Sound out my non wall mounted samsung 32 inch LED tellys a bit lacking(speakers point backwards) since we binned our surround sound – it was cheap , the amp PSU broke, you had to turn it on by hand at the amp every time and the cabling all round the room did my nut in.

but it made a fair difference to the sound- didnt need to have it loud at all.

looking at replacing it with a sound bar and wireless sub.

like the look of the samsung f350 or possibly the f450 if i can find it on a deal – im fair sure it was the 450 @ 189 in costco

does any one have either – can the 450 stream bluetooth music/radio without the TV being on and can the f350 stream from apple TV with the TV off – ie does it have multiple inputs or would i have to go through the TV

thirdly – anyone have any suggestions for alternatives – although im nievely assuming that if i buy samsung i can set it up somehow to come on with the TV and not have to turn on another unit each time i switch the TV on.

finally the all say something like “best with a xx inch or bigger TV” where xx is 40″ + is that just an aesthetic thing and to try and make you buy a bigger telly ? – we are quite happy with ours hiding away in the corner its not the obtrusive focal point of the room that some folk want it to be.

im not spending HEAPs on an all singing all dancing model as really we are not audiophiles just the TV has poor sound.

Same boat here….
I mulled over the Bose solo but then realised it is expensive for what it is.
I have a sony 32″ telly and it’s sat in a corner, on a wood unit so not the dominant item in the lounge.
I’m drawn to the ct260 from a convenience, one control issue but worried that I won’t be able to hide the separate (bluetooth) sub woofer sufficiently.
The ct150 was built for my telly model but no longer available.
i listened to a yamaha ys-101 sound bar at richer sounds but was far from convinced it improved matters much. I think a bar needs a woofer IMO.

My setup has Apple TV to Samsung TV which has external speakers (not a sound bar) but you can only play music with tv on and set to Apple TV channel which then plays screen saver (eg Flickr photos / Photo Stream)

My Apple TV has an optical audio out (bought earlier this year) so perhaps it’s possible to connect that direct to a Sterio / Soundbar so tv isn’t on but I don’t know for sure.

FWIW I looked at sound bars and there were a few threads here but I decided it was better to spend the money (£200) on Bose Companion 20 external speakers than a Soundbar as I thought with the Soundbar I wouldnt get the same quality, I had used the Bose before and liked them and I felt they were more flexible as they can be used with the pc / better looking.

the sony one I mention has blutooth so you can play directly from any paired device through it, without the tv being on. There are a few demo vids on youtube demonstrating this.

“My Apple TV has an optical audio out (bought earlier this year) so perhaps it’s possible to connect that direct to a Sterio / Soundbar so tv isn’t on but I don’t know for sure.”

yeah thats how it is at the moment jambalya so we use the stereo – but im kinda hoping i can do away with the stereo off the book case as it has a fan in it that drives me mental ! (jayne cant hear it but it is just the right frequency to annoy me)

and even if it did have multiple inputs would i then have to change the cabling should i want to watch apple tv stuff … i think i need to go to a shop and take a look at the inputs – im reluctant as around here we have pc world and currys and i might as well buy off the internet than go to either for their experiance. Back home the local tv shop damn near price matched and had the service to boot 🙁

sorted it – asda website of all told me that it has one audio input and one optical – so presumably i could run optical from Atv to sound bar and HDMI up to the TV – and run the TVs sound through the Av output to the audio input

hopefully that would mean i could run Atv from my phone for streaming without the TV on – then with the TV on it would come out the sound bar also – then with the Atv and the tv on the sound bar would handle the sound dutys without getting confused by 2 signals

has anyone done a set up like that with apple tv ? – 140 quid for the F350 is alot more appealing to me if i can get away with this as i dont think my TV is wireless sound bar compatible to take full advantage of the 450s other features.

@trail_rat – interesting, keep me posted as I’d like to know how it works out

richer sounds has the older model at 140 and specifically states it can do multiple inputs.

in store collection only and the nearest is in glasgow 🙁

need to do a wee spot of saving anyway. had a bit of a tooling spree last month 😀

I listened to a few soundbars and subs in John Lewis in Aberdeen and walked away unimpressed… I know that a large showroom like that is not the best place to listen to anything but I didnt like the sound from any of them.

all i really want is to at least have the sound coming forwards and a little bit of depth to it

at the moment the sound comes out the sides of the TV directly into my chimney breast and wall – resulting a horrific garbled high volume mess by the time it gets to my seat.

I have an LG one with a separate wireless sub-woofer. Wired up to TV using the optical out and it switches on automatically (when it senses a signal from the optical link).

It also has Bluetooth so I can play music through it via my iPhone (one bug with that though, I have to sync it every time I play – it doesn’t remember a link).

hmmm

been to look in shops – john lewis salesman was more intent on me buying a bigger telly than finding a compact sound bar…..

went to pcworld – found the samsung f range – they are mahooozive and wont be featuring on my tv unit any time soon.

panasonic do a 240watt wired unit that is compact but also splits in 2 and comes with stands to be free standing speakers with a sub woofer unit – thats quite big but i can hide that