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Sound Bar Recommendation

Cnasty

Cnasty

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jul 2, 2008
3,336
2,106
I am in the market for a sound bar as my living room set up isnt ideal for a full surround system and dont want wires everywhere.

I am looking at last years model of the SONY HTCT660 but the new moddel, the 770 is currently on sale at BB.

Any other competitors to check out or feedback on how well these work with the ATV as that is where most of my streaming comes from for sports and movies for AIRPLAY.

Appreciate any feedback!
 
I have the vizio 38" soundbar with wireless subwoofer. Packs a nice punch and if you want louder you can go bigger
 
Cnasty said:
I am in the market for a sound bar as my living room set up isnt ideal for a full surround system and dont want wires everywhere.

I am looking at last years model of the SONY HTCT660 but the new moddel, the 770 is currently on sale at BB.

Any other competitors to check out or feedback on how well these work with the ATV as that is where most of my streaming comes from for sports and movies for AIRPLAY.

Appreciate any feedback!
Click to expand...

I have the 660 and really like it!
 
HDMI CEC / ARC / Bluetooth

I went with panasonic because it had audio return channel capabilities meaning the HDMI sent audio from whatever was plugged into the sound bar and also sent audio information from the television (tv & apps) and whatever else was plugged in. If your TV supports ARC it is the easiest way to set things up, and you can continue to use one remote to control everything. I also wanted bluetooth to stream music to my bar... instead of using the tv's pandora app. I went 2.0 because I live in an apt but would have opted for 2.1 if i did not.
 
Figured better to resurect a few year old thread and add on to the information:

I'm also looking for similar featured Sound bar but with HDMI audio pass through and under $300 preferably. Any suggestions?
 
I just helped my brother in law install two soundbars in his new house.

With his 60" Vizio in the upstairs family room we installed this one:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/vizio-s...eless-subwoofer-black/4969603.p?skuId=4969603

For his 60" Sony in the main floor living room we installed this one:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/sony-2-...gital-amplifier-black/4890300.p?skuId=4890300

The Sony soundbar has 3 HDMI in, and one HDMI out with ARC. This allowed us to hook both the cable box and his Blu-Ray player up to the soundbar with HDMI and then run one HDMI cable thru the wall to his TV. This soundbar sounds excellent, and switching thru is allows him to get the full benefit of DTS HDMA and Dolby TrueHD, which he would have lost if we switched thru his TV and only used HDMI ARC. He can add wireless rear speakers to this setup later if he wants, but the shape of the room will make this a bit awkward so he isn't planning on doing so at this time.

The Vizio suondbar doesn't sound quite as good as the Sony, and it doesn't have HDMI inputs for running everything thru it. So we had to run 3 HDMI cable thru the wall to hook up his cable box, Blu-Ray Player, and X-Box 360. We then run one HDMI out from his TV's ARC input to the soundbars HDMI ARC port. So there we have to switch inputs on the TV and sound comes thru the soundbar. The sound is definitely better than using the TV speakers alone, and isn't bad at all, just not quote as nice as the Sony downstairs. The slim subwoofer and rear speakers are nice for him to have up there where the layout is much more conducive to rear speakers. He didn't want to spend the extra money upstairs that it would have cost to buy another of the Sony soundbars and the additional rear speakers.

Overall he is happy with both. It is really all about what you are looking for features wise. If you really need HDMI switching in the soundbar, and don't need rear speakers right away I highly recommend the Sony. We were able to get a great deal on it at $170 because it was the store demo (the HTCT790 has been replaced by the HTCT800) and the remote was missing. He uses a Harmony remote so that was no big deal to us. If you are ok with open box you may be able to find this model in your price range. The lower models do not have HDMI switching. Sony is pretty much the only one that does until you get into the more expensive Klipsch around $700 I believe.
 
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Beerstalker said:
I just helped my brother in law install two soundbars in his new house.

With his 60" Vizio in the upstairs family room we installed this one:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/vizio-s...eless-subwoofer-black/4969603.p?skuId=4969603

For his 60" Sony in the main floor living room we installed this one:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/sony-2-...gital-amplifier-black/4890300.p?skuId=4890300

The Sony soundbar has 3 HDMI in, and one HDMI out with ARC. This allowed us to hook both the cable box and his Blu-Ray player up to the soundbar with HDMI and then run one HDMI cable thru the wall to his TV. This soundbar sounds excellent, and switching thru is allows him to get the full benefit of DTS HDMA and Dolby TrueHD, which he would have lost if we switched thru his TV and only used HDMI ARC. He can add wireless rear speakers to this setup later if he wants, but the shape of the room will make this a bit awkward so he isn't planning on doing so at this time.

The Vizio suondbar doesn't sound quite as good as the Sony, and it doesn't have HDMI inputs for running everything thru it. So we had to run 3 HDMI cable thru the wall to hook up his cable box, Blu-Ray Player, and X-Box 360. We then run one HDMI out from his TV's ARC input to the soundbars HDMI ARC port. So there we have to switch inputs on the TV and sound comes thru the soundbar. The sound is definitely better than using the TV speakers alone, and isn't bad at all, just not quote as nice as the Sony downstairs. The slim subwoofer and rear speakers are nice for him to have up there where the layout is much more conducive to rear speakers. He didn't want to spend the extra money upstairs that it would have cost to buy another of the Sony soundbars and the additional rear speakers.

Overall he is happy with both. It is really all about what you are looking for features wise. If you really need HDMI switching in the soundbar, and don't need rear speakers right away I highly recommend the Sony. We were able to get a great deal on it at $170 because it was the store demo (the HTCT790 has been replaced by the HTCT800) and the remote was missing. He uses a Harmony remote so that was no big deal to us. If you are ok with open box you may be able to find this model in your price range. The lower models do not have HDMI switching. Sony is pretty much the only one that does until you get into the more expensive Klipsch around $700 I believe.
Click to expand...

Thank you for this thorough explanation, truly appreciate you taking the time!

I'm not understanding though whether I should hook my devices to the soundbar and running one cable to the TV or just one cable from soundbar to TV? Is this only talking about devices that HDMI in and out?

I have a PS4, Apple TV, and Cable box to use with the soundbar. Which should I go with?
 
It depends on what TV model you have, and if you care about the advanced audio codecs like Dolby TrueHD, Atmos, DTS HDMA, etc. Many older TVs can't output advanced audio codecs out their HDMI ARC outputs, some can't even put out old school DD or DTS out of their optical outputs, they only do stereo.
 
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Beerstalker said:
It depends on what TV model you have, and if you care about the advanced audio codecs like Dolby TrueHD, Atmos, DTS HDMA, etc. Many older TVs can't output advanced audio codecs out their HDMI ARC outputs, some can't even put out old school DD or DTS out of their optical outputs, they only do stereo.
Click to expand...

Honestly, if we're talking about sound bar quality audio, the audio codec isn't going to matter. Only caveat would be if he wants to add surround speakers to the sound bar (and it's capable), in which case the limitation on some TV's of only outputting stereo comes into play. To figure that out though, we need the TV model number.
 
vipergts2207 said:
Honestly, if we're talking about sound bar quality audio, the audio codec isn't going to matter. Only caveat would be if he wants to add surround speakers to the sound bar (and it's capable), in which case the limitation on some TV's of only outputting stereo comes into play. To figure that out though, we need the TV model number.
Click to expand...

I think this is the one I bought about a years ago.
 
vipergts2207 said:
I looked at the LG site and did a google search and I can't find info on whether it supports more than stereo out over ARC/optical. Anyway, I recommend skipping the sound bar and getting a receiver and a pair of bookshelf speakers.
Click to expand...

My living room is not that big. I previously had a Vizio soundbar hooked up through the optical cable but gave it away to my parents and want the HDMI because of the audio pass through feature
 
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