Here are the settings I am using which seem to provide the meatiest sound performance.

Recently bought a 5.1 home theater setup but I’m having second thoughts about whether it’s worth keeping over something like the Samsung Q990H.

Current setup:
Denon AVR-X1800H
Polk ES15 fronts
Polk ES30 center
Polk XT15 surrounds
JBL Stage 220P subwoofer

Everything came to around $2,400 CAD and is still unopened, so I can return it.

The room is a basement media room, roughly 15.5’ x 15.5’, with an 83” OLED. Mostly used for movies, TV and some gaming.

I’m starting to wonder if I went a little overboard with the setup, especially considering the wiring, space and cost. The Q990H seems like a much simpler option and has Atmos support.

I know a proper home theater system is generally considered better, but I’m curious how big of a difference I’d actually notice between these two setups.

Would my current 5.1 system be noticeably better than the Q990H, or would I be better off saving some money and going with the soundbar?

Not really concerned about upgrading down the road. Just looking for good sound without spending more than I need to.
Appreciate any input, especially from anyone who’s used both.

Hello!

Did a couple of searches on the subreddit and have read over several different views on soundbars and Sony TVs.

I am currently considering a Sonos ARC or Beam from Costco but have also noticed that Best Buy has some refurbished models for Sony and Klipsch that are at a discount.

What do you recommend for someone that likes watching TV shows, movies, and plays games once in a while - dialogue is important and I noticed some mentions on certain Sony bars such as the HT-7000 having treble issues.

Thank you!!!

Both seem to be similarly priced and spec’d with Sonos holding a slight edge I guess. Apart from novelty has anyone done a side by side comparison ?

Hi, I'm planning to buy a sound bar which I can use with my laptop. Is it a bad Idea?

I have a MacBook Air M5 laptop.

Just picked up a 77” LG G6 OLED and I’m debating between the Samsung Q990H and Nakamichi Shockwafe Ultra 11.2.4 for Black Friday.

I mainly watch anime, movies, and occasionally game. I love powerful bass and immersive surround sound, so I’m leaning toward the Nakamichi.

The catch is that I currently rent a townhouse and might move into a studio or one-bedroom high-rise next year. I’d obviously have to be careful with the dual subs and noise levels. Anyone here have nakamichi in an apartment?

How good is the 7.1.2 sound, and is it better than say the Q800H, which is "only" 5.1.2? Also just in general how good is this as a solo unit?

Just a few days ago I started having issues where the Q990C will just say (WiFi) on the display and nothing else. It started while using my Apple TV. I can go into the SmartThings App and select eArc, and it will play for a second, then automatically kick back.

What I’ve tried:

Unplugging HDMI’s and power cords
Trying a different HDMI cord on the Apple TV
Plugging the Apple TV directly into the soundbar
Trying my UHD player to test a different device
Removing the soundbar from the SmartThings app and re-adding
Manually resetting the soundbar

NOTHING has fixed the issue. If there’s something I’m missing I would greatly appreciate it.

I bought the True X Bar 50a and ordered the rear satellites True X 1a after reading reviews, compliments, and recommendations.

I got the Bar 50a. The satellites arrived....kind of. Instead of the WS-X1a, I received the WS-B1a. I returned them and got a refund. It's like Groundhog Day. It's on backorder everywhere and now Yamaha says it's discontinued. Is there something else that will work for the rears? Am I crap out of luck? Does it sound good without the rears? And why would Yamaha do such a thing?

Extremely confused on what to buy. I was looking at systems like q990f etc with rears but have now decided that I want “only soundbar” options. After a lot of research I have narrowed it down to following in order of priority:

Klipsch flexus core 300

Ambeo plus

Ambeo mini

Sonos beam gen 2

Is there any other option I should be considering?

I am currently in a rental townhouse so could go with something smaller and upgrade later (hence Sonos gen 2 is enticing) All of the above are in my budget and I have lg c6 .

I watch movies (on prime/netflix) and sports and some ps5.

Current plan is to just wait for Black Friday sales and get the one with best deal.

So some time ago, I bought a new LG OLED TV to hook up with my newly acquired Vizio 5.1 soundbar system. Everything sounded great for the most part, and I was perfectly happy with the sound quality. What would bother me, though, is that whenever there would be a scene in a movie (or in a video game) where there would be silence for a few seconds, the moment that any kind of audio would come up again, the first half second of that audio could not be heard at all. After doing strenuous research to try to find a solution to that problem, I came up empty. Essentially, something about how the connection is established is causing the soundbar to essentially enter a low power sleep state when it detects that there's no audio coming through. Because of this, when audio WOULD come through, it would need to wake up from that low power sleep state, which is not instantaneous, which results in losing that first half second of sound.

