Soundbars vs Surround Sound Speakers: Which is Best for You?
People constantly argue whether or not soundbars are a good alternative to a traditional surround sound system. Some will say that soundbars are absolutely terrible and some will live by soundbars and want nothing to do with traditional sound systems.
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Differences in powerconsumption?!? :_[ hYlkeW
Would I benefit from a external soundbar, if the TV im planning to buy is a Panasonic MZ2000 with a integrated speaker power of 165w?
I mean specs wise seams a beast
speakers are easily the best choice, but soundbars are more compact and sometimes are significantly better in many situations where speakers would be super inconvenient
Hello,
Home theater 5.1 sets, like Sony Blu-ray player with 5.1 set .. not upgradable with 1000W of power
Are these good option in comparison to AV receivers ?
It’s only available in 2nd hand market … all brand new staff are bars which is either week or good but very expensive atmos and drsX
i went with 7.2.2 for home theater setup, living in apartment and when i watch a movie my neighbors are calling the cops every time, the room is soundproof its from the vibrations on the building. How can i make it more quiet without loosing pleasure, i have measured 115 Db on normal scenes and 133 Db on explosions.
What’s the matter with the wife to the knees
I farted three times during the beginning of this video. By the end of the video, I was on toilet, pewpin! You talked me through a rough time in my life. Thank you
I used to have a full wired sound system for few years. Now I have q800 900 and 990c. Wireless is the way to go now a days. I have a small child so I had to go that way.
If it came to the very best home theatre set up, here’s one soundboard system you won’t beat with a traditional system short of having a literal purpose built theatre room.
That would normally be a big claim to make but we ARE talking about a system with the Nakamichi Dragon name here, a name given to only two other pieces of equipment which when released, were the state of the art best available and this system more than lives up to the name.
https://youtu.be/fuelZAhH_OQ
You look like chris weidman
never listen to an idiot on YouTube that tells you $50 soundbars would barely sound better than a built-in speakers in a flat TV I can assure you this is completely false I guess he feels like most people have $5,000 to spend on sound bars most people don’t own TVs over $200
Thank you very much
Dont waste money on a fancy soundbar, any decent 5.1 setup will sound much better.
The sound bars sound great, we have one for our main tv in the living room. But when it comes to SUPERIOR sound we go to the basement where we have a Dolby atmos 7.1 system because the sounds come from everywhere, which make the experience of movies so much more enjoyable, hence sound bars will never take over the separate systems because the quality just isn’t there.
Many years ago I had 3 Klipsch Fortes with a couple of psb’s.. Pretty amazing…Now not even a sound bar…
Is it one or the other? Whilst shopping on Amazon, I picked a Polk audio signature elite ES35 soundbar, and it recommended a couple of ES10 speakers… I figured they were complementary….
Even a half decent set of computer speakers with a sub will do way better than TV speakers, especially regarding stereo separation, sound stage and bass performance. If you’re just looking at a budget less than $250 or only 2.1 channels, and you don’t need all the Spotify stuff and maybe not even need Bluetooth, you might be way better off with a $100 set of Logitech computer speakers.
I do not like soundbars anymore because they lack the true discrete movie theater surround sound quality of a traditional home theater surround sound system I am a huge fan of both movie theater surround sound & Dolby Atmos and I am both an audiophile and love traditional Dolby Atmos home theater surround sound systems that are not too expensive In fact I use to own a Sony HTZ9F 3.1 Channel Wireless Dolby Atmos Soundbar System with a Wireless Subwoofer and without upward-firing height speakers then added Sony SAZ9R 2.0 Channel Wireless Surround Rear Speakers for my Sony Dolby Atmos Wireless Soundbar and Subwoofer Combo for a complete surround sound system for watching listening and enjoying many films tv shows and music even though it both gets loud sounds a lot better than my television I have owned in my house: LG 55-Inch B6 OLED 4K Multi HDR with Dolby Vision Smart Flat Big Screen Television (2016 Model) it does not sound as awesome cinematic premium powerful state of the art atmospheric three-dimensional dynamic room-filling impactful immersive punchy as a Dolby Atmos Premium Home Theater Surround Sound System with REAL