Are you using a sound bar for your TV? If so, which one? Let us know down below! Buy a Bose TV Speaker: geni.us/kbqOl Buy a Bose Bass Module 500: geni.us/954tAxl Buy a VIZIO 2.0 Sound Bar: geni.us/FMMfWSI Buy a LG S40Q Sound BAr & Wireless Subwoofer: geni.us/0s4wBI3 Buy a Polk Audio Sigma S2 Sound Bar & Wireless Subwoofer: geni.us/WSFfh Buy a Sony HT-S400 Sound Bar & Wireless Subwoofer: geni.us/B12sUq Buy a Samsung HW-B550 Sound Bar & Wireless Subwoofer: geni.us/jxo9 Buy a VIZIO V-Series 5.1 Sound Bar & Wireless Subwoofer: geni.us/852Rny Purchases made through some store links may provide some compensation to Linus Media Group.
NOPE, and will NEVER buy a soundbar unless I end up living in a camper. I have a 7.2.4 HT setup, and proper speakers are the only thing I would recommend to anyone that cares about surround sound. No shortcuts, sorry.
Wow, that's expensive, I paid £50 for my soundbar from Tesco, it's a logic brand and it's 350 Watts, it sounds fantastic and has great vocal range with amazing base... Just £50 never going anywhere else
I'm a Bose fan boy, Brought a Bose 900 Soundbar and sent it back. I replaced it with a Sony HT-A7000 which also has good base and doesn't need additional speakers. It also has a proper remote not requiring a separate app
as non native speaker I was sure that it's my problem, but then I tried to use headphones and was shocked that I can now hear dialogs, but still had doubts. Thank you Linus for pointing this out!
the thing is, if you are used to dubbed content of good quality, the voices are all studio quality with perfectly mixing. native movie voices are very often worse than that. the big languages in Europe have some of the best dubbing industry for blockbusters etc. native movies just sometimes sound horrible and often time worse.
@@elpadre__ i think its more about directiionality. Speakers firing directly in front are usually going to be better. My tv was mounted on a wall where it had doors on either side and the sound would leak out of the room instead of being legible to people inside the room.
This kinda explains why I can understand people through discord calls better than when watching tv shows. I just thought other games speaks gaming subvariant of english or something thats magically easier to understand for me.
Everyone used to have these awesome stereo systems in the 90's and early 00's that people just don't buy anymore. They were super clear and powerful. I haven't seen one in forever.
Yes, I remember growing up as kid there's a huge ass speaker and dedicated electronic box for audio thingy, idk what it called. But it's common, lots of my friends house also had it. Now when I grow up, I want to buy that kind of thing, but living on small space hold me back, because it will be loud and give me noise complaints. Decent wireless headphone / bluetooth converter for IEMs is the only solution for me now to get the great audio.
Yes! So many people had these wonderful “Stereo HiFi” units that we’d connect the “AV Out” of our tube TV to, and then you got “amazing” sound out of your VHS movies. They were usually a stereo amplifier with an FM radio built in, many had a handful of inputs for your TV, tape deck, CD player, and turntable.
@@cassinihuygens Yeah, if I could find some Yamaha components I would be pretty happy. The receiver I want is around $1000, a bit out of my range but for now I could try to fix up the Akai receiver I have as it runs after two Yamaha MG10 style mixers. My audio setup is eclectic with Akai for the FM receiver and main amp, Realistic EQ, Yamaha MG10 and MG8 with effects, and any HDMI devices running audio extractors to connect to the mixers, TV Box amplified speakers on my dual video monitor stand, an assortment of Realistic Minimus 7 and Centrios 7 die cast speakers, a pair of vintage JVC 3-way floor speakers with 12" woofers and one 10" subwoofer.
TV tech was largely stagnant for the 10 - 15 years before the introduction of HDTV, so the biggest upgrade one could make to your setup was in the audio, leading to a lot of people doing just that. Now that TV technology is progressing again, I have a feeling that people are spending the money they would've spent on better audio on newer TVs instead.
I bought this a year or two ago because my other Bose products worked well for me and most importantly it fits our small house. It looks very nice in the limited space under our TV and we didn’t want to use floor space for a subwoofer (plus I feel like subwoofers are an overkill for our TV watching preferences anyway). I disagree with what he said about no bass, I will have this speaker on low volume and can still hear the bass rumble when I’m across the house. For being a tiny soundbar it sets up a decent sound stage and the vocals on this thing are awesome. Other sound bars seem to just raise the volume on everything where this one seems to raise the volume on the right things. Ultimately this is just my opinion but even after this video I would probably still buy this sound bar again.
Agreed with ya by the time when I selected sound bar between Bose and Sonos beam Bose has decent bass volume but I chose Sonos beam G2 the sound quality is very good no need sub woofer 👍🏻
I agree with the no need for floor sub. I find many of these separate sub systems have too much bass for tv/movie viewing. Like in a movie a car door will shut with a big thunk sound when in real life I don’t hear car doors making this sound in a car park. It’s over done most the time. Or a person walking down a hallway sounds like an elephant.
I agree. I wasn’t expecting much but was surprised by the bass this smallish speaker did put out. Seems to be just right for smaller rooms. Not everyone wants/needs a sub-bass module that’ll rattle the windows (I have a Hsu Research subwoofer for that 😂).
As someone huge into making my music sound as good as possible, I absolutely love that LTT is diving into audio like this. I'm especially happy with the lab work! Keep it up! The lab will be well worth your investment, I'm sure!!
One thing I constantly battle with is audio latency with sound bar setups. Particularly with gaming on a PS5. I would love to see some labs content where they test the audio latency with arc/earc connections on popular sound bars. Or a video detailing the best way to sync audio without adding input lag.
I remember one test where ancient sound receiver with passtrough had less latency than fancy eARK soundbar. Can't point any names but i expect this would be tested in the lab.
@@vadnegru In theory I really wouldn't be surprised. The old receivers are just more complicated guitar amps, and there's zero latency from guitar to amp as far as I know.
I have a surround setup, and the struggle is real on those too. The way I solve it is with a Blu-ray player with two HDMI outputs - I have one in the TV, and one in my receiver, and then dial the latency in that way. I would think an HDMI splitter could also work.
I'm really loving these "Why is EVERYONE buying..." videos, they do an amazing job getting into the nuances of each category, and that's a godsend when deciding what to buy.
I think it's a great precursor to their upcoming LTT labs series. I love that they're not just speculating, but doing objective testing with data to back it up. The labs project may be a pain in the ass for Linus to get it off the ground, but he's spending his money on the right things and it's gonna change the industry for the better. That database is gon' raise up *all* of our standards.
They are boring as fuck. I don't watch them anymore but i can tell you why everyone is buying product xy, because it's cheap and not total crap. Am i right? WOW who would have thought this. But to be sure, lets make 10 Minute Video out of it and test in our Lab.
The vizio V series is a really good bang for buck option. At the time it was the only thing in my price range, and knowing good setups and bad soundbars, it does surprisingly well.
@@northwestclasspnw7974 a lot of times it’s this exact issue. Take for instance shows like “Stranger Things” or “Barry”, and you’ll get world-class sound out of a $200 speaker package because the content is actually mixed properly. There are some pretty high budget shows and movies with absolutely garbage sound mixing and production. Also, it doesn’t help that all the streaming services haven’t standardized on a basic sound LEVEL 🤦♂️
In addition to getting one with a sub, I cannot stress how important it is to get at least a 3.1 setup if you care about dialogue. That center channel makes all the difference in being able to hear dialogue better without having to blast the volume.
I don't agree, center placement is hard, and they're often inferior compared to your left/right. Unless you have a wide area to cover with your setup it's pointless or even detrimental. The only advantage it might have is being able to raise the center channel volume which is an imperfect solution since it messes up positional data. I ditched mine long ago.
@BrianBCG hard to place? You just put it in the middle lol. Plus, my system you can make the middle channel dialogue only or behave like a normal speaker. There's no downsides fam
I miss the old Vizio soundbar kits that they were making in the early 2010's. I thought they sounded amazing for the price and the bars that sounded better were 4x the cost. Sadly my Vizio 5.1.2 system died (due to a bad capacitor in the power supply). I ended up buying the new version of the same Vizio sound bar and was deeply disappointed. The sound was significantly worse so I ended up returning the new soundbar and bought a soldering iron. I ended up taking apart the old bar and soldered on a new capacitor. It still works perfectly to this day and I have owned it for 10 years now.
Vizio definitely still makes some of the best value soundbars. In the low-mid range. Even their 5.1.2 Premium M series can go on sale for as low as $350, and even at the full $500 gets compared to soundbars much more expensive
@@Mountain-Man-3000 honestly the whole process was an eye opening experience for me. I had so many doubts if I could even fix it or if I was even fixing the right thing but sure enough it worked. That little soldering iron has now fixed so many items and built up my confidence in taking apart electronics.
Way to go brosuf, Vizio has had some real bangers that you wonder how they made any money on. Awesome that you were able to save it, because you know what, all this AI crap and BS just takes away from what really matters, drivers and amps. 0.25$ capacitor saved 300$ from the landfill and you some disappointment with the new stuff along with 300$. Iron earned its keep
@@muyoso I'm fine with low effort where it's not exploiting someone else's work. If the content is good then I'm fine then getting whatever they can to pay their ballooning wage bill till labs can get us more granular detailed exclusives.
@@muyoso he literally said in the video the lab isn’t online yet for the home theater portion and would be coming later this year with more detailed review.
@@muyosopeople are weird. When he does vids about expensive or high end new stuff where the labs are needed a lot of perplex say these vids are bad bc 99% of viewers cant affort these things. But when he does stuff like top amazon products (stuff you and me buy) you complain about it because he doesnt use every single method to test them.
Picked up the Vizio 5.1 M series for 299 and I could not be happier. I was shocked at how bad my new TVs speakers were as mentioned. I have a decent size living room, now I can hear dialogue, and I’m fully immersed barely needing to turn the volume up. Easy to setup and adjust, and looks very nice.
@@borg386 went with the m series bc of the extra speakers, separate tweeters/woofers, and especially the dedicated center channel speaker. Creates a more precise sound stage for better immersion. I don’t think you have to be an audiophile to notice a clear upgrade to the m over the v
I mean, you saw how much bose are charging for it. This soundbar is a trap for people who don't do research. Good enough for you to keep long enough to leave the return window, but when you want something a little better, you have to spend more than what you paid for the soundbar in the first place. At RRP, the total cost in the UK is £670 for the soundbar + "bass module". Imagine the audio setups you could buy for that money, it makes the bose seem more like Amazon basics in terms of audio quality.
When I work in home theater sales, the Signa S2 and S3 were the go to options under $300. If you wanted anything better, I would recommend Sony's 3.1 bar with fake Atmos because their processing was incredible for anything under $700
Yeah I bought a recent 400$ Sony bar (2.1) and man their processing is just amazing. I used to turn off all those fake surround/Atmos setting and was about to do the same with the Sony but it's just amazing what they are doing! Music or movies it's on.
You should do a shootout between powered bookshelf speakers and soundbars. There are some nice options like the Neumi BS5P for under $200. You don't need to go full home theatre, but a soundbar can absolutely be beaten at any price.
Agree with your suggestion ^^^. I've heard the Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 THX speakers and they sound incredible for speakers in the price range you mentioned. BIG upgrade over TV speakers and lower end soundbars.
@@AngryApple I'm running the Edifier 1850DB and ngl they are pretty great. Thinking of getting a sub "bass module" down the line because it has a "bass" port
@@rdb1 I used the R1280DB for a long time. Now they are sitting as monitors for my home office setup. Great little and good looking speakers and the remote was awesome to have for a tv setup
Bought 5 years ago bought my 1st Samsung soundbar. Sub with 3 channels up front. Black Friday, 150 I think. Bout 40% off. Love it. It's in my bedroom now. 3 years ago stepped up in class so I could get rear speakers. Black Friday again. Think 50% off for 220. Step up in Watts and the Sub has more omph. Surround speakers are a great touch too. Always suprises new peeps. Love em. And the clean look, have it screwed into the wall, all cables hidden. 2 thumbs up
Hey Linus, video idea: Bookshelf speakers + cheap class-D amp (+ optional subwoofer). I've been using this setup for years on my PC, and more recently on my TV as well. It's a little more involved, of course, but you can get legitimately great sound (imo) for
Part of the problem with this approach though, is that you're using a stereo mix for it. That means dialogue and effects are mixed - creating less clarity. That said, you could get a 5.1 decoder which allows channel control so you can reduce the effects level. But this is even more involved. Your setup idea is better than this Bose affair though and any good bookshelf speakers will handle bass and dialogue better, increasing overall clarity.
@@ian9outof10I mean stereo as a concept for isn't old and if you got a good resolving speaker with a focus on the mids. But even in your 3.1 get a bookshelf or normal tower speaker rather than a cheap center.
I'd love to see a comparison of soundbars compared to similarly priced speaker set ups. Got to admit, by far the best sounding TV audio experience I've had was with some fairly old speakers paired with an old sub. Maybe it's not a fair comparison compared to a relatively new soundbar but personally, I know what I'd rather invest my money in based on what I've heard so far.
Got different speaker setups in different rooms for about 20 years now, upgrading all the time. Soundbars suck in comparison. Even the best TV speakers suck more though. Oh, and BOSE sucks anyway - try maybe klipsch, emotiva, adam (more studio though) + basically thousand others. Personally I currently have Dali on my main setup, due to the WAF of the small, white bookshelfs. Tons of better speakers though if you got the room and money. Also, processor + amp is better 95% of the time than a receiver again. Top end would be something like Trinnov - a make most probably never have heard of. At the end though, most people are happy with airpods, so if you're one of them, you will probably also be happy with a good (around 1k) soundbar. Easiest is to order online, try at home, and send back if you don't like it. Don't try test listening anywhere else though, because the room makes SOOOO much difference, and most audiophiles won't even ever treat their room.
Not surprised. There really hasn't been any significant advancement in speaker design in several decades. Minor improvements, sure. But a decent quality speaker from 20 years ago will still sound better than a cheap speaker from today, and could potentially be a bargain.
