Room: open plan 25x15 with 12' ceiling
TV/Soundbar mounted to wall above mantel, about 7' up the wall (wall = 15' long)
1 side wall glass (25')
1 side wall 75% open to kitchen/hallway/stairs (25')
1 rear wall 50% open to kitchen/dining room (15')
Requirements:
~$1500
Wireless Sub
No separate receiver
Surround quality not top priority
Good dialog/voice volume and separation
TV will be mounted on articulating arm above mantle with a range of motion, and I plan to mount the soundbar directly to the TV/Wall mount so the bar moves with the TV. That means the soundbar could be tilted directly _at_ the viewer with lots of strange angles.
This setup is _not_ the primary home theater in the house. This is the living room on the main floor (sports, casual viewing with family), so I don't need something perfect.. I just need something better than the speakers on my Panasonic 55" Plasma. I'll have an actual viewing room on the bottom floor, with a real HT setup, so don't worry about the poor configuration in this room.
My concern is that I've read some units in non-ideal rooms like this make the dialog muddy or low volume. I don't care that much about perfectly separated or nuanced rear/surround channels. I really care most filling the room with decent sound and hearing dialog without needing to blast the volume.
I've read reviews of the YSP 2200 (non wireless sub) so thats out. Polk IHT6000 seems decent.. nice and cheap. The Bose SR1 seems okay and in my budget. I'm wondering if any of these are particularly better than the other for my application and if I should consider anything else.
TV/Soundbar mounted to wall above mantel, about 7' up the wall (wall = 15' long)
1 side wall glass (25')
1 side wall 75% open to kitchen/hallway/stairs (25')
1 rear wall 50% open to kitchen/dining room (15')
Requirements:
~$1500
Wireless Sub
No separate receiver
Surround quality not top priority
Good dialog/voice volume and separation
TV will be mounted on articulating arm above mantle with a range of motion, and I plan to mount the soundbar directly to the TV/Wall mount so the bar moves with the TV. That means the soundbar could be tilted directly _at_ the viewer with lots of strange angles.
This setup is _not_ the primary home theater in the house. This is the living room on the main floor (sports, casual viewing with family), so I don't need something perfect.. I just need something better than the speakers on my Panasonic 55" Plasma. I'll have an actual viewing room on the bottom floor, with a real HT setup, so don't worry about the poor configuration in this room.
My concern is that I've read some units in non-ideal rooms like this make the dialog muddy or low volume. I don't care that much about perfectly separated or nuanced rear/surround channels. I really care most filling the room with decent sound and hearing dialog without needing to blast the volume.
I've read reviews of the YSP 2200 (non wireless sub) so thats out. Polk IHT6000 seems decent.. nice and cheap. The Bose SR1 seems okay and in my budget. I'm wondering if any of these are particularly better than the other for my application and if I should consider anything else.
