We’d like to have a bit more ooph when watching a bit of telly.

I’ve done surround sound in the past but don’t want the cables/speakers everywhere now.

What soundbar with wireless subs for <£200 should I be looking at.

Going on a Sony of that makes any difference.

Why not a 2.1 system? or a 3.1 – two fronts, a centre and a sub. Soundbars aren’t anywhere near as good as a decent set of speakers.

Anyway – if you’re dead set on a soundbar, Bose, Sony, JBL and Sonos do nice ones. All depends on what kind of sound you’re looking for.

We have a Sony bar (with wireless sub) that is now 3/4 years old. Got it for the convenience of having no other bits dotted around for little people to trip on/break/fiddle with.
Now we are moving and potentially having a separate space for toys I am thinking of a Sonos system. Convenience of wireless but decent enough sound and integrated Google. Not cheap mind.

The only soundbar I’d consider over my existing (old) Yamaha AV amp and Kef eggs costs £1500

We have a Samsung MS650, looking on ebay they can be had around the £250 mark, think they were North of £650 originally. OK you’re not going to get the separation from a 3.1 set or whatever but it sounds amazing, everyone comments on how good it is. Not correct saying all soundbars don’t compare to decent speakers

We did compare it to the 550 in store when we bought it, you’d think from the model names they wouldn’t be dissimilar but the 550 is totally different and sounded like crap. As with everything you often get what you pay

Tried to buy the JBL Studio bar directly from JBL before Christmas as it was highly rated for the £100 price, but they let us down and cancelled the order a few days later, so drunkenly impulse-bought the Majority K2 instead for £80. Interestingly, at that price I expected it to impress me with TV and film, and disappoint with music, and it’s largely been the other way round! TV sound is good, and dialogue is MUCH clearer but it seems a bit narrow – only arrived Christmas eve so not had time to play with settings yet, and I imagine it will sound great with action movies. Will let you know!

I just got this from Richer Sounds https://www.richersounds.com/tv-home-cinema/soundbars/polk-signa-s2.html

Huge improvement over the TV speakers. A couple of different sound modes, and separate volume control, let you wind the bass down if you have neighbours, but still nice and subtle. The bar itself has a good clear sound, with decent separation on the L/R channels. Bluetooth is easy to set up, on my phone at least, for streaming

It’s advertised at £249, but I got it for £189 as the one I originally wanted wasn’t in stock (Denon DHT-S316, apparently they’re the same, but no longer listed) So it might be worth enquiring about a cheaper, low stock item, and see if they make a similar offer. Or try haggling

I’ve had decent results with a Q Acoustics M2, which has a small sub underneath and sounds decent. No room in our tiny sitting room for anything else.

But notice everything is marked as discontinued on their website 🤔 New versions coming out or getting out of soundbars?

https://www.qacoustics.co.uk/shop/soundbars.html

Good support too. Spoken to them direct and very helpful.

I just got a Sony one with Wireless sub. It seems decent and plays well with my (older) Sony TV – Eg I can still use the TV or Xbox remote to control the volume, though I suspect that is a function of the HDMI ARC rather than any proprietary communications.

Stuff encoded with Atmos can sound really great and immersive, although the improvements are more marginal with normal inputs. The sub definitely adds something and can be hidden away in the corner of the room so whilst pretty big is not too intrusive. Voices are clearer, and mine has a function to boost the vocals which helps a lot on some programs. Music is definitely more detailed than my TV’s speakers but it’s not a huge difference and certainly nowhere near a decent HiFi. Perhaps the more music-oriented ones (eg Sonos Arc) are better for that?

TLDR; if you want immersive sound for films then a surround setup or something with Atmos is probably a good bet, but if you want it to do music as well then the choices are a bit different.

Based on a previous thread I took Davasurasreks advice and bought an ex demonstrator Samsung MS650 off ebay for £200

It is just an incredible bit of kit. We have has had a stereo systems and 5.1 system sub in the same room. New they all would have all cost the same

Stereo was the best for music but a PITA with the telly as the voices were never great

5.1 was bit better with voices. Less good with music. Some sense of a sound stage but some time just random noises from random behind you

The sound bar is the best tv sound by far. Detailed and balanced. But a bit less good with music and the sound is fairly anchored tot he tv. But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The bass is unbelievable for a system without a sub. Music is no worse than the 5.1 system possibly better

I wouldn’t assume that a sound bar will sound inferior to other options

Tried to buy the JBL Studio bar directly from JBL before Christmas as it was highly rated for the £100 price, but they let us down and cancelled the order a few days later

My wife ordered the same from JBL For her parents and had the exact same experience.  Googling shows JBL direct sales are shocking for customer service.

Finally, proof that I’m not always screaming into the void! My whole existence is validated. Hurrah.

Davosaurusrex sorry should have said sooner. It takes me ages aftet i buy something to just get on and enjoy it.

My wife is much better. I just turned on with a bit of random telly and 30 seconds later she said that sounds amazing

Was looking for a soundbar but decided to go with a soundbase. Prior to that had a big hand-me-down tuner plus surround-sound speakers setup which was tbh a PITA during a few house moves, so instead took advice online via av forums and went with a (used) Cambridge Audio TV Minx soundbase*. It’s very good IMO. Piece of cake to setup and operate. Big bass, nice tingly highs. A few (4) EQ settings. Remote is tiny tho. Planned to velcro said remote to a block of wood 🤣. NY resolution No. 124

*Successors since are the TV2 and TV5(for big screens) iirc

…. drunkenly impulse-bought the Majority K2 instead for £80. Interestingly, at that price I expected it to impress me with TV and film, and disappoint with music, and it’s largely been the other way round! TV sound is good, and dialogue is MUCH clearer but it seems a bit narrow – only arrived Christmas eve so not had time to play with settings yet, and I imagine it will sound great with action movies. Will let you know!

