Great sound bar to replace A/V receiver

[ChuckMaurice]

Hi folks, this is probably not the best place to ask, but if there are some home cinema enthusiasts I'd like your advice.

 

So I own a A/V receiver, the Yamaha RX-V577. I am very satisfied by its sound quality, I originally bought it in 2014 to replace my previous low-end receiver and centralize all my media sources (HTPC, internet box, laptop, blu-ray player...). But now I move a lot more (like every year or more) and sometimes in places I can't put all the speakers properly to ensure great 5.1 sound, and I have only been using it as a 2.1 system for the last months.

Also with my Chromecast and soon the Nvidia Shield TV I don't need an external A/V receiver to centralize my sources as I used to, that'll be the job of the Shield TV.

 

As I am moving soon, I'm wondering about sound bars and how it could replace this system until I get to a more "permanent" way of life.

Do you know any great 2.1/5.1 sound bar with HDMI (CEC, ARC compatible) that could be a great replacement? I'm thinking about selling the A/V receiver and giving the speakers to my brother. Budget around 500-700$. I'm especially interested by music quality (Yamaha <3) as I'd be using it 80% of the time for music listening.

Did you experience this switch to sound bars? Was it great?

 

[stealth80]

Well I'm an AV snob and I would never swap my Atmos for a bar, no matter how often I moved

[CharminUltraStrong]

7 minutes ago, jldjul said:

-snip-

I wouldn't recommend a sound bar.   I'd strongly suggest keeping a 5.1 system and perhaps trading in the old A/V for a slimmer one?  What's your budget as far as the sound bar goes?

[VVoltor]

IMHO, sound bars are great to improve the sound from a TV, but no replacement for some proper speakers. I wanted something smaller as well so I got rid of my receiver and speaker set and replaced them with a pair of Audioengine a5+. 

Super happy with it!

[ProjectBox153]

If you MUST go with a sound bar, try the Samsung AirTrack. HERE (AMAZON)

[CharminUltraStrong]

To echo the sentiments of a reviewer I watched a  while back, the Micca PB42X is the superior soundbar replacement especially when coupled with a decent subwoofer.

[CharminUltraStrong]

1 minute ago, Jamiec1130 said:

If you MUST go with a sound bar, try the Samsung AirTrack. HERE (AMAZON)

No offense but I wouldn't trust Samsung with anything audio related unless you want your house to sound like a Beats by Dre demo room.

[ProjectBox153]

1 minute ago, CharminUltraStrong said:

No offense but I wouldn't trust Samsung with anything audio related unless you want your house to sound like a Beats by Dre demo room.

I have one and it's not bad. The bass is easily adjustable, and so is the treble. I think it sounds on par with my Sony 5.1 setup. 

[CharminUltraStrong]

1 minute ago, Jamiec1130 said:

I have one and it's not bad. The bass is easily adjustable, and so is the treble. I think it sounds on par with my Sony 5.1 setup. 

Ehhh, the bass adjustment probably has little to do with the soundbar and more so with the Sub.  With the treble adjustment it's vice versa, but the PB42X set up with a sub will utilize an existing A/V receiver with it sounding just that much more immersive. 

[ProjectBox153]

2 minutes ago, CharminUltraStrong said:

Ehhh, the bass adjustment probably has little to do with the soundbar and more so with the Sub.  With the treble adjustment it's vice versa, but the PB42X set up with a sub will utilize an existing A/V receiver with it sounding just that much more immersive. 

I thought the OP was wanting to get rid of the A/V receiver, and if so, I think the Samsung is a good choice. The bass adjustment does adjust the subwoofer, which is where the bass comes from. 

[ChuckMaurice]

 

17 minutes ago, CharminUltraStrong said:

I wouldn't recommend a sound bar.   I'd strongly suggest keeping a 5.1 system and perhaps trading in the old A/V for a slimmer one?  What's your budget as far as the sound bar goes?

 

14 minutes ago, VVoltor said:

IMHO, sound bars are great to improve the sound from a TV, but no replacement for some proper speakers. I wanted something smaller as well so I got rid of my receiver and speaker set and replaced them with a pair of Audioengine a5+. 

Super happy with it!

 

1 minute ago, Jamiec1130 said:

I thought the OP was wanting to get rid of the A/V receiver, and if so, I think the Samsung is a good choice. The bass adjustment does adjust the subwoofer, which is where the bass comes from. 

Thank you for your comments. I don't especially need nor want to get rid of my A/V receiver if there's a really big difference in sound quality. I value a good movie experience (as much as music listening) but my main question was "how much will I loose?". I have to be pragmatic about both quality and ease to install/bulkyness of the system (including TV and Nvidia Shield). But if I loose too much in sound quality, I don't want a soundbar, especially if I have to pay 700$ for having less quality.

 

One thing I could also do is get a slimmer A/V receiver and a subwoofer (something like that but higher-end), and go back to sattelites front speakers. But it won't solve my surround speakers placement problem.

[CharminUltraStrong]

8 minutes ago, jldjul said:

 

 

 

Thank you for your comments. I don't especially need nor want to get rid of my A/V receiver if there's a really big difference in sound quality. I value a good movie experience (as much as music listening) but my main question was "how much will I loose?". I have to be pragmatic about both quality and ease to install/bulkyness of the system (including TV and Nvidia Shield). But if I loose too much in sound quality, I don't want a soundbar, especially if I have to pay 700$ for having less quality.

 

One thing I could also do is get a slimmer A/V receiver and a subwoofer (something like that but higher-end), and go back to sattelites front speakers. But it won't solve my surround speakers placement problem.

Then go 2.1.  A lot of people are opting for floorstanding speakers, I can't help if you're going to look at floorstanding speakers since I haven't researched those as much as bookshelf speakers.  Again, Micca has good budget offerings that sound great.  You wouldn't need the PB42X since you have a receiver(P means powered) the Mb42x are the ones you ought to pick up, those are passive speakers and they'd be powered by the A/V receiver.  You already have a sub it looks like so get

https://www.amazon.com/Micca-MB42X-Bookshelf-Speakers-Tweeter/dp/B00E7H8GG2/ref=sr_1_1?s=aht&ie=UTF8&qid=1486324166&sr=1-1&keywords=micca+mb42x

and

https://www.amazon.com/Micca-MB42X-C-Channel-Speaker-Tweeter/dp/B00HHFBEK6/ref=sr_1_3?s=aht&ie=UTF8&qid=1486324166&sr=1-3&keywords=micca+mb42x

Then call it a day.