Welcome to soundbarinfo.com!

By sbadmin August 25th, 2011, under Soundbar Information

So what is a Soundbar and why do I want one?

A Soundbar generates a rich full stereo sound that a flat screen TV simply cannot do by itself. Dependent on how much money you want to spend you can get up to 7.1 surround sound in a single enclosure!
This is very appealing  if you can’t face the stress and expense of rearranging your living room, pulling up carpets (or skirting boards!) to lay cables and deal with the clutter of five or six speakers and an amplifier.
A soundbar looks like a wide shallow speaker, normally chosen to approximately match the width of your TV. It can either sit on your TV stand or be wall mounted.
A Soundbar is easy to set up, typically needing a mains plug, and sound in/outputs from whatever gadgets you need to connect.
Many soundbars even come with an automated setup program to tune the system for your environment.
Check out our Soundbar Tech info and Soundbar Buyers guide to figure out exactly what you need.
If you have any questions or comments please post them below or use the Contact Form and we will try to help!

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Soundbar Recommendations from Amazon

By sbadmin April 22nd, 2012, under Soundbar Review

I had an email from Amazon yesterday with their current pick of the crop. As I’ve had a few emails recently asking what the best soundbars are I thought this was good opportunity for a quick glance at the top models.

Enjoy!

 

Yamaha YHT-S401BL Front Surround Home Theater System by Yamaha Sold by: superior sales

Average 4 stars, under $600

 

 

Yamaha YHT-S400BL Home Theater System by Yamaha

Average 4.5 stars, under $300

 

 

 

Yamaha YAS-101BL Front Surround System, Piano Black by Yamaha

Average 4 stars, around $250

 

 

 

 

Yamaha YHT-494BL 5.1-Channel Complete Home Theater System (Black) by Yamaha

Average 4.5 stars, under $500

 

 

 

Sony HTCT550W 3D Sound Bar Home Theater System with Wireless Subwoofer by Sony Sold by: Abt Electronics

Average 4 stars, around $350

 

 

 

Sony HT-CT150 3D Sound Bar System by Sony Sold by: Focus Camera

Average 4 stars, under $300

 

 

 

 

Boston Acoustics TVee Model 25 Sound System with Sleek Sound Bar and Wireless Subwoofer (Black) by Boston Acoustics

Average 4 stars, around $350

 

 

 

 

Samsung Electronics HW-D550 Home Theater System by Samsung

Average 4 stars, around $339

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I’d like to find a speaker system for my apple airport express

By sbadmin April 15th, 2012, under Soundbar Information, Soundbar Review

We had an interesting question this morning from our reader Giovanni.
Giovanni has an Apple Airport Express and was wondering which soundbar would be best to go with it.
For those of you not familiar with it the AirPort Express is Apples entry level portable wireless base-station. It allows you to network up to ten devices, play music wirelessly and to share a printer. Its a fantastic product.
The really neat thing from our point of view is that it can plug in anywhere around your house you can stream your itunes collection to it. It has a 3.5mm jack socket for connectivity.

I would suggest you go one of two ways with this;

Continue reading!

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Do Optical, Digital Coaxial and HDMI inputs provide much better sound?

By sbadmin April 5th, 2012, under Soundbar Information, Soundbar Setup

We had this as a follow up from our long time reader Scott. It’s an interesting one as there are so many things to consider with cabling – not least of all exactly how many devices you have and how you are planning to connect them all.

So let’s cover the basics first – what type of connectors are available?

3.5mm jack – cheap common at the low end. Can handle stereo. An example of a soundbar in this category would be the Dell AY511. Normally retailing at under $50 is produces 20Watts and gets good reviews. This sort of bar is realy suitable for beefing up your home PC or possibly a TV in a caravan.

RCA – robust, ubiquitous but for true surround sound you need several of them (one for each channel) unless there is some funky emulation going on. Very few soundbars would have the number of RCA inputs required for true 7.1 surround sound. I’m not aware of many current soundbars that just have RCA. One great unit that has both RCA and a 3.5mm jack is the Coby Multimedia 3D Soundbar. Retailing at just $99 it gets enthusiastic reviews and produces about 80Watts.

Both these analogue connectors (RCA and 3.5mm jack) were the de facto standard for a long time. They are appearing  less now but are still very prevalent.

