Home Family Room Soundbar upgrade Help

[MoeTE87]

Hello,

Looking to get some help and suggestions on upgrading the soundbar and subwoofer in my family room.

I have a Samsung sound bar in there now and wish it sounded better and with better bass. I have used Samsung since I have a Samsung tv. The sound is just meh and for the price I was hoping for loud bass and crisp dialog and music while watching tv, movies and sports.

I am open to all suggestions. Currently looking at Bose and Sonos. But they are pretty pricey.


Thanks!

[nunzo]

The Sonos Arc and coordinating sub is incredible. We have a Samsung frame in the main family room which could have the worst speakers of any tv made and needed a soundbar solution.

[MoeTE87]

Originally Posted by nunzo

The Sonos Arc and coordinating sub is incredible. We have a Samsung frame in the main family room which could have the worst speakers of any tv made and needed a soundbar solution.

Thank you and that’s what I have been hearing! I have gone through a few Samsung sound bars with wireless subs and the sound is horrible. I want to be blown away.

[TR930]

+1 for Sonos.

[fraschusa]

Bang Olufson makes some really nice stuff, and it integrates well with your room. The sound is excellent, and with their design options, you can pick what fits best for your room. I personally don't like soundbars, because I don't like to have big speaker-looking things in my rooms. I suggest looking at the Beolab 8's. They are incredible and have a small form factor and lots of clever options to fit in any room. Anything B&O is a bit pricy, but their quality and design are outstanding. Others suggested Sonos, which is definitely a good choice as well.

[MoeTE87]

Thanks fraschusa! I will take a look at B&O today and see what they have. I guess if worst comes to worst. I will keep the sound bar that is up in the family room and splurge a little bit and get a real nice theater sound system for the basement to connect to the new 75in tv down there.

Any one have thoughts on the Sonos Beam 2 vs the Sonos Arc? Is the little sub powerful enough to deliver great sounding bass?


Thank you!

[MoeTE87]

Hello All,

I want to revisit this! So my wife and I went over to her younger sisters / husbands house yesterday because they needed my help installing cabinets and making complicated angle cuts on a butcher block counter top. They have the Sonos Beam 2 and the Sub Mini in their home.

It sounded really good. He was demoing a few scenes from Maverik which sounded good! It sounds 100x better than the Samsung sound bar and wireless sub we have in our basement.

I was hoping for a little more punch and rumble.

What are everyone's thoughts on the Bose Smart Sound bar 600 and the bass module 500 or 700?

Same thing with the JBL BAR 500?


Thanks!

[MoeTE87]

Got this a few days ago and holy shit, it rumbles, shakes the whole house and sounds amazing! Can't wait to use it during the Super Bowl!

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/jbl-bar...?skuId=6532530

[BIGW0RM]

I have a movie room in my house with a true 5.1 surround setup. Huge tower speakers, high end center channel, nice rear speakers, 12" sub, amp and marantz receiver

And in our family room TV, we have a sonos bar, sonos sub and two of there wireless rear speakers.

While my big system is louder. I think the sonos system sounds MUCH nicer. I was shocked at how well the sonos bar can seperate sound from left to right. Surround overall just sounds better on the sonos vs my marantz system.

Sonos gets my vote!

[4JawChuck]

I’ve noticed some sound bars have a delay if you’re connected via Bluetooth. Any recommendations on ones that connect via Bluetooth, pretty disappointed with the ones I’ve auditioned so far.

[MoeTE87]

I was at best buy on Monday and wanted to hear the Sonos / Bose and JBL in person. The Sonos sounded good but I wasn't blown away. The Bose sounded a little better but I was still not blown away by the sound. Then I walked over to the JBL and I liked what I heard alot and the sound was clear and the sub had the perfect amount of bass.

I just couldn't justify spending over $1500 for the Sonos and Bose to be honest. I am behind thrilled with my JBL Bar 500 ($500) purchase.

I have my soundbar connected to my tv with a 4k HDMI cord in both eARC slots and the subwoofer is wireless and it doesn't skip a beat.

[DocL]

No lows. No highs. Must be Blows. I'd never get a Bose anything besides their noise canceling headphones.

[MoeTE87]

I agree with that. The price for the soundbar and sub that I wanted was over $1700 and that to me is just nuts.

[Ginster6]

sonos ARC and sub is the best bang and sound for the money.

Only the Nakamichi Dragon will best the sonos but 2x the price.

I have installed both. I am a custom AV integrator.

[michaelscott21]

Make sure you check the compatibility with your TV if you want to able to control with speakers with your TV remote. I have a Sony HT-XT1 and an LG OLED. The TV needs to connect with Optical first and then switch to HDMI ARC before I can start using the TV remote to control the speakers.

[JMcLellan]

Originally Posted by MoeTE87

Got this a few days ago and holy shit, it rumbles, shakes the whole house and sounds amazing! Can't wait to use it during the Super Bowl!