Upward-Firing Height Elevation Speakers originally I wanted one of the two Nakamichi Shockwafe Spatial Surround Elevation Dolby Atmos Premium Home Theater Surround Soundbar System Series with a Soundbar with High Quality/Performance Full-Range Woofers and Two High Quality/Performance Tweeters that bounce sound off walls & ceiling Two Big Subwoofers Two or Four 2-Way Surround Speakers w/ High-Quality Tweeters Full-Range Woofer Drivers that sounds the same as both a real life commercial Dolby Atmos/IMAX movie theater & a traditional Dolby Atmos home theater surround sound system but since I already owned a 5-year-old solid good Onkyo TXSR444 7-Channel Dolby Atmos Premium Home Theater Surround Audio/Video Receiver (2015 Model) since April 2016 I got a Traditional Klipsch 5.1.2 Channel Dolby Atmos Premium Home Theater Surround Sound Loudspeaker System that includes Two Front Tower Floorstanding Loudspeakers with Two REAL Dolby Atmos Upward-Firing Height Elevation Loudspeaker Two Bipolar Surround Loudspeakers One Center Loudspeaker and One Big 12-Inch Subwoofer all with High-Quality/Performance Woofers & Tweeters for nearly $2,500 with additional speaker wires I bought for the money then hooked it up to my Onkyo TXSR444 Dolby Atmos 4K Premium Home Theater Surround Audio/Video Receiver (2015 Model) calibrated the loudspeakers with the included eq room correction calibration microphone I got on eBay and while enjoying watching and listening to films tv shows and music it felt & sounded a lot much better greater and more awesome cinematic premium powerful dynamic room-filling impactful immersive punchy in which it very much sounded like a real life commercial movie theater and changes the way I’m how I enjoy and listen to films tv shows and music I gave my Sony HTZ9F/SAZ9R 5.1 Channel Dolby Atmos Surround Soundbar & Subwoofer Combo System to my twin sister and boyfriend’s condo where their new TV is located in their bedroom LG C1 55-Inch 4K UHD Multi-HDR with Dolby Vision Smart OLED TV with Dolby Atmos/eARC is located in order to vastly improve their tv watching experience and they both liked there new 5.1 Ch. Dolby Atmos Sony Surround Soundbar/Subwoofer Combo System Later in June 2023 I got a much more newer state of the art advanced better immersive premium cinematic advanced critically acclaimed Denon AVRS970H 7.2 Channel Dolby Atmos Premium Home Theater Surround Audio/Video Receiver with a Highly Advanced Greater Powerful Robust Cinematic Premium Rich Punchy 32-Bit/192kHz Digital-to-Analogue Converter/Discrete High Power Amplification Technology/Room Correction Calibration Software Technology Audyssey MultEQ with Dynamic Volume & Dynamic EQ and 8K-60/4K-120 Passthrough/Upscaling Multi-HDR with Dolby Vision for nearly $800 w/ tax hooked it up to my one year old Klipsch 5.1.2 Dolby Atmos Home Theater Surround Sound System calibrated the loudspeakers with Audyssey and after getting everything working flawlessly correctly and perfectly adjusting the sound quality via Audyssey MultEQ Editor app and enjoying watching and listening to many films tv shows sports and music it sounded a lot much better greater and more advanced awesome cinematic premium powerful dynamic room-filling impactful immersive richer punchy three dimensional atmospheric advanced realistic detailed nuanced cleaner crystal clearer and didn’t just change the way how I enjoy watch and listen to films music sports and tv shows it honestly extremely much sounds and feels a lot like a real life commercial Dolby Atmos/IMAX Laser movie theater that I can clearly hear 3D surround sound objects above around through behind and everywhere in the room with my newer Denon AVRS970H Dolby Atmos Receiver than my older Onkyo TXSR444 Dolby Atmos Receiver even though with my older Onkyo Dolby Atmos Receiver I can clearly hear surround sound objects above around through behind and everywhere in the room my newer Denon AVRS970H Dolby Atmos Receiver is much much better than my older Onkyo Dolby Atmos Receiver in which it not only rivals my nearby Dolby Atmos commercial movie theaters commercial IMAX Laser movie theaters or even commercial movie theaters with 4K RGB HDR Laser Projection & Dolby Atmos but I am enjoying the content in which the filmmakers sound team & music team intended them to experience it as it was originally mixed in the recording studio that is unmatched by a lot of soundbars
Going from a fairly average soundbar (bought new) to a 5.1 system bought cheap used was completely gamechaning. Never going back!
Hello, I currently have a 5.1 System with an old AVR. I would like to switch to Dolby Atmos technology and enjoy having overhead sounds.
I do not have the possibility of installing speakers in the ceiling (I know that it is the best option in conjunction with a Dolby Atmos AVR).
