Best Soundbar for £200-400

kernowsoul

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Hi,

I'm looking for a Soundbar to go with my Sony A8 tv in the bedroom. I fond the sound from the A8 to be very harsh and unpleasant, I thought this might be the case as it's using the glass screen as a speaker and glass isn't a great material for sound.

So my main requirements are:
  • HDMI ARC - with the ability for the tv remote to control the soundbar volume
  • Clear dialogue audio, I find dialogue is often not very clear so would be good to have something that has decent speech audio
  • Bluetooth or apple airplay for listening to music occasionally
  • No subwoofer, this is in the bedroom and used late at night and I don't want to wake others in the house
  • A nice full and warmish sound when used at low/mid volume
  • I'm after something that sounds good at lower volumes, not something that has thumping base or "big movie sound"
  • No annoying lights that stay on all the time, especially when in standby or that flash a lot, this will be used in the dark a lot and in a bedroom so don't want light pollution
  • I don't already own any Sonos or Bose speakers so don't have an existing ecosystem to fit into. I do own some Bose QuietComfort 35 headphones though.
I've been looking at the Sonos Beam and the Bose Smart Soundbar 300. I've read in a couple of places that the Sonos is base heavy which would not be good for my usage, not sure if the Bose is the same or not. Is there anything else I should be considering, or would you recommend either the Sonos or the Bose?

Thanks
 
Have a look a the the Yamaha range. They have a good range without a subwoofer.
 
I have a Canton DM 5 and it’s absolutely fantastic. I paid £450 but there are some new ones on eBay for £119
it doesn’t have arc but it will learn your TV remote.
the cool thing is it has a built in sub that is adjustable.
It looks great and the sound is just what you’re after.
 
Hi,

I'm looking for a Soundbar to go with my Sony A8 tv in the bedroom. I fond the sound from the A8 to be very harsh and unpleasant, I thought this might be the case as it's using the glass screen as a speaker and glass isn't a great material for sound.

So my main requirements are:
  • HDMI ARC - with the ability for the tv remote to control the soundbar volume
  • Clear dialogue audio, I find dialogue is often not very clear so would be good to have something that has decent speech audio
  • Bluetooth or apple airplay for listening to music occasionally
  • No subwoofer, this is in the bedroom and used late at night and I don't want to wake others in the house
  • A nice full and warmish sound when used at low/mid volume
  • I'm after something that sounds good at lower volumes, not something that has thumping base or "big movie sound"
  • No annoying lights that stay on all the time, especially when in standby or that flash a lot, this will be used in the dark a lot and in a bedroom so don't want light pollution
  • I don't already own any Sonos or Bose speakers so don't have an existing ecosystem to fit into. I do own some Bose QuietComfort 35 headphones though.
I've been looking at the Sonos Beam and the Bose Smart Soundbar 300. I've read in a couple of places that the Sonos is base heavy which would not be good for my usage, not sure if the Bose is the same or not. Is there anything else I should be considering, or would you recommend either the Sonos or the Bose?

Thanks
Have a look at the sonus Beam , its pretty much cleared the board award wise in that price range.
 
May I ask, which one did you end up buying?
 
Hi,

I'm looking for a Soundbar to go with my Sony A8 tv in the bedroom. I fond the sound from the A8 to be very harsh and unpleasant, I thought this might be the case as it's using the glass screen as a speaker and glass isn't a great material for sound.

So my main requirements are:
  • HDMI ARC - with the ability for the tv remote to control the soundbar volume
  • Clear dialogue audio, I find dialogue is often not very clear so would be good to have something that has decent speech audio
  • Bluetooth or apple airplay for listening to music occasionally
  • No subwoofer, this is in the bedroom and used late at night and I don't want to wake others in the house
  • A nice full and warmish sound when used at low/mid volume
  • I'm after something that sounds good at lower volumes, not something that has thumping base or "big movie sound"
  • No annoying lights that stay on all the time, especially when in standby or that flash a lot, this will be used in the dark a lot and in a bedroom so don't want light pollution
  • I don't already own any Sonos or Bose speakers so don't have an existing ecosystem to fit into. I do own some Bose QuietComfort 35 headphones though.
I've been looking at the Sonos Beam and the Bose Smart Soundbar 300. I've read in a couple of places that the Sonos is base heavy which would not be good for my usage, not sure if the Bose is the same or not. Is there anything else I should be considering, or would you recommend either the Sonos or the Bose?

Thanks
I'm after EXACTLY the same thing! Looking at the Sonos Beam and the JBL Bar 5.0 MultiBeam.

Really unhappy with the Sony HT-X8500, sending it back.

Any other suggestions?
 
Sony HT-X8500, fantastic value for money, clear and concise sound with good bass. Has all the features needed at the £250 price..
 
I'm after EXACTLY the same thing! Looking at the Sonos Beam and the JBL Bar 5.0 MultiBeam.

Really unhappy with the Sony HT-X8500, sending it back.

Any other suggestions?
I ended up going for the Sonos. Pretty happy with it, easy setup, sounds good for it's size.
 
I have a Canton DM 5 and it’s absolutely fantastic. I paid £450 but there are some new ones on eBay for £119
it doesn’t have arc but it will learn your TV remote.
the cool thing is it has a built in sub that is adjustable.
It looks great and the sound is just what you’re after.
Would you still pay the full price you paid for that DM 5? Is there a review anywhere I can have a look at?

I want the soundbar to be able to switch on/off automatically with my TV and the absence of HDMI Arc worries me a bit. Is that possible?
Also, how does the DM 5 perform with music in stereo mode?

Your help will be greatly appreciated :)
 
I ended up going for the Sonos. Pretty happy with it, easy setup, sounds good for it's size.
Thanks for getting back to us. I'm also looking at the Sonos. It's a little outside my budget though...
 
Would you still pay the full price you paid for that DM 5? Is there a review anywhere I can have a look at?

I want the soundbar to be able to switch on/off automatically with my TV and the absence of HDMI Arc worries me a bit. Is that possible?
Also, how does the DM 5 perform with music in stereo mode?

Your help will be greatly appreciated :)
I made a mistake, I actually have the DM9 (which has the built in sub) it’s bigger than the DM5.
 

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