Surround Sound for TV?

[lovemachine]

What’s a good surround sound speaker/s that won’t break the bank? My parents are difficult to Christmas shop for, but I recently heard my father say he’d like to get speakers for their new smart tv.

I’m seeing wired, and wireless speakers. Some are $100, others $1000.

I’d like to find something that’s easy to hook up, and easy to use.

Any suggestions?

 

[Mark-DuCo]

I just have a vizio soundbar with a subwoofer. It was around $120, and I think it sounds great. I would buy Vizio again in a heartbeat for the price. They make more expensive units with more speakers that probably give a better surround quality, but I didn't really have a good place to put more speakers since my house is an open concept.

 

[Emerson Dambiggins]

I'm on my phone so sorry for any mistakes. Are you thinking a full surround system or a simple sound bar? How much do your parents enjoy surround? Like everything you can go from modest to stupid expensive. I run a Polk system with dual 12 inch subs and Sony Atmos above level speakers. I'm pushing it with about 120 watts from a Pioneer amp. The subs are powered so all the amp has to push is the center channel, mains and side/rear and atmos.

 

[Ruger_Ronin]

Soundbar FTW. They've come a long way, and much classier than speakers and wires hanging everywhere. I recently went from a 7.2 Onkyo to an LG bar and couldn't be happier.

Also, less holes in the wall and crap on the tables.

 

[lovemachine]

I never thought of a sound bar. Something simple would probably be best.

Just found this:

https://www.amazon.com/Bose-Soundbar-System-Universal-Control/dp/B01AWLPUAG

 

[4651feeder]

Tried an external sound system a few years back and found a slight loss of audio sync with the picture. Had been told the wireless systems have even greater loss of sync, or have they overcome that?

 

[Ruger_Ronin]

I never thought of a sound bar. Something simple would probably be best.

Just found this:

https://www.amazon.com/Bose-Soundbar-System-Universal-Control/dp/B01AWLPUAG

Good choice.

 

[HoughMade]

A timely topic.

I am currently finishing my basement. I am at a stage where the walls and ceiling for what will be the media room are open, so I can easily install wiring for a home theater system (not looking for anything more than 5.1).

However, the sound bar thing intrigues me. I am not an audiophile. I just want better sound for movies and true surround. I was wondering if there is a sound bar system that includes wired (NOT wireless) rear surround speakers. I don't want wireless because I have the ability to wire in the speakers and do not want to hassle with charging them. In fact, I don't even care if the subwoofer is wireless. That is less of a hassle because you plug those in for power anyway, but I like the form factor in the front of just the bar along with true, wired, surround speakers in the back.

Does it exist at a reasonable price point?

 

[Hoosierdood]

Does it exist at a reasonable price point?

Depends what you call reasonable.

Best one I can think of is the Sony HTZ9F sound bar ($699) with the rear speaker kit ($299). Total would be around $1000 for a pretty sweet system. I’ve used that setup and it sounds great.

If you want cheap, go with a Vizio setup. They have a wired surround system. I forget the model name. Vizio is cheap, and your sound is going to be cheap. I don’t like Vizio, but you can get it for around $500.

 

[gregkl]

Disclaimer: I'm old.

I had the full surround sound with the amp, center channel speaker, rears, fronts and sub. Was awesome! Except to really get the benefit you have to "get it up on it's pipe". (you 2 stroke MX'rs will understand that). And then it was too loud for my wife.

It also had so many settings and options that it was mind boggling to me not being much of an audiophile.

I bought my son a decent soundbar with a wireless sub one year to go with his 65" TV. When we visited, we watched a movie and we were truly "surrounded" by the audio and it didn't have to be so loud to enjoy it.

Some day when my loaner TV dies and I get a new one, I'll buy a decent soundbar and enjoy the quick hookup and sound that is good enough for me and my family.

And no amp to deal with!

All for the 30-42 minutes of TV I watch per day, lol.

 

[johny5]

on the soundbar.

I once had a full-scale surround sound system that would fill half a room and took half-a-day to set up.

The soundbars of today set up in minutes and get a lot closer to the sound delivered by the heavyweight systems than I would have ever believed before trying one.

Last soundbar I bought was from Walmart for $150, and I love it. I wouldn't go back to the old system.

 

[Leadeye]

A good powered subwoofer makes the most difference in my opinion.

 

[Cameramonkey]

A timely topic.

I am currently finishing my basement. I am at a stage where the walls and ceiling for what will be the media room are open, so I can easily install wiring for a home theater system (not looking for anything more than 5.1).

