Sound bars

[Brisel]

I currently have an old but good quality 5 speaker hifi as a speaker system for my TV. It is 15 years old and will die one day. I've just ordered a new remote control for it on eBay but Mrs B would rather be rid of the miles of cables and start building a Sonos/Bose type connected system. But not pay for it! I have various iPads and iPods with Bluetooth and wifi.

I'm struggling to think why a Sonos Arc should be £800 and the thought of having to pick up the smartphone every time to change volume is weird. I would like to start building a connected speaker system around the house though and am prepared to stretch the budget for a good quality long lasting system.

Any recommendations please? @Clive - you run Sonos, any tips please?

 

[tw15]

Sorry i can't help ,well all i would suggest is get what the lady want's it seems to make for a easier life for one .

 

[Brisel]

Sorry i can't help ,well all i would suggest is get what the lady want's it seems to make for a easier life for one .

Still cheaper than horses or diamonds and I get to enjoy it!

 

[Clive]

I currently have an old but good quality 5 speaker hifi as a speaker system for my TV. It is 15 years old and will die one day. I've just ordered a new remote control for it on eBay but Mrs B would rather be rid of the miles of cables and start building a Sonos/Bose type connected system. But not pay for it! I have various iPads and iPods with Bluetooth and wifi.

I'm struggling to think why a Sonos Arc should be £800 and the thought of having to pick up the smartphone every time to change volume is weird. I would like to start building a connected speaker system around the house though and am prepared to stretch the budget for a good quality long lasting system.

Any recommendations please? @Clive - you run Sonos, any tips please?

Ive got a Monitor audio one (pic) in our main living room (sat in front of it now !) with x2 rear ceiling speakers behind, lots better than the Sonos for sound quality but at a price


Sonos is really nicely integrated though, playbase in our other living room a Arc in the kids playroom and a Beam in the gym, they all sound good enough to my ear and intergrate with both LG and Samsung fine via programmable remotes

not sure there is enough difference between beam and arc to make the arc worth the extra though

 

[Clive]

maybe worth looking at a newer smart TV ? - do away with all the cables, built in streaming apps and cast from ipad ettc and will integrate with Sonos so volume control without reaching for an spp ?

costs of a good tv speaker feels more justified if your using it for music as well with Spotify etc

 

[Clive]

For a connected speaker system around the house look no further than Sonos - its just so user friendly

you get what you pay for with this stuff

 

[Clive]

if your not wall mounting I really like the sonos playbase, seamless integration with this LG OLED

 

[milkloss]

A good one in the kitchen is a HomePod for the sound quality alone but you need Apple Music. It will connect with a local Apple library but it's clunky. Good for multiple timers etc too for cooking (my mrs puts stuff on and forgets what needs to come out of the oven!). Tried the amazon things for a cheap room system but they're shite as you probably know. Good for kids though.... bedtime stories etc.

 

[Netherfield]

I don't know how good you think Bose are, we have a 5.1 system, granted it's 18 years old and things might be better now, but for what it cost all those years ago it doesn't exactly blow your socks off.

Damned sight better than the bog standard telly speakers of course.

 

[tw15]

Oh all this tech talk makes me think that all the televisions in this house must be ancient as not one was new all either free or off local second-hand websites don't think I've spent £200 on televisions in total in the last 20 years .

 

[Daniel]

It's not a connected system as such, but we have a pair of Audioengine a5+ in the lounge plugged into the telly with the S8 subwoofer. I'm not allowed to turn the sub up much! Good sound quality, we play all our music through spotify on the TV.

Home review

Great desktop sound from these upgraded powered speakers

www.whathifi.com

We've got the bamboo ones.

 

[topcat2006]

What are you looking for? Sound quality or convenience?

Reason I ask is I haave a very old hifi speakers - the speakers are older than me and as of yet I have not found anything to match the sound quality despite trying Bose and Sonos. The Bose is good in our campervan but at home I'd prefer to listen to my hifi.