Optical (Tosslink)  is a digital connector . It will handle 7.1, but it will NOT cope with the higher bit rate codecs such as DTS Master and TrueHD. Additionally if used as the output from a TV to a soundbar it has a significant ‘gotcha’. Many (most?) TV optical outputs will not cope with anything more than stereo sound. Optical is found on most soundbars but one that uses it  as its primary connection is the  a powerfull Samsung HD-D450 a 280Watt system that retails around $300.

HDMI Arc is the single cable type approach now typically favoured. HDMI 1.4 or above has much greater bandwidth than any of the previous technologies and can support an audio return channel. So HDMI from TV to soundbar gives you the best possible sound experience – this is likely to be key if you are keen on BluRay or even 3D tv. If you take things a step further then you can get soundbars with HDMI inputs and outputs. Now you can start considering attaching devices like BluRay straight to the soundbar and letting it pass the video to the TV.

Some setups still require HDMI and optical.

So if your budget will allow it we suggest HDMI is the way forward.

Long term readers know that this is the time where i normally start waxing lyrical about Yamaha. Well this time I did want to talk about the KEF HTF8003 but eventually gave up as I couldn’t get the specs from the website. So yes, an example of an HDMI equiped Soundbar would be the Yamaha YSP-2200 which has three HDMI in and one out. (not to mention RCA, optical connectors and USB). It also packs a punch at 132Watts.

Now with all those cables you just need to consider your wiring scheme……

Happy soundbaring!

Rich

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How to judge a Soundbars performance?

By sbadmin March 30th, 2012, under Soundbar Information

We had an email earlier in the week from Scott, asking if one was to judge a soundbar’s performance, what criteria should you look at?
There are certainly a lot of factors that you can consider – problem is how many you can consider before tying yourself in knots!

Clearly there are loads of things to consider when purchasing a soundbar. Some of the top ones would be things like what you need to connect, what ports you need, size and what your budget is. These things are relatively straightforward.

On the more technical side are all the performance numbers…

I think the main thing to look out for is how the power is described. Is it described in Watts or Watts RMS? Watts is often the ‘peak’ power while the RMS figure tells you that a system can sustain that power level. This is important as a system may be described as 100 Watts but only be able to sustain half that…. (As a side bar the purist will tell you that technically RMS is all about volts and not sound. This is true but RMS is pretty much universally used to mean sustainable audio power output even if it is technically incorrect)

One thing to be cautious of – several manufacturers are now describing their systems power output in terms of ‘Total System Power’. This method typically adds all the speakers powers to give one figure – often a peak figure which would be noticeably distorted. Be careful…

Many “experts” suggest that it good to look out for is the S/N or signal to noise ratio. If you can find a manufacturer who provides this number then great – higher numbers are what you want here. Unfortunately very few manufacturers provide it. I looked up my ‘dream soundbar’ the Yamaha YSP4100BL on Amazon and there was nothing listed for S/N. Nor on the website. I had similar luck looking at a few other soundbars.
Dynamic range is another of those things that I wish manufacturers would quote more  often. Unfortunately its pretty rare.

Our summary of things to look out for is;

Choose a soundbar that has its power described in Watts RMS

Be cautious of systems described only in terms of ‘Total System Power’

Some soundbars just provide stereo sound not surround sound. Don’t just assume that all are surround sound.

Can the system  self tune or be manually tuned – in other words adjust the angle of the sound beams to adapt to the geometry of your room.

Does the system have a separate subwoofer or can one be added? It can make a big difference. (See our post further down the page on this)
If you get a chance to listen to the soundbar that you’re interested in then take it. Whatever the numbers say the ultimate test is how it sounds to YOU!

I’ve also noticed that amazon sell a number of books on the topic of choosing audio systems and home theater. I’ve not read any of them myself so don’t know how good they are but Home Theater for Everyone: A Practical Guide to Today’s Home Entertainment Systems looks good and gets a five star review.

 

Good luck with your research!

 

Rich

 

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Wheres that digital output gone?

By sbadmin February 19th, 2012, under Soundbar Setup

I’ve had several mails recently from readers struggling to get their soundbars connected. The common theme was that the TV didn’t appear to have a digital sound output (Optical port) and they were getting tangled up with RCA cables, converters and the like.

My top tip for these situations is to check check and check again before concluding that you don’t have a digital output. Also check your manual for a listing of what should be there. Manufacturers do seem to have a habit of putting these output ports in the most awkward places to spot, particularly if you are just trying to peer round the back with a torch.