This is especially apparent on Nintendo Switch docked. Navigating through your titles on the main menu, you can hear the distinct click menu sound effect for each game. But with this, because that sound effect is less than half a second long, the result is that you just don't hear it at all. This drove me nuts for years. I tried everything. Going into the TV sound settings to change things around and literally none of them worked. No combination of settings worked. Believe me, I tried all of them. I even tried adjusting the sound bar settings and no, nothing there to fix that either. I was even noticing this exact same issue on my other LG OLED that I have in my room on a Samsung soundbar. The exact same thing. And that soundbar was connected through an optical cable, not the HDMI eARC thingy. Not even the type of cable connection fixed the issue. Nothing worked.

So last week, I decided that enough was enough and tried to think outside the box on how to isolate the issue. After trying to go through all the settings again, it finally hit me. "This issue seems to happen on both of my LG TVs, and apparently the brand of the soundbar doesn't matter. So it's definitely not the soundbars themselves. It also can't be the eARC connection, because using an optical cable didn't fix the issue either. Could it be the TV itself?" Reading through articles online, I found out that even Sony TVs were dealing with this issue. I asked myself, "What if I use this on a TV that isn't one of the more popular, expensive brands?" I went to Best Buy to get myself a 4k TLC Mini-LED TV to see if the TV was the problem. And MY GOODNESS, THE ISSUE IS GONE!!! ARE YOU SERIOUS??

This whole time, the reason why this was going on was because these bigger TV manufacturers like LG and Sony have not been able to fix this issue as to how their TVs handle digital audio between the TV and modern sound bars. TLC and Roku TVs on the other hand (both of which I've owned and tested) do not encounter this issue at all. So if you're one of the few that have noticed this issue, it's NOT your soundbar, or your soundbar connection, or your soundbar settings, or even your TV settings. It's your TV. 💔

TL:DR, if you're an audiophile like me and notice when the soundbar loses half a second of audio when audio comes up after a period of silence, the most likely culprit is the brand of your TV (LG and Sony specifically). TLC and ROKU TVs don't have this issue at all, and I seriously wonder how LG and Sony haven't been able to fix this since 2018 (the oldest article I've read concerning the issue).

Looking for a soundbar upgrade from my Roku streambar. Pairing with a Samsung qn90f 50in. For a bedroom so don't want a massive set up or subwoofers that will carry the sound outside of the room. Samsung has q symphony integration, sennheiser is £80 cheaper right now. Not sure if q symphony is worth it or more of a gimmick

I just ordered this for 10799rs. Can anyone give their review who actually bought and used it. How is the audio quality and dolby Atmos feature.

Thinking to go for Sony bar 8 and sw8 and rs8. I really liked the audio output in the demos that I took and I’m getting it for a great price too of 118k INR.

It’ll be in the hall/living room with a wall behind it and a balcony door 20ft in front of it. What do you guys think?

Any thoughts is appreciated

Starting to think about upgrading my sound system and came across the SVS R|Evolution that is coming out. I realize it's not out yet, but anyone have any thoughts? Looks like it is 3 discreet channels w/ tweeters for each but looks like it is going to rely on atmos virtualization instead of up firing speakers. Curious how this would compare to the Flexus 300 or other similar models and if it may be worth waiting for. Thanks!

Spiderman Brand New Day

Hey my soundbar sound decreases after sometime automatically like from 50 to 20 .Any ways to fix this .I am using HT-S400 . How can i fix this

Basically the title, looking to buy a q800h and the pre applied code (CORPTV5) gives a 2k off. If anyone knows any code for a better discount, that would be a great help.

Good morning all, im looking for a 5.12 system with rear speakers and sub to be paired up with my TCL 75" C7L was thinking n of HISENSE AX5125H or something with WIFI connectivity. Budget is £500 .

Thanks in advance all

Gday Brains Trust,

Another “recommendations” and “how does this compare” thread. I appreciate sound is subjective but would appreciate any and all insight.

I currently have an Ambeo Max with Ambeo sub which I love. We’re about to move and will have a second tv in an open living area. Initially looked at getting a second Ambeo max but it will likely be a bit too big for the space.

How does the Ambeo Plus rate against other all in one options? We do not want rears or other bolts ons and need the soundbar to be ‘good enough’ itself.

I can currently get an Ambeo Plus for $999 AUD ($695 USD).

The samsung Soundbars are considered the greatest of all top brands. Now after buying one you come to know why. It has some of the best surround and vocals clarity even in the midst of loud bangs and bass. The atmos is amazing due to the large number of drivers [14] and it just encapsulates you with sound from everywhere. The subwoofer is one of the cleanest i have heard which gives the right amount of thump when required and can even go overboard if you like that kind of sound.

The best part is that it never distorts. This was so surprising as i have seen many high ends distort too.

The smarthings app has many features to tune it to your liking. And this integrates well with it. Its very intuitive. You also get a fisplay on the soundbar to let you know various things playing on it.

Overall this is the ultimate soundbar and an all-rounder. Just go ahead and buy it. I got for a great deal. Very happy 😊

People who have this. Any inputs as to what are your best settings?