[Dandaman19]

$1000 budget. I’m dealing with a wife who will be angry about the look of floor speakers vs a sound bar (golden ear array). I already have a subwoofer (svs). Im willing to deal with angry wife if the floor standers are a “night and day” difference.

To some folks, “night and day” is the difference between CD quality and hi-res. To others, it’s the difference between 320kbps and 128kbps. For me, a “night and day” difference is the difference between radio vs. CD quality or a $100 portable Bluetooth speaker vs a $200 pair of bookshelves.

I understand most will say that the floor standing speakers will sound better, but I’m wondering how much better. Can someone give me a description? Owners of high end sound bars preferred.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Airsculpture]

$1000 budget. I’m dealing with a wife who will be angry about the look of floor speakers vs a sound bar (golden ear array). I already have a subwoofer (svs). Im willing to deal with angry wife if the floor standers are a “night and day” difference.



To some folks, “night and day” is the difference between CD quality and hi-res. To others, it’s the difference between 320kbps and 128kbps. For me, a “night and day” difference is the difference between radio vs. CD quality or a $100 portable Bluetooth speaker vs a $200 pair of bookshelves.



I understand most will say that the floor standing speakers will sound better, but I’m wondering how much better. Can someone give me a description? Owners of high end sound bars preferred.



Thanks in advance.

As you point out what others state is night and day, only you can decide what your night and day is.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[head_unit]

$1000 budget. I’m dealing with a wife who will be angry about the look of floor speakers vs a sound bar (golden ear array). I already have a subwoofer (svs). Im willing to deal with angry wife if the floor standers are a “night and day” difference.

To some folks, “night and day” is the difference between CD quality and hi-res. To others, it’s the difference between 320kbps and 128kbps. For me, a “night and day” difference is the difference between radio vs. CD quality or a $100 portable Bluetooth speaker vs a $200 pair of bookshelves.

I understand most will say that the floor standing speakers will sound better, but I’m wondering how much better. Can someone give me a description? Owners of high end sound bars preferred.

Thanks in advance.

It's simple. The sound bars all sound like day. The floor standers all sound like night.
Any further questions?


OK, for real now. It's an interesting question and depends what you want to do. This little thing
https://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=CATVB2
is on sale for a super steal $349 ($599 normally!). It really astounded me and a friend who spent quite some time listening to a variety of program material, from Jeff Beck Live At Ronny Scotts, to Crossroads Guitar Festival, on and on for like an hour and a half. It always sounded really pleasant and clear and musical. If someone told me I had to live with that sound the rest of my life, it would not be the end of the world. Compact wireless subwoofer to boot!

Now, floorstanders are a different animal. You can get some nice ones at that price. Maybe more bass than the TVB2 but perhaps not better bass. Not more clarity I don't think; equal maybe maybe. The sound stage could of course be much wider with floor standers if you have the space.

I have to ask-are in-walls possible? Because let's face it, to paraphrase the old Chinese saying: "UNhappy wife = UNhappy wife" especially when the billing from the divorce attorney comes in the mail. Where is this setup? What kind of room? (PICTURES?????). Is this a main system or an extra system? What proportion of TV vs. movies? And is this serious viewing or casual?

 

[citizen arcane]

Why not consider bookshelf speakers? You already have the sub, let her pick out the veneer and some sumptuous stands......$1000 should get you far in this direction. Sorry, have no experience w/ sound bars so can't comment on that.

 

[Dandaman19]

Thanks. Setup is living room. Open floor plan, so dining room and kitchen are all nearby. This will be the main system. We listen to music a lot, and rarely watch tv and movies. Casual viewing only.

I gave a description of what night and day means to me to help others see what kind of difference I’m looking for. Weighing trade offs is tough when speaker buying (especially when you can’t demo stuff).

 

[Shadowed]

$1000 budget. I’m dealing with a wife who will be angry about the look of floor speakers vs a sound bar (golden ear array). I already have a subwoofer (svs). Im willing to deal with angry wife if the floor standers are a “night and day” difference.