Take a look at the attached pic of the back of my Toshiba.

The digital out is only about a cm wide. Very easy to miss if there are many cables already in place or if the input is orientated differently. (Such as UPWARDS like some aerial ports).

Happy cable checking!

SB

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Subwoofer for Yamaha 4100 Soundbar

By sbadmin January 29th, 2012, under Soundbar Information, Soundbar Review, Soundbar Setup

I had a mail from Diego today (actually a week or two back it was stuck in the damn spam filter) to tell us that he now has a Yamaha subwoofer to go with his 4100. In his own words;

In the end, I got the Yamaha subwoofer YST FW150 and it works perfectly! The sound is fantastic and the bass is awsome considering its size.
It comes with a special cable which once connected to the soundbar,  makes the sub turn on and off simultaneously.
I am more than happy with this purchase becasue now there are no gaps in the sound and the sub does not require any regulation apart from the volume level. It’s so easy and simple and works wonderfully.

So for anyone wandering if its worth getting a sub – we say “Do It”!

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Yamaha 4100 Review

By sbadmin January 1st, 2012, under Soundbar Review

Back in November you may remember the conversation we had with our Italian friend Diego. We spoke about Soundbars for music playback and we discussed the merits of the Yamaha 4100 vs the BowerWilkins Panorama. Just before Christmas I heard  back from Diego who has kindly shared a review of the Yamaha which he purchased. Diego has significant amounts of experience with all sorts of Soundbar and audio equipment so this is a very valuable review from someone who knows what hes talking about. Take it away Diego!

In the end  I got the Yamaha 4100.

Much to my surprise, I find the sound projector to have stellar sound with music less so with films. I do not notice any back surround sound even if it is very detailed, powerful and “wide”.

I suggest playing with the treble and bass controls as well as with the different sound options. Once you modify the settings, the soundbar comes into life.

You definitely need a sub because the Yamaha is lacking in the bass field.

I am having problems hooking it to a Soundmatter Substage 100 as it would not function properly. So I’ll try to fix it as I do not want to spend money on a new one.
To tell you the truth, I expected something more from this highly priced product but all in all it is ok.

Rich: I’ve noticed today that Amazon seem to be shipping the 4100 WITH a sub. Make sure you check whats included whenever ordering. If any of you have ordered from Amazon recently and NOT got a sub then it might be worth an email to customer services – nothing ventured nothing gained!

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Top Five Best Soundbars for Christmas!

By sbadmin November 27th, 2011, under Soundbar Information, Soundbar Review

With the festive season fast approving we thought it would be fun to produce a list of our favourite soundbars from 2011! We have picked a Soundbar from each major price bracket that has impressed us this year.

Enjoy!

Starting our line up is the budget priced Sharp 2.1 system. This unit is compact and ideal if all you need is to give a TV a little more impact or make you pc games a bit more immersive. Retails at around £99.99.

 Amazon Rating: 4
Channels: 2.1
Watts RMS: 32
Width: 80cm
Connectivity: RCA and 3.5mm jack.
Separate sub? No

Our second Soundbar pick coming in at £149 is another Sharp, this time the Sharp HTSL50. Again its only a 2.1 channel system but it boasts 100 W RMS and is very shallow. Its one of very few budget soundbars that has HDMI and 3D support.

Amazon Rating 3.5
Channels: 2.1
Watts RMS: 100
Width: 115cm
Connectivity: 3.5mm, Optical, HDMI ARC
Separate sub? Yes, wired

Next up is the Panasonic SC-HTB520EB-K. It packs a powerful 240W punch and comes with a wireless sub woofer. For £279 your getting a lot of sound as well as HDMI connectivity.

Amazon Rating 4.5
Channels: 2.1
Watts RMS: 240
Width: 100cm
Connectivity: 3.5mm, Optical, HDMI ARC
Separate sub? Yes, wireless

£500

As the price bracket increases we find our selves in the middleweight category. For us a standout Soundbar is the Yamaha YHTS401. This punchy front surround sound system has a lot going for it but just lacks the sound depth of its bigger brothers in the YSP range.

