Going from a decent 5.1 to soundbar?

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Hi all,
We're looking to have some redecorating done in the lounge and I'm toying with the idea of just going for a wall mounted TV with soundbar as it would free up a lot of space. My current setup is:
AV Receiver: Onkyo 676
Front: B&W 685 S2
Centre: B&W HTM61 S2
Rears: Ones supplied with Onkyo HT-S5305 Home Theatre I bought years ago and haven't replaced.
Subwoofer: BK XXLS400

I'm eyeing up something like the LGSN11RG. How much of a downgrade would this be? We mainly watch Netflix, TV shows with lossless audio or 4K remuxes. I'm guessing the biggest difference would be the bass? Another feature I'd like the try is Atmos as a lot of my movies have this and I'm really curious to see how good it sounds.
 
Caporegime
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Bass actually won't be the biggest difference it will be the surround sound.

I have both and soundbars the top end ones are extremely capable these days. Even my Yamaha ysp 2700 has crazy amounts of bass and my dad has the £1500 Samsung soundbar with Atmos and dual subs iirc.

It's the rear speakers they just don't compare to seperates. Everything else is fine.

I'd argue for Joe public a too end soundbar would blow them away.

It depends entirely on how anal you are. Only you can tell if it will be good enough for you.

I'd argue seperates are a dying breed and soundbars if anything will end up taking over and seperates will only be left in the hands of fewer and fewer people.

Give it 30 years and people will laugh at seperates.

It's much like desktop PCs.

I only know of 1 person at work who has a desktop and that's because he's a gamer. Everyone uses laptops these days even though they are inferior and more expensive. Because convenience is the biggest factor these days and will continue to be so.

I have a decent seperates system including the same subwoofer as you.

So I can assure you that my Yamaha ysp 2700 albeit not in the same league still offers bass at a very high level. And nowadays there are much better soundbars than the Yamaha ysp 2700.

Read rtings and avforums reviews. Pick a high end soundbar and you will be fine.

Will it be as good? No but it won't be so much inferior you feel that you are missing out on too much unless you are extremely anal.
 
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I think what appeals about the soundbar is that is has a pair of wireless rear speakers as well so it's quite comprehensive. It's annoying that I cannot go and listen to it anywhere as I'm so close to buying one but I'm worried the quality of the front soundstage, particularly the bass will be lacking.
 
Soldato
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Decent soundbars have seperate subwoofers.

They also have physical rear speakers or multiple speakers and use wall bouncing technology.
AHH I see I've never used one so I was trying to work out how bass would come out of something small enough to fit on a TV stand:p.
That being the case, I can see why they're so popular as your essentially removing your front 3 speakers, which in my case the L and R are floorstanders so you would save a lot of space. I can see the lack of hdmi inputs being an issue for some.
 
Associate
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Hi all,
We're looking to have some redecorating done in the lounge and I'm toying with the idea of just going for a wall mounted TV with soundbar as it would free up a lot of space. My current setup is:
AV Receiver: Onkyo 676
Front: B&W 685 S2
Centre: B&W HTM61 S2
Rears: Ones supplied with Onkyo HT-S5305 Home Theatre I bought years ago and haven't replaced.
Subwoofer: BK XXLS400

I'm eyeing up something like the LGSN11RG. How much of a downgrade would this be? We mainly watch Netflix, TV shows with lossless audio or 4K remuxes. I'm guessing the biggest difference would be the bass? Another feature I'd like the try is Atmos as a lot of my movies have this and I'm really curious to see how good it sounds.

I don't have any experience with your surrounds; but your mains are very accomplished speakers. I think you'd probably be disappointed with a soundbar, I know I would be. The "atmos" effect in even the high end soundbars isn't something that's altogether convincing in my view. I have an M&K setup in my cinema room, where atmos is "done right" with in-ceiling speakers, etc; even then, the effect is a subtle one.
 
Caporegime
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38,372
AHH I see I've never used one so I was trying to work out how bass would come out of something small enough to fit on a TV stand:p.
That being the case, I can see why they're so popular as your essentially removing your front 3 speakers, which in my case the L and R are floorstanders so you would save a lot of space. I can see the lack of hdmi inputs being an issue for some.

With arc that isn't an issue either.

You have 3-5 on the tv and then 2-3 on the soundbar
 
Soldato
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Kent
What I don't get is how a soundbar can go to low frequencies without being large. Surely physics is getting broken if so?

