Thanks for this article, I find this a question I am asking myself writer a bit these days.
Do (m)any of the soundbars out there offer useful room correction and systems to help with setup? I figure this would be important for Dolby Atmos as surely it would need to know where in space to put the object sound.
The sony zf9 has settings for db level and distance and also has a white noise mode. Which is helpfull in using a sound meter to calibrate the speakers.
I would think that sound bars from other manufactures should have similar settings. Though owners of them feel free to correct me.
Thanks Steve, interesting and something I had a brief look into recently.
I'm under no illusions that an AVR and separates would be better and were I fitting out a "man cave", it would be a no brainer. However I was looking for a solution for an already decorated family living room and the thought of speaker wire and trunking (shudder) was too much to bear. Maybe I was looking in the wrong places but I just couldn't find an AVR option providing wireless rear speakers. That left me to choose from the handful soundbars that do. I got a smashing deal (>50% less than the Q950 price mentioned) on a JBL 9.1 in the end and we're very impressed.
Also in your example, that centre speaker would look so out of place beneath my (and I'd guess most peoples) TV. I'd be awarding aesthetics points to the soundbar side of the debate.
I agree, I replaced an is old sony davs550 system with a Sony ht zf9 with rears. Going wireless was the option I had to go with as the cables for the old system were a source of complaint . And to have something that blended in to the room aesthetically was very important.
The sound from the sb was a step up from my old davs 550.
Yes a new receiver/seperates would have been better as would perhaps an upward firing SB system, but we have neighbours and the bedrooms are upstairs. Sound proofing the the roof was not in my budget
So I had to.compromise.
The sony ht zf9 doesnt do proper overhead, but when setup properly, it will provide a 'bubble' of sound all around you and will do good left to right & front to rear effects.
And it has very heavy bass, which I had to dial down for neighbours.
I paid £679 for my ZF9 when it first came out so very happy with cost to sound performance ratio.
And I also have another in my other room where the roof is high contains glass and is angled and it performs well there.
No neighbouring walls or upstairs, so it gets a better volume than the one in my living room
The best system for anyone is whatever they are happiest with for their room/house given budget and other limitations.
I would love an atmos system with overheads, but neighbours and upstairs bedrooms aside putting holes in the roof, ripping out skirting boards and bits of walls and then redecorating to allow unobtrusive cabling is very much not an option for me.