Advice - swapping receiver+satellites for sound bar ??

NC11

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moving to a rental so need to ditch the current AVR2500H with a full kef ‘eggs’ 5.1 package for something wireless.

Setup includes A new(Ish) smart LG 4K OLED connected through the receiver to these sources - sky Q, home cinema pc, chromecast, and all the usual tv streaming services.

Looking to spend £600-£800 on a sound bar, sub and possibly 2 rears. It’s mainly going to be AV content, maybe some music through Spotify.

What would you recommend??
 
Aside from suitability of the new room layout for use with a Soundbar the key issue could be around number of HDMI Inputs on the Soundbar and what those Inputs support in terms of video and audio Formats.

You could use the TV as the switching ‘Hub’ and then use ARC, or preferably eARC, to a compatible Soundbar.

Are you assuming wired or wireless (with mains power) surrounds and Sub.

Have you considered retaining the AVR and using it as a 2.0 or 2.1 system with the ‘KHT’ speakers or a pair of suitable floor standing speakers?

Joe
 
Joe hi - long time no speak :) it’s been a minute since you helped me spend around £6k 15 years ago on a full set of pioneer HC. Reason I remembered is that I’ve literally just “skip’d” the ax5i amp from back then :)

Back to present times… I do assume wireless sub and rears, something like the LG sn11 I’d think. With the sources I’ve got I was going to use them on the tv’s 4 hdmi inputs, and than the eARC to the soundbar. Am I oversimplifying it??

Not looking to keep the receiver and eggs, and those will go on the classified shortly.

Thank you!
NC
 
Hi NC

AX5i was quite the beast at that time :)

eARC will be ideal and will allow you to use the TV as the Hub of the system - ensure the Soundbar is also eARC and not limited to ARC.

Others are probably better placed than me on the pros and cons of individual Soundbars - we find a lot of our customers tend to go with SONOS (Which gets more costly by the day!).

Joe
 
Thanks again Joe. SONOS are great but expensive and for a full package that would be way out of budget.

Looks quite confusing in terms of choice… the newer packages from LG (sn11) or Samsung (q950) are riddled with issues on the special sound formats. Would those work well on standard audio?? Like a normal dd5.1? Atmos and the others are nice but I’d rather have a stable sound than a wow effect!

The JBL seem like a good choice as well. Does anyone have any specific feedback on the 9.1??
 
I’m in the same boat NC.
very tricky.
The sound issues are a real menace - the Q950 is tempting but is £1.4K …
the more you read on bars the more you’re put off!
I will watch with interest.
I’m over 50 now and my wife and daughter look behind the AVR and laugh whereas if I switch to a bar they’d have a chance to put it right.
 
Thanks again Joe. SONOS are great but expensive and for a full package that would be way out of budget.

Looks quite confusing in terms of choice… the newer packages from LG (sn11) or Samsung (q950) are riddled with issues on the special sound formats. Would those work well on standard audio?? Like a normal dd5.1? Atmos and the others are nice but I’d rather have a stable sound than a wow effect!

The JBL seem like a good choice as well. Does anyone have any specific feedback on the 9.1??
Your right in so much as the top tiers of soundbars are very very expensive , i think for what they are, most mass market models are upgraded annually though, so this years model will be available for massive discounts next year ditto last years models of course. If you want a simpler solution as in just a bar look at a sonos beam or the one i own a dali kubuk one, no wizz bang effects just excellent sound quality , or new kid on the block Klipsch.
the jbl mentioned at least on these forum pages seems to have a lot of issues.
 
Thank you. Having invested in a full separates systems over the years I got used to the cycle - cables and trunking, cupboard placement, lots of fiddling around and so on. Have actually enjoyed it, but now it feels more of an effort, hence the move towards simplicity.

I don’t want to give up the sound though! So am wanting a full set - bar, sub and rears. Don’t have an appreciation for all the various dolby formats, and the tv is only ARC, so the atmos stuff is a nice-to-have at this point.

Noticed a 50% cashback offer with Samsung, so despite having LG tv might can go for the q950a. Unless LG start offering some deals on last years models pretty soon??
 
i think the offer you are referring to applies if you purchase a new samsung tv , if thats the plan great you will save a bundle.
 
That is definitely an option at present.
But a TV get half of the bar price back.
If anybody has stock that is …
 

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