As an addendum to this – switched to an optical lead (from 3.5mm jack from the headphone socket) and TV sound quality is (surprise!) much improved (it also has HDMI ARC but our telly’s too old to have it – does it work with normal HDMI outputs…?), although volume control is now solely through the soundbar remote, which is suboptimal. But the sound’s good – still quite narrow, there’s no sensation of things happening to left or right, but watched a bit of football, bit of Tweflth Night on stage, the scene in Matrix where Neo and Trinity storm the lobby of the building where Morpheus is being held, and a bit of Only Fools And Horses, and they all sound good. I’m sure the more you spend, by and large the better the sound, but £80 for a soundbar with Bluetooth, HDMI ARC, optical and a wireless sub, as a dip of a toe in the water, I’m well happy with it.

Edit – one gripe, it has an FM mode, so I get a burst of static switching through the different modes from Optical to Bluetooth. I mean, who listens to FM these days?

When looking for a sound bar to go with the new telly we ended up with one of these.

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/tv-and-home-entertainment/dvd-blu-ray-and-home-cinema/home-cinema-systems-and-sound-bars/denon-dht-s216-2-1-all-in-one-sound-bar-with-dts-virtual-x-10204839-pdt.html

Have been very impressed so far, excellent sound, neatly sits on our stand and easy to set up.

it also has HDMI ARC but our telly’s too old to have it – does it work with normal HDMI outputs…?)

I assumed my old Tele (11year old cheap ish Bravia) wouldn’t have HDMI ARC but to my surprise it did.

My Sony soundbar has HDMI input / pass through and I believe a direct HDMI connection to the soundbar is required for Atmos stuff (ie not via the HDMI ARC out from the TV).

So I have HDMI into the soundbar from my Xbox, then HDMI ARC to either transmit the picture to the TV or to ‘tell’ the soundbar to use the other TV inputs. I never have to switch sources manually which is nice.

TLDR; HDMI arc seems really useful, you might have it on your TV. If you don’t, then you’ll need a soundbar with an HDMI input for anything Atmos etc. Otherwise the optical input is the way to go.

Thanks for the replies, I’ll do a bit of browsing and see what’s available.

I loved my old 5.1 set up but the layout we have would mean it would only work for 1 person and the sofa would be very biased to the left! Not to mention two young kids, one of which gets into everything at the moment.

Davosaurusrex sorry should have said sooner

Don’t worry, I wasn’t serious or really bothered! It is nice to hear when someone is pleased with a recommendation though, glad you’re enjoying it. Ever run it up to max volume? I have done once when all the family and the neighbours were out, me and a mate were shouting at each other to be heard but the sound didn’t distort at all, really impressive

Not correct saying all soundbars don’t compare to decent speakers

You misunderstand, I mean exactly what you said in the previous sentence. A soundbar won’t give you the separation, the immersion and experience of separates.

If the OP can afford it, a decent pair of fronts, a sub hooked up to their existing AVR is better than a soundbar for the same spend.

In the vein of recommending what you have, the Cambridge Audio TV5 we use is pretty decent at both TV and music (used via Bluetooth with Spotify).
I also have a pair or Ruark MR1s in another room which work awesomely too. The Mk2 version of them has aux, optical and Bluetooth. Another separate active speaker option could be the Steljes NS3.

Slight thread hijack….
Where do folks sell their old 5.1 systems ?
Have used a Kenwood amp and Eltax speakers for around 20 years but having moved into a much smaller flat a sound bar makes sense
But, need to stop hoarding unused stuff

Going back to basics, you can’t beat a decent 2.0, or if pushed, a 2.1 set up if space allows.
Soundbars will always be a compromise, as theres no stereo seperation, and trying to cram a 5.1 or 7.1 system into a small space is way too much hassle.

Do you need to match brands for best performance? I have a Samsung TV, and would like a soundbar with Bluetooth to link a phone to. The TV has hdmi-arc and optical.

The last think I want is to have to use a second remote for volume and control of the soundbar. I’ve seen a Samsung S60T locally, but am wondering if there are better cheaper options that integrate seamlessly?

Sorry to also hijack, but, got a signa S2 from Richer Sounds. Works fine, sound is much better than tv alone. But I can’t get it to work with the ARC hdmi from the tv to the bar. Sony Bravia tv. Would prefer not to have the sound controlled by yet another remote. Any tricks to try?
TIA

Do you need to match brands for best performance?

In a word, no.

@fatoldgit

Where do folks sell their old 5.1 systems ?

I shifted mine on eBay. Postage can be the killer, I was lucky enough to use my old works courier account.

another vote for the Sony soundbar and wireless sub here. Fitted to a Sony tv (with hdmi arc) and it’s absolutely great. We don’t use it for music (that’s what the Sonos is for) but for watching tv, movies etc it’s a massive improvement over the standard tv speakers.

It also has an option to increase the clarity / volume of spoken dialogue which is great for me because I sometimes struggle with hearing dialogue over background music now that tv producers seem to think that overbearing music is needed in every scene and that actors should mumble at every opportunity.

This is the one to have – currently £1299 reduced from £1499

Samsung soundbar

Given up on the Signa S2. Ordered a Sony.
I hope that bl@@dy works cos it’s going out the window if it doesn’t.