Hey all,
Sorry if I have posted this in the wrong place. Been a twit fan for long time. First time poster.
I’m looking to get a sound bar for my LG OLED TV. But I’m completely unsure on what to get?
Any advice or recommendations?
Thanks in advance.
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Hello,
should it be a soundbar with a subwoofer or just a soundbar?
Sonos makes quite good soundbars. They are a bit expensive, but very good! For example, Sonos Beam.
Best regards
Martin
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What features do you want?
I went with a mid range Sony. It has dolby atmos, but no smart features, exactly what I wanted.
A good speaker will last for years.The “smarts” will probably be obsolete in a year or two, security updates probably not much longer.
I buy good quality dumb devices and put cheap intelligence where it makes sense.
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Thank you both for you reply.
I’m thinking of getting one with dolby atmos. Can easily live without smart features.
Is a subwoofer needed?
I don’t have any recommendations since i don’t own a sound bar but for me the only feature that matter is how it sounds. I have 7.1 AV amp etc on the main TV but since most TV speakers are terrible, any sound bar should be an upgrade. A sub is definitely needed if you want room shaking booms.
I know it’s not possible in many places to go and listen to one to compare at the moment so if it was me I would hold off until that was possible if you want it now then just go on the recommendation of a trusted reviewer.
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Whether you need a separate subwoofer depends on whether you have the space for it.
Scott Wilkinson has always recommended Vizio soundbars. They also have soundbars with Dolby Atmos as far as I’ve seen. I can’t recommend a specific model because I haven’t had any experience with them.
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Worth knowing if you want it to integrate with any other speakers in the house (Google/Amazon/Sonos etc?) or is it TV only, and would it be for music in that room too?
I’ve had good results with Q Acoustics, have one of their soundbases which has a decent woofer too built into the base, so it’s enough for our small room. Although it looks like they’re updating their range at the mo. as the soundbases have disappeared off their website.
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If you want Atmos (which is just extra surround channels) then you want a subwoofer I would say. As far as value added, I would say 2 (left and right) followed by center, followed by sub, followed by rear, followed by any other channels (Atmos.) The single most valuable feature is that center channel. It allows you to hear voices/spoken content without them being as muddled by the left and right effects. The sub is most valuable for making the sound feel “full”… small speakers in a soundbar cannot really reproduce deep bassy effects like explosions or even the bass of music. If you don’t have it, you might not ever miss it, but once you do have it, you’ll wonder how you managed without.
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If you don’t mind the $2500 price tag take a look at the Sennheiser:
Scott Wilkinson likes the Vizio, and it’s a lot less…
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This is very dated, I’ve had mine for almost a decade (I think they have actually stopped making them) but they still seem to be available. It has zero fancy Atmos tech, no surround at all actually, but for a basic sound bar with a good volume and a good centre channel and a wireless sub, I have been very happy with it. It is pricey, but it has a lot of speakers in there… 7 of them in less than 3 feet wide. My only complaint is that it has, on a couple of occasions, lost the connection to the sub, but simply unplugging it and plugging it back in fixed it immediately. The bar is wall mountable too. Harman Kardon SB26 https://www.amazon.com/Harman-Kardon-SB26-Bluetooth-Subwoofer/dp/B00FU4X882
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A subwoofer is highly recommended. It makes a huge difference in the experience if you plan on watching at volume.
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If you’re already in the Sonos ecosystem, you can’t go wrong with their soundbar. Got one for my parents a couple years ago and it sounds fantastic. Although if you’re not interested in their audio software then it’s a bit overpriced.
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Thank you everyone for taking the time to reply. You have all been incredibly helpful.
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I have Nakamichi Shockwafe Ultra 9.2.4 Channel 1000W and love it. I had issues about 6 months into ownership and they worked very close with me to get it fixed. Highly recommend. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HHZ94BW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
I bought a Vizio 5 channel bar for our Vizio tv. I chose Vizio because it would integrate with the tv (or at least I would not be stuck in the middle between finger pointing vendors). I chose 5 channels because my wife complained that she could not make out speech on the tv and I can boost the speech channel on this model. It has been most successful on both counts.
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