Stand alone soundbar with good sound quality and surround effect (no rear speakers)?

jeff lam said:

Just moved into a new home recently and will move my old dedicated full size system to a media room. So now the downstairs TV has no audio except the built in TV speakers which are not very good. This set up will be for casual TV and Movie watching. My wife does not want rear speakers since the sofa is in the middle of an open concept room between the kitchen and living room TV wall. I can put a subwoofer next to the TV console so no issues there, it can be wired that's fine. What is a good all in one stand alone soundbar that will give me decent "virtual" surround (atmos or not) and produce great sound quality. I prefer sound quality over surround effect/technology. Center channel dialogue and clarity is top priority. Coming from a full sized speaker setup with a Denon receiver I know I can't expect much from a soundbar will much smaller drivers but something decent and with quality sound should be attainable. Budget is $800 or less. Or should I just get something cheap in a 2.1 config and call it a day for this "secondary" system?

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Iphish said:

If there is a best buy near you look into last years HW-N850 sound bar, there are out of box demo model available, many were never even plugged in or used. 370 watts atmos system with sub, you can actually put 300 or more dollars back in your pocket. I got mine with a couple of small scratches on the sub for under 400. BTW a black sharpie made the scratches go away. Sounds awesome and would more than do the job you are looking for without getting rears. Good luck

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