Sound bar

[anonymous-user]

Hi

Got the neighbours tv noise coming through into our living room, our tv is on a different wall.

So asking for advice on sound bars please, I've never had one nor do I know anything about them but if I put on say behind a chair on the adjoining neighbours wall would it sound good or peculiar because it would be away from our tv?

Any advice would be good as to what to buy if it will solve the problem or move house if my idea has no legs

Thanks in advance to you all

[wyson]

You will probably have better luck in the home cinema and hifi section.

And look into sound proofing if you want to block out your neighbour. Quite a few videos on youtube that show how its done if you don’t mind losing some floor space to a false wall.

[xx99xx]

Wouldn't expect it to matter where you place your soundbar, within reason, i.e. it doesn't need to be at/near the source of your neighbours noise pollution. All you need is for your sound to be louder than the noise coming through the wall so that you don't hear it any more. Pretty much any soundbar would achieve this.

[anonymous-user]

xx99xx said:

Wouldn't expect it to matter where you place your soundbar, within reason, i.e. it doesn't need to be at/near the source of your neighbours noise pollution. All you need is for your sound to be louder than the noise coming through the wall so that you don't hear it any more. Pretty much any soundbar would achieve this.

Do some of the soundbars have directional sound or are the all as you say 'in the room sound' ??

[anonymous-user]

wyson said:

You will probably have better luck in the home cinema and hifi section.

And look into sound proofing if you want to block out your neighbour. Quite a few videos on youtube that show how its done if you don’t mind losing some floor space to a false wall.

Without being really stupid, I thought a sondbar gave a cinema effect, but obviously they don't, so can you explain the main difference?

[wyson]

Go to a hifi shop and have a listen.

You can’t beat having multiple speakers in multiple locations.

I have a Sonos play soundbar in the bedroom because of lack of space. It sounds good for what it is, but it isn’t a patch on a similarly priced AV system with dedicated amp and separate speakers. It can’t even match my budget hifi that was half the price.

[xx99xx]

mgsontour said:

xx99xx said:

Wouldn't expect it to matter where you place your soundbar, within reason, i.e. it doesn't need to be at/near the source of your neighbours noise pollution. All you need is for your sound to be louder than the noise coming through the wall so that you don't hear it any more. Pretty much any soundbar would achieve this.

Do some of the soundbars have directional sound or are the all as you say 'in the room sound' ??

The more expensive ones will have a surround sound feature. This relates to how many channels/speakers it has. Some will also have adaptive sound which can compensate for background noise as well as the echo from its own output. They can also direct the sound around a room with top end ones having upwards facing speakers as well, to bounce sound off the ceiling to the viewers. The best place for a soundbar is either above or below the TV.

High end ones are really only worth it if you watch a lot of films at high volume. Less expensive ones perform perfectly well at improving volume and sound quality (especially bass) from thin TVs whose built in speakers are not that great (which is pretty much most modern sets).

[sjg]

https://www.soundproofingstore.co.uk/walls

[rdjohn]

xx99xx said:

The more expensive ones will have a surround sound feature. This relates to how many channels/speakers it has. Some will also have adaptive sound which can compensate for background noise as well as the echo from its own output. They can also direct the sound around a room with top end ones having upwards facing speakers as well, to bounce sound off the ceiling to the viewers. The best place for a soundbar is either above or below the TV.

High end ones are really only worth it if you watch a lot of films at high volume. Less expensive ones perform perfectly well at improving volume and sound quality (especially bass) from thin TVs whose built in speakers are not that great (which is pretty much most modern sets).

I recently bought a Sonos Arc which has rave reviews. It has 11 speakers some firing upwards and out of the ends. To be honest, I can hardly detect any stereo effect, let alone surround sound. Compared to my ancient Bose 5.1 system, it is quite poor.

Fortunately, I listen to music / radio twice as much as I watch TV and in that respect, the sound is pretty good, but for TV it needs at least 2-rear speakers, plus possibly a sub.