@@3borsresistance551 what's driving your Dali speakers and while you are there, what kind of configuration is it driving? The problem with budget to mid-range AVRs when the movie sound Dynamics change one will usually find themselves reaching for the remote control yet again and that's regardless what kind of centre Channel one is driving! 1. Soundbar for dialogue. 2. budget AVR with budget stereo speakers for music lovers. 3. best of both prepare to spend at least 5 grand.
I bought a Sony HT-SD40 on clearance at Walmart for 138 dollars (almost 100 dollars off). It's absolutely fantastic. I use it for my desktop setup (overkill, I know) and it really changed my life. Anything over 50% volume is super loud without losing any clarity and when I shift it to 100% I can practically hear it through my entire house and it shakes the walls of my room.
Bought this on Black Friday for $200.00 @Best Buy. I am 62 and my hearing isn't what it once was. I have difficulty with picking out voice in the crappy sound mixes these days. My ears like the sound and depending on the source stream I do not require using the voice filter boost. When voice is boosted it does affect the audio image quality but it isn't obnoxious. Audio listening is very subjective and if you buy this make sure you can return it if it doesn't pass muster. I have two weeks to decide whether to keep it or not but so far I like it.
Everyone is struggling with dialoge in modern tv shows and movies these days. Gone are the days of articulate pronounciation and these are the days of mumble acting, aka Mumblecore. Yes, it's actually a thing.
lol I remember when a few friends who's only ever used built-in TV speakers or soundbars saw my admittedly pretty average 5.1 home theatre setup and pointed specifically at the centre channel going "what's that for" and I said "have you ever wondered 'why can I never hear dialogue clearly?' Yeah, that speaker is usually _exclusively_ for that" and then proceeded to play something on the system and blew their minds when dialogue came out crispy clear
It's almost like separation of frequency ranges is good for speaker clarity and that's the whole exact point of having a 5.1 system. It always amazes me how little people know about speakers
I’ve recently upgraded from a soundbar to a 3.1 system. I didn’t want to add surround speakers because I live in a condo with relatively thin walls and I didn’t want to bother hiding/fishing the wires (I have an area rug but not big enough; wife doesn’t want another rug). Anyway, what a difference between the soundbar and my 3.1 setup. Dialogue is so clear.
@@reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee2 surround speakers now work very well with bluetooth connectivity to the soundbar. I’m using Samsung’s HW-N950 and been very happy with it as a cheap theater solution. This is an older model so you may want to look for its successors.
@@raichua Polk Magnifi One for me, only because I want some clarity and _some_ boom while not disturbing other tenants. When I used to have family over they'd be very impressed and ask why my movies sound way better than theirs. Well, for starters, owning a 32" flat with 2w onboard speakers isn't going to deliver anything, especially since those old models' tweeters are mounted at and facing the rear. Amazing what an external setup can do, eh? They're just indifferent to the fact it's just another remote to fumble with and get lost in the seat cushion.
I love the dynamic this video gets from Plouffe sitting in the background and giving his comments now and then. Its really refreshing to see some variation in videos, especially if it works this well.
I would almost always recommend a self-powered speaker setup over a sound bar. You can go with something like the Micca RB42, which are a budget bookshelf system for around $140 that even audiophiles rave over. Or if you want something a little smaller, the Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 is legendary in this area. While lacking in modern features like BT and HDMI, they make up for in performance. The little speakers are about the size of an average hand, but the price to performance is insane. And if it means anything to you, they're THX certified.
I can vouch for the Klipsch Promedia 2.1. for sub 100, it is probably the best bang for your buck for anything speaker related. This thing beats out some $500 options as well.
Screw the Klipsch. The Logitech Z623/625 blow it out of the water. I've had both sets. I now have multiple sets of Z623's and also very recently a Z-5500 5.1 set. And you can easily find sets of 623's for sale for $80 or less. I frequently see them brand new at $60.
I went with an SMSL AD18, Micca MB42X, and Micca MS10 (no longer sold, the equivalent is a Dayton Audio Sub 1000), and couldn't be happier. I was looking at the self powered Micca RB42s, but decided against it.
We actually have the bose speakers, but we bought them because of space limitations (It fits perfectly under our TV, which is as much space as we can afford). We're definitely happy with it since the sound quality is very good with our use case of low to medium volumes with how thin the walls are in our apartment complex.
Sound bars are perfect 👍 for apartments where only small space works and you can’t get too loud. I have the Bose solo 5 tv and it’s great. Is it the best solution no but it’s good for the money 💵 and works for what I need.
@@neubauerjosephthe whole argument is that it is NOT good for the money. But ultimately, if you have made yourself happy, that is what is important. Objectively, though, it is possible to get much better audio for the same price or less. It isn't about finding something louder. It's about having gear that doesn't sound like it is straining. Ever. Loud or not.
I can relate to this exact complaint about not being able to hear the dialog. So at the end of last year I got the VIZIO V-Series 5.1 that is listed in the video description. But it was on sale for $148 at Walmart while now most of the links are $219. I am very happy with my decision and have no complaints.
I picked up a JVC TH-D227BA 2.0 for £40 and it has been solid, requires a little adjustment using the custom EQ profile but after that it is honestly a great little soundbar. About half the width of my 43" TV so it doesn't take up a huge amount of room, optical/HDMI ARC/aux/bluetooth, comes with a slightly ugly wall bracket but I used some flat bar to incorporate it into my TV's wallmount and it sits happily on top of the screen.
Snagging the JVC TH-D227BA for £40 sounds like a steal! While needing some EQ tweaking, its compact size, versatile connections, and integrated wall mount options seem to have made it a great value soundbar for your 43" TV. Kudos for the creative bracket hack too!
I have the Vizio 5.1 from the other options section and I think it's great. I originally had a TCL Alto 6 and it was pretty bad with limited options. My primary reason for getting a soundbar was for dialog enhancement and the TCL did not help at all.
TCL Alto 8+ gets the job done but you have to know how to use a pre-amp etc. I use a PC for all my AV. Helps to control everything with CPU levels of precision. 139 with a 50 dollar gift card 89 dollars. For that price pretty damn good. And I can flesh out the rest of my outputs for additional soundstage if I want to go pyscho.
I have it to! I’m not super impressed with the sounds speakers but the sound bar sounds great! Way better then this crap Bose soundbar and Bose is supposed to be one of the best!
The single best thing you can get for your TV/RUclips/Netflix watching experience, is a set of full range speakers. You dont need crazy high end stuff, just something that can reasonably acurrately reproduce sound at all frequencies without becoming muddy, drums sound like drums, guitars sound like guitars, and high pitched sounds pop. I very strongly recommend getting two full range monitors. - i use a KRK Rokit 10 connected via the headphone port of a mini pc to my lounge PC. If you want bass, dont get a subwoofer - they tend to muddy things. Just get a proper full range speaker - they will be heavy ~10kg each for a reason.
I actually thought about this too A lot of movies nowadays have sound mixing where the vocals are just really hard to make out from all the other junk that is happening at the same time. Sometimes its the music, sometimes the sound effects, maybe the mic was too far from the actors and they are too quiet but its just too common, and i had this issue happen at the damn cinema aswell!
There’s a good video on Vox about that and I mainly blame “dynamic range”: without voice sound quieter, loud sounds get “less impactful”. Well, guess what, if I micromanage the volume buttons, the result is quieter gun shots and explosions anyway. Hopefully God of War Ragnarok creates a trend for adjustable audio range.
I recommend the Roku sound bar to anyone that is not an audiophile. The bar is the media player so no audio lag. It also has an upgrade path where you can buy a subwoofer later and even surround speakers.
I have one and I really like it. It's not on my main TV, but it's great with the TV in the bedroom where I don't need full surround and loads of bass, just more intelligible dialog. And being able to use the Roku app and route the sound thru bluetooth headphones is nice for being able listen while my wife is sleeping. I wish there was some way to connect the headphones directly to the soundbar without having to route thru the app, but not a huge deal for my use.
I've been complaining about movie audio mixing about as long as everyone else has. Mainly how dynamic the mixes have become, which means I have to ride the volume control throughout a movie. Since I have a media server, and I don't have a fancy AV receiver, my current solution is to make my own surround to stereo mixes using ffmpeg. This allows me to play with how loud the center channel is in the mix, and also apply some loudness normalization and/or dynamic range compression to keep dynamic at a reasonable level.
Before I moved into my own place and used to watch movies on a monitor with headphones, the windows/Realtek loudness equalisation feature was a godsend for this. It probably ruins sound quality but it provided a great viewing experience without having to be constantly on my keyboard’s iffy volume dial from scene to scene.
lol ok and here I thought I was oldscool re-encoding movies to a avi or xvd with handbreak or formatfactory, and like you part of that is giving the center kick some TLC. But egad. raw ffmpeg? comandline? or some frontend?
@@gnanasabaapatirg7376 I guess, but since I usually rip my BluRays for my media server it really doesn't take that long to create those "nightmode" tracks. Plus, I've wrote some python scripts to help automate the process. Then again, it would be nice if more studios actually included a "nightmode" audio track. I know some Lionsgate BluRays have stereo tracks dubbed "Optimized for Late-Night Listening".
Not an audio expert but have been blown away with VMAI sound bars. The 90 w, 6 speaker bar that the subs fire upwards has overcome a camper air conditioner and someone hard of hearing. Usually on sale for $70 US. Also own the 120 w 2.1 for $100 on sale ($130). There are 4 audio adjusting modes for clarity. No, they are not $600-800 dollar systems but sound very good for the money. I have a Logitech Z506 for one PC set up and I love it and have a Z606 that I do not for comparison.
working at Best Buy has really opened my eyes to the huge differences in soundbars and subwoofers, it has also helped me understand the differences between all the audio companies and what company does better and worse
I have a hard time believing an entire company can be summed up as good or bad. They all make cheap garbage and really expensive stuff that probably isn't worth it. When there's 37 models to choose from under one brand they can't _all_ be good or bad.
@@alexandermcardle1646 Sony and Denon/Heos are the only home audio brands that aren't overpriced garbage. (home/car/marine a/v installer) So trust me i know more than the best buy worker...lmao
@@alexandermcardle1646 You can't just make a blanket statement like this... as someone already pointed out, even big name brands make shit products, you have to judge a product by a case by case basis, one of the reasons we get so much crap nowadays it's because people blindly buy X brand because it's a "recognizable" brand. Make informed purchases, look for reviews, multiple reviews if possible and compare those reviews with your use case. Good luck =)
Used speakers are such a value. I got a center channel, and 2 tower speakers AND a AVR for 100 dollars US. Then I found a subwoofer for 65. Beats the hell out of a sound bar
For $300, and sometimes on sale for $200, the Logitech Z906 is an amazing set of 5.1. If you go with the optical, it makes it a single wire set up. The bass is very good, maybe even great. The volume can get very loud, and it doesn't seem to distort when it does go all the way. Plus you can actually independently set the volume of each of the speakers with the remote or base unit.
i've had mine for around a decade and they are phenomenal. no distortion even at very high volume and the bass will shake your house apart. 500 watts rms 1000 watts peak will do that. for pc speakers!
I've got the Z506 hooked into an ancient receiver from ebay, and they're also great. They can get distorted at *very* high volumes, but I rarely turn it up that high unless I'm listening to 5.1 music, or if I'm watching something with my hard of hearing mother. (And beware of those little boxes that take an optical or hdmi signal and parse out the L/R, C/LFE, and LS/RS cables. Every one of them I tried before the receiver either had horrible harmonic distortion in the high frequencies, or a ground hum.)
Eh. The bass crossover is at far too high a frequency (you can here where the subwoofer is in the room) and despite that, there's a strong dip in the upper bass / midrange frequencies where the crossover is. The reason is that the satellite speakers are simply too small to produce the needed frequencies at the volume that Logitech is targeting. I also have yet to see a subwoofer that isn't a downgrade to the the Logitech Z-2300 they were selling 20 years ago. The Z906 sub is smaller, lighter and has a significantly smaller membrane than the 8" that the Z-2300 sub has. The Z906 is maybe a 6.5" membrane? Good enough to get loud at high excursion, but it falls apart at frequencies under 60Hz. The Z906 is one of those 'sounds good until you've actually had a good sound setup' systems.
@@Steamrick True, But it is very easy to set up, and if you want volume, it is definitely there. The bass is too much sometimes, but overall as a basic set up, very decent. I'm working on getting a better set up. But ill probably move these to my console set up after I get my computer sound system upgrade.
Everyone is buying these because they sound good, don’t break the bank and there’s nothing, literally nothing, more to them than the speaker and your own remote with HDMI. People don’t want subwoofers, 3:1 setups, 5:1 setups, extra remotes, EQ options etc. They want one speaker that sounds good. I REMOVED a 3:1 Bose audio system that was cluttering up the television stand in my living room, to put this in and get sound which I think is just as good, plus a huge quality of life uplift. I don’t want to have to put another woofer in and add other speakers in here and there. I want it to be just like this! And so do lots of other people who don’t care what tech reviewers are telling them that they ought to want instead.
I got the Samsung HW50 on a prime day this past summer. Originally it’s $150-$200? I got it for $50. Comes with a subwoofer too. Honestly, it’s good enough for me. I know I could pay a few hundred more and get Dolby Atmos or something. But it’s markedly better than my TV speakers (QN90A) and I’m happy :)
I have the previous version of this and we use it in our camper where we have no room for a “bass module”. If you can’t have a subwoofer this is about the best option. If you can, you should get something that has one absolutely.
Since we had Sonos speakers from before, we went for the Sonos Beam for many of the same reasons most others have stated. More clarity in movies, simple setup, and for us the integration into our other equipment made the extra cost worthwhile. For music it is not that great, but it holds its own, and we have it EQ’d quite low and quiet regardless to let the actual music-speakers do the heavy lifting.
We've had a Sonos Arc + Sonos One SL (x2) speakers and the sub. The whole setup is about $2000, its worth it. The Arc is so much better than what was mentioned in this video, while it does cost more, the only thing that would sound better is a HTIAB from Polk, or another higher end company. We had a Samsung Soundbar prior to the Sonos system and Sonos is just too good, when playing games, or watching movies it sounds like a theater. The newest update is the Arch + Era 100 (x2) for $1327 on the Sonos store. I've heard some negative things about the new ERA speakers, I would recommend getting everything separately and then configuring it when you get it as a combo then it should work really well.
