we are rejigging living room and will be replacing our 32 inch flat tv.

Looking for advice/recomendations, requirements/thoughts as follows :

It should be around 50 inch, and will be going on a stand, not wall

We already have Sky plus and chromecast so I don’t think we need a Smart one, although this seems to be the norm

Boys aged 8 and 12 would like ability to play music from their iphones/tablets through it so I think a bluetooth soundbar would work for that ?

We don’t subscribe to online music, being stuck in dark ages of ipods ! We have a decent newish Denon DAB/amp/ipod docker in our dining/kitchen area, and an igroove in the living room.

Have had a quick look in John Lewis and Curry’s but bewildering choice.

The boss want a silver coloured one 🙂 and I’d like to spend max of £750 for TV and Soundbar, less is achievable.

All advice welcome, in simple luddite words please as technology is not my forte

Thanks

I have one of these sound tables, incredible sound for the money, bass can get a bit boomy at times, other that that its excellent.

http://www.richersounds.com/product/soundbars-sound-base/cambridge-audio/minx-tv/camb-minx-tv-blk

I got a 50″ LG plasma TV and Bluetooth soundbar and sub for around £700 a couple of years ago. Really happy with them.

I bought a cheap soundbar for my mum – wouldn’t overly recommend it – the subwoofer is made of chipboard and the sound output, whilst better than a flat TV, is not overwhelming. Certainly the F550 that I have at home is *much* better.

Edit: just noticed that it doesn’t have blueteeth, so probably not on your shortlist anyway.

Thanks for ideas so far

Just been doing this myself, well the TV part. Currently have a Sony 40″ LCD which is coming up to 10 years old.

All set to buy an LG 4k TV for £499 at Richer Sounds on Monday but they talked me out of it and lots of other people too….went away and did a bit of research and the benefits of 4k aren’t really apparent unless you go for a BIG screen size and spend a BIG amount so ditched that idea.

The Richer Sounds people all seemed to suggest the Panasonic so yesterday I bought a 42″ Panasonic Smart TV with Freeview HD for £349 from Richer Sounds…very nice it is too.

Well it was…took it back today and swapped it for the 50″ Panasonic for £419 : exactly the same as the 42″ but no ‘smart’ (didn’t care about that as my Blu-ray player and son’s Xbox does all that). Haven’t told the wife yet about the swap…wondering if she’ll notice 😳

Basically though John Lewis and Richer Sounds are both doing 5 year free guarantees and you don’t need to spend that much to get a great TV these days (The old Sony was way over £1k 10 years ago but I had my pick for under £500 today) so your budget should easy get you want you want

I’ve got the same sound ‘plinth’ (yet another niche!) as Kingtut above. It’s the Cambridge Audio Minx TV and is excellent. Great sound for watching films and good Bluetooth performance too. My TV sits on top of it so it takes no space either.

TS

off to John Lewis and Richersounds tomorrow, cheers

http://www.johnlewis.com/samsung-ue48h5510-led-hd-1080p-smart-tv-48-with-freeview-hd-white/p1517181

I use my old DVD Cinema System for sound so not idea about Soundbars.

http://www.johnlewis.com/samsung-ue48h6400-led-hd-1080p-3d-smart-tv-48-with-freeview-hd-voice-control-and-2x-3d-glasses/p1299058

better tele cheaper price

Does it have to be a soundbar ? An Av amp and speakers will generally be far superior, Took a bit of effort fitting cables but my 5.1 speakers are unnoticable.

Just purchased this Sony Bravia at JL.

Very happy with it – was weighing it up vs the £499 4K LG which has disappeared from JL website and the LG 42LB650V (£409).

Yes they are the 42 inch so you need to look for the bigger versions.

Planning on getting this if the sound doesn’t work well enough.

Thats £660 for the 42 inch plus soundbar!

The John Lewis Sony and similar 48 inch Samsung are top of my short list for having a look at tomorrow. Like the idea of simplicity of soundbar over amp and speakers and the OCD in me will need same brand as telly 😀

Got a decent Samsung 50 inch one and Samsung soundbar to match, in John Lewis, many thanks all. Need to decide whether to upgrade Sky+ to HD now.

Do you need all the Sky channels? I just dumped Sky HD and got a Humax Freesat box which has a noticeably better picture on our TV.

^^^ good point, but kids watch a lot of the Sports stuff so probs do need to keep Sky. Was also reading its a bit of a faff with Samsung sound bars and Sky/TV connection…. TV was out of stock so I have a week to work it out 😀

Does it have to be a soundbar ?

is TV sound that crap? i have just purchased a new sony 40in and have it rigged to a standalone dac into a Naim pre/power/Leema acoustics standmounts so a family decent 2channel hi-fi but i have not bothered to run it through that unless it was some kind of music program as the sound from the TV is excellent and i just dont feel the need.
and is everybody deaf?? sound control goes up to 50-60 but not been past 7-10 which is loud enough.