Soundbars vs. Speakers: Which is Better?

There have never been better options for loudspeakers then today for setting up a home theater. But, people often wonder how a soundbar can compare to a discrete box speaker system. The soundbar category has evolved over the last decade making it a viable alternative to box speakers for even serious audiophiles and home theater enthusiasts. Entry level soundbars with amplifiers and DSP built in will greatly improve the sound compared to the internal TV speakers and are often a more budget friendly alternative to a discrete 5.1 speaker system. The passive soundbar allows the end user to buy a long vertical enclosure (customized to the size of the display) packed with very high quality components typically reserved for box speaker products. This also allows you to use the internal amplification of your AV receiver or separate power amp instead of the often limited power amps squeezed into a small enclosure also housing the speaker drivers. In this video, we explore the soundbar category and how it can compare to box speaker equivalents.

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[chrisulmer]

Well done! It's hard to be into something like audio for so long and to have spent huge amounts of time, energy and money to develop opinions on what works and what doesn't work and then to turn all of that personal history on its head. I bought a nice soundbar/sub for the bedroom and for the first time ever I managed to get my wife to buy into the whole audio thing. After it dawned on her that she can now hear details that truly make a difference to her listening pleasure, she's begun to come downstairs into the living room so see what she can hear on "that ridiculous money pit" of a system I've been constructing for the last 30 years. Now we watch a movie or a show or two almost every night in full hifi splendor after cooking and dining to our favorite tunes. Who the hell knew it would be a soundbar that would make my wife catch the bug?!?! Never underestimate this category of speaker system. There is a place for it and it is a glorious one. (First world problems. Amirite?!)

[thudeets]

Soundbars are a "lifestyle" solution, not an audiophile solution.

[redrock]

This is good to hear. When I eventually update my TV I won't have room for a full speaker setup so a soundbar will work. Currently using Celestion 15 speakers and Pioneer amp from the 70's!

[rand]

Great vid Gene, the boys on r/hometheater will hate it. We moved into a house last year with a medium size U shaped living room. My wife has hated towers and stands in our living room our entire marriage so I told her I would buy an LCR sound bar and try it out. I looked at Klipsch, Def Tech, Atlantic Technology, and a whole bunch of others then came across the BIC FH56BAR. For $250??? Can't be good. Hardly anything about it anywhere as far as reviews, and it's been around for years. But on a whim I bought one thinking it would be temporary and OMG, this thing pumps sound like crazy. Voices are crystal clear, and with the speakers on the end the soundstage feels like it's about 8 or 9 feet wide (we're about 12 feet from it). I'm running it as only front and center and I'm telling you there is sorcery going on. It blends perfectly with my SVS sub too. Does it sound better than a dedicated front and center set up? No, but it doesn't sound worse either, especially in this room, even for music. I wouldn't recommend for a large room, but less than 400 sq ft and it's amazing.

[DF-etgs]

When we wanted to make the living room more "family friendly" I moved the HT equipment to a dedicated space and installed a SB w/ sub in the living room. Really impressed, and the room gained in our main living space is fantastic.
Sound bars definitely have their place.

[greggcheap]

To pay those suggested prices on sound bars when you can have seperates is crazy unless you live in a jail cell.

[drgallup]

EVEN BOSE! LOL, literally I did laugh out loud.

[adamyelle]

I picked up a used Leon passive soundbar recently, circa 2006 or so. That's my front three under the TV, then I have a sub and surround speakers. Along with using the DSP in the receiver it's honestly pretty impressive. A surprising benefit to this setup is that when watching 2 channel sources like YouTube, the sound still appears to be coming from the TV, rather than so spread out and unnatural like it would be with a theater setup (unless you were to use something like prologic.)

Here's the funny part though, my motivation wasn't to declutter the living room, instead this freed me up to add my dedicated 2 channel setup in the room without looking like a crazy amount of speakers going on. In the end it looks like a really clean 5.1 setup. Looking at the front wall you see three speakers, the floor standers and a long center channel, but that center I actually the sound bar that contains LCR.

I can't get enough of this setup and would recommend it to anyone.

[kingcrimson]

Soundbars have their place, but if you really want a no-compromise, theater-like experience, you have to do a real discrete speaker system, with quality speakers and a quality sub. No way around it, and there never will be a way around it.

[analogguy]

I have a complete Sonos system, Arc, Gen 3 Subwoofer, and two One SL’s. I also Amazon Echo speakers in every room of the house, including a stereo pair + subwoofer. I also have a separate audiophile two channel system. Each system has its place. I give the Sonos system 9.5 out of 10 - fantastic system. Nobody gets 10 out of 10 🤠

[britainF]

What I’m wondering is whether or not soundbars are superior to a set of affordable in-walls up front, such as 3 Elac Debut in-walls. Sal, I’d love to hear your perspective on that one. Also high WAF, maybe even higher, more channel separation, etc.

[billwiley]

Not much question is speakers are the best actual option for sound but in just about all cases a decent quality soundbar far exceeds the factory tv speakers where for whatever reasons separate speakers are not deemed to be an option.
Adding even a smaller 10"sub if possible will do wonders to helping the overall sound quality of most soundbars as well.

[SwirlingDragonMist]

I've been using a polk magnifi max soundbar I got for my mom for Christmas. It does many things well, but the lower mids are lacking. I think it's just the physics of it being only 2" tall. It just needs more cone area, magnets etc. Interestingly it sounds best when the voice and bass are cranked to max, perhaps a phenomenon of the acoustics, but it seems to restore the vibrancy in the midrange that is otherwise a little bland. Anyway these sound bars are getting so big cause they have to, and It's kind of ridiculous that someone would find a vertical black box visually offensive, but not a horizontal one. It makes me feel like it's conditioning, or maybe something like cats being afraid of cucumbers. a vertical black object is like some kinda evolutionary fear of little black goblins. Perhaps related to bears.

[richarddavidsson]

what about the Sennheiser AMBEO 3D Home Audio Sound Bar?

[aleemkhalid]

I believe that gap is pretty much narrow when the room size is under 400 sqf & screen size under 100 inch. Anything above than av system is a clear winner.

[mzmz]

Thanks Gene for beggining of covering the topic of soundbars. I know they do exist, however would like to dig deeper to technology that they use /different approaches that maximaze the sound goal given the form/volume limitations.

[JDG]

If you buy a good soundbar, but also a good soundbar, yes, the certainties sound very good. But for me in my home theater, I prefer a good surround amplifier and high-end speakers. But there are indeed very good sound bars for sale now... Everyone has their own taste. Thank you for this video. As always nice and good ... Peace and love and of course High-end Home Theater and High-End Stereo. Greetings from the Netherlands Limburg Maastricht.
✌😘👌👍😉
And as always ... keep listening👂

[Gw]

Old school here.. but we put up old 2nd hand active studio monitors. Easy and brilliant

[DCUPtoejuice]

I have three dynaudio centers lined up as a soundbar with an AVR, so really it's just a blurring of the two categories.

[PrezidentHughes]

I plan on getting a stereo receiver as a soundbar replacement. 99% of soundbars under $400 are only stereo anyway, but with less proficient drivers, aren't two-way, and can't stereo-image properly because of the fixed nature of the left and rights channels therefore they have to employ psychoacoustics which most TV's already have built-in anyway. So that's why I'm opting for a stereo receiver. Plus, I don't have the need for the many HDMI inputs, optical and coaxial inputs, and phono outputs of an av receiver. And a lot of lower tier av receivers have various HDMI problems anyway or you have to wait on "promised" functionality, so why bother, especially seeing as I'm not setting up a 3/5/7.1 surround system.