IMO the best aspect of Sonos is that it's so easy to upgrade and expand. You can start with the Beam, later on add surrounds, later on add a Sub. I was okay with the Beam but after adding all the things later I felt like I could do it in the order that filled in the gaps as I realized I was using it for music more than I expected, etc.
I mean, seriously. How have we not moved on from soundbars? The only "good" soundbars cost SEVERAL THOUSAND DOLLARS and have performance comparable to most sub-$500 normal systems. I got a pair of Sony SS-CS5 bookshelf speakers on sale for $75 about a year ago, and with a simple $50-80 amplifier, it absolutely obliterates any and all sub-$1000 sound bars I have ever heard. The Sonys put out a very satisfying amount of usable bass as well, and can get louder than 10 sound bars put together, WITHOUT drowning out the bass or distorting one bit. The thing is, too, putting together a speaker system is not remotely difficult! Literally a 5 minute tutorial and you're good to set up a system with any mix of brands out there. And yet suburban dads go through all the trouble of mounting a TV no less than 5 feet above their TV stand. Bafflingly baffling. Rant over.
I had a turn of the century 100-200€ JVC mini stereo system as my TV sound solution until recently and it still beats any modern sound bar of similar price range that I've had the chance to listen to :) And it has a DVD player!
As with a lot of sound products, going open box at best buy is always a good option. I got my pioneer thx receiver for $350 normally $799 because it was missing the $10 remote
I own that speaker and if i see correctly, the power light is green in the part of the video where you listen to crabe rave, meaning that its in dialogue/voice mode, so reducing everything else to make the voice predominante, you might want to test Crabe Rave in the ''normal mode'' (white power light) to have a better experience with base. It could also explain why you can now understand more clearly the lady in the movie after switching to the soundbar
I have this sound bar, or looks like the one i have but mine is european model. The green light is normal mode and dialog mode is orange and by default it always turn on on green so i believe they would know that they switched it to dialogue mode.
@@xeon2k8 Would make sense if they were european, but they are canadian just as i am, so there is more chance they have a NA version of the bose speaker
I have this exact same bose model. It works for my small room. I needed something that was not bulky. I am very satisfied with it and have no issues. I had a few vizio soundbars and most of them went back to costco for poor quality.
I bumped up to the Bose Soundbar 300 for an extra $200 and bass seems to be decent on it. I’m in an apartment so too much bass would be a problem. I’m also pretty sure the soundbars (300/700/900 models) act as a central controller as Linus suggests. I would like to see Linus compare this entry-level speaker to the other soundbars Bose offers. I remember when researching these that there were some weird things missing from the Bose TV Speaker compared to the Bose Soundbar series despite them looking nearly identical.
You could get a second-hand HiFi setup for 500 USD. Amplifier and two main speakers. Unless you're going for the aesthetic of a soundbar, I wouldn't bother honestly.
The Vizio V series is amazing. My dad wanted one for the upstairs TV and I recommended it. I love the extra bass from the sub and the fact you can choose the location of the sub (since it pairs wirelessly) is nice. My only issue was that we had to mount it upside for our TV so the volume buttons are facing upwards, meaning that we ran into the issue where the volume would actually turn itself all the way down in the bar. My dad thought it was broken, but two slivers of cardboard in-between fixed the issue.
be careful with wireless speaker systems - they have a tendency to crap all over your home wifi (internet) performance (as evidenced by Linus's problems at home with a multi-speaker Sony system).
It’s expensive but I love my Sonos system. One’s in every room for music etc. plus a decent home theater set up (have an arc, sub, and a couple one SL’s). It’s been good to me so far. Would love to see how Sonos stacks up in a round up!
agree. started with a Sonos ONE pair connected to my Apple TV, later added the smaller soundbar (Ray?) as center speaker. The quality is good enough for me. Don’t think i’ll bother with a sub or surrounds.
Not an audiophile - but bought one when even I realized how miserable the sound my from wafer-thin OLED was. Also has a handle 'voice boost' in the settings - when I realized I was old.
My mom has worked at our local Best Buy (previously Future Shop) since it first opened, and over the years, through Christmas parties, and other random giveaways, got like 4 Sonos Ones and over of the bigger ones (forget the name), so they decided to bite the bullet and get the soundbar and subwoofer (albeit at a severely discounted price due to employee payment plans), and it's absolutely fantastic. Honestly I'd say it's hard to justify at full price with two Ones for rear channels and a soundbar and sub, but the quality and convenience is pretty hard to beat if you don't think about the cost lol
I’ve had the Sonos Beam sound bar for about 3 years now and it’s been awesome. For a flat in an appartment building it’s plenty loud and decent quality, doubles as an Airplay speaker for my living room and the bass level doesn’t disturb my neighbours. And if I ever want to upgrade, there is a strong second hand market for Sonos, so I’ll even get a good chunk of my money back.
I bought the Bose tv speaker, and got the Bose bass module on sale for $400. I think the Bose tv speaker is quality on its own, even if a little pricey, but with the bass module it really enhances the sound quality, and makes the experience much more enjoyable. Just my humble opinion. I was upgrading from an old Vizio sound bar. The tv I use is the LG CX 48 inch. $1500 when I bought it. I grew up listening to Bose quality speakers, so I might be a little biased.
Polk makes some pretty good sound bars for surprisingly cheap. And the included subwoofer will make dialogue more clear since the bass tones won’t force the soundbar to pull back on mids and highs, and can focus entirely on higher noises and dialogue.
I love Polk. I use Polk speakers from the late eighty's to early ninety's on my home theater setup with the exception of the subwoofer, which I use Velodyne. They still hold up to today's tech.
@@teddine7366 audio is one of the few things that don’t go obsolete. My brother had Boston tower speakers from the 90’s (until they broke lol) and they sounded awesome
Glad to see one of these videos that is actually “no really, why??” You can definitely get a much better soundbar + woofer combo for the same price during regular sales at Best Buy and the like.
When it comes to audio equipment, I will always buy used. Got an LG soundbar from ~2018 at goodwill and a compatible wireless subwoofer for under $100. And I found a Sony soundbar/subwoofer at a garage sale for like $30 to put in the family room.
I have a Vizio V series and other eArc being finicky on occasions that's fixed by turning it off and back on, I've been very happy with it. Had another Vizio 5.1.2 sound bar before it and other than having to replace a blown capacitor after 5 years of use, it was great too.
im looking to get a new tv and im looking at the v series...iv seen some people say the sub loses connection and or starts to make a humming noise...have you had any issues like that?
I bought my HW-Q90R for $275 on Ebay (I got extremely lucky with someone who wanted it gone but didn't know it's actual price tag). Definitely worth buying a soundbar used (I mean you get somewhat better sound from a good AVR/Bookshelf 2.1 setup, but if you want simplicity while still good audio, soundbars aren't horrible when you go towards the top end).
I'm not an avid audiophile, but my attention to details in the highs, mids, and bass essentially makes me one, I've heard different soundbars before, I've heard good Bose once and bad Bose ones. I've had those companions, and Klipsch ones. I usually gravitate to Klipsch, especially the 2.1 solution they have because the details in the highs and mids are unmatched for the price of $60.
I thought the klipsch 2.1 pro media sounded great, but I found myself constantly adjusting the volume to hear dialogue. Honestly, it was probably just the room I was using them in being too big. I would still recommend them if you're on a budget.
I bought the Vizio M-series and it is quite incredible. A lot of the sounds you wouldn't hear otherwise really really pop, like footsteps behind the camera and the bassy rumble of something going supersonic.
Can confirm! The M51a I got was on sale and really made my bedroom feel and sound more fun. Should’ve gotten the M512a though because Atmos with DTS:VirtualX is a bit hit or miss at times 😂 but for the price I got it for, I’m not complaining that much! 💪
Thank you for mentioning that it does not work w/ 3rd party subs. I ordered two for our home from Bose. I had spoke w/ one of their tech advisors & explained to him that we were hooking one up to an existing sub. He made absolutely no mention of the fact that it is not compatible with 3rd party subs. Very deceptive business practices. Done w/ Bose!!! Thx again, you just got a new subscriber!
That $79 Vizio SB2020n-j6 they showed on Amazon is pretty close to identical to the Vizio V20x-j8 that I have hooked to the 65" TV in my bedroom. Picked up for $50 on a holiday sale 2 years ago and while not enough for a living room setup I find it great for bedroom use. Spending $300 I'd be watching locally for a used receiver and some bookshelf or floor speakers
After researching various types of speakers, I decided to make my own DML panel speakers. I would love to see you guys make some and compare them to soundbars and other home theater speaker setups.
My mom bought one of these bose soundbars for her 75" Samsung Tv last year and I was shocked at how well it actually sounds. In the past she's had bad luck with soundbars and wireless subs disconnecting all the time. The bose actually sometimes sounds like surround sound and she doesn't watch action movies with lots of bass so this was perfect for her. I myself have a Yamaha receiver and Polk Audio 5.1 speakers complete with 24" center channel and a 12" powered subwoofer (also Polk). It's 100x better than my mom's setup but I like big action movies and don't mind spending the money for the setup whereas my mom just wants a simple setup where she can hear what people are saying
These videos are great. I almost bought one of these but went for a smaller JVC soundbar for my PC instead and even it had a range of EQ adjustment. Glad I did! I'd also definitely avoid cheaping out on soundbars as often the noise floor is unbearable.
Would love to see a 3 way comparison of soundbars/bookshelf speakers/Headphones with an optical cable going to a cheap DAC/Amp like a unit from Topping. Headphones just seem a better way to go especially for anyone that has a shared living situation or doesn't want to annoy the neighbors. Plus there's the added value of having nice headphones for gaming or general desktop use
The first two would be a valid comparison, but headphones are a different use scenario and wouldn't make for a valid comparison. Also, quality bookshelf or full-size speakers will always sound better than even the top soundbar - for the same reasons a soundbar will sound better than built-in TV speakers...
I personally recommend The Klipsch Cinema 600 with the surround 3 speakers package. It's a damn good sound bar that comes with an awesome sub. You can buy the surround speakers separately if you want but I highly recommend the whole package.
I have Bose SoundLink Mini as my phone Bluetooth speaker. It's been amazing for the last 5 or 6 years. Shame they stopped making it because when, probably the battery finally goes I'd just buy a new one. Sound quality for such a small speaker is unbelievable, especially if you place it right and use the wall echo effect. Words are crystal clear as well because I listen to audiobooks all the time.
I would love to see you compare the home pods to some of these sound bars. 100 bucks each and very big soundstage with just two of them. The bass is a bit overblown, but it gets crazy low without fading out any of the higher frequencies. I was very impressed with it, my dad brought a pair home a few weeks ago to test against our Bose and we ended up selling the Bose in favor of these. It was not the sound ar shown in the video, and we had a sub woofer. Pods still beat them in overal audio quality.
I'm still using my 5.1 surround sound from 1999 or 2000. It's the Philips FR 968 that puts out 5x100 watts to the speakers and an external self-amplified subwoofer. This thing has been on since 1999 and shut off maybe once a year for just a moment. I never turn it off and it still works amazingly well. I do have the center channel boosted for better dialog.
I had that exact same receiver back in the day. I think it was my first surround sound receiver actually. That thing was great; lots of power, generally accurate (though you did have to do your measurements manually), and hit like a truck. Honestly, I would keep using that receiver until it dies or you NEED to upgrade. That receiver, paired with pretty much ANY set of speakers, will kick the crap out of anything BOSE makes.
i did get a chance to hear this in person and it sounded better than the equally priced sound bars with included woofers. most sound bars have 0 mid bass and the woofers where often muddy.
I have one for the past 2 years as a backup speaker for my pc, i mainly use headphones, it’s good enough for watching movies, and it fits perfectly below my 27” monitor, other soundbars are usually wider.
Bought an Bose solo 5 on clearance for about 60 €. I still find it fascinating how good the sound from this tiny soundbar is. Also the bass and speaking of the voices looks to be much better than the bose one in the video.
Hm, I have that same soundbar without the bass module for two years now. Sure, my Edifier bookshelf speakers in my PC desktop setup are more bass heavy, with a wider sound stage, too. But I wouldn't say the Bose lacks that much in bass, depending on what you're expecting. I use the second highest bass setting for basically all content. Yes, they may be a bit overpriced and the sound leaves a bit to be desired at REALLY high volumes, and maybe I would buy something else today. But for a small room/apartment, I don't think they're that bad, even without the bass module.
This is a pretty poor video you can tell was thrown together quickly without much testing. It has all the usual Linus pandering troupes. “Sound bars suck, big corp bad, proprietary bad, popular brand bad”. (I still love you Linus) But Iv had this sound bar and bass module for a few years now and think it sounds great! Got many complaints on how good it sounds also and a lot of other independent media have reviewed it fairly well.
I have a 5.2 home theater setup and I still find it hard to hear voices, especially when some loud action comes up and I have to lower the volume. Each speaker is calibrated to equal loudness btw. Besides the obvious quality advantage I was hoping I wouldn't have to constantly adjust volume to hear voices and the action scenes don't kill my ears. But that's not the case. I personally don't mind the loud action or setting the volume to where everything easily clear and hearable but other family members hate it too loud.
That’s always the complaint in my house. I have a full HT setup and still have issues hearing dialog. When it turn it up enough to hear that it’s rocking the whole house when it comes to action scenes.
Depending on your receiver you can just oomph the center channel a few dB up.. I have a simple and not so expensive 3.0 set up with a Yamaha receiver and three Heco Victa II speakers (2x 701, 1x101) and the voices from the center channel are pretty audible.
After i tried MANY Soundbars i went with a 5.1 Logitech PC Gaming Setup (X530) for 99€ (~104USD/~142CAD) and a cheap Toslink/SPDIF to 5.1 Adapter. Had to Tune the Toslink with -15ms to sync audio with my TV Speakers and MAN am i Satisfied. Doesnt look as sleek as a soundbar but for less money i got so much more
I've had an old Bose Solo 5 since around 2017 or so and have been pretty happy with it. Quality is good enough for me out of a sound bar, Bass is actually decent unlike the one in the video, and the voice setting is incredible.
