Soundbars

[KneesUp]

Just to say, if you ever start to have issues with switching on, don't panic - there's a fix on the web.

Cheers - all I've had is a dodgy remote, and the proper ones are hard to find now, and expensive when you do. And of course the universal replacements have all the buttons labelled incorrectly. Fortunately I just had to take it apart and clean the 'button pressy bits' (not sure of the technical name) and it's been fine since. I've only had to do it once. That's the sum total of maintenance in 15 years so far but sometimes now if you turn it off with the remote it comes straight back on again, so I suppose I might have invest another 10 minutes in cleaning the internals again at some point :-)

 

[Bonefish Blues]

Cheers - all I've had is a dodgy remote, and the proper ones are hard to find now, and expensive when you do. And of course the universal replacements have all the buttons labelled incorrectly. Fortunately I just had to take it apart and clean the 'button pressy bits' (not sure of the technical name) and it's been fine since. I've only had to do it once. That's the sum total of maintenance in 15 years so far but sometimes now if you turn it off with the remote it comes straight back on again, so I suppose I might have invest another 10 minutes in cleaning the internals again at some point :-)

https://www.avforums.com/threads/yamaha-ysp-1000-power-problem.1195283/

 

[rockyroller]

I got one for my car, temporarily, long story. this one is USB powered & worked well enough for the car, plugged into my phone. not suitable for our living room
NJSJ CP666 Computer Sound Bar Speaker,USB Powered Wired Stereo Speakers with 3.5mm Aux Input,Mini Soundbar for PC/Tablets/Desktop/Laptop/Cellphones
for our Daughter's small TV, we added separate external speakers (2), that are a big improvement over the tiny built in speaker(s)

 

[Kestevan]

If your going for a soundbar to primarily enhance speech, get at least a 3.1 system with a central speaker. Ideally one where you can turn down the left and right volume and boost centre. Makes a big difference.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Interested in how it makes the dialogue worse as that is the main reason we want one.

Picked up a Sharp Soundbar in Tesco this morning only to find our TV is that ancient it is not compatible with it!!

However did try playing some music via Bluetooth from the phone and at low volume the sound was not great.

Admittedly it is only the 2.0 bar and I appreciate you get what you pay for.

I think as mentioned further down, in general with 'Movie Mode' it creates a big wide and immersive deep soundstage due to 'delay' and equalisation effects but at the cost of some vocal clarity (depends on make/model etc). Mine also has a Music mode. In Clear Speech mode the overall sound is much thinner and lightweight but the vocal frequencies are boosted and brought to the fore ...maybe you can have movie and clear-speech together - not tried!
Positioning is another thing, the height relative to your seating position and any reflection off of the surface on which it's sitting, will get a photo of ours to explain better later.

 

[MrGrumpy]

The son and the daughter both have their TV's mounted high on the wall, I find it uncomfortable looking up them it doesn't seem natural to me, we have ours mounted on the wall but at an height that is level with us when we are sat comfortably on the sofa, I understand it in pubs etc so everybody can see, but never grasped the advantage at home, it does keep the kids sticky fingers off it though.

That fireplace is coming out !! Plan to fit something sleeker into the wall. The TV will sit lower . I agree about some that I’ve seen being too high

 

[ColinJ]

There's a lot of mumbling going on in too many modern TV shows... the only thing that works for me on such shows is a pair of wireless headphones

One of the worst culprits for me is Spencer Kelly on BBC Click. He often starts off perfectly audible, but then drifts down into a mumble.

TBH, my hearing is a bit iffy and there are certain frequencies that I pretty much can't hear so it could be that he happens to go into one of those dead zones. I used to work with someone who was the same. I would literally have to get him to repeat what he said 5 or 6 times before I could hear enough to get the message. The thing is, he was quite capable of speaking clearly when he made the effort, but as soon as he stopped thinking about, he went back into mumble-mode...

 

[matticus]

In the Good Old Days, everybody on telly (or in a movie) had been to RADA. So they knew how to project, and to enunciate. They could fill Wembley Stadium with their unamplified voice, even while doing a "stage whisper" !

So as usual, it's newcomers and modern tech that have messed everything up.

 

[ColinJ]

I think as mentioned further down, in general with 'Movie Mode' it creates a big wide and immersive deep soundstage due to 'delay' and equalisation effects but at the cost of some vocal clarity (depends on make/model etc). Mine also has a Music mode. In Clear Speech mode the overall sound is much thinner and lightweight but the vocal frequencies are boosted and brought to the fore ...maybe you can have movie and clear-speech together - not tried!

Hmm... good point! I forgot that MY soundbar has a mode setting. I will experiment with the various modes next time somebody mumbles on TV.

I have adjusted the treble (up) and bass (down) for speech but maybe the modes do a bit more.

In the Good Old Days, everybody on telly (or in a movie) had been to RADA. So they knew how to project, and to enunciate. They could fill Wembley Stadium with their unamplified voice, even while doing a "stage whisper" !

So as usual, it's newcomers and modern tech that have messed everything up.

I was reading something just now where a TV star was saying just that. He said that he had worked with actors who mumbled so much that he had to lip-read to tell when they had finished their lines and it was time for him to speak, and that was when he was standing only about 4 feet from them!

 

[LeetleGreyCells]

I was reading something just now where a TV star was saying just that. He said that he had worked with actors who mumbled so much that he had to lip-read to tell when they had finished their lines and it was time for him to speak, and that was when he was standing only about 4 feet from them!

The rest of us don’t stand any chance of hearing them then!

 

[ColinJ]

The rest of us don’t stand any chance of hearing them then!

He said that directors seemed too scared of the mumblers to tell them to speak more clearly!

I just found THIS on the BBC website. They are saying similar things to us...

Dialogue is fine if you turn it up loud!

Not necessarily true... I have sometimes put 30+ dB of gain on, STILL not been able to make out what was being said, and then got deafened when some loud of noise followed the mumbled conversation!

 

[jim55]

I'm afraid our TV doesn't have a headphone socket so that way of controlling the volume isn't possible.

Your TV should have an output for sound ( gen 2 black and red terminals- or if it's new an optical output ( but some amps don't have an input for this ) ,however most hi-fi will have an aux input ,so from TV to hi-fi using aux input ,and control volume with hi-fi remote ,turn sound on TV off( as it's gen a weird effect if TV and hi-fi have sound output) obv u still use TV remote as well ( or buy one of those ones that control multiple units😎

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I have a Yamaha YSP soundbar as well. Probably about 10 years old and has three HDMI inputs as well as optical etc plus iPod dock and built in Dab. I can do Dolby 5.1 plus some of the other surround profiles and has various other profiles for music etc. As above comes with microphone with long cable. Put the microphone where you will be sitting. Press auto setup and leave the room. Really great for movies and opens up the soundscape and the surround bit really does work.

 

[matticus]

I just found THIS on the BBC website. They are saying similar things to us...

Truly pathetic excuses from Daisy Goodwin. 🤦‍♀️

 

[Fab Foodie]

View from my chair. Soundbar is roughly ear heihht because TV is on a tallish cupboards. Even like this moving the bar back towards the TV or forward to the edge of the cabinet impacts the clarity of speech. Raising it onto those small blocks improves clarity as does siting it nearer the edge.
I suspect these are actually designed to work on much lower TV stands, pushed back from the edge and allowing some reflection upwards to create soundstage rather than siting higher-up.
In any case as with any audio equipment a little work in placement reaps benefits.