# Soundbars



## Chislenko (14 Feb 2021)

Opinions from those who have, worth it / not worth it, do you plug in your TV or Sky box?

Not bothered about music quality more to give more clarity to spoken word in TV programmes.

Watching something American called Briarpatch at the moment and I seem to be getting one word in three with the TV on volume 70!! Can watch UK news with it on 6!


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## stoatsngroats (14 Feb 2021)

Yes, we have a LG one, not expensive, maybe under £80 a few years ago, and made a world of difference to the TV mounted speakers.
Connected optically.


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## Bonefish Blues (14 Feb 2021)

Yes, absolutely, and a little sub. too.

OTOH the little Roku soundbar is getting great reviews, and if greater clarity is what you are seeking is probably all you need.


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## ColinJ (14 Feb 2021)

They are definitely worth it unless your TV has pretty good internal speakers, which most _don't_.

I bought mine 6 years ago at a bargain price but improved models are available now. If I could afford to buy a better one I would and would use the current one with a turbo trainer TV/monitor.

Mine uses an optical link from the TV. 

Some smart tech trickery switches the soundbar on/off with the TV and the soundbar responds to the TV volume control so I could do away with the soundbar remote, but I don't because it has extra controls for bass/treble/sub woofer which I sometimes adjust.


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## Drago (14 Feb 2021)

I also have an LG sound bar.

TV manufacturers aren't daft. They deliberstely make new TV's sound crap so they can sell the buyer a sound bar too.


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## PaulSB (14 Feb 2021)

I have an LG TV and soundbar. The improvement in sound quality and clarity is significant.


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## Chislenko (14 Feb 2021)

Thanks to all, I guess I'll get one with the money saved not being able to go to the pub🍺🍺


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## ColinJ (14 Feb 2021)

Drago said:


> TV manufacturers aren't daft. They deliberstely make new TV's sound crap do they can sell the buy a sound bar too


To be fair... If consumers insist on TVs being about the thickness of a sheet of paper, there is not a lot of room for decent speakers!


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## Drago (14 Feb 2021)

Chislenko said:


> Thanks to all, I guess I'll get one with the money saved not being able to go to the pub🍺🍺


As a handy tip that may be worth considering. My Dad uses PC speakers - quite expensive ones, not cheapo Logitech jobs, and they sound much better than a soundbar for about the same price as a moderately decent soundbar. Not feasible if your tv is wall mounted, but a viable alternative if its free standing.


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## Chislenko (14 Feb 2021)

Drago said:


> As a handy tip that may be worth considering. My Dad uses PC speakers - quite expensive ones, not cheapo Logitech jobs, and they sound much better than a soundbar for about the same price as a moderately decent soundbar. Not feasible if your tv is wall mounted, but a viable alternative if its free standing.



Wall mounted, just actually wondering where I would put it??


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## mistyoptic (14 Feb 2021)

Chislenko said:


> Wall mounted, just actually wondering where I would put it??
> View attachment 573966


Well, the sub could go under the table next to the dog statue and a sound bar might fit on the shelf where the ornaments are


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## Chislenko (14 Feb 2021)

mistyoptic said:


> Well, the sub could go under the table next to the dog statue and a sound bar might fit on the shelf where the ornaments are



Don't think I would bother with the sub, it's only for clarity so don't need loads of base.

The shelf with Mrs. Chislenko's ornaments is actually a fire! If they can be wall mounted I could mount it between the bottom of the TV and the top of the fire. That is only a false plasterboard chimney breast affair which I built. Doing it that way I could continue with my fixation of having no wires showing.


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## Electric_Andy (14 Feb 2021)

Another option is an amp and floor standing speakers. I got a used amp for 25 quid, speakers were 99. They can actually look nice standing either side of your chimney breast. And because they're bigger, you tend to get a bigger sound without higher volume. Also use mine to Bluetooth music to from my phone. I've never had a soundbar though so can't compare the two


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## PaulSB (14 Feb 2021)

Chislenko said:


> Wall mounted, just actually wondering where I would put it??
> View attachment 573966


Your house leans slightly to the left.........