To make it "smartphone compatible" I purchased a Bluetooth to Phono adaptor and plugged that into the amp. It means I can play spotify on it.

Yes I still have cables, and no its not as integrated as sonos and the likes but for my ears its the best

 

[Clive]

What are you looking for? Sound quality or convenience?

Reason I ask is I haave a very old hifi speakers - the speakers are older than me and as of yet I have not found anything to match the sound quality despite trying Bose and Sonos. The Bose is good in our campervan but at home I'd prefer to listen to my hifi.

To make it "smartphone compatible" I purchased a Bluetooth to Phono adaptor and plugged that into the amp. It means I can play spotify on it.

Yes I still have cables, and no its not as integrated as sonos and the likes but for my ears its the best

i think there is a lot of snake oil in sound quality

I have Mitchell enginerring gyro deck (vinyl) and Arcam CD / DAC player conected via top end valve aMP to a pair of MA gold floor stand speakers in a basement (no windows) room

I can’t honesty say it sounds any better than sn the Sonos at a fraction of the cost and its a lot more complex to use

 

[topcat2006]

I think you are right - but because "sound quality" is subjective and what I perceive as good sound quality will be different to what you perceive. I'd suggest that things like Sonos etc are rapidly catching up good hifi systems, but to my ears there is a noticeable difference. I suppose part of the issue for me is I'm a musician so maybe my ears are trained differently.

 

[Cowabunga]

Amazon Echo Plus has a lot more going for it than really good speakers. An amazing product unless you want surround sound or are very extremely fussy with super-high fidelity hearing.

 

[Loftyrules]

Amazon Echo Plus has a lot more going for it than really good speakers. An amazing product unless you want surround sound or are very extremely fussy with super-high fidelity hearing.

Easily paired with smart tv's?

 

[Cowabunga]

Easily paired with smart tv's?

They pair through the router I think. I have not tried pairing with the TV but they pair with pretty much everything else so I can't see why not. I pair with the iMac and play music from Youtube and Apple Music through them. I only have an Echo Dot in the kitchen which is not the best speaker so in that case I often pair the Dot with a Bose speaker, so the things are wonderfully flexible. They are also connected to smart plugs and I wonder how I did without them. The Dot is currently counting down to remind Mrs Duck to take the chicken out of the oven. The one in the bedroom is often asked to sing me to sleep, either using random suitable music, or from playlists in My Library [Amazon Music], the radio or from certain genres or artists. It is also an alarm for the morning and is often asked to stop playing after certain minutes or at a set time. Also often asked for the time and the weather in the middle of the night in the dark without lifting my head from the pillow.

As for the TV again, I can't vouch for it but I'm almost certain that this aspect will be covered on YouTube or elsewhere on the internet. Comprehensively.

Here's one showing how to control your TV using Alexa.

 

[deleted user 837354]

We have a smart TV and a matching Samsung sound bar and sub. It can be linked via bluetooth or a variety of other connections, I just happened to use an optical cable. Far superior sound compared to the regular speakers in the TV itself and not crazy money, I would recommend.

 

[Brisel]

What are you looking for? Sound quality or convenience?

Reason I ask is I haave a very old hifi speakers - the speakers are older than me and as of yet I have not found anything to match the sound quality despite trying Bose and Sonos. The Bose is good in our campervan but at home I'd prefer to listen to my hifi.

To make it "smartphone compatible" I purchased a Bluetooth to Phono adaptor and plugged that into the amp. It means I can play spotify on it.

Yes I still have cables, and no its not as integrated as sonos and the likes but for my ears its the best

I'm with you there. My hifi was pretty good when it came out and it fills the room with sound. I'm just after a combination of tech and quality as part of building a home system.

 

[Phil P]

I have an LG smart tv and LG sound bar, sound quality is far superior than just the tv speakers! All on Bluetooth for iPad/phones, although as Ollie says I run an optical cable to the bar form the tv but the sub us Bluetooth at the other side of the room.
The LG smart remote is also great too, one remote for smart tv, sky box, sound bar, Xbox etc, saves try to find the right remote all the time