Electronics can boost /: change frequency response.

I have a 5.1 set up and really like the rear speaker effect, e.g. on BBC1 HD on Freesat. Just watched Dark Materials and surround sound is very good. I would find a soundbar not as effective in creating the sound stage. Have put cables under the carpet within the underlay so not intrusive. Not as easy if you have wooden floors!!
 
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Soldato
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For anyone who wants just a soundbar and doesn't want a sun or rears should seriously consider the Seinheisser Ambeo
 
Soldato
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I'm kind of contemplating sound bar / sub myself because the mess in my flat is just unimaginable with the clutter of big things.

Not sure how a sound bar would stack up to my 4.1 setup with Diamond 5.1's and a BK Monolith Plus sub and Onkyo TR N 686 amp, wonder if flogging all this would make enough money I wouldn't need to spend much on a sound bar, or after all this I'd be left wanting.
 
Soldato
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I don't really have much to compare it to but I have the Arc and Sub and it's a really nice combination. I'll be adding in the rears eventually but it's been fantastic for some of the films/tv shows I watched.

In, I think, episode 1 or 2 of the current season of Mandalorian there was a scene with some droids dancing around. It genuinely seemed like the sound was coming from behind me to the point I had to pause the TV as I wasn't sure what the sound was then realised it was coming from the soundbar.

Brilliant bit of a kit and I'm glad I bought it. There are better alternatives I'm sure but I don't regret the money spent this far.

It's funny. When we got the TV we thought the TV actually had fantastic audio (for a TV) and thought it filled the room up really well to the point we thought the soundbar probably wasn't worth while.

Then we got the Arc and thought it sounded incredible and thought that was all we needed. Then after some reading it seemed the sub was worth adding and now we've added that I don't know how we thought the Arc by itself was enough.

Get it with the sub and you'll be very happy with it
 
Caporegime
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I don't really have much to compare it to but I have the Arc and Sub and it's a really nice combination. I'll be adding in the rears eventually but it's been fantastic for some of the films/tv shows I watched.

In, I think, episode 1 or 2 of the current season of Mandalorian there was a scene with some droids dancing around. It genuinely seemed like the sound was coming from behind me to the point I had to pause the TV as I wasn't sure what the sound was then realised it was coming from the soundbar.

Brilliant bit of a kit and I'm glad I bought it. There are better alternatives I'm sure but I don't regret the money spent this far.

It's funny. When we got the TV we thought the TV actually had fantastic audio (for a TV) and thought it filled the room up really well to the point we thought the soundbar probably wasn't worth while.

Then we got the Arc and thought it sounded incredible and thought that was all we needed. Then after some reading it seemed the sub was worth adding and now we've added that I don't know how we thought the Arc by itself was enough.

Get it with the sub and you'll be very happy with it

Everyone ignores sound for some reason.

Sound is more important than the picture for me.

I have a full 5.1 setup which is pretty good for the money. I have monitor audio bx6's as fronts and matching centre and bx2 rears.

Bk xxls400 subwoofer.

Everyone who has heard my system has went out and bought a soundbar bar one who is as tight as they come. He has zero interest in TV's though either he just buys everything cheap.

I don't like Sonos as I believe it's extremely limited and overpriced. It doesn't support common audio codecs and formats and isn't cheap either. Competitors offer better sound quality, more formats and for cheaper in most cases.

They aren't bad but they aren't great either.

I don't think anything will ever beat a proper seperates set up but most have never heard one so ignorance is bliss so when they hear something that sounds very similar and if a decent enough quality they are extremely happy.

For most folk they would be blown away by a decent soundbar as they have never experienced decent sound day in and day out.

It's much like headphones too. People buying beats by Dre thinking they sound amazing. Truth is its overpriced crap but they don't know any better.

Rtings has good soundbar reviews now as well.
 
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I've decided to stick with what I've got but have expanded it by buying PSB Imagine XA Dolby Atmos Enabled Speakers. I've also replaced my rear speakers with some Bowers & Wilkins M1.
 
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So speakers have arrived and I've given them a workout for the last couple of hours. The rears are in a different league compared to the outgoing Onkyo set, the M1's have a lot more weight and presence, impressive stuff. The Atmos speakers are less impressive owing to the subtle nature of the effects. I can hear the difference they make but it's not as noticeable as the upgraded rears. Overall though it's a really great performing 5.1.2 set and I am eager to stick some more movies on it!
 
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