Question How much do you need to spend to better a pair of bookshelf speakers?

[sambd]

My brother is destroying his small living room, lots of chip wood everywhere which means lots of replastering. He is going to be wall mounting a TV and we are wondering would it be better to have a sound bar or use an old pair of monitor audio B2 speakers.

If we decide to use speakers and amp we have the time and ability to hide the cables within the wall. The amp would probably need to sit underneath the TV and so I was wondering how much do you really need to spend to get a sound bar that could sound as good as these old Monitor Audio speakers?

Personally I am using monitor audio RS speakers and I think they sound great however my brother does not want to have a full surroundsound speaker system because it will take up too much space and he doesn’t want to hide cables on the other side of the room.

My brothers living room is fairly small, he lives in a two bedroom terrace house. What budget do you think we need to allocate for a sound bar to better these speakers?

If anyone has an advice it would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks
Sam

 

[keithwiggins]

My brother is destroying his small living room, lots of chip wood everywhere which means lots of replastering. He is going to be wall mounting a TV and we are wondering would it be better to have a sound bar or use an old pair of monitor audio B2 speakers.

If we decide to use speakers and amp we have the time and ability to hide the cables within the wall. The amp would probably need to sit underneath the TV and so I was wondering how much do you really need to spend to get a sound bar that could sound as good as these old Monitor Audio speakers?

Personally I am using monitor audio RS speakers and I think they sound great however my brother does not want to have a full surroundsound speaker system because it will take up too much space and he doesn’t want to hide cables on the other side of the room.

My brothers living room is fairly small, he lives in a two bedroom terrace house. What budget do you think we need to allocate for a sound bar to better these speakers?

If anyone has an advice it would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks
Sam

not heard the speakers you mention but MAs are highly regarded speakers. To answer the question soundbar wise lots of good ones out there to better what he has JBL/Dali/some samsungs/Beosound stage/Ambeo, depends how much he wants to spend a cheap sound bar will not compete with what he has need to be spending circa 6/700 plus.

 

[sambd]

not heard the speakers you mention but MAs are highly regarded speakers. To answer the question soundbar wise lots of good ones out there to better what he has JBL/Dali/some samsungs/Beosound stage/Ambeo, depends how much he wants to spend a cheap sound bar will not compete with what he has need to be spending circa 6/700 plus.

Thank you Keith for the reply, I you might be right. I popped into John Lewis today and listened to a few tracks of music on the Sonos Beam. I know its not the right conditions and maybe it would sound completely different in my own room. But the monitor audio speakers sounded better 10 years ago to my ears and they are still working today.

Don't get me wrong, soundbars have great aesthetics, no need for AV Receivers but I guess if we already have old ones which still work they will give me better sound until I am prepared to spend upwards of £600.

If anyone disagrees please post here as I am open to different ideas. Once life returns to normal I will demo a sound bar as for a bedroom it makes more sense compared to my living room.

Thanks!

 

[ben16v]

i am really impressed with my yamaha bar 400 (which i won on here!!!) it replaced an old yamaha amp and an old pair of eltax floorstanders - i would say the speach is clearer and the bass is comparable, i dont listen to music in the dining room where it is though