Thoughts on Downsizing and Convenience

[bodhi]

Personally I never found a ‘bar that performs well with music, they are made for movies.

I'm going with this. I actually begun my HT setup with a LG soundbar that cost about 1k with a firm belief that it would be good enough.

It was kind of OK with movies even though the "subwoofer" was completely anemic, but with music it was absolutely terrible. No stereo image, unatural shrilly and hollow sound.

Before I finally decided to go ham with a real system I tried a pair of cheap Dali Spektor 2s without a sub and even those destroyed the soundbar.

 

[Pretorious]

It depends on your expectations and how much of an "audiophile" your are or are not. I'm not. I have a decent 5.2.2 setup, a pair of NHT SuperOnes and polk 8" sub in my bedroom and several BT speakers and a $200 Yamaha soundbar under my TV on my deck. It works very well for watching TV and sounds "good enough" for when I want to listen to music out there.

I love good sound, but I love it within reason. That is to say I don’t have a large fortune to spend on gear, and I like modest gear that performs well. The Revels I own were a bit of a splurge and are by far the best speakers I’ve ever owned, and the most expensive.

I think I could be happy with a similar setup as long as the sound quality was say 80-90% of what I listened to now. I’m not even as concerned with spatial imaging. Tonality is most important to me. As long as there is passable stereo separation, I think I could live.

 

[HeadDoc12]

I will chime in with my setup. I have the Bluesound Soundbar+. It decodes Atmos, BUT has no upfiring speakers. I don't know what to make of this either, but my room has very high ceilings, so I have no use for upfiring speakers in that space. Anyway, it also decodes MQA, which I use when streaming Tidal. I think it is pretty good soundbar for music, and I like some of the other features that make it unique. 1) The bass is pretty good, but you have the option of adding Bluesound's wireless sub anytime you like. It is an odd shape that can easily fit under furniture, but puts out some serious low end (for its size, anyway). 2) Also, you have the option of adding wireless surround speakers, as well, and Bluesound makes two different models. So, you can have a 2.0 setup, or 2.1, or 4.0 or 4.1. 3) Wi-Fi streaming: it'll do Bluetooth streaming just fine, but it also handles Tidal Connect, Apple Airplay, Spotify Connect, and Roon, so lossless audio all day long. 4) They also sell a stand that you can mount the soundbar and a TV up to 65 inches. Looks pretty sleek. 5) If you don't know, Bluesound is a joint venture between NAD and PSB, so the electronics and drivers are pretty great, for what they are. Feel free to take all this with a grain of salt, as my MAIN listening setup is a pair of KEF LS50 Wireless II's and 2 KC62 subs, so this is not my preferred way to listen to music. But it gets the job done pretty well.

 

[Pretorious]

An update for the thread. I'm still in the thinking phase. There's no hurry for me, so I'm taking my time and enjoying what I have still. I came up with another idea that is relevant to this thread.

How stupid would it be to have a portable "hi-f"I system, in this case? I was thinking that I could get two of the best (Sonos?) wireless speakers I can get and have a portable system to carry around the house. I know it won't sound like my current system, but it would give me a lot of convenience, and I think I would be fine with the sound, overall. I could take them into the kitchen when the significant other and I have tea. I can put them in the living room when we want to sit and listen there. I can bring them into the library when we want to relax in there. And I would have enough room (I think) on my current console where my main system is to fit the speakers on there for 'critical' listening.

Just a thought, and it might be a much better alternative than my original soundbar idea. More to ponder!

 

[jbattman1016]

I don't think you are going to want to plug in and unplug your speaker this often, just get a sonos for each of the rooms.

 

[Pretorious]

A wireless pair? Just unplug and carry around to whatever room for the day. Then plug in to charge at night. That’s what I’m thinking, as listening will only be a couple hours a day, most likely.

 

[jbattman1016]

Ahh. Have you considered the FM transmitter route?

 

[Zensō]

How stupid would it be to have a portable "hi-f"I system, in this case? I was thinking that I could get two of the best (Sonos?) wireless speakers I can get and have a portable system to carry around the house.

The Sonos Roam can be put into a stereo pair.

If you don’t really need the portability, and are primarily focused on music listening as opposed to surround sound for TV, I think a pair of HomePod 2’s might meet your criteria and would sound better than the Roam and likely most sound bars (they sound much better than our Sonos Arc and Beam for music). The convenience factor and small footprint are hard to beat, and the sound quality in a stereo pair is surprisingly good, particularly for listening from different locations within a room. My studio monitors sound better (of course), but require staying within a small listening window, whereas the HomePods sound more consistent for casual listening throughout the room.