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## Chislenko (14 Feb 2021)

PaulSB said:


> Your house leans slightly to the left.........



😀😀 I think that's more the "quality" of my photography!


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## derrick (14 Feb 2021)

Tv connected to hi fi. Perfect.


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## jim55 (14 Feb 2021)

derrick said:


> Tv connected to hi fi. Perfect.


Yeah ,that's what I do


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## Chislenko (14 Feb 2021)

derrick said:


> Tv connected to hi fi. Perfect.



Hi fi is upstairs in my office so a non starter for us.


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## slowmotion (15 Feb 2021)

jim55 said:


> Yeah ,that's what I do


I've been considering that but can't figure out the best way of getting an audio signal out of the TV and into the amp. Also, is there any easy way of controlling the volume via the TV's remote, or is it done by the volume control on the amp?


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## derrick (15 Feb 2021)

jim55 said:


> Yeah ,that's what I do


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## derrick (15 Feb 2021)

slowmotion said:


> . Also, is there any easy way of controlling the volume via the TV's remote, or is it done by the volume control on the amp?


I use headphone socket from tv to amp. Controlled with tv remote.


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## slowmotion (15 Feb 2021)

derrick said:


> I use headphone socket from tv to amp. Controlled with tv remote.


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


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## Venod (15 Feb 2021)

slowmotion said:


> I've been considering that but can't figure out the best way of getting an audio signal out of the TV and into the amp



I suppose it depends on your TV ours has audio out connections which go to amp, if it only has optical out and your amp does not have optical connection you can get converters,


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## MrGrumpy (15 Feb 2021)

I’m going to be mounting that TV in the wall once that fire place and surround comes out. Gonna fit a flame effect in be sunk into the wall. TV and sound bar in the cavity. Sound bar is an LG Dolby atmos thing so it will need to be able to project sound up and out .

Just got to hide the Xbox , cable modem and switch


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## Venod (15 Feb 2021)

MrGrumpy said:


> I’m going to be mounting that TV in the wall



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.


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## Bonefish Blues (15 Feb 2021)

Venod said:


> 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.


This. Many (most?) are mounted too high for comfort. If recess mounted, then don't make it too snug, because you _will _want a new telly at some point.


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## Andy_R (15 Feb 2021)

PaulSB said:


> Your house leans slightly to the left.........


It must be on the side of a hill


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## Chislenko (15 Feb 2021)

MrGrumpy said:


> View attachment 574047
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Mr Grumpy, don't know if your breast is real (brick) or just plasterboard like mine.

When I built it due to my phobia / obsession of not having cables / plugs showing I repositioned all the sockets in the cavity behind and a "door" into the false chimney breast.

Door closed 





Door open


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## Bonefish Blues (15 Feb 2021)

I'm glad you labelled those images


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## ColinJ (15 Feb 2021)

Venod said:


> 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.


I agree. My niece had her TV fixed so high that I had a stiff neck within 20 minutes of starting to view. 

The reason that they do it is often that they want to keep their 'feature fireplaces'. Blow that! This house has such a fireplace with a gas fire with fake coals. I would never use the fire so I just plonked the TV in front of it at the optimum viewing height.


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## MontyVeda (15 Feb 2021)

I just route everything through my hi-fi amp to a pair of proper speakers: PC, Xbox, DVD, etc.

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


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## Bonefish Blues (15 Feb 2021)

I've still got my Yamaha YSP1000 hooked up - I reckon I've had it 20+ years and it's built like the proverbial (apart from a known capacitor issue - which I fixed, to my great pride!), and whilst it won't do 5.whatevernumberitis it's still really excellent, and with its little sub hooked up, all we need.


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## mistyoptic (15 Feb 2021)

Venod said:


> 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.


Looking up for prolonged periods dries your eyes out and makes them feel gritty because they're wider open than normal (and you get a crick in your neck too)


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## Fab Foodie (15 Feb 2021)

Recently bought one of these:
https://www.johnlewis.com/sony-ht-m...-ultra-slim-wireless-subwoofer-black/p3160283

Works a treat. 
Wireless Subwoofer is hidden at the other end of the room (it's very slim which is a bonus)
Significantly enhances the sound for movies, documentaries with a great soundtrack etc. - like the 'Perfect Planet'.

