I just got a samsung QLED TV. So naturally, I’m looking for a decent sound system for it. Can anyone recommend a good sound bar system? I think 300$ is my budget. Maybe 350$ .IDK if thats too little or about right for a nice quality one. I’m pretty picky about sound so I don’t want one that’s low quality. But I also don’t want to go into the 1k range.
The Yamaha YAS-207 is not too shabby. They cost nt$10,999 at Costco here in Taiwan.
The sound is surprisingly good, it’s ridiculously easy to set up, and you can control whether you want to listen to surround sound (movies or music) or simple 2ch stereo music.
The only complaint I have is that if I drop the remote on the floor, I sometimes have to reseat the battery (it takes a CR2025, coin-sized battery) in order to make the remote work again. That has happened twice in the past year, although I’ve dropped the remote probably ten times. I think it’s an excellent value.
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I got a definitive one on sale for $750. The bass sends the cat out of the room. Home theater indeed. Spend more. You’ll use it every day.
I know, it’s just that i’ll only be in my current location for maybe 11 more months. I don’t see myself bringing it with me. If I knew I was going to be here a few years, I’d get a high end 1K+ kind of thing.
Dude, why deny yourself for near a full year? Are you Catholic? What would American Jesus do?
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I’ll keep looking and see what else is out there and consider you recommendation.
Technology can often be more expensive in Italy so I’ll have to see how the price compares here. Usually if its 500 USD it’s also 500 euros so it kind of sucks.
Does it sound good when it gets louder? How’s the base?
Up to a point, yes. It is what it is. This kind of speaker system is not going to chase the cat out of the room, though. I’ve never looked up the frequency response, but I’d be surprised if it sends out anything bass-ier than than 50Hz, maybe 45Hz (a very good subwoofer is going to generate sound waves as low as 15Hz).
I’m not a gamer, so hey. I mostly listen to jazz in Taiwan, and it’s fine for that. I listen to some youtube music but mostly files I keep on a portable hard drive and access through my Apple Music account on an AppleTV. That’s an important consideration at this price point: there is an optical input and a 3.5mm input, and two HDMI inputs. That’s it. I listen to music through one of the HDMI inputs, which is connected to my AppleTV on the other end.
Maybe you can find one to listen to irl in Italy and check out the sound for yourself.
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I’ll look around. Italy is pretty slow on new technology. I’m not in Milan or Rome. My town has a electric store that has an old ad for color TV still on the door lol.
Wish there was like a Best Buy.
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Off-topic question: have you found a way to have the tv picture turned off, and yet you can still listen to music through the sound bar? I listen through the Apple TV as well, but wish I could turn off the picture. Often if I listen to music it’s while I’m reading, and I wind up facing away from the tv because the pretty pictures are too distracting.
No, I haven’t. I have a youtube video of a burning fireplace in my Apple photo album, and through my AppleTV settings I can choose it as my background image. I can flip it over to the fireplace vid if I don’t like the images that stream across the tv.
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Thanks! I like that idea.
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I might get the Yamaha YAS 207, I realized in my apartment, the walls are rather thin. I probably can’t put the sound up to high anyways and my room is middle size anyways.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwPsvO26TpI
I’m also looking at bose 500, I’ve had good experiences with bose speakers before. But it’s 400euros while the Yamaha is 200.
The Yamaha 400 looks amazing as well. But it’s 560 euros. IDK if i want to spend that much for a soundbar.
I used to own a Bose surround sound system for my living room. Frankly I think the Bose are overpriced given the quality of sound they produce. The system I had was like US$2,500 and that was too much imo. That’s something I suspected all along, but now know given the YAS-207 I have now. The Bose system was excellent for vocal, pop, jazz music - anything that didn’t need to reproduce a strong bass. The YAS-207 isn’t much behind in those departments, imo.
I do this, too. Always thinking the next product up the line will be the better choice because it’s more expensive. A kind of compulsive shopping behavior of mine, unfortunately.
Can’t offer any opinion on the 400. If you can’t hear to compare, though, and if you have the money, you’ll probably be happier choosing the 400. Just in case (that’s how I would think about it, anyway).
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I’m also looking at this,
Samsung MS65. 350$.
So many options.
There has to be some store with a sound room in Italy, surely. You really need to compare these systems side by side, and with your own games/music/music.
If you can’t compare directly, and if it’s only for 11 months, then all the searching you’re doing is probably unnecessary. I’d probably just pull the trigger on one and live with the consequences.
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There is one electronic store that’s relatively big. I’ll check it out. But it’s nothing like the ones I’m used to. They’re also 2x more than amazon sometimes. So I just look and buy online
Italy’s retail industry is kinda of lucky as of now in Italy if they can afford taxes to stay open. Italy has the lowest percentage of internet users in the EU lol. And most are old and don’t know or trust online shopping.
There was a time where I would have just picked the top of the line more expensive one and not think twice. But as I get older I learned to be more reasonable. Especially with my own personal expenses and savings to use. Not bad as I’ve been lucky to not have rent in Italy. But I eat a lot. And I like to eat out as well. Most of my expenses end up being food. Italy has the highest grocery prices in the EU. It’s one thing to enjoy a vacation here another when you live here eating.
Taiwan is a good place to eat on a budget.
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How is the clarity and crispness of voices in movies and show?. This part is important for me, the main reason I want to get a sound bar. I have trouble hearing people talk clearly for a lot of TV and lower quality speakers.
It’s really good. There is a gray button on the remote (left side), called “CLEAR VOICE,” that will bring voices to the front of the soundstage. I turn it off when I want to listen to music, but for watching video it’s kept on. Voices and dialogue become instantly more clear. Actually it enhances vocal music, too.
By the way, there is a 4th way to import your music, via Bluetooth (which obviously I never use 
). Input is controlled remotely via the four white buttons on top of the remote.
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If you can wait till Black Friday, you can get a refurbished set for roughly $400.