I actually bought this sound bar about a year back because it was one of the few soundbars that had an analog input at this point... this means I was able to have my TV speaker also be my turntable speaker (with a small pre-amp in between). I knew it wasn't going to be the best soundbar but it was budget friendly and fit some unique additional needs.
A good budget soundbar for me is the Creative Stage V2. Its about 100 - 110 usd. I use it for my pc and im very satisfied with it. i looked long and hard for a cheap soundbar and pretty much all the reviews i could find gave it a good rating. And i comes with a "bass module" 😉
i use this too and its incredible for the price. stereo imaging and surround sound isn't great, but everything else feels and sounds awesome, and my not-a-tech-nerd wife thinks its perfect.
My personal setup on this is via Bluetooth to an Apple TV box , I set it on the full bass setting , it superbly separates instruments in say a rock concert and the vocal resolution is fantastic ( think a David Attenborough doc for a test) , finally I control the sound via the Apple TV remote which DOES reconnect after rebooting in my experience , plus it looks great.
Recently got the Sonos Beam gen 2 and while almost twice the price of the Bose in the video I absolutely love it. It integrates with the rest of the Sonos ecosystem (which is kinda the main point of Sonos IMO) so it can be used as a "normal" Sonos speaker as well, AND it can be used to setup a 5.1 or even 7.1 home theatre if you want to get additional speakers and a subwoofer. And yes, clarity of dialogue is the main reason for me getting a soundbar, audio mixing masters(?) saying that they want to focus on a "cinematic experience" is such BS and annoys me to no end, I shouldn't need to have a dedicate home theatre room just to hear the dialogue when streaming something.
So english is not my native language and back in 2009 I was living in the US. Went to the theater to watch a very weird Keanu Reeves movie that he's an alien. Was really fucking difficult to understand the dialogue and I was thinking "oh well I am the problem here" only to find out later on the internet that lots of people had the same issue.
It is the guys in the editing booth, I think they are all stoned when they add the audio to the actual footage. It is not only you, and it seems to be the norm today. Watch an old movie, and you can understand every word. No one gives a shit anymore in the movie racket.
Idk Iv had this sound bar and the bass module for a couple years now and I think it sounds pretty good. You didn’t really go over much in the way of alternatives. At least should have held off on this one till labs is done to support what your saying because my and many others real world experience/opinions are different.
I used the Bose TV Speaker for about a year or so. And i love it! If you turn up the bass on the remote it really sounds great (imo) for casual movie/tv/music consumption. Of course it could be punchier but i‘m okay with it. Oh and it cost me around 150€ at the time.
Picked this speaker yesterday for $295 AU , sounds pretty good to me in a medium sized room. Not shaking the room but there is deep bass in characters voices and all areas were needed. Have a listen at your local retailer first as I did otherwise you could be missing out on what I found to be a great everyday use compact system.
I had a full blown AV Receiver hooked up to my PC at one point, but some of the channels starting dying and it was old and getting bulky. Last year I replaced it with the Creative Stage V2, which is now only $99 at Amazon. It got the sub with it and sounds great. Not as good as the AVR, but for what I wanted out of it, I am really happy. Not sure how people look right past that and buy something that seems to be worse for more than double the price.
IMO the Bose TV Speaker was meant to be utilized with the Base Module 500. The Bose TV Speaker makes watching TV possible for those who simply grew up with surround and stereo systems on every TV. Bose makes Solo Soundbars for those space savers and with side by side testing, I was impressed with the sound quality coming out of the small singular soundbar from their Solo series, bass and everything. When I tested the Bose TV Speaker, it was alright, but once I paired it with the Bass Module it was complete. Pricey system but enough to wow you at high volumes.
I've actually been enjoying the VIZIO V series 5.1 soundbar system for about half a year now. So far, no real complaints. It even has Bluetooth connectivity, and the subwoofer is wirelessly connected so I don't have to worry about running cables to it (except for the two side speakers and power cord of course).
I disagree with parts of this review. I just bought this Bose TV speaker soundbar and I'm quite happy with it. It is designed to be for smaller second TVs up to 50 inches or so and for very small rooms or studio apartments. I have my TV in a corner and I'm happy with the bass output at the default level and prefer it with the dialogue enhancement off. The soundbar scales very well in terms of sound signature depending on whether you give it 2 channel PCM or 5.1 Dolby Digital. You really need to set it up to bypass the Dolby Digital stream from your streaming device and TV to the soundbar to get the right effect for movies and avoid any lip sync issues. While they don't provide an HDMI cable, I think this is to ensure that people don't have to bother with setting up the audio correctly with HDMI. The soundbar can learn your TV's volume controls, so HDMI CEC isn't necessarily an issue and it means that TVs before HDMI ARC are also supported. If you have a smart tv of any kind, you can stream audio to it and it'll just playback on the soundbar so why does it need the BOSE app anyway or even bluetooth for that matter? It can get warm sometimes and that's something they ought to improve on and I wish they included the wall mount brackets in the box. Some people have supposedly used a third party subwoofer with it, but I don't think it needs it. Most people buying this don't want something too noisy that will disturb the neighbours. I agree that this thing sounds good at low volumes. The compact size will appeal to many people as well. The product does what it says on the box and in a sea of products that often don't, people just want something reliable. It definitely isn't a home theatre product, but rather the speakers your TV ought to have come with. If you buy from Bose, you can just return it if you're not happy with it. So often we have to buy audio products without ever listening to them and Bose's return policy really stands out.
I hated the Polk sound bar I had, it had this annoying feature where it would shut down if no sound signal hit it for 15 minutes (can’t turn this feature off)… It also took the thing 15 seconds to start back up and despite having e-arc hdmi connection to tv, many times turning the tv on didn’t also always turn the soundbar back on. Was so annoying to use I ultimately disconnected it and no longer use it and am looking for a better alternative.
Yeah, I'm actually on team TV Speaker. I have the previous version and the bass is really good on that one. I was not looking for a home theater setup just an improved audio exprience in a compact form factor.
I have a Vizio V51 and I was very happy with it at first but after about a month I noticed music started to sound more tinny and less bassy. After two months I ended up sending it in where they told me the "woofer had become dislodged from it's housing" and said it was probably due to misuse and I had to basically send pictures of where the sub was located and explain how I used it before they would accept my warranty. Finally they send me my woofer back (I know it was the same one from a chip it had in it from shipping) and it sounds good again. Then about a month goes by and it started happening again. I took the sub apart and realized how cheaply made it was. I was able to take the controller and woofer out and reseat them in an old woofer box I had in my garage and haven't had a problem in the last year with it. It seems like if you buy a cheap product, they'll work forever but sound like shit. Buy an expensive product and the sound is terrible but they are very feature rich. Try to buy a product somewhere in the middle and you'll get something you're happy with, sounds great and has plenty of features but it breaks very easily. There's no middle ground, at least not in my experience, between good quality build, good sound and features it's either you get the system without the subwoofer that sounds flat, you get the system with the subwoofer but it can barely handle any bass, or you get the expensive system that has all the bells and whistles but sound output is seems to have been an afterthought. The best thing you can do for yourself is to build your own system. Buy reputable speakers with a quality subwoofer and connect them all to a central hub and you will get the sound clarity and quality you were after from the beginning but now the parts are interchangable. You want a system with more features? Just buy a new receiver that has the features you're after. It always seems easier just buying the AIO package but history proves it's always better when you do it yourself. Liquid cooling is better is a custom loop than most AIO coolers, sound systems can be customized to give you the exact experience you are looking for, PCs are cheaper and more powerful if you build one instead of going prebuilt. Yes, there are times an AIO system may be preferable, like in a college dorm or other small living areas, but if you have the option to put together your own sound stage, do it. One great thing about sound is that we perfected it back in the 80's. You can buy a set up and literally never have to upgrade it again. Buy quality one time and forget about it for life. If you can buy yourself a new soundbar or television every few years then trust me, invest in a sound system and you will never need to buy a new one.
Honestly, after working at Best Buy around the holidays, and frequently testing out the higher end JBL soundbars, I feel like that's the way I would go (when they're on sale) if I ever needed/wanted to replace my current surround set up. The 5.1 was going for as low as 499.99 CAD and it was just so much better than anything else we had on display (other than the 9.1 with detachable rear speakers that went for 999 CAD on sale)
The JBL sets are great. I absolutely love my 3.1 set. I pair it with some Google Audio speakers in a group to enhance the music experience. That fills up the high-mid section a bit more, which is my only complaint about the 3.1 bar.
I have still at home a JBL SB200 but it is slowly dying because drivers were working harder without a dedicated sub... Still the audio was very good for soundbar/film usage and not music usage. I've listened to their new 2.1 soundbars and i've found that a downgrade to my SB200... There is always that bad decision to make everything V shape...
I have the JBL 3.1 and the 5.1 with surround. I highly recommend either of these. My brother has the 2.1 and is very satisfied as well. I was sad that these were never mentioned in this video!
I have this sound bar and I like it. It sounds fine in a small room. I did not want a sub woofer and I didn't need it to be loud. I do have a headphone amp connected by optical if I want. I also have very nice speakers at my desk, so it's not like I've never heard better. This product does have a use for me. However, the first one I bought was DOA, so quality control might be questionable
I bought one for my mum a few years ago who lives in apartment. An acceptable speaker for the price. I didn't want to get her any of the alternatives with a sub because in small spaces they are hell with neighbours and take up unnecessary room. She also uses it with optical cable because whist e-arc is great the automatic turning on would annoy the hell out of her.
As with graphics card, most of the times the point isn't how good the product is per se, but how good it is compared to its price. In this case, I'm sorry, but the clear conclusion is that you could've gotten a better product for the same or even less.
Wow, this is one of the few LTT videos where I completely agree with Linus. Get a good system with a proper sub and take some time to set it up. The difference is so immense. Even my $1000 budget setup beats more expensive soundbar or all in one setups I’ve come across.
Any recommendations? I want a 7.1 or setup without breaking the bank or being ripped off. Sick of soundbars and all the issues with wireless rear speakers. 🙄
Not complaining about the new video. I am just wondering what has drawn LTT to have 3 days straight of "everybody is buying this ...". Video are very informative but slightly confused of the frequency.
It was obviously filmed earlier, as evidenced by the price/availability changes. LTT might release videos as they get finished in post production, or they might have backup videos for when the actual ones they hoped to have ready for release got delayed for reasons.
![KSI - Dirty [Official Visualiser]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/VoDh1h1dPUE/mqdefault.jpg)
Are you using a sound bar for your TV? If so, which one? Let us know down below!
Buy a Bose TV Speaker: geni.us/kbqOl
Buy a Bose Bass Module 500: geni.us/954tAxl
Buy a VIZIO 2.0 Sound Bar: geni.us/FMMfWSI
Buy a LG S40Q Sound BAr & Wireless Subwoofer: geni.us/0s4wBI3
Buy a Polk Audio Sigma S2 Sound Bar & Wireless Subwoofer: geni.us/WSFfh
Buy a Sony HT-S400 Sound Bar & Wireless Subwoofer: geni.us/B12sUq
Buy a Samsung HW-B550 Sound Bar & Wireless Subwoofer: geni.us/jxo9
Buy a VIZIO V-Series 5.1 Sound Bar & Wireless Subwoofer: geni.us/852Rny
Purchases made through some store links may provide some compensation to Linus Media Group.
NOPE, and will NEVER buy a soundbar unless I end up living in a camper. I have a 7.2.4 HT setup, and proper speakers are the only thing I would recommend to anyone that cares about surround sound. No shortcuts, sorry.
Wow, that's expensive, I paid £50 for my soundbar from Tesco, it's a logic brand and it's 350 Watts, it sounds fantastic and has great vocal range with amazing base... Just £50 never going anywhere else
I'm a Bose fan boy, Brought a Bose 900 Soundbar and sent it back. I replaced it with a Sony HT-A7000 which also has good base and doesn't need additional speakers. It also has a proper remote not requiring a separate app
Our Sony TV doesn‘t need one. It sounds great.
I have the Vizio 5.1 sound bar setup. I boosted the center channel for clearer talking and it's totally fine with me.
as non native speaker I was sure that it's my problem, but then I tried to use headphones and was shocked that I can now hear dialogs, but still had doubts. Thank you Linus for pointing this out!
I used a subwoofer computer speakers bought for 6 bucks on my living room TV
SOUNDS so much better
@@billfusionenterprise I bought logitech Z333 for £80 which is about 89 dollars. It’s solid. Amazing. Comes with sub.
the thing is, if you are used to dubbed content of good quality, the voices are all studio quality with perfectly mixing. native movie voices are very often worse than that. the big languages in Europe have some of the best dubbing industry for blockbusters etc. native movies just sometimes sound horrible and often time worse.
@@elpadre__ i think its more about directiionality.
Speakers firing directly in front are usually going to be better.
My tv was mounted on a wall where it had doors on either side and the sound would leak out of the room instead of being legible to people inside the room.
This kinda explains why I can understand people through discord calls better than when watching tv shows. I just thought other games speaks gaming subvariant of english or something thats magically easier to understand for me.
I'd love to see a final video of this series bringing everything together in a setup.
🤞
The common man's setup.
will take ALLOT of room
most average pc v2
“Why is everyone buying this setup”
Everyone used to have these awesome stereo systems in the 90's and early 00's that people just don't buy anymore. They were super clear and powerful. I haven't seen one in forever.
Yes, I remember growing up as kid there's a huge ass speaker and dedicated electronic box for audio thingy, idk what it called. But it's common, lots of my friends house also had it. Now when I grow up, I want to buy that kind of thing, but living on small space hold me back, because it will be loud and give me noise complaints. Decent wireless headphone / bluetooth converter for IEMs is the only solution for me now to get the great audio.
We still use a Yamaha receiver and Cerwin Vega speakers. They could shake the paint off the walls
Yes! So many people had these wonderful “Stereo HiFi” units that we’d connect the “AV Out” of our tube TV to, and then you got “amazing” sound out of your VHS movies. They were usually a stereo amplifier with an FM radio built in, many had a handful of inputs for your TV, tape deck, CD player, and turntable.