BUT - for the OP it has a 'clear-speech' mode which works very well, especially useful at night when volumes need to be suitably low to clarify voices.

A remote control manages the functions including subwoofer output which makes tailoring the sound fairly simple.


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## Bonefish Blues (15 Feb 2021)

(I presume they are the)Manufacturer's own images show the soundbar off centre. Make you wonder 

Daft q, but do those newer models like the Sony et al have a 'tailor to room' function where the soundbar 'learns' about its surroundings & sets itself up accordingly?


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## Tenkaykev (15 Feb 2021)

I did look at soundbars about a year ago but we don’t watch much TV so decided against it at the time. We have a LG TV, I was digging my way through the menus and discovered a “ clear speech “ option in the sound settings which does improve things. I noticed a marked increase in sound quality compared to the Panasonic we replaced.


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## T4tomo (15 Feb 2021)

a relatively cheap sound bar from the likes of richer sounds is definitely a good investment. Sound clarity and quality is a huge step up from TV speakers, plus you can bluetooth phones etc into them, so if kids are round or parties (remember those?) etc, easy source for music of choice.

you can spend loads on the solution for hifi quality sounds, but unless you are a massive film buff and demand a full cinematic experience in your own front room, the the humble cheap sound bar does a cracking job.


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## matticus (15 Feb 2021)

Fab Foodie said:


> Recently bought one of these:
> https://www.johnlewis.com/sony-ht-m...-ultra-slim-wireless-subwoofer-black/p3160283
> 
> Works a treat.
> ...


(I presume being JohnLewis you got 90% kickback?)

This is interesting, as we've suffered with modern telly progs and our (slightly) modern TV; we bought a moderate-priced soundbar and it really is good for movies at a decent volume BUT
it makes the dialogue problem much worse! So we mostly watch with it off (especially if I'm trying to watch without keeping the rest of the house awake).


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## Chislenko (15 Feb 2021)

matticus said:


> (I presume being JohnLewis you got 90% kickback?)
> 
> This is interesting, as we've suffered with modern telly progs and our (slightly) modern TV; we bought a moderate-priced soundbar and it really is good for movies at a decent volume BUT
> it makes the dialogue problem much worse! So we mostly watch with it off (especially if I'm trying to watch without keeping the rest of the house awake).



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.


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## matticus (15 Feb 2021)

Dialogue is fine if you turn it up loud!


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## Tenkaykev (15 Feb 2021)

If I’m watching a film and struggling with the dialogue, I switch on subtitles if available.


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## KneesUp (15 Feb 2021)

I've had a Yamaha ysp-800 for around 15 years. It's been shelf mounted and wall mounted with various tvs, and has been configured to give decent surround sound (when in a room this suited) and permanently in stereo mode (when the room shape was too odd for it to bounce the sound about the place) The 'auto set-up' function with the included microphone is very good, and when I bought it I had no idea how useful that microphone would be for doing zoom quizes with the family.

The sound from any tv without it is very thin to my ears, tv speakers always sound like they are there just so the tv works, but they're like the tiny ink cartridges you get with a printer - you're not expected to use them really - it's just so the manufacturer can say it works out the box.

Personally I'd try and get a decent soundbar and keep hold of it rather than a cheap one. Mine doesn't have HDMI throughput or anything because it's so old, but it's still fine - the various 'boxes' (Freeview recorder, NOW tv, Bluray player) send the picture and sound to the tv via HDMI and the tv passes the sound digitally to the soundbar via a very thin and discrete optical cable - the don't go obsolete.

Ours has various settings that may help with dialogue - when things are in stereo (i.e. most things broadcast) I put it in stereo mode so the sound is coming straight out of it. In the surround modes is sends sound off at all sorts of angles with appropriate tiny delays so it arrives at your ears in a way that makes you think there are speakers all around you, but when you're watching Pointless it just makes it harder to hear the talking. That said some of the virtual effects are good - I tend to use 'sport' mode for, er, sport as it does quite a good job of focussing the sound of the commentary straight ahead but making the crowd noise sound enveloping.

