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Considering ditching 5.1 for a soundbar; suggestions?

I just built a basement room meant for both TV/media and 2 channel listening. At first I thought I'd split the room and have my two channel at one end, the TV and 5.1 system at the other.

I'm having second thoughts. The room is about 27 feet long and 16 feet wide, and if I divide it, then the most I can get from the front wall for my two channel listening is about 12 feet. Feels a bit cramped.

If I do decide to put everything on one wall, I really need to get rid of my 5.1 system and go with a soundbar and sub — for movies.

I know soundbars are not audiophile things, but I'm wondering how many of you bit the bullet to economize space, ditched the 5.1 and what did you get as a good soundbar? I'm thinking I could spend up to $1k. (I would cut my losses by selling my Klipsch R/L and Center channel speakers.)


128x128hilde45
fuzztone's avatar
fuzztone
5,501 posts
 
There are better solutions if you only had a...
noromance's avatar
noromance
9,445 posts
 
FWIW, I’ve a soundbar and wireless sub in an upstairs room and it’s reasonably good for TV.
fiesta75
1,378 posts
 
I've purged my entire surround sound system from the house. Now only use 2 channel for both main room and bedrooms for all program material. Subs only in the main listening room. Sound bar just didn't cut it for me, even in the bedroom.
loomisjohnson
1,903 posts
 
auditioned a bunch of soundbars with a coworker and wound up with the yamaha yas-208 for around $200--it sounded a lot better than many of the pricier ones we heard
sbank's avatar
sbank
3,378 posts
 
@hilde45, I recently faced a similar situation and share much of your perspective. IME, the sound quality from all the sound bars I heard demoed greatly underwhelmed. I was surprised that they’ve grown so in popularity given the huge red flag sound quality. I’d just upgraded to a Sony tv with great picture and a totally unserviceable built-in speaker, so I had to get something.
Long story short, consider a pair of small powered speakers & sub. Edifier, Kanto & Vanatoo are some of the better contenders all under $1K depending on sub or not and finishes etc. I chose an Edifier 2.1 setup and place the 10"h speakers on a tv stand shelf below the screen, with the sub on the floor nearby. For ~$400, sound quality crushes about a dozen of the sound bars I heard from all the usual suspect brands. These and others are visually unobtrusive and surprisingly pleasant sounding. They’re so enjoyable I find myself watching more musical performance documentaries and videos and getting more pleasure from them.
For perspective I’ve previously owned a full surround system including Aerial/Sunfire/Classe/Marantz that cost $10K and didn’t provide noticeably more pleasure than what I’m using now. Cheers,

Spencer
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