@@cassinihuygens Yeah, if I could find some Yamaha components I would be pretty happy. The receiver I want is around $1000, a bit out of my range but for now I could try to fix up the Akai receiver I have as it runs after two Yamaha MG10 style mixers. My audio setup is eclectic with Akai for the FM receiver and main amp, Realistic EQ, Yamaha MG10 and MG8 with effects, and any HDMI devices running audio extractors to connect to the mixers, TV Box amplified speakers on my dual video monitor stand, an assortment of Realistic Minimus 7 and Centrios 7 die cast speakers, a pair of vintage JVC 3-way floor speakers with 12" woofers and one 10" subwoofer.
TV tech was largely stagnant for the 10 - 15 years before the introduction of HDTV, so the biggest upgrade one could make to your setup was in the audio, leading to a lot of people doing just that. Now that TV technology is progressing again, I have a feeling that people are spending the money they would've spent on better audio on newer TVs instead.
I bought this a year or two ago because my other Bose products worked well for me and most importantly it fits our small house. It looks very nice in the limited space under our TV and we didn’t want to use floor space for a subwoofer (plus I feel like subwoofers are an overkill for our TV watching preferences anyway). I disagree with what he said about no bass, I will have this speaker on low volume and can still hear the bass rumble when I’m across the house. For being a tiny soundbar it sets up a decent sound stage and the vocals on this thing are awesome. Other sound bars seem to just raise the volume on everything where this one seems to raise the volume on the right things. Ultimately this is just my opinion but even after this video I would probably still buy this sound bar again.
Agreed with ya by the time when I selected sound bar between Bose and Sonos beam Bose has decent bass volume but I chose Sonos beam G2 the sound quality is very good no need sub woofer 👍🏻
I agree with the no need for floor sub. I find many of these separate sub systems have too much bass for tv/movie viewing. Like in a movie a car door will shut with a big thunk sound when in real life I don’t hear car doors making this sound in a car park. It’s over done most the time. Or a person walking down a hallway sounds like an elephant.
I agree. I wasn’t expecting much but was surprised by the bass this smallish speaker did put out. Seems to be just right for smaller rooms. Not everyone wants/needs a sub-bass module that’ll rattle the windows (I have a Hsu Research subwoofer for that 😂).
As someone huge into making my music sound as good as possible, I absolutely love that LTT is diving into audio like this. I'm especially happy with the lab work! Keep it up! The lab will be well worth your investment, I'm sure!!
i legit thought i had a fly on my screen due to your avatar
@@GlitchedxKing That's why it's been my avatar for years lol
One thing I constantly battle with is audio latency with sound bar setups. Particularly with gaming on a PS5. I would love to see some labs content where they test the audio latency with arc/earc connections on popular sound bars. Or a video detailing the best way to sync audio without adding input lag.
THISSSS
and also input lag converting coaxial/p10 to hdmi or spdif; Using converters is very common in countries where new tvs are absurdly expensive
I remember one test where ancient sound receiver with passtrough had less latency than fancy eARK soundbar. Can't point any names but i expect this would be tested in the lab.
@@vadnegru In theory I really wouldn't be surprised. The old receivers are just more complicated guitar amps, and there's zero latency from guitar to amp as far as I know.
I have a surround setup, and the struggle is real on those too. The way I solve it is with a Blu-ray player with two HDMI outputs - I have one in the TV, and one in my receiver, and then dial the latency in that way. I would think an HDMI splitter could also work.
I'm really loving these "Why is EVERYONE buying..." videos, they do an amazing job getting into the nuances of each category, and that's a godsend when deciding what to buy.
I think it's a great precursor to their upcoming LTT labs series. I love that they're not just speculating, but doing objective testing with data to back it up. The labs project may be a pain in the ass for Linus to get it off the ground, but he's spending his money on the right things and it's gonna change the industry for the better. That database is gon' raise up *all* of our standards.
God send*
@@spoils8179 Thanks for the correction. English isn't my first language and I guess it isn't yours either, since it's actually godsend*
They are boring as fuck. I don't watch them anymore but i can tell you why everyone is buying product xy, because it's cheap and not total crap. Am i right? WOW who would have thought this. But to be sure, lets make 10 Minute Video out of it and test in our Lab.
agreed, hate the clickbait title though
The vizio V series is a really good bang for buck option. At the time it was the only thing in my price range, and knowing good setups and bad soundbars, it does surprisingly well.
I got the 5.1 V series with the sub and everything. Very impressed with the sound quality, though some shows and movies really are just mixed terribly
Update your soundbar firmware via USB update.
@@northwestclasspnw7974 a lot of times it’s this exact issue. Take for instance shows like “Stranger Things” or “Barry”, and you’ll get world-class sound out of a $200 speaker package because the content is actually mixed properly. There are some pretty high budget shows and movies with absolutely garbage sound mixing and production. Also, it doesn’t help that all the streaming services haven’t standardized on a basic sound LEVEL 🤦♂️
I have had a few Vizio's. Excellent bang for buck for the most part.
In addition to getting one with a sub, I cannot stress how important it is to get at least a 3.1 setup if you care about dialogue. That center channel makes all the difference in being able to hear dialogue better without having to blast the volume.
I don't agree, center placement is hard, and they're often inferior compared to your left/right. Unless you have a wide area to cover with your setup it's pointless or even detrimental. The only advantage it might have is being able to raise the center channel volume which is an imperfect solution since it messes up positional data. I ditched mine long ago.
@@BriBCG he's talking about a soundbar with 3 channels.
@BrianBCG hard to place? You just put it in the middle lol. Plus, my system you can make the middle channel dialogue only or behave like a normal speaker. There's no downsides fam
some ppl dont have the space for a Sub, or dont want to blow their neighbor's ears off.
@blindwheels you can adjust the volume of the sub. You aren't a bad neighbor because you want to hear all the frequencies of a show as intended.
I miss the old Vizio soundbar kits that they were making in the early 2010's. I thought they sounded amazing for the price and the bars that sounded better were 4x the cost. Sadly my Vizio 5.1.2 system died (due to a bad capacitor in the power supply). I ended up buying the new version of the same Vizio sound bar and was deeply disappointed. The sound was significantly worse so I ended up returning the new soundbar and bought a soldering iron. I ended up taking apart the old bar and soldered on a new capacitor. It still works perfectly to this day and I have owned it for 10 years now.
Vizio definitely still makes some of the best value soundbars. In the low-mid range. Even their 5.1.2 Premium M series can go on sale for as low as $350, and even at the full $500 gets compared to soundbars much more expensive
Heck yeah, don't give in to the trash can mentality most companies want you to have.
@@Mountain-Man-3000 honestly the whole process was an eye opening experience for me. I had so many doubts if I could even fix it or if I was even fixing the right thing but sure enough it worked. That little soldering iron has now fixed so many items and built up my confidence in taking apart electronics.
Way to go brosuf, Vizio has had some real bangers that you wonder how they made any money on. Awesome that you were able to save it, because you know what, all this AI crap and BS just takes away from what really matters, drivers and amps. 0.25$ capacitor saved 300$ from the landfill and you some disappointment with the new stuff along with 300$. Iron earned its keep
That’s the way to do it. Replacing capacitors is generally an easy fix and if it doesn’t work you haven’t lost much.
I really love the deep dives in Amazon reviews. This segment is quickly becoming one of my favourites that LMG makes.
Right! Absolutely love it too
@@muyoso I'm fine with low effort where it's not exploiting someone else's work. If the content is good then I'm fine then getting whatever they can to pay their ballooning wage bill till labs can get us more granular detailed exclusives.
@@muyoso he literally said in the video the lab isn’t online yet for the home theater portion and would be coming later this year with more detailed review.
@@muyosopeople are weird. When he does vids about expensive or high end new stuff where the labs are needed a lot of perplex say these vids are bad bc 99% of viewers cant affort these things. But when he does stuff like top amazon products (stuff you and me buy) you complain about it because he doesnt use every single method to test them.
@@muyoso well if you want to take a deep look at the graphs just stop the video
Picked up the Vizio 5.1 M series for 299 and I could not be happier. I was shocked at how bad my new TVs speakers were as mentioned. I have a decent size living room, now I can hear dialogue, and I’m fully immersed barely needing to turn the volume up. Easy to setup and adjust, and looks very nice.
Yeah this one is great and the sub/surround are wireless capable so it's a great solution for projector people like me.
Vizio soundbars are REALLY
nice considering how cheap they are
Why did you choose the m series over the v series, if I may ask
I'm torn if the extra $100 is worth getting the m series.
Thanks for any answers!
@@borg386 went with the m series bc of the extra speakers, separate tweeters/woofers, and especially the dedicated center channel speaker. Creates a more precise sound stage for better immersion. I don’t think you have to be an audiophile to notice a clear upgrade to the m over the v
I’m actually surprised that some major sound bars don’t include the bass module anymore. It feels like such an obvious fix.
@@tim3172 Thanks for pointing out the typo, I’ve since fixed it. I’m not sure why auto-correct assumed base.
subwoofer
I mean, you saw how much bose are charging for it. This soundbar is a trap for people who don't do research. Good enough for you to keep long enough to leave the return window, but when you want something a little better, you have to spend more than what you paid for the soundbar in the first place.
At RRP, the total cost in the UK is £670 for the soundbar + "bass module". Imagine the audio setups you could buy for that money, it makes the bose seem more like Amazon basics in terms of audio quality.
You looking at it from the wrong angle. You create a problem for what you have a purchasable solution. It's business.
Cuz profits
When I work in home theater sales, the Signa S2 and S3 were the go to options under $300. If you wanted anything better, I would recommend Sony's 3.1 bar with fake Atmos because their processing was incredible for anything under $700
Yeah I bought a recent 400$ Sony bar (2.1) and man their processing is just amazing. I used to turn off all those fake surround/Atmos setting and was about to do the same with the Sony but it's just amazing what they are doing! Music or movies it's on.
@@7evive what one was it?
You should do a shootout between powered bookshelf speakers and soundbars. There are some nice options like the Neumi BS5P for under $200. You don't need to go full home theatre, but a soundbar can absolutely be beaten at any price.
Agree with your suggestion ^^^. I've heard the Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 THX speakers and they sound incredible for speakers in the price range you mentioned. BIG upgrade over TV speakers and lower end soundbars.
Edifier is also a good brand to go with :)
Yes, this is they way to go. There are lots of inexpensive bookshelf speakers that are far superior to soundbars.
@@AngryApple I'm running the Edifier 1850DB and ngl they are pretty great. Thinking of getting a sub "bass module" down the line because it has a "bass" port
@@rdb1 I used the R1280DB for a long time. Now they are sitting as monitors for my home office setup. Great little and good looking speakers and the remote was awesome to have for a tv setup
Bought 5 years ago bought my 1st Samsung soundbar. Sub with 3 channels up front. Black Friday, 150 I think. Bout 40% off.
Love it. It's in my bedroom now.
3 years ago stepped up in class so I could get rear speakers.
Black Friday again. Think 50% off for 220. Step up in Watts and the Sub has more omph. Surround speakers are a great touch too. Always suprises new peeps. Love em.
And the clean look, have it screwed into the wall, all cables hidden.
2 thumbs up
Hey Linus, video idea: Bookshelf speakers + cheap class-D amp (+ optional subwoofer).
I've been using this setup for years on my PC, and more recently on my TV as well. It's a little more involved, of course, but you can get legitimately great sound (imo) for
Part of the problem with this approach though, is that you're using a stereo mix for it. That means dialogue and effects are mixed - creating less clarity. That said, you could get a 5.1 decoder which allows channel control so you can reduce the effects level. But this is even more involved. Your setup idea is better than this Bose affair though and any good bookshelf speakers will handle bass and dialogue better, increasing overall clarity.
@@ian9outof10I mean stereo as a concept for isn't old and if you got a good resolving speaker with a focus on the mids. But even in your 3.1 get a bookshelf or normal tower speaker rather than a cheap center.
Or you can get a 100 watt bt amplifier on Amazon and some bookshelf speakers and boom. Budget and quality.
@@xPrezoh and terrible latency, and therefore out of sync lips
I'd love to see a comparison of soundbars compared to similarly priced speaker set ups. Got to admit, by far the best sounding TV audio experience I've had was with some fairly old speakers paired with an old sub. Maybe it's not a fair comparison compared to a relatively new soundbar but personally, I know what I'd rather invest my money in based on what I've heard so far.
Agreed. Good audio never ages.
It’s fair. The new stuff is cheap small and tinny sounding
Got different speaker setups in different rooms for about 20 years now, upgrading all the time. Soundbars suck in comparison. Even the best TV speakers suck more though. Oh, and BOSE sucks anyway - try maybe klipsch, emotiva, adam (more studio though) + basically thousand others. Personally I currently have Dali on my main setup, due to the WAF of the small, white bookshelfs. Tons of better speakers though if you got the room and money. Also, processor + amp is better 95% of the time than a receiver again. Top end would be something like Trinnov - a make most probably never have heard of. At the end though, most people are happy with airpods, so if you're one of them, you will probably also be happy with a good (around 1k) soundbar. Easiest is to order online, try at home, and send back if you don't like it. Don't try test listening anywhere else though, because the room makes SOOOO much difference, and most audiophiles won't even ever treat their room.
Not surprised. There really hasn't been any significant advancement in speaker design in several decades. Minor improvements, sure. But a decent quality speaker from 20 years ago will still sound better than a cheap speaker from today, and could potentially be a bargain.
@@3borsresistance551 what's driving your Dali speakers and while you are there, what kind of configuration is it driving?
The problem with budget to mid-range AVRs when the movie sound Dynamics change one will usually find themselves reaching for the remote control yet again and that's regardless what kind of centre Channel one is driving!
1. Soundbar for dialogue.
2. budget AVR with budget stereo speakers for music lovers.
3. best of both prepare to spend at least 5 grand.
I bought a Sony HT-SD40 on clearance at Walmart for 138 dollars (almost 100 dollars off). It's absolutely fantastic. I use it for my desktop setup (overkill, I know) and it really changed my life. Anything over 50% volume is super loud without losing any clarity and when I shift it to 100% I can practically hear it through my entire house and it shakes the walls of my room.