EDIT - it also has 'Target' mode where you can set it to 'aim' the sound at a particular point, so if you're a bit mutton and the other half is not, and you have your own parts of the sofa, you could set it up to aim the sound at your end :-)


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## Bonefish Blues (15 Feb 2021)

Two votes for the longevity of ancient Yamaha YSPs then


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## KneesUp (15 Feb 2021)

Bonefish Blues said:


> Two votes for the longevity of ancient Yamaha YSPs then


And they are convenient - the yamaha replaced a (JVC / Panasonic? not sure, it was a long time ago) surround system which had beer spilled in it at a party - that was a pain to set up with all the satellite speaker brackets and cables. I bought the yamaha so I didn't have to do that again!


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## Bonefish Blues (15 Feb 2021)

KneesUp said:


> And they are convenient - the yamaha replaced a (JVC / Panasonic? not sure, it was a long time ago) surround system which had beer spilled in it at a party - that was a pain to set up with all the satellite speaker brackets and cables. I bought the yamaha so I didn't have to do that again!


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


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## KneesUp (15 Feb 2021)

Bonefish Blues said:


> 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 :-)


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## Bonefish Blues (15 Feb 2021)

KneesUp said:


> 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/


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## rockyroller (15 Feb 2021)

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)


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## Kestevan (15 Feb 2021)

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.


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## Fab Foodie (15 Feb 2021)

Chislenko said:


> 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!!
> 
> ...


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.


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## MrGrumpy (15 Feb 2021)

Venod said:


> 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


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## ColinJ (15 Feb 2021)

MontyVeda said:


> 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...


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## matticus (15 Feb 2021)

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.


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## ColinJ (15 Feb 2021)

Fab Foodie said:


> 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.



matticus said:


> 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!


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## LeetleGreyCells (15 Feb 2021)

ColinJ said:


> 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!


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## ColinJ (15 Feb 2021)

LeetleGreyCells said:


> 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...



matticus said:


> 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!


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## jim55 (15 Feb 2021)

slowmotion said:


> 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😎


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## Ming the Merciless (15 Feb 2021)

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.


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## matticus (15 Feb 2021)

ColinJ said:


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


Truly pathetic excuses from Daisy Goodwin. 🤦‍♀️


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## Fab Foodie (15 Feb 2021)

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.


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## Pale Rider (16 Feb 2021)

rockyroller said:


> I got one for my car,



Only an American could have a car the size of a lounge.


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## Eric Olthwaite (16 Feb 2021)

External speakers are definitely worth it but when I looked into this some years ago, sound bars seemed very poor value for money and I ended up getting some high quality PC speakers instead (Microlab) for about £50 - two main units and a sub-woofer. Connected through headphone socket, works great.


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## rockyroller (16 Feb 2021)

Pale Rider said:


> Only an American could have a car the size of a lounge.


lol it was only about 12" long. not like I had a tiki bar in there!


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## Pale Rider (16 Feb 2021)

rockyroller said:


> lol it was only about 12" long. not like I had a tiki bar in there!



I'm just jealous.

I'd love one of those 70s Yank tanks we see in films and cop shows over here.

Maybe a Lincoln or a Caddy, something with a bonnet, sorry, hood the size of a snooker table.

Trouble is it wouldn't fit on our roads.

Our motorways, sorry, freeways are barely any wider than smalltown Main Street, USA.


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## LeetleGreyCells (16 Feb 2021)

When I was younger, I always wanted to car with suitable bonnet-sliding capabilities like in Dukes of Hazzard or Starsky & Hutch.


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## Fab Foodie (16 Feb 2021)

Pale Rider said:


> I'm just jealous.
> 
> I'd love one of those 70s Yank tanks we see in films and cop shows over here.
> 
> ...


I Hired a Lincoln 'Town Car' once when collecting customers in Cleveland OH like below:







It was like driving a football field, I did several laps of the Hertz complex before I took it out on the highway to the terminal and collect my guests.