Amazon Rating 5
Channels: 7.1
Watts RMS: 250
Width: 80 cm
Connectivity: Optical, HDMI (3in, 1 out, ARC), co ax, USB, analogue
Separate sub? Yes, wireless

And finally we move onto what we consider to be our ‘dream soundbar’ the mighty Yamaha YSP-5100. For around £1200 you get incredible sound quality supplied by 40beam drivers, two tweeters and two built in bass speakers . Note that this unit is about 10kg in weight, just over 10x that of the aforementioned YHTS. There is a lot of technology packed into these 11Kg. Our only complaint is the lack of a bundled sub woofer but the bass provided by the built in speakers is so good this is unlikely to be a problem for most people.

Amazon Rating: 4.5
Channels: 7.1
Watts RMS: 120
Width: 120cm
Connectivity: HDMI (4 in/1 out), wireless iPod link, optical, analogue, COAX, Aux video
Separate sub? Optional

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Best Soundbar – Yamaha 4100 or BW Panorama?

By sbadmin November 19th, 2011, under Soundbar Review

We had a great question on Thursday from Diego, one of our friends in Italy. Diego is contemplating the choice between a Yamaha 4100 and a BowerWilkins Panorama, particularly for listening to music.

This is a difficult one to answer because people have very personal preferences to how they like their music to sound. One person may likes lots of bass and another may prefer more treble for example. That said there are certainly some general observations that might help!

Both are fantastic Soundbars and both offer the option of adding a subwoofer which we think is important.

The Yamaha 4100 seems to be getting consistently enthusiastic review and positive press. Some people have suggested it may be Yamahas best Soundbar so far. What really impresses me though is the range of connectivity options.

Firstly it has four HDMI in port and one out which is ideal for connecting devices such as BluRay and Xbox. It also has two optical in. Back that up with an Antenna jack, video jacks, RCA audio in jacks and outputs for an amplifier and a subwoofer. Finally how about connecting your IPod using yAired – Yamahas wireless IPod connection feature? With the Yamaha you really have everything covered.

It also has the Intellibeam setup system that will calibrate the unit for your specific environment.

Like most of the Yamaha range it has a dedicated music mode available which is also very compelling. The music mode allows you to choose between creating a surround sound effect like a large concert hall emphasising the extension of sounds or the Jazz Club feel of sitting right in front of the stage. (Apparently recreating the acoustics of a famous Jazz club in New York!)

The BowerWilkins unit also looks very good. The manual positively drips quality. This unit has fewer connection options (No HDMI for example) but does provide a 3.5mm stereo jack in port which is great for IPOD/MP3 players. The unit also weighs nearly 4Kg more than the Yamaha which implies a good quality build. On the downside this is BowerWilkins first try at a Soundbar an as such its relatively unproven.

Cost wise the Yamaha is far cheaper, typically retailing around £900 or less (Around 1050 Euros) versus the Panorama at around £1500 (1,750 Euros)

So which is the best Soundbar for music?

I’m going to answer that by throwing in a curve ball – take a look at the 4100′s bigger brother the Yamaha 5100. Price wise its right between the 4100 and the Panorama. It adds a pair of tweeters and is 2kg heavier and a little wider. It also supports 3D.

The BowerWilkins unit looks like it should be awesome but the Yamaha is cheaper, more ‘tried and tested’ and has better connectivity options.

Let us know which one you choose – we would love to get your review of it for the website!

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Best soundbar for Christmas?

By sbadmin November 11th, 2011, under Soundbar Review

We had a great question come through from a reader called Patt at the begining of the week. Here it is;

Dear Soundbarinfo people,
For Christmas I’m wanting to buy a sound bar – the Yamaha YSP-5100 to go with my new Samsung 8000 3D TV. I can’t see any mention of it supporting 3D. Does this mean all Soundbars support it and I don’t need to worry or can I not put 3D through a Soundbar at all?
Thanks,
Patt

Thanks for the question Patt!

That took a little bit of homework as I haven’t really been following the whole 3D thing.

Basically 3D TV requires a massive amount of data, so 3D tittles only come on BluRay. To transport that amount of data from the disk to the TV requires a high capacity connection – meaning HDMI 1.4. If you have audio equipment in the mix as well then you either need to connect that via component cables or it also needs to support HDMI 1.4. I thought any HDMI 1.4 HDMI port with ARC should work but my research suggests its not so clear cut. You are definitely right to be careful. Check that all the kit you are interested in lists 3D support. You may need a trip to the vendor website to dig this information out.

In the case of the equipment you specify (which we are VERY jealous about by the way) both are HDMI 1.4 and both list themselves as supporting 3D so you should be fine. If you want someone to come over on Christmas day to set them up please let us know. We will work for wine! ;-)

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