 

[Pretorious]

Ahh. Have you considered the FM transmitter route?

I have not. Not sure this would be what I'm looking for, but I can do some research.

If you don’t really need the portability

I don't really need it, as in it isn't essential; but it's something I thought of in the last few days as a gain in convenience for the around-the-house listening that I mentioned above. Could be a nice thing to have, once I do.

I have considered HomePods and agree they would fit the bill for my situation, I would just have to make some changes to my current layout to accommodate. I'm still debating with myself if that's what I want to do. I appreciate the suggestion!

 

[jbattman1016]

I have not. Not sure this would be what I'm looking for, but I can do some research.

I don't really need it, as in it isn't essential; but it's something I thought of in the last few days as a gain in convenience for the around-the-house listening that I mentioned above. Could be a nice thing to have, once I do.

I have considered HomePods and agree they would fit the bill for my situation, I would just have to make some changes to my current layout to accommodate. I'm still debating with myself if that's what I want to do. I appreciate the suggestion!

You can get an FM transmitter and basically have your own radio station in your home to allow for listening in any room with any FM radio. The quality is ok and you just need to attach a streaming device that has an stereo output.

 

[Hatto]

Due to "life events" I may have to reduce the footprint and amount of gear that I have. Currently I have of a pair of Revel M16s that sound fantastic and are serving me well. Unfortunately, I will have to replace these with something that takes up less space.

I'm looking into higher end soundbars to do this duty for me, and it seems like those within a similar price range as my M16s (~$1000) measure quite well. Indeed, they measure much better than I expected, at least according to the measurements on Rtings.

As I'm mostly a music lover, I would care how a soundbar of this caliber would perform for it. I don't care about the sound quality or features for movies, but would probably use it for such connected to the TV, for the rare times that the significant other and I watch something demanding.

It looks like most of the soundbars in this range actually extend lower than my M16s, but I have no idea if this would be true in practice in my room. I don't run a subwoofer as is, so maybe this would be adequate? I am happy with the bass of my current system. So, given that these measurements are accurate, and are similar, what can I expect if I were to make this change? What would I lose or gain in terms of imaging, soundstage, and all the other intangibles and tangibles? I'm a classical listener, but I also prize convenience alongside sound quality. The former I would gain a lot of by going to a system like this.

Any input from those of you with similar experiences or thoughts would go a long ways towards helping me make my decision.

Under similar circumstances, I opted to get a soundbar with good bass performance (instead of a subwoofer), which was a challenge under a ceratin budget but I found out a Yamaha soundar to be quite adequate.

I then added a pair of iLoud Micros through a Topping DX3 Pro+. Both the Yamaha and Topping are fed through single toslink out of the TV using a simple optical splitter. I boost the bass on the Yamaha and turn the volume down sort of use it for low frequencies and get immense clarity and soundstage through the Micro's. I used to have a pair of MTM's instead but we found out that we don't need high volume when watching movies. Having separate volume controls for the Yamaha and iLoud Micro's sort of give me a 2-ch EQ.

 

[Pretorious]

That’s an interesting setup you’ve made, @Hatto. Did you listen to music with only the soundbar before setting it up with the Micros? If so, what was your opinion on the sound?

 

[AM88]

These are 2 one box solutions you might want to look into. I have heard the poet audio and it's a good sounding bluetooth speaker to my ears. I heard it about a decade ago in Singapore though. It isn't small but it's just one box and one wire. I heard the pandoretta which is 360 degrees dispersion but they have a cheaper 180 degrees one as well.
https://www.poetsound-english.com/poet-one
https://www.poetsound-english.com/pandoretta
https://teenage.engineering/products/od-11
The same for the teenage engineering speaker, quite large but can be put to the side of a wall and on the floor. The TE has physical connections and wireless but the poetaudio is bluetooth only.
I am a painter and have music playing in my studio. I have a 2.1 setup with active speakers and the accompanying sub. I listen to most of my music on my homepod mini though. I find it good enough most of the time as I am not in one fixed spot for very long.
Good luck.

 

[Hatto]

That’s an interesting setup you’ve made, @Hatto. Did you listen to music with only the soundbar before setting it up with the Micros? If so, what was your opinion on the sound?

It was dark with the Yamaha alone. The lower frequencies were well defined and non-muddy, but the highs never had that crystal clear sparkle to my ears. The conversations were sometimes masked by other sounds. It was the exact opposite with the Micros. That's why I found the combo to be very good in combination.