To some folks, “night and day” is the difference between CD quality and hi-res. To others, it’s the difference between 320kbps and 128kbps. For me, a “night and day” difference is the difference between radio vs. CD quality or a $100 portable Bluetooth speaker vs a $200 pair of bookshelves.

I understand most will say that the floor standing speakers will sound better, but I’m wondering how much better. Can someone give me a description? Owners of high end sound bars preferred.

Thanks in advance.

Are you going with a center channel as well? If you already have a sub then towers are not always necessary and you may be able to step up to a little higher quality bookshelf for the same price.

Many soundbars rely on very small drivers and they usually can't keep up to good bookshelfs.

I heard one soundbar I thought was good but it was $2500 canadian

Spoiler

 

[Dandaman19]

Are in wall speakers any better than a comparably priced passive sound bar?

 

[bluewizard]

Nobody wants a Sound Bar, a sound bar is what we settle for or are forced by circumstances to choose, but nobody wants a sound bar.

And there is one additional options - Bookshelf Speakers, they might be a nice compromise.

Also consider finish, despite Black Speakers being all the rage today, it might be better to find some nice natural woodgrain speakers that would look more appealing - white, walnut, rosewood, light oak, dark oak, etc....

While Black is the choice for Home Theater, because they disappear into the darkness, in a lounge or living room, you want something more appealing than Black. Today, people have discovered that in the right circumstances, White speaker can blend in nicely. Though myself, I prefer slightly reddish Cherry and Rosewood, but I wouldn't say no to Walnut. If White is not appealing, then Light Oak can look nice, and Dark Oak is typically not that dark because the hard oak does not absorb stain that well, so even they might be workable.

I think you will find no love here for a Sound Bar ...if you must ...you must ...but ONLY if you must.

Steve/bluewizard

 

[mthomas47]

$1000 budget. I’m dealing with a wife who will be angry about the look of floor speakers vs a sound bar (golden ear array). I already have a subwoofer (svs). Im willing to deal with angry wife if the floor standers are a “night and day” difference.

To some folks, “night and day” is the difference between CD quality and hi-res. To others, it’s the difference between 320kbps and 128kbps. For me, a “night and day” difference is the difference between radio vs. CD quality or a $100 portable Bluetooth speaker vs a $200 pair of bookshelves.

I understand most will say that the floor standing speakers will sound better, but I’m wondering how much better. Can someone give me a description? Owners of high end sound bars preferred.

Thanks in advance.

Thanks. Setup is living room. Open floor plan, so dining room and kitchen are all nearby. This will be the main system. We listen to music a lot, and rarely watch tv and movies. Casual viewing only.

I gave a description of what night and day means to me to help others see what kind of difference I’m looking for. Weighing trade offs is tough when speaker buying (especially when you can’t demo stuff).

Hi,

For casual viewing in a small room, I think that a soundbar could be perfectly acceptable for many people. But, you said that you listen to music a lot, and rarely watch TV and movies. So, think about the trade-offs involved by building the equivalent of three speaker into a soundbar that will fit under a TV, or on a mantle, compared to the ability to have larger drivers, spaced more widely apart (with more cabinet volume and driver separation), in individual cabinets which can also be spaced more widely apart.

You can start with the size of the drivers. Either good bookshelf or tower speakers will have larger woofers. That will enable you to achieve better integration with your subwoofer at a crossover of 80Hz, and, it will give you the capability to have more volume if and when you want it, especially if you are 10' or more from your speakers. That will mean that all of the frequencies will play with more clarity and less distortion.

Second, think about the speaker separation. One of the basic rules of stereo listening is to try to achieve approximately an equilateral triangle between your speakers and your listening position. You don't have to be slavish about it, but trying to come somewhat close to that allows for an appropriately wide soundstage, and good stereo imaging, from both the right and left channel. When you are listening at a distance of 8' or 10' and your entire soundbar is only 4' wide (or less) you really aren't going to get much soundstage-width or instrument imaging.