Some days later I was asked to take the boys for a night-out here:






It was the perfect pimp-mobile. Those were different times indeed....


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## Pale Rider (16 Feb 2021)

A bit too 80s for me, and I'd prefer something with two doors to enhance the ludicrousness of it.

Something like the tubby 'tec Frank Cannon drove.

The boot was so big, the spare wheel needed a shaped trunk lid to accommodate it.

I don't think packaging was the strongest suit of those cars.

A few pics of the Cannonmobile here:

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/cannons-mark-iv


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## matticus (16 Feb 2021)

I don't want anything huge or flashy. The boot - sorry, TRUNK - just needs to have room to easily cram two bodies/suspects into.


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## MrGrumpy (16 Feb 2021)

matticus said:


> I don't want anything huge or flashy. The boot - sorry, TRUNK - just needs to have room to easily cram two bodies/suspects into.


This was our frequent topic of conversation when we went to view new cars ! Ask the salesman to open the boot so we could judge how many bodies we could fit in .


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## rockyroller (16 Feb 2021)

Pale Rider said:


> I'm just jealous.
> 
> I'd love one of those 70s Yank tanks we see in films and cop shows over here.
> 
> ...


I was eye-balling this 1998 Toyota Celica GT convertible the other day. would be good on yer roads


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## rockyroller (16 Feb 2021)

Pale Rider said:


> A few pics of the Cannonmobile here:
> https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/cannons-mark-iv


my Grandfather came to the US from Italy when he was 12 yrs old. at some point, when my Aunt was in her 20s? she went with them to Italy on a boat, & they brought their giant Lincoln (model unknown) with them on the boat! I guess he wanted to show off, but now I wonder where he was even able to drive it!


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## Fab Foodie (16 Feb 2021)

Pale Rider said:


> A bit too 80s for me, and I'd prefer something with two doors to enhance the ludicrousness of it.
> 
> Something like the tubby 'tec Frank Cannon drove.
> 
> ...


My neighbour in S. London used to have one in metallic schitt brown....lot of space under the bonnet....


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## Fab Foodie (16 Feb 2021)

Can I just say to get this thread back on track, that the Tea House of the Dancing Lady was a very un-sound bar....

It was also on Tiffin Street which makes it even funnier!


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## rockyroller (16 Feb 2021)

hey look what is in the news! The best sound bars of 2021!


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## Drago (16 Feb 2021)

From sound bars to pimp moviles in a mere 5 pages. Only rnhe rich diversity of discussion on Cyclechat can do such a wondrous thing.


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## MrGrumpy (17 Feb 2021)

So ..... new fire on order , be here tomorrow. So plans a foot to start install. This weekend, question n the Dolby atmos sound bar. I’m thinking that this really should not be sunk into the wall but mounted on the surface ? So I also think the TV will have to be the same .


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## Bonefish Blues (17 Feb 2021)

rockyroller said:


> hey look what is in the news! The best sound bars of 2021!


And lo the Roku is no 1 pick


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## Phaeton (17 Feb 2021)

Just bought a new Sony TV & disappointed with the sound, I think it's possibly our hearing, anyway Amazon have the Roku at £129 delivery tomorrow, do I also need an optical cable or will a HDMI suffice?


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## Bonefish Blues (17 Feb 2021)

Phaeton said:


> Just bought a new Sony TV & disappointed with the sound, I think it's possibly our hearing, anyway Amazon have the Roku at £129 delivery tomorrow, do I also need an optical cable or will a HDMI suffice?


HDMI fine


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## matticus (17 Feb 2021)

Bonefish Blues said:


> HDMI fine


Just make sure it supports Dolby B 👍


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## MrGrumpy (18 Feb 2021)

Works started !! Fireplace removed.Some rework of framing to fit new fire planned. Hopefully by weekend I should have it all done


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## Phaeton (18 Feb 2021)

MrGrumpy said:


> View attachment 574424
> 
> 
> Works started !! Fireplace removed.Some rework of framing to fit new fire planned. Hopefully by weekend I should have it all done


I'd be taking the whole thing out, assuming I could save that coving.