Is a Dolby Atmos soundbar with rear speakers (like the Samsung HW-Q990C) worth it? Can this type of soundbar make you feel sounds above your head? Or will this change not be better than my current 5.1 system?
The TV room has a 9-foot (2.8-meter) high flat ceiling.
Thank you so much!
Thanks for the basic information and comparison on soundbars and surround sound speakers!
Great video lad loads of information there 👍
Wired speakers always sound better to me.shame evything nowadays is going wireless
So basically, I really like the idea of being able to expand and change things like in the traditional speaker setup. But my problem is, I have no idea where I should put the speakers. For the front speakers, i only have space under the tv and I haven’t really found any speakers that are small enough to fit, without blocking part of the screen. The problem with the side speakers is, that I sit on the end of my Bed, so I don‘t really have anywhere to put the speaker on my right. Does anyone have an Idea for a solution?
Whoa!! That’s a lot of information!! Thank you so much for all of it. 😮😮
I use my Bluetooth connection from my TV to my soundbar.. Perfect
good
Helpful! Thanks
Right, so, initially i was a hater of soundbars and wireless subwoofers and for years i had my 5.2 (yea, 2 subwoofers 🙂 ) surround system that still works fine till this day.
Couple of months ago, i moved into an apartment and the previous owner left me an LG smart tv in the bedroom and i tried to watch a couple of shows on Netflix and Amazon. The sound quality of that tv can’t even be called rubbish..
So, of course, i didn’t want to invest in another surround system + to deal with the cables and thus, a soundbar 2.1 appeared.
I know it’s not a fair comparison with the 5.2; but hear me out; that sound bar thing is not terrible, especially with these AI features that check and adjust the sound.
My Bedroom tv went from unwatchable to enjoyable.
So yes, i get those that like soundbars; i’ve installed mine in 5 minutes and configured the settings in a few seconds; where as with my 5.2 sour round, i spent a few days with cable management and fitting stuff back together so that everything looks and works fine.
In conclusion, if you’re not a nerd with Sennheiser’s, Hifiman, headphone amps and other crazy stuff, just go with the soundbar; you’ll thank me in the end
I worked at co that made speakers. Nice for awhile.
You need a bulky AV receiver taking up a lot of shelf space, 3 dedicated speakers up front for R-C-L channels, and wires running to the subwoofer and rear speakers. Aesthetically if you have a smaller space all of this will visually dominate the setup.
I found a $50 soundbar on Ebay That Was a Vizio, so not every website has the same quality by $50
There is also a very few surround sound systems that have the rear speakers truly wireless: the speakers are battery charged and receive the sound signal wirelessly. For reasons I cannot understand, this is highly uncommon.
I’ve had a Panasonic 5.1 bluray sound system which wasn’t dolby atmos but sounds so much better than my damson (who are out of business now) dolby atmos 5.1.2 which is a small soundbar with wireless rear speakers and wireless subwoofer which is pretty crap to be honest.
I’ve been thinking of getting a new sound system because I don’t really like the damson one, and I don’t know weather to get a dolby atmos soundbar or a av receiver with speakers. My room isn’t that big and soundbars are massive and there’s so many to choose from.
The thing is im an audiophile and can afford a traditional speakers with an amp or receiver BUT i cant afford a big house nor can i afford to rent a big room (don’t want neighbors complaining also). I can only afford to live in small condos, I keep moving places every 3-5 years and moving lots of speaker with the receiver will be a pain, so soundbars are the only way to go as i need to live a minimalistic lifestyle.
at the moment i have a JBL bar 2.1 soundbar its sound quality is very decent for music with a very good low end bass, might upgrade to JBL bar 1000 in the future (easy to carry as its only two things the speaker and the subwoofer.)
What about a non powered sound bar that you need a av receiver to work
Has anything changed of importance?
SURROUND SOUND, NO QUESTION !
One sub I would recommend for a traditional Home system is a Earthquake supernova. Them things are 100% worth the money. Pair that with some great Sony Speakers and a High quality Sony or any other amp. That will be the best opp.
Biggest regret i have. I had a sony 5.1 receiver, great yamaha speakers, 2 large, 2 md and so much very expensive speaker wire. And i got rid of them ..why why why did i? Cuz my kids convinced me it was archaic and everything is wireless now. But also my receiver wasnt set up for hdmi. It was a bare wire input and what was before hdmi? It was called something else in early 90s. Dont remember if it was the same size ports ss hdmi is now. Im gonna save up and start visiting pawn shops and go back to it.
I’m so confused with everything.
Could I not just connect top of the range speakers to a soundbar? And avoid the avr?