Bought this back in November last year worth every penny even at full price
Bought this on Black Friday for $200.00 @Best Buy. I am 62 and my hearing isn't what it once was. I have difficulty with picking out voice in the crappy sound mixes these days. My ears like the sound and depending on the source stream I do not require using the voice filter boost. When voice is boosted it does affect the audio image quality but it isn't obnoxious. Audio listening is very subjective and if you buy this make sure you can return it if it doesn't pass muster. I have two weeks to decide whether to keep it or not but so far I like it.
Everyone is struggling with dialoge in modern tv shows and movies these days. Gone are the days of articulate pronounciation and these are the days of mumble acting, aka Mumblecore. Yes, it's actually a thing.
lol I remember when a few friends who's only ever used built-in TV speakers or soundbars saw my admittedly pretty average 5.1 home theatre setup and pointed specifically at the centre channel going "what's that for" and I said "have you ever wondered 'why can I never hear dialogue clearly?' Yeah, that speaker is usually _exclusively_ for that" and then proceeded to play something on the system and blew their minds when dialogue came out crispy clear
this is the one thing i notice the most at friends houses who have 5.1 setups compared to my 2.1 soundbar trash lol
It's almost like separation of frequency ranges is good for speaker clarity and that's the whole exact point of having a 5.1 system. It always amazes me how little people know about speakers
I’ve recently upgraded from a soundbar to a 3.1 system. I didn’t want to add surround speakers because I live in a condo with relatively thin walls and I didn’t want to bother hiding/fishing the wires (I have an area rug but not big enough; wife doesn’t want another rug). Anyway, what a difference between the soundbar and my 3.1 setup. Dialogue is so clear.
@@reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee2 surround speakers now work very well with bluetooth connectivity to the soundbar. I’m using Samsung’s HW-N950 and been very happy with it as a cheap theater solution. This is an older model so you may want to look for its successors.
@@raichua Polk Magnifi One for me, only because I want some clarity and _some_ boom while not disturbing other tenants. When I used to have family over they'd be very impressed and ask why my movies sound way better than theirs. Well, for starters, owning a 32" flat with 2w onboard speakers isn't going to deliver anything, especially since those old models' tweeters are mounted at and facing the rear. Amazing what an external setup can do, eh?
They're just indifferent to the fact it's just another remote to fumble with and get lost in the seat cushion.
I love the dynamic this video gets from Plouffe sitting in the background and giving his comments now and then. Its really refreshing to see some variation in videos, especially if it works this well.
I would almost always recommend a self-powered speaker setup over a sound bar. You can go with something like the Micca RB42, which are a budget bookshelf system for around $140 that even audiophiles rave over. Or if you want something a little smaller, the Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 is legendary in this area. While lacking in modern features like BT and HDMI, they make up for in performance. The little speakers are about the size of an average hand, but the price to performance is insane. And if it means anything to you, they're THX certified.
Micca is only available for americans so yeah about that
I can vouch for the Klipsch Promedia 2.1. for sub 100, it is probably the best bang for your buck for anything speaker related. This thing beats out some $500 options as well.
I can vouch for the RB42, an absolute beast of a speaker that competes with speakers far above its price tag
Screw the Klipsch. The Logitech Z623/625 blow it out of the water. I've had both sets. I now have multiple sets of Z623's and also very recently a Z-5500 5.1 set.
And you can easily find sets of 623's for sale for $80 or less. I frequently see them brand new at $60.
I went with an SMSL AD18, Micca MB42X, and Micca MS10 (no longer sold, the equivalent is a Dayton Audio Sub 1000), and couldn't be happier.
I was looking at the self powered Micca RB42s, but decided against it.
We actually have the bose speakers, but we bought them because of space limitations (It fits perfectly under our TV, which is as much space as we can afford). We're definitely happy with it since the sound quality is very good with our use case of low to medium volumes with how thin the walls are in our apartment complex.
Sound bars are perfect 👍 for apartments where only small space works and you can’t get too loud. I have the Bose solo 5 tv and it’s great. Is it the best solution no but it’s good for the money 💵 and works for what I need.
@@neubauerjosephthe whole argument is that it is NOT good for the money. But ultimately, if you have made yourself happy, that is what is important. Objectively, though, it is possible to get much better audio for the same price or less. It isn't about finding something louder. It's about having gear that doesn't sound like it is straining. Ever. Loud or not.
I can relate to this exact complaint about not being able to hear the dialog. So at the end of last year I got the VIZIO V-Series 5.1 that is listed in the video description. But it was on sale for $148 at Walmart while now most of the links are $219. I am very happy with my decision and have no complaints.
I picked up a JVC TH-D227BA 2.0 for £40 and it has been solid, requires a little adjustment using the custom EQ profile but after that it is honestly a great little soundbar. About half the width of my 43" TV so it doesn't take up a huge amount of room, optical/HDMI ARC/aux/bluetooth, comes with a slightly ugly wall bracket but I used some flat bar to incorporate it into my TV's wallmount and it sits happily on top of the screen.
Snagging the JVC TH-D227BA for £40 sounds like a steal! While needing some EQ tweaking, its compact size, versatile connections, and integrated wall mount options seem to have made it a great value soundbar for your 43" TV. Kudos for the creative bracket hack too!
I have the Vizio 5.1 from the other options section and I think it's great. I originally had a TCL Alto 6 and it was pretty bad with limited options. My primary reason for getting a soundbar was for dialog enhancement and the TCL did not help at all.
TCL Alto 8+ gets the job done but you have to know how to use a pre-amp etc. I use a PC for all my AV. Helps to control everything with CPU levels of precision. 139 with a 50 dollar gift card 89 dollars. For that price pretty damn good. And I can flesh out the rest of my outputs for additional soundstage if I want to go pyscho.
True about TCL even with the speech dialog option.
I have it to! I’m not super impressed with the sounds speakers but the sound bar sounds great! Way better then this crap Bose soundbar and Bose is supposed to be one of the best!
My three Vizios are great, they’re customer service isn’t half bad either
Have the same configuration, I'm loving my Vizio 5.1, so worth it
The single best thing you can get for your TV/RUclips/Netflix watching experience, is a set of full range speakers. You dont need crazy high end stuff, just something that can reasonably acurrately reproduce sound at all frequencies without becoming muddy, drums sound like drums, guitars sound like guitars, and high pitched sounds pop. I very strongly recommend getting two full range monitors. - i use a KRK Rokit 10 connected via the headphone port of a mini pc to my lounge PC. If you want bass, dont get a subwoofer - they tend to muddy things. Just get a proper full range speaker - they will be heavy ~10kg each for a reason.
I actually thought about this too
A lot of movies nowadays have sound mixing where the vocals are just really hard to make out from all the other junk that is happening at the same time. Sometimes its the music, sometimes the sound effects, maybe the mic was too far from the actors and they are too quiet but its just too common, and i had this issue happen at the damn cinema aswell!
There’s a good video on Vox about that and I mainly blame “dynamic range”: without voice sound quieter, loud sounds get “less impactful”. Well, guess what, if I micromanage the volume buttons, the result is quieter gun shots and explosions anyway.
Hopefully God of War Ragnarok creates a trend for adjustable audio range.
I recommend the Roku sound bar to anyone that is not an audiophile. The bar is the media player so no audio lag. It also has an upgrade path where you can buy a subwoofer later and even surround speakers.
Does it let you use it as just a speaker and not a TV box?
Sound bar and audiophile doesn’t coexist
Right. That was my point. Anyone that wants better sound, I recommend an AVR and speakers.
I have one and I really like it. It's not on my main TV, but it's great with the TV in the bedroom where I don't need full surround and loads of bass, just more intelligible dialog. And being able to use the Roku app and route the sound thru bluetooth headphones is nice for being able listen while my wife is sleeping. I wish there was some way to connect the headphones directly to the soundbar without having to route thru the app, but not a huge deal for my use.
I've been complaining about movie audio mixing about as long as everyone else has. Mainly how dynamic the mixes have become, which means I have to ride the volume control throughout a movie.
Since I have a media server, and I don't have a fancy AV receiver, my current solution is to make my own surround to stereo mixes using ffmpeg. This allows me to play with how loud the center channel is in the mix, and also apply some loudness normalization and/or dynamic range compression to keep dynamic at a reasonable level.
Isn't it lot of work for someone who just wants to watch a good movie
Before I moved into my own place and used to watch movies on a monitor with headphones, the windows/Realtek loudness equalisation feature was a godsend for this. It probably ruins sound quality but it provided a great viewing experience without having to be constantly on my keyboard’s iffy volume dial from scene to scene.
lol ok and here I thought I was oldscool re-encoding movies to a avi or xvd with handbreak or formatfactory, and like you part of that is giving the center kick some TLC. But egad. raw ffmpeg? comandline? or some frontend?
@@gnanasabaapatirg7376 I guess, but since I usually rip my BluRays for my media server it really doesn't take that long to create those "nightmode" tracks. Plus, I've wrote some python scripts to help automate the process.
Then again, it would be nice if more studios actually included a "nightmode" audio track. I know some Lionsgate BluRays have stereo tracks dubbed "Optimized for Late-Night Listening".
Not an audio expert but have been blown away with VMAI sound bars. The 90 w, 6 speaker bar that the subs fire upwards has overcome a camper air conditioner and someone hard of hearing. Usually on sale for $70 US. Also own the 120 w 2.1 for $100 on sale ($130). There are 4 audio adjusting modes for clarity. No, they are not $600-800 dollar systems but sound very good for the money. I have a Logitech Z506 for one PC set up and I love it and have a Z606 that I do not for comparison.
working at Best Buy has really opened my eyes to the huge differences in soundbars and subwoofers, it has also helped me understand the differences between all the audio companies and what company does better and worse
In your own opinion, can you list brands from best to worst?
same question as alex
I have a hard time believing an entire company can be summed up as good or bad. They all make cheap garbage and really expensive stuff that probably isn't worth it. When there's 37 models to choose from under one brand they can't _all_ be good or bad.
@@alexandermcardle1646 Sony and Denon/Heos are the only home audio brands that aren't overpriced garbage. (home/car/marine a/v installer) So trust me i know more than the best buy worker...lmao
@@alexandermcardle1646 You can't just make a blanket statement like this... as someone already pointed out, even big name brands make shit products, you have to judge a product by a case by case basis, one of the reasons we get so much crap nowadays it's because people blindly buy X brand because it's a "recognizable" brand. Make informed purchases, look for reviews, multiple reviews if possible and compare those reviews with your use case. Good luck =)
Used speakers are such a value. I got a center channel, and 2 tower speakers AND a AVR for 100 dollars US. Then I found a subwoofer for 65. Beats the hell out of a sound bar
For $300, and sometimes on sale for $200, the Logitech Z906 is an amazing set of 5.1. If you go with the optical, it makes it a single wire set up. The bass is very good, maybe even great. The volume can get very loud, and it doesn't seem to distort when it does go all the way. Plus you can actually independently set the volume of each of the speakers with the remote or base unit.
i've had mine for around a decade and they are phenomenal. no distortion even at very high volume and the bass will shake your house apart. 500 watts rms 1000 watts peak will do that. for pc speakers!
I've got the Z506 hooked into an ancient receiver from ebay, and they're also great. They can get distorted at *very* high volumes, but I rarely turn it up that high unless I'm listening to 5.1 music, or if I'm watching something with my hard of hearing mother. (And beware of those little boxes that take an optical or hdmi signal and parse out the L/R, C/LFE, and LS/RS cables. Every one of them I tried before the receiver either had horrible harmonic distortion in the high frequencies, or a ground hum.)
Eh. The bass crossover is at far too high a frequency (you can here where the subwoofer is in the room) and despite that, there's a strong dip in the upper bass / midrange frequencies where the crossover is. The reason is that the satellite speakers are simply too small to produce the needed frequencies at the volume that Logitech is targeting.
I also have yet to see a subwoofer that isn't a downgrade to the the Logitech Z-2300 they were selling 20 years ago. The Z906 sub is smaller, lighter and has a significantly smaller membrane than the 8" that the Z-2300 sub has. The Z906 is maybe a 6.5" membrane? Good enough to get loud at high excursion, but it falls apart at frequencies under 60Hz.
The Z906 is one of those 'sounds good until you've actually had a good sound setup' systems.
@@Steamrick True, But it is very easy to set up, and if you want volume, it is definitely there. The bass is too much sometimes, but overall as a basic set up, very decent. I'm working on getting a better set up. But ill probably move these to my console set up after I get my computer sound system upgrade.
Everyone is buying these because they sound good, don’t break the bank and there’s nothing, literally nothing, more to them than the speaker and your own remote with HDMI. People don’t want subwoofers, 3:1 setups, 5:1 setups, extra remotes, EQ options etc. They want one speaker that sounds good. I REMOVED a 3:1 Bose audio system that was cluttering up the television stand in my living room, to put this in and get sound which I think is just as good, plus a huge quality of life uplift. I don’t want to have to put another woofer in and add other speakers in here and there. I want it to be just like this! And so do lots of other people who don’t care what tech reviewers are telling them that they ought to want instead.
I got the Samsung HW50 on a prime day this past summer. Originally it’s $150-$200? I got it for $50. Comes with a subwoofer too. Honestly, it’s good enough for me. I know I could pay a few hundred more and get Dolby Atmos or something. But it’s markedly better than my TV speakers (QN90A) and I’m happy :)
I have the previous version of this and we use it in our camper where we have no room for a “bass module”. If you can’t have a subwoofer this is about the best option. If you can, you should get something that has one absolutely.
Since we had Sonos speakers from before, we went for the Sonos Beam for many of the same reasons most others have stated. More clarity in movies, simple setup, and for us the integration into our other equipment made the extra cost worthwhile.
For music it is not that great, but it holds its own, and we have it EQ’d quite low and quiet regardless to let the actual music-speakers do the heavy lifting.
Hell yeah ! Sonos rocks! Maybe not the sound bar but the portable speakers for sure
Any wifi disconnection so far with it?
I have a partial hearing loss and we went with the Bose Sonos. Integration was easy and the dialog setting really helps.
