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I am looking to purchase a new Soundbar (Not going onto why Soundbar why not speaker setup)

 

My Budget: $1000


My shortlist:

-Yamaha YSP 2700

-Bose 700

-Focal Dimension Soundbar

 Am I overlooking or missed  any ?

cant find a place where I can hear all 3 together and compare, hence seek your advise.

 

anyone who can help 

Love Focal products hence Dimension made it to the list but never heard it.

 

To be attached to a 4K HDR 75 inch TV connected to a Xbox One X for movies and gaming.

Mainly Youtube , Netflix and Foxtel usage.

Good music output is a plus but not a must.

 

Thanks

 

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I was at a similar "fork in the road" a few years ago and decided for an 2nd hand amp and new "bookshelf" speakers. I may be wrong, however just do not see any soundbar competing against a decent (nothing fancy) amp/bookshelf combo. Speakers on stands preferably.

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If you can stretch a few more $ the top Samsung with a

Atmos and wireless sub and surrounds is a cracking good unit, RRP is $1990 but can be had on sale for $1300 or perhaps even less.

 

i have had many full HT systems worth much much more and this keeps me and wife very happy without the footprint and cable runs of a 7.2.2 system

 

 

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53 minutes ago, Chill3 said:

If you can stretch a few more $ the top Samsung with a

Atmos and wireless sub and surrounds is a cracking good unit, RRP is $1990 but can be had on sale for $1300 or perhaps even less.

 

i have had many full HT systems worth much much more and this keeps me and wife very happy without the footprint and cable runs of a 7.2.2 system

 

 

I went out with my son to help him look for a TV and sound bar for his new house.

The TOTR Samsung is what we went for. Surprisingly the Atmos speakers work really well and the sub fills the room amazingly.

I think that $1300 price was about what he paid.

Highly recommended.

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I haven't heard all of them in one room with the same movie but my impression was that Focal would give you the clearest dialogues and overall better sound quality but it doesn't come with subwoofer. Also Focal is only 5.1 (with extra subwoofer) and has limited amount of inputs. 

Samsung has plenty of features including dolby atmos. 

Hard to say. 

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I am not sure that a soundbar based Atmos is a real thing or not. I mean i understand that the soundbar cannot replace the separate speaker setup , hence I am thinking, how much of viewing actually will be in ATMOS coded videos (1-3 per month may be)

and

claiming ATMOS v/s actual delivering ATMOS quality (with actual 7 speakers) is this just a marketing gimmick ?

 

I want the FOCAL (BTW with subwoofer it is $1000) which also acts as a TV Base .

 

But my concern is , if Samsung actually delivers ATMOS etc & if BOSE is better sounding than FOCAL (as focal is 5 yrs old now) , I might be wrong & would have wasted $1000

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On 25/12/2019 at 6:34 AM, peppy said:

I am looking to purchase a new Soundbar (Not going onto why Soundbar why not speaker setup)

 

My Budget: $1000


My shortlist:

-Yamaha YSP 2700

-Bose 700

-Focal Dimension Soundbar

 Am I overlooking or missed  any ?

cant find a place where I can hear all 3 together and compare, hence seek your advise.

 

anyone who can help 

Love Focal products hence Dimension made it to the list but never heard it.

 

To be attached to a 4K HDR 75 inch TV connected to a Xbox One X for movies and gaming.

Mainly Youtube , Netflix and Foxtel usage.

Good music output is a plus but not a must.

 

Thanks

 

This one sounds good:

 

 

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1 minute ago, TDX said:

then I wouldn’t bother to buy a sound bar. Go upgraded to proper speakers.  

yes , you are right. I was at Videopro Newstead just now...and realised that in the last 40 mins that i might not like any soundbar. When he played B&W 606 .....i realised that the soundbar hunt should be over..

Still hoping against hope with the FOCAL Dimension though

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10 minutes ago, peppy said:

yes , you are right. I was at Videopro Newstead just now...and realised that in the last 40 mins that i might not like any soundbar. When he played B&W 606 .....i realised that the soundbar hunt should be over..

Still hoping against hope with the FOCAL Dimension though

I was exactly the same as you, wishing for a good quality sound bar. But that’s cheating myself and I decided to get a pair of proper speaker.  

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5 hours ago, TDX said:

I was exactly the same as you, wishing for a good quality sound bar. But that’s cheating myself and I decided to get a pair of proper speaker.  

It seems i am turning towards B&W 606 AMAZING sound... Trying to find a suitable amp that does spotify etc as well & does not create a massive hole in my pocket

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37 minutes ago, peppy said:

It seems i am turning towards B&W 606 AMAZING sound... Trying to find a suitable amp that does spotify etc as well & does not create a massive hole in my pocket

Maybe this? Google bluesound power node

some old one quite cheap. 
 

of cos there are other options but this one quite easy and have some cheap version. 