What’s the benefit of the avr exactly?
7:20 "thus making them louding and making your system sounds better"… Come on!!
That’s when I quit…
The thought of dangling wires along my ceilings to connect the rear speakers isn’t appealing, nor is routing them through the attic. I’m one of those who would rather buy a soundbar and call it a day.
Soundbars vs. Speakers-Which is Good For You
How many times have you watched a TV show only to be disappointed with the sound quality? In truth, you’re losing out on a lot of what’s going on behind the scenes. When it comes to picking between a soundbar and speakers for your TV, both options have advantages and disadvantages. A speaker system will improve sound quality, but it may not match your TV setup.
Soundbars
A soundbar is a practical audio option that doesn’t come at the expense of a full-fledged home theatre system. Soundbars are convenient because they are normally small and may be placed in front of, under, or above the television. Soundbars are self-contained and do not require a receiver, making them easy to move from one location to another.
Speakers
Each speaker set resembles a small cabinet with two or more individual speakers inside. Some models include an external subwoofer, however they always use a wire to connect to the television (usually digital optical or coaxial). Surround sound is commonly included with speaker systems, making watching movies even more immersive! They can be bulky, so depending on where your TV is and how much space there is behind it, placement isn’t always optimal.
Sound Quality of Soundbars vs. Speakers
A soundbar would provide higher audio quality than your TV’s built-in speakers. However, most people believe that a speaker system provides a considerably richer, fuller, and deeper sound. If you’re watching action movies or shows with a lot of dialogue, a speaker set is a must! A good set of speakers will have stereo sound plus a subwoofer, providing far superior sound quality than a soundbar. If you’re a gamer, music enthusiast, or enjoy watching movies or TV shows with outstanding sound effects, a speaker system is a must-have. There are “surround sound” Soundbars available, but they’re usually costly and don’t deliver the best experience.
So we can say that in sound quality the speakers have won the point.
Soundbars vs. Speakers-Conclusion
Sound bars vs. Speakers is a long debate but people choose the product according to their own choice. Both options provide superior sound quality over the built-in TV speakers, but at a price! It’s critical to consider your demands in terms of price, room size, design preferences, and how much use want to invest. The speaker set is generally your best pick if you’re looking for something more permanent and have some cash to invest, but the soundbar is usually your best bet if you just want better sound temporarily or on a budget. Keep in mind that, while both solutions are significantly superior to integrated speakers, neither can compete with dedicated floor-standing speakers.
For more detailed articles/blogs please visit: https://smartelectrohub.com/speakers/soundbars-vs-speakers/
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Comments
Unbiased review thank you. For me I’m a sort of audiophile. Before getting my reasonable traditional speaker system I’ve visited my local technology store and I was blown away by the store’s soundbar system sound output. I’ve never head such perfection of music and film sound quality like this before and i repeatedly visited this store just to listen. Store manager felt sorry for me and wanted to give me a discounted deal.
I then went online to know the difference between the traditional and soundbar systems. Base on reviews I’ve opted for the traditional costing me about £1,500.00
I’ve returned to the tech store after listening to my new traditional system and realised even though my traditional system wasn’t the most expensive yet discovered that the soundbar system I’ve earlier worshipped was a piece of shit that merely pretended to be producing a better sound quality. The bass it produced wasn’t really a bass but some nonsense banging that only stayed in the air without any sort of low end gravity. I was lucky not to spend my cash on this soundbar system because it isn’t my taste. .
I’ve now upgraded my traditional system costing me about £2,300.00 which is a trillion miles better than soundbar system.
It is better to know what system you need compare with your space and budget because you might not be able to request a full refund after purchase. Also note that this is an expensive passion if you want to enjoy great sound quality!! I’m now in trouble with neighbours for my subwoofer shaking their flats.
I just watched two of your videos so far but I can already tell you’ll be one of my favorite channel. No non sense intro and direct to the point. How I wish I can also have one of those speakers or soundbars your have…. keep it up Bro.
Thanks.
It depends on your room size and budget imo. I watch a lot of movies, have a Roku surround setup and am pretty happy with it. It was a lot cheaper than a full blown speaker setup too.
Excellent presentation. Helpful.
Thanks for this great summary, Jonah. I’m a lifelong 5.2 receiver user but admit I’m intrigued by soundbars — in particular the JBL 9.1.4. I’ve been debating the pros and cons of upgrading to a 7.2 receiver system or grabbing the JBL. I’ve still got a lot of thinking to do about it but this definitely helped me out a lot.