***EDIT, I guess the review isnt so short afterall... haha.
I feel obligated to do this since there isnt really any comparisions of these 2 soundbars, let alone any samsung bars. Im gonna try and keep this fairly short, but to start out, i wanted a soundbar that would improve the tv sound as well as add some sound to make the movie experience better.
I went and bought the CT150 due to the hype and alot of good reviews for it. Got it home, unboxed, set up, adjusted the settings and popped in a blu-ray. First thing I noticed were that the highs were really nice but found there to be an almost non existant midrange, with no depth to the voices and dialogue whatsoever which left a big gap in the frequency range.
Second thing that was very annoying to me was the subwoofer I found it to be very boomy and too overpowering especially for my room(about 15x15 in a apartment) and could never get it set at a happy medium; was either too loud, or barely audible and didnt seem to be paired well with the sounbar. And BTW im 26 and have subs in my car, so im not just bein a wuss here haha.
Size, the subwoofer ended up being just too big physically for what I wanted to do, so thats another thing to consider.
Another annoying thing was the jump in volume/volume difference from device to device or program to program; i found myself constantly adjusting the volume. Playing PS3 i could hardly hear the music and sound on the main menu, but when the game started it was way too loud which was annoying as well.
Other things I hated were the remote which had like 3 buttons that you actually used and about 40 other ones that serve no purpose unless you have a sony tv to pair it with; basically a cluttered mess of a remote. I also disliked the settings menu which made you scroll through menu after menu and submenu's untill you found what you were looking for; not as simple as i hoped for. Bottom line I was not happy with the sound or function even after messing with it for hours on multiple devices so I returned it for the HW C450.
Samsung HW C450...
Right out of the box, turned the tv on and the voices/dialogue were a night and day difference; natural sounding with great depth and midrange. The frequency range is covered very well between the sub and soundbar.
Subwoofer... I love it.. just like the soundbar it is nice and smooth, natural, not boomy, not overpowering or annoying. Also right out of the box there was still a little bit of volume change between commercials, but not nearly as bad as the sony was. Good thing is, to fix this the samsung has the smart volume feature which gets rid of any unwanted volume differences between devices, tv channels and is also a overall sound leveling which works very well.
The remote is very simple, like it should be. It has basic functions on it to adjust sub level, sound mode etc.. and the soundbar remote can control your samsung tv as well (and maybe other brands) and vice versa you can also use your samsung tv remote to control the sound bar if you want which is awesome.
I am much much happier with the samsung and the overall sound and ease of use and am by no means biased to samsung. Also worth mentioning is the samsung seemed to create a better(yet still very mild) surround effect, compared to the sony, although it still wasnt a consistent effect, i noticed it on a few parts of some material i watched.
I feel obligated to do this since there isnt really any comparisions of these 2 soundbars, let alone any samsung bars. Im gonna try and keep this fairly short, but to start out, i wanted a soundbar that would improve the tv sound as well as add some sound to make the movie experience better.
I went and bought the CT150 due to the hype and alot of good reviews for it. Got it home, unboxed, set up, adjusted the settings and popped in a blu-ray. First thing I noticed were that the highs were really nice but found there to be an almost non existant midrange, with no depth to the voices and dialogue whatsoever which left a big gap in the frequency range.
Second thing that was very annoying to me was the subwoofer I found it to be very boomy and too overpowering especially for my room(about 15x15 in a apartment) and could never get it set at a happy medium; was either too loud, or barely audible and didnt seem to be paired well with the sounbar. And BTW im 26 and have subs in my car, so im not just bein a wuss here haha.
Size, the subwoofer ended up being just too big physically for what I wanted to do, so thats another thing to consider.
Another annoying thing was the jump in volume/volume difference from device to device or program to program; i found myself constantly adjusting the volume. Playing PS3 i could hardly hear the music and sound on the main menu, but when the game started it was way too loud which was annoying as well.
Other things I hated were the remote which had like 3 buttons that you actually used and about 40 other ones that serve no purpose unless you have a sony tv to pair it with; basically a cluttered mess of a remote. I also disliked the settings menu which made you scroll through menu after menu and submenu's untill you found what you were looking for; not as simple as i hoped for. Bottom line I was not happy with the sound or function even after messing with it for hours on multiple devices so I returned it for the HW C450.
Samsung HW C450...
Right out of the box, turned the tv on and the voices/dialogue were a night and day difference; natural sounding with great depth and midrange. The frequency range is covered very well between the sub and soundbar.
Subwoofer... I love it.. just like the soundbar it is nice and smooth, natural, not boomy, not overpowering or annoying. Also right out of the box there was still a little bit of volume change between commercials, but not nearly as bad as the sony was. Good thing is, to fix this the samsung has the smart volume feature which gets rid of any unwanted volume differences between devices, tv channels and is also a overall sound leveling which works very well.
The remote is very simple, like it should be. It has basic functions on it to adjust sub level, sound mode etc.. and the soundbar remote can control your samsung tv as well (and maybe other brands) and vice versa you can also use your samsung tv remote to control the sound bar if you want which is awesome.
I am much much happier with the samsung and the overall sound and ease of use and am by no means biased to samsung. Also worth mentioning is the samsung seemed to create a better(yet still very mild) surround effect, compared to the sony, although it still wasnt a consistent effect, i noticed it on a few parts of some material i watched.
I will report back here with my impressions on friday which is my next day off when I will also be able to determine whether or not I need to order the JVC soundbar or if the VSB200 will be satisfactory for my needs. By the way, the HW-450 also has a very competent DRC which along with it's apparent rich and natural sounding soundbar, led me to consider it.