So, given your stated objective, to use the speaker(s) mainly for music listening, I really don't think it's a close call. You should be able to get much better audio performance from two free-standing speakers costing $1000, versus trying to do everything within the size constraints, and three-speaker requirement, of a soundbar.

If you do get individual speakers, whether they are towers or bookshelf speakers on stands (I wouldn't go with wall-mounted speakers as a first preference) you may eventually want to add a center channel to your system. That will help to lock-in the center point from more than one seat, and it will also assist with dialogue intelligibility and channel separation for those occasions when you do watch TV and movies.

I hope this helps!

Regards,
Mike

 

[Dandaman19]

Hi,

For casual viewing in a small room, I think that a soundbar could be perfectly acceptable for many people. But, you said that you listen to music a lot, and rarely watch TV and movies. So, think about the trade-offs involved by building the equivalent of three speaker into a soundbar that will fit under a TV, or on a mantle, compared to the ability to have larger drivers, spaced more widely apart (with more cabinet volume and driver separation), in individual cabinets which can also be spaced more widely apart.

You can start with the size of the drivers. Either good bookshelf or tower speakers will have larger woofers. That will enable you to achieve better integration with your subwoofer at a crossover of 80Hz, and, it will give you the capability to have more volume if and when you want it, especially if you are 10' or more from your speakers. That will mean that all of the frequencies will play with more clarity and less distortion.

Second, think about the speaker separation. One of the basic rules of stereo listening is to try to achieve approximately an equilateral triangle between your speakers and your listening position. You don't have to be slavish about it, but trying to come somewhat close to that allows for an appropriately wide soundstage, and good stereo imaging, from both the right and left channel. When you are listening at a distance of 8' or 10' and your entire soundbar is only 4' wide (or less) you really aren't going to get much soundstage-width or instrument imaging.

So, given your stated objective, to use the speaker(s) mainly for music listening, I really don't think it's a close call. You should be able to get much better audio performance from two free-standing speakers costing $1000, versus trying to do everything within the size constraints, and three-speaker requirement, of a soundbar.

If you do get individual speakers, whether they are towers or bookshelf speakers on stands (I wouldn't go with wall-mounted speakers as a first preference) you may eventually want to add a center channel to your system. That will help to lock-in the center point from more than one seat, and it will also assist with dialogue intelligibility and channel separation for those occasions when you do watch TV and movies.

I hope this helps!

Regards,
Mike

Thanks everyone. This helps. I think I need to go with towers and find a pair that look nice. Walnut would look good.

 

[mbroadus]

Focal Aria 906s are on sale now for $999, regularly $1500.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[RayGuy]

These should look nice as well as sound nice. 4 finish options.
https://www.qacoustics.com/floorstanding-speakers/3050i-floorstanding-speaker-pair.html

Add the small center channel for when you watch movies, if needed.

https://www.qacoustics.com/home-theater-speakers-soundbars/3090ci-center-speaker.html

 

[jiriza84641]

Get a SVS Prime Satellite system $999.00

https://www.svsound.com/products/prime-satellite-5-1

Easy to put on wall and not on floor, they look nice too!

Better to ask of forgiveness, than for permission.

 

[gajCA]

Thanks everyone. This helps. I think I need to go with towers and find a pair that look nice. Walnut would look good.

You may want to take a "chance" on a newly revived brand (KLH) where there are no pro reviews yet but the Crutchfield reviews of the largest tower, (out of your budget), and smallest tower, are excellent.

https://www.klhaudio.com/

Crutchfield owner reviews are generally far more well written and thought out than others, (ie. Amazon).

Best of all, 60 day trial, $75/pair shipping return fee if not happy which is a steal.

They all have American Walnut wood veneer.

Two of the towers are in your budget.

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-ZHggL...rand|KLH Audio&nvpair=YCColor|American Walnut