Question Soundbase with wireless rears?

psyklone

Standard Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2009
Messages
20
Reaction score
0
Points
33
Hi,

I'm hoping the collective hivemind of AVforums will be able to help me with this.

I used to have a full AV setup, but due to space restrictions and tidyness have moved to a soundbase.
I currently have an LG soundbase (Lab550) which has served me well the last five years, but i've always been a bit underwhelmed and I really miss having rears.
What i'm looking for is a better soundbase with a sub with more power or the ability to add a sub and small wireless rears.
I do a lot of streaming now so must be DD+ (for netflix and amazon) and would prefer it to be HDMI.

Recently i tried a soundbar i thought would solve my problems, the Philips Fidelio. Although it sounded expansive and the bass is excellent, the rears were too loud (no volume control), it obscured the bottom of the tv and was a bit too wide. I also found the vocals less focused than the LG.
So i think the soundbase is by far my preferred format.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

thanks everyone.
 
The Yamaha MusicCast Bar 400 will do what you want (add MusicCast 20 rears), I believe Heos also offers a version.
There's only 1 x HDMI, but my MusicCast Bar 400 certainly plays back every format thrown at it - wireless rears volumes / distances etc are all adjustable via the app too.
 
Canton bases have a sub out option as well as inbuilt subs. But don’t think you can get rears for them - they do have pseudo surround so perhaps worth a trial?
 
Can you turn off all the Alexa stuff on the Yamaha? I dont really want amazon in my living room.

The canton dm100 looks quite nice.. really wish there were optional rears for it though. I couldnt see any reference to DD+ support on their website either.
 
Alexa is 100% optional as there's no microphones built into Yamaha products.
 
Thats good to know, thanks.
I've been hitting on a few dead ends in my quest.
I found the Sony XT-HT2 & HT3 which take wireless rears but have been scuppered by two things (if there are any owners on here that can confirm it would be great). The XT-HT2 supports wireless surround, but it does not have DD+ support. The XT-HT3 does have DD+ support, but they never implemented the wireless surround feature (info from Sony forum).

There is of course the Sonos Playbase and rears. Its quite an expensive investment compared to other products though.

I may be wrong , but it would appear soundbases are disappearing. They are gone from Sony's new lineup and LG have pulled all theirs too.
 
Interesting thread @psyklone a very similar scenario to mine. I also prefer the soundbase format as the TV is on a corner unit and a Soundbar in front of the TV would look unwieldy and may even block viewing. I suppose I could put the TV on a plinth but I’d prefer to sit the TV on top of a soundbase. I also had a LG LAB550W until a few months ago, it worked fine until the integral DVD player decided to stop playing DVDs. Sound was OK I thought although I did find some lip sync issues occasionally. I’ve since been relying on the integral speakers on my LG E6 TV, they’re pretty good for internal speakers but (1) I miss the power of a separate sound system and (2) I am looking for something that will also play music in the living room, having relocated my Apple Homepods to other rooms in the house. So I ideally want something Airplay 2 compatible so that it can be part of a multi room set up including the HomePods.

At the moment all of my research is pointing me to the Sonos Playbase. I’ve not heard one in action yet, visited John Lewis yesterday and all they had on demo was the Sonos Beam Soundbar. It sounded good so I’m assuming the playbase would be even better given it’s pricing. I’m not planning to invest in a new BluRay player as I’m fine with going all in streaming or digital downloads for movies, so I don’t think the lack of DTS or Atmos support on Sonos will bother me a great deal. My TV outputs DD 5.1 (I think) so that should be good enough. Although I do wonder if Sonos will update the Playbase soon to offer this, who knows? The Sonos Playbase is expensive but I’m struggling to find other suitable options to meet my needs. Might try to pick up a second hand or refurb unit if possible.
 

The latest video from AVForums

TV Buying Guide - Which TV Is Best For You?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom