Has anyone bought a sound bar for use with a TV? My home cinema system is playing up so I was wondering wether to replace it with a cheap Blu ray player and a sound bar. Anyone any experience of a sound bar, are they any good or is it better to stick with surround sound speakers??

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I've got one, a Yamaha, about £800 bought just before Christmas last year, absolutely fantastic better than sound surround, you get the same effect but without the wires or extra speakers. You do need to calibrate them for where you sit, but that is simple enough. Should you not have a smart TV get a smart Blueray dvd player and a good sound bar, you then have everything. Go to Richer sounds and they will demonstrate it for you, there is quite a difference between various bars so worth while having a demo. my PC is slightly to the right of Genghis
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I have a Panasonic one that was bundled with the new TV. They are ok, but nothing particularly special.....if I'm watching a DVD I turn it off and put the Technics Surround Sound and Sub Woofer on....might be old late 90's technology, but sounds significantly better. Foraging near Gaydon....
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Mine sounds the same Yamaha as mentioned above,not cheap but it sounds amazing with a movie or music.

I got a deal on a bose solo with a new tv. Very impressed with it for the money. Especially good if you don't want speakers and wires around the room. Sits neatly under the tv.

We tried a B&W Panorama 2 for a week.
To put into context the tv was on a corner unit in the er, corner of the living room
With the panorama in front. The Mrs and I sitting a few feet apart at the other end of the room.
To be honest the clarity of sound was wonderful. Lots of bass despite no separate subwoofer
But it was the detail that you could hear that was noticeable. However, I rarely noticed any surround effects.
So swapped it out for B&W speakers and an Onkyo amp.
Yes the surround effects are better and the sound is decent but due to where we sit even with 5
Separate speakers it was hard to find a decent sweet spot for both of us.
We wish we had just kept the panorama.
Check out the Yamaha range too.

Also have an old (5 years or so) Yamaha sound bar which is pretty good. Our tv is in the corner and with modern rear facing speakers that TVs have these days it bounces the sound all over the place. We don't use it for day to day TV, only for films etc where it adds a lot.

I have a Bose Wave III and use the headphone socket(s) to run a double ended headphone cable from the TV to the Bose

Interesting Badger, we wanted a Panasonic TV with a sound bar so everything was on one set of buttons, but my Richer Sounds store didn't sell Panasonic sound bars due to their poor sound quality. Whether this was all Richer Sounds stores or just mine I'm not sure, this was back in December 2013, so things may have changed. my PC is slightly to the right of Genghis
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Thanks for all the replies

Ive got a Blu ray 2.1 home cinema system. Ive got a few dvd discs that work on my other dvd player but not on this one. I am going to get a cleaning disc to see if this solves the problem, if not i'll start looking at a new system.

I like the idea of a sound bar, I was thinking of getting a cheaper Blu ray player and a sound bar but looking around its a cheap to get a 5.1 system as it is to get a sound bar/player. Ive got a Panasonic TV so I'll look at what Panasonic do first so I can use just one remote. I'll take on board what Badger said about Panasonic sound bars.

Thanks all again for your replies! Black MY2013 SD4 GS Auto, Wood Company Armrest, Freel2 sticker.
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