However, the sound bar thing intrigues me. I am not an audiophile. I just want better sound for movies and true surround. I was wondering if there is a sound bar system that includes wired (NOT wireless) rear surround speakers. I don't want wireless because I have the ability to wire in the speakers and do not want to hassle with charging them. In fact, I don't even care if the subwoofer is wireless. That is less of a hassle because you plug those in for power anyway, but I like the form factor in the front of just the bar along with true, wired, surround speakers in the back.

Does it exist at a reasonable price point?

You are in the perfect position to do it right and go wired. some 18ga in the walls terminating at a faceplate is the way to go. I had to cut/patch my drywall to get what I wanted, and still didnt get things exactly where I wanted. I wish I had been where you are now when I bought my house.

And people forget that even wireless speakers require a power cord, so they arent truly wireless. So pull the CORRECT wires that drive speakers that dont require power.

Of course my surround hasnt been hooked up for a decade now. I had kids so I couldnt play the movies loud like I used to. Now both kids are older, (10/14) but both are sensitive and easily overstimulated, so they dont like loud surround sound. They have to wear earplugs when we finally can drag them to a movie they want to see bad enough in the theater, but usually are patient enough to wait for the DVD so they can watch it quieter.

 

[KittySlayer]

I heard you can pick some electronics up for a "steal" in Philly if you don't mind the drive.

 

[HoughMade]

You are in the perfect position to do it right and go wired. some 18ga in the walls terminating at a faceplate is the way to go...

That's the plan. Very little about this project is the cheapest way...except that I am doing the labor...but hopefully it will be the right way. Regardless of whether I end up using a sound bar (maybe, maybe not), the room will be wired for true 5.1 as I do not know what the future holds....and I will not be opening the walls again soon. I am mounting a smaller TV in the exercise room and I am getting all of the mounts and boxes figured out in there now as I am about to start drywall finishing in there. The media room will, thankfully, have no drywall. I committed to wired internet at the TVs...and everything grew from there.

 

[jfed85]

I have a Vizio soundbar with "wireless" rear speakers. They hook into the rear powered subwoofer so you dont have to run wires from the front of the room to the back of the room. I just put speaker stands and the subwoofer behind my couch and it works fine. I have an elaborate system in my mancave with a dedicated receiver, and ran wires through the ceiling to hide them all, when I hooked up and tried the vizio 5.1 soundbar system I was amazed at how good it sounds.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/vizio-...eless-subwoofer-black/6416784.p?skuId=6416784

 

[Cameramonkey]

That's the plan. Very little about this project is the cheapest way...except that I am doing the labor...but hopefully it will be the right way. Regardless of whether I end up using a sound bar (maybe, maybe not), the room will be wired for true 5.1 as I do not know what the future holds....and I will not be opening the walls again soon. I am mounting a smaller TV in the exercise room and I am getting all of the mounts and boxes figured out in there now as I am about to start drywall finishing in there. The media room will, thankfully, have no drywall. I committed to wired internet at the TVs...and everything grew from there.

One other tip. If you can possibly rearrange furniture in the future, like say, rotating the room's layout 90*, double wire the corner speakers. That is what I did. the two places the TV could go have head-end connections for the surround sound to plug in. And of course each is wired accordingly And its no big deal because the TV side of the connection wont be plugged in two places at once.

Now if the wife wants me to move the room around, I can most likely still have surround sound. (if I ever use it again)

 

[Brandon]

Im a fan of good old wired.
I rock to my marantz avr5001 and klipsch 5.1 setup. Sound bars may be pretty good but im not interested in them.

 

[Snapdragon]

Following because I am looking for the same thing for my mom. I am going to be really careful this time because I already bought a soundbar that was just too complicated to use. It needed a separate remote, and every time you turned the TV on, you had to turn on the soundbar and set the mode you wanted. Way too complicated for my mom who can barely handle the remotes she has. I want something that will just come on when the TV is turned on and will give really clear sound.

 

[maxwelhse]

As a gift, I vote soundbar all day long. I have several full blown surround setups and for most people it's just wayyyy too much "stuff". I have a bottom/mid tier soundbar on my bedroom TV and it's a massive upgrade over the internal speakers and is legitimately better than it has any right to be. Below is a link to what appears to be the current version of it and it has the feature Snap is looking for (auto on/off and can be controlled with TV remote) which are the only 2 real complaints I have about the older version that I own. For the price I don't know how much better it gets.

https://www.amazon.com/JBL-Soundbar-Wireless-Subwoofer-Bluetooth/dp/B075SH93CL

One other tip. If you can possibly rearrange furniture in the future, like say, rotating the room's layout 90*, double wire the corner speakers. T)

Just pull a length of string in next to your wires so you can pull whatever you want in later, from any direction. I did that when I ran my rear surrounds and 0.1 channel, but I did them in metal conduit as well. If I had stayed in that house, I would have ended up needing it too.