We've had a Sonos Arc + Sonos One SL (x2) speakers and the sub. The whole setup is about $2000, its worth it. The Arc is so much better than what was mentioned in this video, while it does cost more, the only thing that would sound better is a HTIAB from Polk, or another higher end company. We had a Samsung Soundbar prior to the Sonos system and Sonos is just too good, when playing games, or watching movies it sounds like a theater.
The newest update is the Arch + Era 100 (x2) for $1327 on the Sonos store. I've heard some negative things about the new ERA speakers, I would recommend getting everything separately and then configuring it when you get it as a combo then it should work really well.
IMO the best aspect of Sonos is that it's so easy to upgrade and expand. You can start with the Beam, later on add surrounds, later on add a Sub. I was okay with the Beam but after adding all the things later I felt like I could do it in the order that filled in the gaps as I realized I was using it for music more than I expected, etc.
I mean, seriously. How have we not moved on from soundbars? The only "good" soundbars cost SEVERAL THOUSAND DOLLARS and have performance comparable to most sub-$500 normal systems.
I got a pair of Sony SS-CS5 bookshelf speakers on sale for $75 about a year ago, and with a simple $50-80 amplifier, it absolutely obliterates any and all sub-$1000 sound bars I have ever heard. The Sonys put out a very satisfying amount of usable bass as well, and can get louder than 10 sound bars put together, WITHOUT drowning out the bass or distorting one bit.
The thing is, too, putting together a speaker system is not remotely difficult! Literally a 5 minute tutorial and you're good to set up a system with any mix of brands out there. And yet suburban dads go through all the trouble of mounting a TV no less than 5 feet above their TV stand. Bafflingly baffling. Rant over.
I had a turn of the century 100-200€ JVC mini stereo system as my TV sound solution until recently and it still beats any modern sound bar of similar price range that I've had the chance to listen to :) And it has a DVD player!
THIS. A proper stereo setup is still cheaper and better in every way then a sound bar. Especially used!
As with a lot of sound products, going open box at best buy is always a good option. I got my pioneer thx receiver for $350 normally $799 because it was missing the $10 remote
I own that speaker and if i see correctly, the power light is green in the part of the video where you listen to crabe rave, meaning that its in dialogue/voice mode, so reducing everything else to make the voice predominante, you might want to test Crabe Rave in the ''normal mode'' (white power light) to have a better experience with base. It could also explain why you can now understand more clearly the lady in the movie after switching to the soundbar
I have this sound bar, or looks like the one i have but mine is european model. The green light is normal mode and dialog mode is orange and by default it always turn on on green so i believe they would know that they switched it to dialogue mode.
@@xeon2k8 Would make sense if they were european, but they are canadian just as i am, so there is more chance they have a NA version of the bose speaker
I have this exact same bose model. It works for my small room. I needed something that was not bulky. I am very satisfied with it and have no issues. I had a few vizio soundbars and most of them went back to costco for poor quality.
I bumped up to the Bose Soundbar 300 for an extra $200 and bass seems to be decent on it. I’m in an apartment so too much bass would be a problem. I’m also pretty sure the soundbars (300/700/900 models) act as a central controller as Linus suggests. I would like to see Linus compare this entry-level speaker to the other soundbars Bose offers.
I remember when researching these that there were some weird things missing from the Bose TV Speaker compared to the Bose Soundbar series despite them looking nearly identical.
You could get a second-hand HiFi setup for 500 USD. Amplifier and two main speakers. Unless you're going for the aesthetic of a soundbar, I wouldn't bother honestly.
Subs usually have adjustable volume on them
@@SpltPersonaltyOF What is the point of a sub, that is turned down to the point where it is basically off. Just a waste of space
@@IBartOnAir requires more wiring, setup, space and annoys my neighbors. So 200$ extra for making my life worse...
The Vizio V series is amazing. My dad wanted one for the upstairs TV and I recommended it. I love the extra bass from the sub and the fact you can choose the location of the sub (since it pairs wirelessly) is nice. My only issue was that we had to mount it upside for our TV so the volume buttons are facing upwards, meaning that we ran into the issue where the volume would actually turn itself all the way down in the bar. My dad thought it was broken, but two slivers of cardboard in-between fixed the issue.
be careful with wireless speaker systems - they have a tendency to crap all over your home wifi (internet) performance (as evidenced by Linus's problems at home with a multi-speaker Sony system).
yes I've got one too and it's pretty good
It’s expensive but I love my Sonos system. One’s in every room for music etc. plus a decent home theater set up (have an arc, sub, and a couple one SL’s). It’s been good to me so far. Would love to see how Sonos stacks up in a round up!
agree. started with a Sonos ONE pair connected to my Apple TV, later added the smaller soundbar (Ray?) as center speaker. The quality is good enough for me. Don’t think i’ll bother with a sub or surrounds.
Not an audiophile - but bought one when even I realized how miserable the sound my from wafer-thin OLED was.
Also has a handle 'voice boost' in the settings - when I realized I was old.
My mom has worked at our local Best Buy (previously Future Shop) since it first opened, and over the years, through Christmas parties, and other random giveaways, got like 4 Sonos Ones and over of the bigger ones (forget the name), so they decided to bite the bullet and get the soundbar and subwoofer (albeit at a severely discounted price due to employee payment plans), and it's absolutely fantastic. Honestly I'd say it's hard to justify at full price with two Ones for rear channels and a soundbar and sub, but the quality and convenience is pretty hard to beat if you don't think about the cost lol
I’ve had the Sonos Beam sound bar for about 3 years now and it’s been awesome. For a flat in an appartment building it’s plenty loud and decent quality, doubles as an Airplay speaker for my living room and the bass level doesn’t disturb my neighbours.
And if I ever want to upgrade, there is a strong second hand market for Sonos, so I’ll even get a good chunk of my money back.
If you have the money, Sonos is awesome.
I bought the Bose tv speaker, and got the Bose bass module on sale for $400. I think the Bose tv speaker is quality on its own, even if a little pricey, but with the bass module it really enhances the sound quality, and makes the experience much more enjoyable. Just my humble opinion. I was upgrading from an old Vizio sound bar. The tv I use is the LG CX 48 inch. $1500 when I bought it. I grew up listening to Bose quality speakers, so I might be a little biased.
Best dialogue audio quality and 3rd part subwoofer support makes it the best soundbar
Polk makes some pretty good sound bars for surprisingly cheap. And the included subwoofer will make dialogue more clear since the bass tones won’t force the soundbar to pull back on mids and highs, and can focus entirely on higher noises and dialogue.
I love Polk. I use Polk speakers from the late eighty's to early ninety's on my home theater setup with the exception of the subwoofer, which I use Velodyne. They still hold up to today's tech.
@@teddine7366 audio is one of the few things that don’t go obsolete. My brother had Boston tower speakers from the 90’s (until they broke lol) and they sounded awesome
Glad to see one of these videos that is actually “no really, why??” You can definitely get a much better soundbar + woofer combo for the same price during regular sales at Best Buy and the like.
When it comes to audio equipment, I will always buy used. Got an LG soundbar from ~2018 at goodwill and a compatible wireless subwoofer for under $100. And I found a Sony soundbar/subwoofer at a garage sale for like $30 to put in the family room.
yeah, same here, I bought my living room soundbar from a person on FB marketplace, its still working great several years later..
You can spend $200 and get a used 5.1 speaker set and an AVR for that price.
I have a Vizio V series and other eArc being finicky on occasions that's fixed by turning it off and back on, I've been very happy with it. Had another Vizio 5.1.2 sound bar before it and other than having to replace a blown capacitor after 5 years of use, it was great too.
im looking to get a new tv and im looking at the v series...iv seen some people say the sub loses connection and or starts to make a humming noise...have you had any issues like that?
I bought my HW-Q90R for $275 on Ebay (I got extremely lucky with someone who wanted it gone but didn't know it's actual price tag). Definitely worth buying a soundbar used (I mean you get somewhat better sound from a good AVR/Bookshelf 2.1 setup, but if you want simplicity while still good audio, soundbars aren't horrible when you go towards the top end).
I'm not an avid audiophile, but my attention to details in the highs, mids, and bass essentially makes me one, I've heard different soundbars before, I've heard good Bose once and bad Bose ones. I've had those companions, and Klipsch ones. I usually gravitate to Klipsch, especially the 2.1 solution they have because the details in the highs and mids are unmatched for the price of $60.
You just have good ears without buying into the audiophile superstitions and marketing pseudoscience.
Thank you for the recommendations.
@@ffsireallydontcare a stone chip? I don't think you understand how records are produced
I’m glad I don’t have good ears 😂 save myself a ton of money for something that sounds “good enough”
I thought the klipsch 2.1 pro media sounded great, but I found myself constantly adjusting the volume to hear dialogue. Honestly, it was probably just the room I was using them in being too big. I would still recommend them if you're on a budget.
Klipsche is several steps above Bose.
I bought the Vizio M-series and it is quite incredible. A lot of the sounds you wouldn't hear otherwise really really pop, like footsteps behind the camera and the bassy rumble of something going supersonic.
Can confirm! The M51a I got was on sale and really made my bedroom feel and sound more fun. Should’ve gotten the M512a though because Atmos with DTS:VirtualX is a bit hit or miss at times 😂 but for the price I got it for, I’m not complaining that much! 💪
The TCL Alto 8+ is a great option too. 3.1 bar with "Atmos." Has a decent enough soundstage and dialogue is CRYSTAL clear. $150 at Walmart
Thank you for mentioning that it does not work w/ 3rd party subs. I ordered two for our home from Bose. I had spoke w/ one of their tech advisors & explained to him that we were hooking one up to an existing sub. He made absolutely no mention of the fact that it is not compatible with 3rd party subs. Very deceptive business practices. Done w/ Bose!!! Thx again, you just got a new subscriber!
I just love how Plouffe sits through the Intro with a face saying: Man, can we watch some Tv already?
That $79 Vizio SB2020n-j6 they showed on Amazon is pretty close to identical to the Vizio V20x-j8 that I have hooked to the 65" TV in my bedroom. Picked up for $50 on a holiday sale 2 years ago and while not enough for a living room setup I find it great for bedroom use. Spending $300 I'd be watching locally for a used receiver and some bookshelf or floor speakers
After researching various types of speakers, I decided to make my own DML panel speakers. I would love to see you guys make some and compare them to soundbars and other home theater speaker setups.
My mom bought one of these bose soundbars for her 75" Samsung Tv last year and I was shocked at how well it actually sounds. In the past she's had bad luck with soundbars and wireless subs disconnecting all the time. The bose actually sometimes sounds like surround sound and she doesn't watch action movies with lots of bass so this was perfect for her.
I myself have a Yamaha receiver and Polk Audio 5.1 speakers complete with 24" center channel and a 12" powered subwoofer (also Polk). It's 100x better than my mom's setup but I like big action movies and don't mind spending the money for the setup whereas my mom just wants a simple setup where she can hear what people are saying
These videos are great. I almost bought one of these but went for a smaller JVC soundbar for my PC instead and even it had a range of EQ adjustment. Glad I did! I'd also definitely avoid cheaping out on soundbars as often the noise floor is unbearable.
Would love to see a 3 way comparison of soundbars/bookshelf speakers/Headphones with an optical cable going to a cheap DAC/Amp like a unit from Topping. Headphones just seem a better way to go especially for anyone that has a shared living situation or doesn't want to annoy the neighbors. Plus there's the added value of having nice headphones for gaming or general desktop use
The first two would be a valid comparison, but headphones are a different use scenario and wouldn't make for a valid comparison. Also, quality bookshelf or full-size speakers will always sound better than even the top soundbar - for the same reasons a soundbar will sound better than built-in TV speakers...
I personally recommend The Klipsch Cinema 600 with the surround 3 speakers package. It's a damn good sound bar that comes with an awesome sub. You can buy the surround speakers separately if you want but I highly recommend the whole package.
I have Bose SoundLink Mini as my phone Bluetooth speaker. It's been amazing for the last 5 or 6 years. Shame they stopped making it because when, probably the battery finally goes I'd just buy a new one. Sound quality for such a small speaker is unbelievable, especially if you place it right and use the wall echo effect. Words are crystal clear as well because I listen to audiobooks all the time.
yeah their small ones are really good, this soundbar seems like an easy cashgrab
I would love to see you compare the home pods to some of these sound bars. 100 bucks each and very big soundstage with just two of them. The bass is a bit overblown, but it gets crazy low without fading out any of the higher frequencies. I was very impressed with it, my dad brought a pair home a few weeks ago to test against our Bose and we ended up selling the Bose in favor of these. It was not the sound ar shown in the video, and we had a sub woofer. Pods still beat them in overal audio quality.
Don't you need an Apple TV for those as well?
If your $300 sound bar is beat by $200 worth of Homepods, you're probably doing it wrong, Bose 😅
@@Lizlodude True lol
Home pods are garbage.
I'm still using my 5.1 surround sound from 1999 or 2000. It's the Philips FR 968 that puts out 5x100 watts to the speakers and an external self-amplified subwoofer. This thing has been on since 1999 and shut off maybe once a year for just a moment. I never turn it off and it still works amazingly well. I do have the center channel boosted for better dialog.
I had that exact same receiver back in the day. I think it was my first surround sound receiver actually. That thing was great; lots of power, generally accurate (though you did have to do your measurements manually), and hit like a truck. Honestly, I would keep using that receiver until it dies or you NEED to upgrade. That receiver, paired with pretty much ANY set of speakers, will kick the crap out of anything BOSE makes.
i did get a chance to hear this in person and it sounded better than the equally priced sound bars with included woofers. most sound bars have 0 mid bass and the woofers where often muddy.
I have one for the past 2 years as a backup speaker for my pc, i mainly use headphones, it’s good enough for watching movies, and it fits perfectly below my 27” monitor, other soundbars are usually wider.
I looked the size for high-end soundbars and wow, some are very wide ie 45 in/1 m+!!!
Bought an Bose solo 5 on clearance for about 60 €. I still find it fascinating how good the sound from this tiny soundbar is. Also the bass and speaking of the voices looks to be much better than the bose one in the video.
