Used to have a full surround sound system, but when changed the TV and then the xbox/PS etc, the analogue connections became unusable to be honest it was an old system but back in the day did the job.

So after a couple of years of having nothing, was looking at sound bars, I don’t really want a mass of more cables behind the tele/sofa/random leads under the rug etc..

Do they do the job better than the standard speakers in the tv? I know they don’t handle surround sound as well but some can project the sound?

Was looking at this in John Lewis today, any better ones out there? same sort of price range.

http://www.johnlewis.com/samsung-hw-j550-wireless-sound-bar-with-bluetooth-and-separate-subwoofer/p1913265?colour=Black#media-overlay_show

Do they do the job better than the standard speakers in the tv?

Yes – won’t quite match a proper separates system – more than good for your average front room though. Make sure you get one with a separate sub. Can’t vouch for other brands, but Yamaha ones are excellent.

Yes speakers in flat screen telly’s are very poor, as mentioned above get 9ne with seperate sub, won’t ever be as good as a full surround system ut next best thing.

Oh, think I’ll keep an eye on this thread!!
Are cheaper ones than linked above worth looking at?

Also spotted the Sony ht-gt1 it’s a bit out there’s but the right size for my to stand 80cm comes in at £149.

http://www.cramptonandmoore.co.uk/sony-ht-gt1-2-1ch-soundbar-with-bluetooth.html

Got a Roth from richer sounds , nice treble ,deep bass streams from phone and tablet through Bluetooth …decent enough sound

Also consider Sound Bases – I bought this a couple of months ago and it integrates directly with my tv (only one remote), has bluetooth for streaming music and lots of adjustable settings!

HT-XT1

I got for slightly cheaper but would consider it at this price as well!

If I use an optical lead from tv to whichever sound system, the ps4 etc will all work through it as well?

Need to measure the base of the tele might be bigger than a sound base.

This comes up about once a month!
As has been said, it won’t be as good as a full surround system, but for the ease of a simple barr in front of the telly, ahs a bluetooth sub hidden away, it’s miles better than standard tv speakers…

I’ve got an LG bar..was about £2-300 and is really great 🙂

DrP

Ok I’ll do a search then 🙂

Or a sound plate, happy with ours and bluetooths to the TV/ iPod / whatever

Sonos Play bar and Sub here. Horrifically expensive, but dear god… what a sound.

Oh and you can steam music through them too.

Before buying the Sonos, I demo’d a Bose solo .. Also very impressive.

Ouch, that won’t be on my list even though it sounds like it’s a good’n.

Went shopping in Richer Sounds with dad yesterday as he wanted a new TV and a sound bar. Ended up with a 55″ Panasonic 4k (£799, not the £1699 one he was looking at!) and Cambridge Audio TVB2 (£299). Also picked up a Samsung 7500 bluray for me price matched to £110 ( co op electrical £115) if anyone is looking for one.

We did look at the Qi soundbar which gets slightly better reviews but is a lot chunkier and no hdmi connectivity which the CA one has so keeps it simple and they will have the volume at a decent level so the criticism of low punch at low sound levels was not really a concern. Nice compact wireless sub and might be able to connect up a chromecast audio to it for streaming music if he wants to.

Off to look at richer sounds today, looking at size etc might go for a Sony sound base, seem to fit the bill. Compact tidy and have the inputs for all my tech.

I got the Bose sound base in the end, sound is pretty impressive, very happy!!

£?

Not happy about the price £349, got £50 knocked off on John Lewis.

Sony 300W soundbar/separate sub combo here – paid £200 for it just before Christmas.
It Syncs with our Sony Telly via HDMI pass-through so can control it with the telly remote.

Sound is great – currently watching Percy Jackson and being shaken off the sofa!

Worth the money.

Bought a new Sony Tv a few weeks ago sound was ok. Decided to buy a budget soundbar set up. Superb really good idea. Got this one…..
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/tv-and-home-entertainment/dvd-blu-ray-and-home-cinema/home-cinema-systems-and-sound-bars/samsung-hw-j355-2-1-sound-bar-10120255-pdt.html

A soundbar is well worth it over TV speakers and assuming you don’t want the hassle of 5.1 system. I’d say spend £200ish minimum though and read the reviews carefully.
I bought a cheap Samsung one a few years ago (think was about £150) and although it was better than the TV speakers it just had too much bass on it and you couldn’t adjust it so was distracting on normal speech in films etc.
Changed to another Samsung one a couple of years ago (one of the ones with a valve in it), was about £500 but is much better – I suspect the same quality is a fair bit cheaper these days.

Get something with good controls, I have an Orbitsound which is great. The main problem is that the feed into the TV has different setting (most noticable on volume and bass) that require changing on a frequent basis and the Orbitsound remote is crap.

That’s more my budget bb 🙂

Nah, watch some telly avoid the faff, get a life.