:22 AM, TheAsiassassin said:

Does anyone have any advice on which of these I should go with, or have other recommendations I should consider?

So I tested the Sony and Klipsch and ended up getting the Sonos Arc.

 

Its bloody expensive (as are all Sonos items) but they really have got it right when it comes to ease of use and an eco-system that just works and can be expanded to other rooms or even built upon.

 

If you have the space (and the budget) then the Sub (gen3) packs a decent punch and the Era's will expand your rear soundstage.

 

A good word of warning though. DON'T expect much in terms of height or rear sound presence. These bars all tout Dolby Atomos support but you're unlikely to actually get anything from above or tom the rear. I have a dedicated 5.1.4 setup in another room and the Arc + Sub in another so can testify to that.

 

That being said, the Arc has a wonderful front soundstage and when paired with the Sub is great for everyday listening, watching and gaming.

 

The Arc's only real drawback (apart from price) is the lack of connectivity. Your TV will be the source for all HDMI devices and then 'arc'd' to the ARC.

[saintlouisbagels]

I'm a huge fan of my Sonos Beam gen2. It's not worth paying more for the Sonos Arc.

^{For reference, my other setup is a 2.1 setup with $1200+ KEF R100 speakers, and a $700 REL subwoofer.}

The Era 300 are phenomenal rear/surround speakers and are very much worth the premium over the Era 100 and other options.

[ChrisLoudon]

20 hours ago, saintlouisbagels said:

The Era 300 are phenomenal rear/surround speakers and are very much worth the premium over the Era 100 and other options.

Thanks for the info.

 

Been toying with the idea of expanding my rear soundstage with the Era 100s but good to know the 300s are worth the extra money.

 

My main issue is my sofa in this room is smack bang in the middle of the room so the rears don't have ready access to power without an extension cord and a cable running over the floor or under a rug.

 

I really wish Sonos did a battery AND wireless option for expanding rears!

[TheAsiassassin]

@ChrisLoudon Thanks for the info!

 

As a follow-up, were you in the Sonos ecosystem before the "Big Bad May Update"? I've heard a lot of complaints about the company hanging their customers out to dry, and while I'm aware that as a brand new user I have the "ignorance is bliss" advantage (that is, I'm not going to miss features I never experienced in the first place), I'd like a better idea of what features currently are available.

 

I mean, I'm not planning on kitting out every room with a Sonos speaker or anything, but it seems people have been very vocal in their frustration since May and at this point it's probably the biggest factor giving me pause when considering the Arc (aside from that lack of connectivity), especially since the app is the only remote for it, which is something I'm also not much a fan of. As a prospective new user, do I even need to really worry about this?

[freeagent]

I use a JBL Bar 700, and I gave my mom my JBL Bar 2.1 Deep Bass.

[ChrisLoudon]

On 9/20/2024 at 10:39 PM, TheAsiassassin said:

As a follow-up, were you in the Sonos ecosystem before the "Big Bad May Update"?

To be honest, I haven't noticed any issues since the update but my use case for the arc and sub is for TV / Movie / Gaming only.

 

That being said, I have a Sonos Amp running 2 zones of speakers in other rooms and haven't noticed any issues of late.

 

The only issue I have is I use some gen 1 Sonos items in my business so control is split across the old and newer apps.

 

While this caused a bit of an uproar at the time, if you think about it, the gen1 items were supported for years 'almost as long as apple devices' and Sonos were kind enough allow them to continue working on the old app rather than completely brick them on the new app.

[TheAsiassassin]

That's very reassuring, thanks! So at this point I'm definitely leaning Sonos but Sony is still in the running, primarily just for the connectivity and price.

On 9/18/2024 at 6:18 AM, ChrisLoudon said:

So I tested the Sony and Klipsch and ended up getting the Sonos Arc.

[...]

A good word of warning though. DON'T expect much in terms of height or rear sound presence. These bars all tout Dolby Atomos support but you're unlikely to actually get anything from above or tom the rear. I have a dedicated 5.1.4 setup in another room and the Arc + Sub in another so can testify to that.

 

That being said, the Arc has a wonderful front soundstage and when paired with the Sub is great for everyday listening, watching and gaming.

It seems the general consensus is that across the board the Arc gives a better overall audio experience than the HT-A7000, but I also couldn't help noticing that RTINGS tested Sony's "Standard Surround" mode primarily (to use for the comparisons) and added some notes later about how using the dedicated presets subjectively fared better for their intended use cases. Based on your testing, how much of the sound quality/stage/experience am I giving up if I ultimately go with Sony? Would I still get 80-85% of the way there?

 

(Also, not a big deal because it's a one-time thing, but is the Trueplay setup process as awkward as it looks?)

[saintlouisbagels]

55 minutes ago, TheAsiassassin said:

(Also, not a big deal because it's a one-time thing, but is the Trueplay setup process as awkward as it looks?)

Not sure what's so awkward about it. You're waving your phone all around the room to capture the sound bounce.

I prefer it over setting up a satellite tower in the middle of the room.

[TheAsiassassin]

52 minutes ago, saintlouisbagels said:

Not sure what's so awkward about it. You're waving your phone all around the room to capture the sound bounce.

I prefer it over setting up a satellite tower in the middle of the room.

That's fair, and I think I would too. I just meant in comparison to Sony's implementation where you simply select the option and wait about 10-15 seconds for it to capture the bouncing on its own.

[QuantumRand]

+1 for the Sonos Beam Gen 2. I'd put the Bose Smart 600 and the Sony HT-A7000 tied for a close second, maybe a slight edge for the Sony. They both have the ability to add a sub and satellites later, though Sony isn't cheap.

 

I personally have the Sony HT-A9 (with the 300W sub), and it sounds amazing. It has gotten quite a bit cheaper since the Theater Quad replaced it, but it's basically 4 independent satellites, which sounds like they don't fit your criteria, although they're pretty flexible where they can be placed in the room and have very good calibration/room correction.