Hm, I have that same soundbar without the bass module for two years now. Sure, my Edifier bookshelf speakers in my PC desktop setup are more bass heavy, with a wider sound stage, too. But I wouldn't say the Bose lacks that much in bass, depending on what you're expecting. I use the second highest bass setting for basically all content. Yes, they may be a bit overpriced and the sound leaves a bit to be desired at REALLY high volumes, and maybe I would buy something else today. But for a small room/apartment, I don't think they're that bad, even without the bass module.
This is a pretty poor video you can tell was thrown together quickly without much testing. It has all the usual Linus pandering troupes. “Sound bars suck, big corp bad, proprietary bad, popular brand bad”. (I still love you Linus) But Iv had this sound bar and bass module for a few years now and think it sounds great! Got many complaints on how good it sounds also and a lot of other independent media have reviewed it fairly well.
I agree. I will likely get their smaller bass module (500) but don’t really think it’s necessary.
I have a 5.2 home theater setup and I still find it hard to hear voices, especially when some loud action comes up and I have to lower the volume. Each speaker is calibrated to equal loudness btw. Besides the obvious quality advantage I was hoping I wouldn't have to constantly adjust volume to hear voices and the action scenes don't kill my ears. But that's not the case.
I personally don't mind the loud action or setting the volume to where everything easily clear and hearable but other family members hate it too loud.
Sound compression is your friend here then.
That’s always the complaint in my house. I have a full HT setup and still have issues hearing dialog. When it turn it up enough to hear that it’s rocking the whole house when it comes to action scenes.
@@vadnegru how would I do that 🤔 through the avr?
Depending on your receiver you can just oomph the center channel a few dB up.. I have a simple and not so expensive 3.0 set up with a Yamaha receiver and three Heco Victa II speakers (2x 701, 1x101) and the voices from the center channel are pretty audible.
@@MandeepSingh-jl3nj in my setup i have android tv stick with Dolby app so i can tweak there.
After i tried MANY Soundbars i went with a 5.1 Logitech PC Gaming Setup (X530) for 99€ (~104USD/~142CAD) and a cheap Toslink/SPDIF to 5.1 Adapter.
Had to Tune the Toslink with -15ms to sync audio with my TV Speakers and MAN am i Satisfied.
Doesnt look as sleek as a soundbar but for less money i got so much more
I've had an old Bose Solo 5 since around 2017 or so and have been pretty happy with it. Quality is good enough for me out of a sound bar, Bass is actually decent unlike the one in the video, and the voice setting is incredible.
i own one and the sound is great, linus has no idea what he's talking about
I actually bought this sound bar about a year back because it was one of the few soundbars that had an analog input at this point... this means I was able to have my TV speaker also be my turntable speaker (with a small pre-amp in between). I knew it wasn't going to be the best soundbar but it was budget friendly and fit some unique additional needs.
A good budget soundbar for me is the Creative Stage V2. Its about 100 - 110 usd. I use it for my pc and im very satisfied with it. i looked long and hard for a cheap soundbar and pretty much all the reviews i could find gave it a good rating. And i comes with a "bass module" 😉
@@irwanchel i just use aux jack plug, but it can do optical, hdmi arc, bluetooth and also connect via usb to pc, ps4, ps5 and nintendo switch
i use this too and its incredible for the price. stereo imaging and surround sound isn't great, but everything else feels and sounds awesome, and my not-a-tech-nerd wife thinks its perfect.
My personal setup on this is via Bluetooth to an Apple TV box , I set it on the full bass setting , it superbly separates instruments in say a rock concert and the vocal resolution is fantastic ( think a David Attenborough doc for a test) , finally I control the sound via the Apple TV remote which DOES reconnect after rebooting in my experience , plus it looks great.
I missed Anthony, good to see him somewhere even tho this time it was sponsor segment. More of Anthony please!
i have Bose TV speaker trust me they are great , and absolute no distortion and has good amount of bass too.
Recently got the Sonos Beam gen 2 and while almost twice the price of the Bose in the video I absolutely love it. It integrates with the rest of the Sonos ecosystem (which is kinda the main point of Sonos IMO) so it can be used as a "normal" Sonos speaker as well, AND it can be used to setup a 5.1 or even 7.1 home theatre if you want to get additional speakers and a subwoofer.
And yes, clarity of dialogue is the main reason for me getting a soundbar, audio mixing masters(?) saying that they want to focus on a "cinematic experience" is such BS and annoys me to no end, I shouldn't need to have a dedicate home theatre room just to hear the dialogue when streaming something.
Sonos is way overpriced when you can multiroom with chromecast audio and google nest speakers.
So english is not my native language and back in 2009 I was living in the US. Went to the theater to watch a very weird Keanu Reeves movie that he's an alien. Was really fucking difficult to understand the dialogue and I was thinking "oh well I am the problem here" only to find out later on the internet that lots of people had the same issue.
It is the guys in the editing booth, I think they are all stoned when they add the audio to the actual footage. It is not only you, and it seems to be the norm today. Watch an old movie, and you can understand every word. No one gives a shit anymore in the movie racket.
Idk Iv had this sound bar and the bass module for a couple years now and I think it sounds pretty good. You didn’t really go over much in the way of alternatives. At least should have held off on this one till labs is done to support what your saying because my and many others real world experience/opinions are different.
I used the Bose TV Speaker for about a year or so. And i love it! If you turn up the bass on the remote it really sounds great (imo) for casual movie/tv/music consumption. Of course it could be punchier but i‘m okay with it.
Oh and it cost me around 150€ at the time.
Same
But it’s the Bose Solo 5 for me, practically the same experience
Any update for 2024 black friday
Picked this speaker yesterday for $295 AU , sounds pretty good to me in a medium sized room. Not shaking the room but there is deep bass in characters voices and all areas were needed. Have a listen at your local retailer first as I did otherwise you could be missing out on what I found to be a great everyday use compact system.
I had a full blown AV Receiver hooked up to my PC at one point, but some of the channels starting dying and it was old and getting bulky. Last year I replaced it with the Creative Stage V2, which is now only $99 at Amazon. It got the sub with it and sounds great. Not as good as the AVR, but for what I wanted out of it, I am really happy.
Not sure how people look right past that and buy something that seems to be worse for more than double the price.
Have the same speakers, glad that I didnt have to scroll far to find someone happy with it too. Agree that its very value for money.
Herd mentality. "Oh, most people use this? I will follow suit".
IMO the Bose TV Speaker was meant to be utilized with the Base Module 500.
The Bose TV Speaker makes watching TV possible for those who simply grew up with surround and stereo systems on every TV.
Bose makes Solo Soundbars for those space savers and with side by side testing, I was impressed with the sound quality coming out of the small singular soundbar from their Solo series, bass and everything.
When I tested the Bose TV Speaker, it was alright, but once I paired it with the Bass Module it was complete. Pricey system but enough to wow you at high volumes.
I've actually been enjoying the VIZIO V series 5.1 soundbar system for about half a year now. So far, no real complaints. It even has Bluetooth connectivity, and the subwoofer is wirelessly connected so I don't have to worry about running cables to it (except for the two side speakers and power cord of course).
I disagree with parts of this review. I just bought this Bose TV speaker soundbar and I'm quite happy with it. It is designed to be for smaller second TVs up to 50 inches or so and for very small rooms or studio apartments. I have my TV in a corner and I'm happy with the bass output at the default level and prefer it with the dialogue enhancement off. The soundbar scales very well in terms of sound signature depending on whether you give it 2 channel PCM or 5.1 Dolby Digital. You really need to set it up to bypass the Dolby Digital stream from your streaming device and TV to the soundbar to get the right effect for movies and avoid any lip sync issues. While they don't provide an HDMI cable, I think this is to ensure that people don't have to bother with setting up the audio correctly with HDMI. The soundbar can learn your TV's volume controls, so HDMI CEC isn't necessarily an issue and it means that TVs before HDMI ARC are also supported. If you have a smart tv of any kind, you can stream audio to it and it'll just playback on the soundbar so why does it need the BOSE app anyway or even bluetooth for that matter? It can get warm sometimes and that's something they ought to improve on and I wish they included the wall mount brackets in the box. Some people have supposedly used a third party subwoofer with it, but I don't think it needs it. Most people buying this don't want something too noisy that will disturb the neighbours. I agree that this thing sounds good at low volumes. The compact size will appeal to many people as well. The product does what it says on the box and in a sea of products that often don't, people just want something reliable. It definitely isn't a home theatre product, but rather the speakers your TV ought to have come with. If you buy from Bose, you can just return it if you're not happy with it. So often we have to buy audio products without ever listening to them and Bose's return policy really stands out.
It would be interesting to see Linus buy the top 5 Amazon products and compare what's worth it
I hated the Polk sound bar I had, it had this annoying feature where it would shut down if no sound signal hit it for 15 minutes (can’t turn this feature off)… It also took the thing 15 seconds to start back up and despite having e-arc hdmi connection to tv, many times turning the tv on didn’t also always turn the soundbar back on. Was so annoying to use I ultimately disconnected it and no longer use it and am looking for a better alternative.
Yeah, I'm actually on team TV Speaker. I have the previous version and the bass is really good on that one. I was not looking for a home theater setup just an improved audio exprience in a compact form factor.
I have a Vizio V51 and I was very happy with it at first but after about a month I noticed music started to sound more tinny and less bassy. After two months I ended up sending it in where they told me the "woofer had become dislodged from it's housing" and said it was probably due to misuse and I had to basically send pictures of where the sub was located and explain how I used it before they would accept my warranty. Finally they send me my woofer back (I know it was the same one from a chip it had in it from shipping) and it sounds good again. Then about a month goes by and it started happening again. I took the sub apart and realized how cheaply made it was. I was able to take the controller and woofer out and reseat them in an old woofer box I had in my garage and haven't had a problem in the last year with it.
It seems like if you buy a cheap product, they'll work forever but sound like shit. Buy an expensive product and the sound is terrible but they are very feature rich. Try to buy a product somewhere in the middle and you'll get something you're happy with, sounds great and has plenty of features but it breaks very easily. There's no middle ground, at least not in my experience, between good quality build, good sound and features it's either you get the system without the subwoofer that sounds flat, you get the system with the subwoofer but it can barely handle any bass, or you get the expensive system that has all the bells and whistles but sound output is seems to have been an afterthought.
The best thing you can do for yourself is to build your own system. Buy reputable speakers with a quality subwoofer and connect them all to a central hub and you will get the sound clarity and quality you were after from the beginning but now the parts are interchangable. You want a system with more features? Just buy a new receiver that has the features you're after. It always seems easier just buying the AIO package but history proves it's always better when you do it yourself. Liquid cooling is better is a custom loop than most AIO coolers, sound systems can be customized to give you the exact experience you are looking for, PCs are cheaper and more powerful if you build one instead of going prebuilt. Yes, there are times an AIO system may be preferable, like in a college dorm or other small living areas, but if you have the option to put together your own sound stage, do it. One great thing about sound is that we perfected it back in the 80's. You can buy a set up and literally never have to upgrade it again. Buy quality one time and forget about it for life. If you can buy yourself a new soundbar or television every few years then trust me, invest in a sound system and you will never need to buy a new one.
Honestly, after working at Best Buy around the holidays, and frequently testing out the higher end JBL soundbars, I feel like that's the way I would go (when they're on sale) if I ever needed/wanted to replace my current surround set up. The 5.1 was going for as low as 499.99 CAD and it was just so much better than anything else we had on display (other than the 9.1 with detachable rear speakers that went for 999 CAD on sale)
JBL has a track record of horrible issues with their subs desyncing.
The JBL sets are great. I absolutely love my 3.1 set.
I pair it with some Google Audio speakers in a group to enhance the music experience. That fills up the high-mid section a bit more, which is my only complaint about the 3.1 bar.
I have still at home a JBL SB200 but it is slowly dying because drivers were working harder without a dedicated sub... Still the audio was very good for soundbar/film usage and not music usage.
I've listened to their new 2.1 soundbars and i've found that a downgrade to my SB200... There is always that bad decision to make everything V shape...
I have the JBL 3.1 and the 5.1 with surround. I highly recommend either of these. My brother has the 2.1 and is very satisfied as well. I was sad that these were never mentioned in this video!
I have this sound bar and I like it. It sounds fine in a small room. I did not want a sub woofer and I didn't need it to be loud. I do have a headphone amp connected by optical if I want. I also have very nice speakers at my desk, so it's not like I've never heard better. This product does have a use for me. However, the first one I bought was DOA, so quality control might be questionable
I bought one for my mum a few years ago who lives in apartment. An acceptable speaker for the price. I didn't want to get her any of the alternatives with a sub because in small spaces they are hell with neighbours and take up unnecessary room. She also uses it with optical cable because whist e-arc is great the automatic turning on would annoy the hell out of her.
Cope.
As with graphics card, most of the times the point isn't how good the product is per se, but how good it is compared to its price. In this case, I'm sorry, but the clear conclusion is that you could've gotten a better product for the same or even less.
Agreed I bought one last year, and I really like it. My place is tiny and space is limited so this really does the job for what I needed
I wish you guys would cover Samsung soundbars more ... The q990b is a work of art
I can vouch for this. Got the Q990B on a sale couple of weeks ago. It has been absolutely amazing, you wouldn't expect it from a soundbar.
for £1300, I wouldn't expect anything less
@@bellowick I got for 841 Euro's.
@@Newgodofwar i can buy a car for that price
@@MrPaxio you can buy car for any price
$500 for the "Bass Module"? Enough said.
in the car industry they say "no highs, no lows, it's Bose"
Wow, this is one of the few LTT videos where I completely agree with Linus. Get a good system with a proper sub and take some time to set it up. The difference is so immense. Even my $1000 budget setup beats more expensive soundbar or all in one setups I’ve come across.
Any recommendations? I want a 7.1 or setup without breaking the bank or being ripped off.
Sick of soundbars and all the issues with wireless rear speakers. 🙄
Not complaining about the new video. I am just wondering what has drawn LTT to have 3 days straight of "everybody is buying this ...". Video are very informative but slightly confused of the frequency.
Probably had to do with what testing labs finished first
It was obviously filmed earlier, as evidenced by the price/availability changes. LTT might release videos as they get finished in post production, or they might have backup videos for when the actual ones they hoped to have ready for release got delayed for reasons.