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On 25/12/2019 at 11:00 PM, peppy said:

I am not sure that a soundbar based Atmos is a real thing or not. I mean i understand that the soundbar cannot replace the separate speaker setup , hence I am thinking, how much of viewing actually will be in ATMOS coded videos (1-3 per month may be)

and

claiming ATMOS v/s actual delivering ATMOS quality (with actual 7 speakers) is this just a marketing gimmick ?

 

I want the FOCAL (BTW with subwoofer it is $1000) which also acts as a TV Base .

 

But my concern is , if Samsung actually delivers ATMOS etc & if BOSE is better sounding than FOCAL (as focal is 5 yrs old now) , I might be wrong & would have wasted $1000

That Focal used to be $2000 (with subwoofer). 

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12 hours ago, peppy said:

the point is , is it worth it ? Even at $1000 ? Given Samsung Q90r & Yamaha YSP-2700 are available at that price

Why don't you try it yourself? You can take your favourite action 4k movie with bluray player to the shop. Don't listen to demo, only real movie.

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9 hours ago, Irek said:

Why don't you try it yourself? You can take your favourite action 4k movie with bluray player to the shop. Don't listen to demo, only real movie.

just came back home from Brissy and went straight to Addicted to Audio.

Focal Dimension is a musical speaker at best, a good one at that, not a soundbar. The music overpowers the dialogues, Bose 700 is way ahead as a soundbar but cant match the music ability of Focal.

 

So all in all, its a big No, for the Focal.

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20 hours ago, peppy said:

just came back home from Brissy and went straight to Addicted to Audio.

Focal Dimension is a musical speaker at best, a good one at that, not a soundbar. The music overpowers the dialogues, Bose 700 is way ahead as a soundbar but cant match the music ability of Focal.

 

So all in all, its a big No, for the Focal.

So I guess now it's Bose vs Samsung vs Yamaha. I just checked that Bose is coming with subwoofer and surround speakers (for a little bit extra).

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On 25/12/2019 at 8:34 AM, peppy said:

I am looking to purchase a new Soundbar (Not going onto why Soundbar why not speaker setup)

 

My Budget: $1000


My shortlist:

-Yamaha YSP 2700

-Bose 700

-Focal Dimension Soundbar

 Am I overlooking or missed  any ?

cant find a place where I can hear all 3 together and compare, hence seek your advise.

 

anyone who can help 

Love Focal products hence Dimension made it to the list but never heard it.

 

To be attached to a 4K HDR 75 inch TV connected to a Xbox One X for movies and gaming.

Mainly Youtube , Netflix and Foxtel usage.

Good music output is a plus but not a must.

 

Thanks

 

I was just asking about the LG soundbars here  

 

 

The SL10YG is under $1000 at the moment.  Bonus for me is it is 5.1.2 AND has Google Assistant and Chromecast built in.

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If you have an AVR than a passive sound bar could be worth looking at. 
 

I run a James loudspeaker SPL6QLCR which is left, centre and right in one unit, with 3 seperate channels (ie you need 3 seperate runs of speaker cable) 

 

paired with a sub it works extremely well for HT and is very wife friendly 

 

https://www.jamesloudspeaker.com/products/208

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Samsung Q90r is bad to say the least, very boxy, very hollow. (bloody re-enforces my thought of reviews are mostly paid/sponsored)

Liked Yamaha YSP 5600MK2, but the nil HDR & (latest fad word support), kills the deal for me.

Bose with Subwoofer & Rears is costing $2000, something 'does not sound' right in spending as much on a soundbar setup.

 

Now , considering

Yamaha RXV 685

+

Q Acoustics 3020i Front Speakers

+

Q Acoustics Center 3090

+

Yamaha MusicCast 20 Wireless rears

+

Subwoofer SW - 100

 

All for $2200.....

Yes it's high price from my budget, but the only good sounding Soundbar i found was Bose 700 and that too is costing me $2000.

 

Phew.....!!!!! Decisions ......   :(

 

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1 hour ago, doomigee2 said:

If you have an AVR than a passive sound bar could be worth looking at. 
 

I run a James loudspeaker SPL6QLCR which is left, centre and right in one unit, with 3 seperate channels (ie you need 3 seperate runs of speaker cable) 

 

paired with a sub it works extremely well for HT and is very wife friendly 

 

https://www.jamesloudspeaker.com/products/208

interesting ...cant see pricing on the website

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On 26/12/2019 at 9:21 PM, TDX said:

Only problem I can think of is lack of centre speaker the vocal may not be clear enough for you. 

I've only got an 80s vintage stereo amp with bookshelves. However the amp has A + B speaker outs (selectable individually or together). Have connected a chunky EPOS M8i Centre Speaker to B speaker outputs. Works a treat for fillums (on its own or in unison with bookshelves).  Would highly recommend this.

 

image.png.110e93987e72540f8d7d69e51f7e224a.png

 

Obviously multichannel amps/receivers will have dedicated centre channel outs, however I never liked the multichannel amps much.

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