Soundbars, sound projectors etc

[Grant]

I'm not seeing a thread dedicated to comments on these things.

So let me start off with my own comments - and frustrations, these are specific to the environment in case - a home office.
This is using existing sound equipment.

Initially I had a pair of old Bose 901 speakers. These took up a bit too much space.
With them , you have the speakers themselves, + amplifier + audio source + cables.

I then figured I would slim things down to using a yamaha sound projector.
So here one has integrated speakers and amplifier.
Sound quality is less than that of the bose setup.
In all, still a little clumsy.

Next up was taking that all out and using a jbl boombox.
big jump down in sound quality - but a whole lot neater.
no end to tweaking sound settings could i reach a sweet sound.

Out went the boombox, and in came a jbl partybox100
both the boombox & partybox lack the sound stage (separation) the bose & yamaha had.
partybox produces fairly decent sound (for the environment) - but always seems to feel overwhelming, no matter the volume or sound settings.

Tomorrow I'm going to revert to the yamaha, but somehow suspect I'll land up stepping even further back to the bose - a full circle turned - like a hamster in a wheel.

I'm certain others here have travelled a similar path. What is your experience on this.
What to do, what to do !!



here is the partybox - under a side table, not the best spot, but given its bulk not many options - also tried moving it around to no avail:



boombox - stock photo






yamaha - stock photo



bose - stock photo

 

[Lupus]

Currently for the TV lounge, JBL 9.1 Soundbar,in the main lounge Sony HT-X8500 and the room has a Hisense HS205.
I had this thing, but it was terrible

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I mean muddy sound, bass was off. It put me off sound bars till the Sony.

 

[Grant]

Oh - a note: using Macbook pro (bluetooth) as audio source.

Interestingly, differing mbp's have differing audio quality.

I hauled the very oldest out of a back shelf - it's running Snow Leopard.
It has itunes 11.4 loaded with the srs iwow plugin.
the sound quality is a world apart from the very much newer mbp's.

seems like i may use it as the audio source going forward.

**itunes sounds kak on the newer mbp's, so itunes was abandoned in favour of vlc - given vlc's much wider audio adjustments.
even vlc on the newer macs cant get close to the old one with the iwow plugin.
iwow plugin allows a bit more adjustment than native itunes.
unfortunately iwow is 32bit & no longer compatible with 64bit versions of itunes



anyway - still going to try yamaha tomorrow

 

[Grant]

Currently for the TV lounge, JBL 9.1 Soundbar,in the main lounge Sony HT-X8500 and the room has a Hisense HS205.
I had this thing, but it was terrible

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I mean muddy sound, bass was off. It put me off sound bars till the Sony.

yea

i suspect one has to try various soundbars in the environment it is destined for - not a case of "one size fits all"

 

[Lupus]

yea

i suspect one has to try various soundbars in the environment it is destined for - not a case of "one size fits all"

Yup there is definitely no one size fits all. Sometimes I do miss having all the speakers around, but even on my JBL 9.1 I barely take the rear speakers off anymore.