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/jbl-bar...?skuId=6532530

Well crap. I was just taking a serious look at this exact JBL setup as it seems like a great option at that price point. Perfect timing to see this feedback so thank you for that. If I end up buying it will mostly be your fault

[MoeTE87]

Originally Posted by michaelscott21

Make sure you check the compatibility with your TV if you want to able to control with speakers with your TV remote. I have a Sony HT-XT1 and an LG OLED. The TV needs to connect with Optical first and then switch to HDMI ARC before I can start using the TV remote to control the speakers.

Thankfully this JBL is one of the few that allow me to use my Samsung tv remote to adjust the volume and be able to turn off the tv and sound bar at the same time. So luckily no issues there.

Originally Posted by JMcLellan

Well crap. I was just taking a serious look at this exact JBL setup as it seems like a great option at that price point. Perfect timing to see this feedback so thank you for that. If I end up buying it will mostly be your fault

Awesome! It is a great sound bar! I will put it through the test today and on Sunday for the Superbowl. Then I can give a more accurate review on how I feel about it.

We have listened to music and watched some tv shows on it and it sounds great so far. I mainly bought it for movies and sports. So I am eager to hear what it sounds like today and Sunday! I will report back but so far..5/5 stars!

[MoeTE87]

Update:

So I have an update about the JBL sound bar.

It is freakin amazing!

This past Friday night, the wife and I watched Maverick and the sound bar sounded fantastic! Dialog was crisp and vivid. The 10" subwoofer provided plenty of low end and mid level rumble and you could feel it!

True test was last night during the Super Bowl. It passed all of the tests and everyone at our party was raving over the JBL. We had the house rocking during the halftime show!

This purchase to me, was well worth the $500 and was 1/3rd of the price of Sonos and Bose. Very happy with the purchase!

[JMcLellan]

Originally Posted by MoeTE87

Update:

So I have an update about the JBL sound bar.

It is freakin amazing!

This past Friday night, the wife and I watched Maverick and the sound bar sounded fantastic! Dialog was crisp and vivid. The 10" subwoofer provided plenty of low end and mid level rumble and you could feel it!

True test was last night during the Super Bowl. It passed all of the tests and everyone at our party was raving over the JBL. We had the house rocking during the halftime show!

This purchase to me, was well worth the $500 and was 1/3rd of the price of Sonos and Bose. Very happy with the purchase!

I'm glad you are happy with your purchase!

I pulled the trigger on Saturday and picked up the same JBL setup. Made the business case to the wife that we needed the upgraded sound so she could rock out to Usher's halftime performance.....it's funny after we hooked it up we watched the last 30 minutes or so of Maverick to hear how the JBL performed.

I really like what I got for the money. I might just get another one for my garage TV's. But I tell you I'm sure there were some folks at my local Best Buy laughing at me trying to get the box to fit into my car. It was a challenging process for sure....

[MoeTE87]

Originally Posted by JMcLellan

I'm glad you are happy with your purchase!

I pulled the trigger on Saturday and picked up the same JBL setup. Made the business case to the wife that we needed the upgraded sound so she could rock out to Usher's halftime performance.....it's funny after we hooked it up we watched the last 30 minutes or so of Maverick to hear how the JBL performed.

I really like what I got for the money. I might just get another one for my garage TV's. But I tell you I'm sure there were some folks at my local Best Buy laughing at me trying to get the box to fit into my car. It was a challenging process for sure....

Haha! That is awesome and one of my reasons why we needed one too. So the wife went for it and she loves it!

That is just too funny! The movie Maverick really puts the soundbar / sub through it's paces and shows you what the JBL can really do! I can't believe you used the movie Maverick as well!

I am sure it was a tight fit in your M2! How did you get the box in there? Fold down the back seats? I was able to lay the box across the back seat of my M340i.

I am happy that you and your wife like it! I do plan on buying another one too. Looks like the price went back up to $600. I am not in a dire need for another one, so when it goes on sale again, I might snatch one up.

[c1pher]

We love our Nakamichi Dragon. I need to upgrade my TV now though lol.

[JMcLellan]

Originally Posted by MoeTE87

Haha! That is awesome and one of my reasons why we needed one too. So the wife went for it and she loves it!

That is just too funny! The movie Maverick really puts the soundbar / sub through it's paces and shows you what the JBL can really do! I can't believe you used the movie Maverick as well!

I am sure it was a tight fit in your M2! How did you get the box in there? Fold down the back seats? I was able to lay the box across the back seat of my M340i.

I am happy that you and your wife like it! I do plan on buying another one too. Looks like the price went back up to $600. I am not in a dire need for another one, so when it goes on sale again, I might snatch one up.

I did see the price went back up. Must have been a superbowl week sale price.

I folded down the rear seats and tried to slide the box through the trunk into the backseat but no luck. I ended up squeezing the box behind the front folded up seat and into the back. If that hadn't worked plan C was to take the parts out of the box and fold the box up.