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## MrGrumpy (18 Feb 2021)

I’m trying to avoid the coving replacement !! We had a log fire put in down stairs and the guys managed similar albeit they went a bit higher near to the ceiling !! All in hand !! At least now I can get wood across to support TV brackets etc.


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## Phaeton (18 Feb 2021)

How about setting the TV & stuff back inside the opening?


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## MrGrumpy (18 Feb 2021)

Did think of that but however my sound bar projects up and out , seems daft to them contain that in a box ?!


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## MrGrumpy (18 Feb 2021)

Chislenko said:


> Mr Grumpy, don't know if your breast is real (brick) or just plasterboard like mine.
> 
> When I built it due to my phobia / obsession of not having cables / plugs showing I repositioned all the sockets in the cavity behind and a "door" into the false chimney breast.
> 
> ...





Chislenko said:


> Mr Grumpy, don't know if your breast is real (brick) or just plasterboard like mine.
> 
> When I built it due to my phobia / obsession of not having cables / plugs showing I repositioned all the sockets in the cavity behind and a "door" into the false chimney breast.
> 
> ...


Just seen this, neat idea. I’m not going to go to all that bother. We will be buying a side unit to keep cable modem , Xbox and etc in . Also TV is going to be surface mount as at some point I’m sure I’ll buy something bigger !!


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## Tenkaykev (18 Feb 2021)

MrGrumpy said:


> Just seen this, neat idea. I’m not going to go to all that bother. We will be buying a side unit to keep cable modem , Xbox and etc in . Also TV is going to be surface mount as at some point I’m sure I’ll buy something bigger !!


It must have been an eternity ago but I remember seeing a couple of photos of a big Sony Trinitron TV mounted flush in a wall. The second photo showed the room behind the wall with a load of brick rubble and the body of the tv protruding 
Almost certainly a spoof but very funny at the time.


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## ColinJ (18 Feb 2021)

Phaeton said:


> I'd be taking the whole thing out, assuming I could save that coving.


My sister bought a property as a buy-to-let. The lounge had a massive fake chimney breast with a little electric wall heater mounted to it. I (correctly) surmised that there had once been a gas fire. We both thought it looked naff and was a complete waste of space so I asked her if she would like me to destroy it! 10 minutes later... 








You can see a vent where air came in for the old gas fire. There was also a disconnected metal flue pipe just out of sight at the top.


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## MrGrumpy (19 Feb 2021)

ColinJ said:


> My sister bought a property as a buy-to-let. The lounge had a massive fake chimney breast with a little electric wall heater mounted to it. I (correctly) surmised that there had once been a gas fire. We both thought it looked naff and was a complete waste of space so I asked her if she would like me to destroy it! 10 minutes later...
> 
> View attachment 574508
> 
> ...


It was a gas fire originally in ours as well ! Previous owner had it capped off and and had an electric fire fitted.


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## MrGrumpy (19 Feb 2021)

Well all done for now, hearth will be removed when we get round to the floor.


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## Poacher (19 Feb 2021)

MrGrumpy said:


> It was a gas fire originally in ours as well ! Previous owner had it capped off and and an electric bike be fitted.


"Electric bike"?
Are you allowing predictive text?


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## ColinJ (19 Feb 2021)

MrGrumpy said:


> Well all done for now, hearth will be removed when we get round to the floor.
> View attachment 574715


Is that blue glow coming from the back of the TV, or have you got some hidden mood lighting?

I've heard of sets that do that kind of thing and thought it sounded weird, but that looks quite nice. I've currently got an angle-poise lamp pointing a white LED bulb at the wall but I prefer that glow.


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## MrGrumpy (19 Feb 2021)

Poacher said:


> "Electric bike"?
> Are you allowing predictive text?


Wtf !! Aye indeed predictive text bolloxs


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## MrGrumpy (19 Feb 2021)

ColinJ said:


> Is that blue glow coming from the back of the TV, or have you got some hidden mood lighting?
> 
> I've heard of sets that do that kind of thing and thought it sounded weird, but that looks quite nice. I've currently got an angle-poise lamp pointing a white LED bulb at the wall but I prefer that glow.


Philips ambilight !


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