Post #440,639
1/5/22 3:16:17 AM
1/5/22 3:16:17 AM
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Soundbar pre-review
In the old days I would have TVs hooked up to stereos hooked up to lots of speakers. Those days are over, I gave away the stereo and speakers in the last move when I found out I simply couldn't lift them. The day before I started the drive out here I wandered a pawn shop and picked up an LG sound bar. Missing the subwoofer of course. It works great Bluetooth streaming from my phone for music and it works great with a digital laser jack from either TV. Easily mountable, simple L brackets with velcro which then makes it perfectly aimable. So now I actually need to have another one for the TV in my bedroom and I chose this one: YAMAHA SR-C20A Compact Sound Bar with Built-in Subwoofer and Bluetooth https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08DZX69CY/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_WRFXB2NJA8CANGTRAABR?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1It will take a week or two to show up and we shall see and then I will follow up and actually review it.
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Post #440,640
1/5/22 2:26:17 PM
1/5/22 2:26:17 PM
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TV sound is currently in the Pulse Audio stage of development
Remember when Linux sound was a friggin nightmare? Well today it's "smart" TVs that are all busted. Multiple channels that you have to turn audio up to literally 100 and it's still too quiet, but then the commercials are screaming. DVD inputs that never get loud enough, whether you use HDMI or RCA inputs. And don't give me that "movies have wider dynamic range than TV shows" bullshit. This didn't used to be a problem before we had smart TVs.
Sometimes soundbars help, sometimes they don't. Some TV manufacturers are worse than others. But the more I research the more threads I find on support forums saying "it got worse after a recent software update." Lots of brands are using the same components, so I'm convinced it's a software issue.
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Post #440,641
1/5/22 3:19:21 PM
1/5/22 3:19:21 PM
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Sceptre tv's are not smart and have the same issues
I buy them because pic is great and they are rock bottom cheap but sound major sucks and I have to intercept the sound at the provider level to an external device to get quality sound "Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" – Richard Feynman
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Post #440,643
1/5/22 11:20:19 PM
1/5/22 11:20:19 PM
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Without speakers in back of you, you can't have a 3-D effect.
But frankly it's the commercials that really focus to have 3-D effects. News and talk shows don't seem to use it. Alex
"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
-- Isaac Asimov
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Post #440,646
1/6/22 1:32:18 PM
1/6/22 1:32:18 PM
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Yeah I get it
10 years ago I had 7.1. High-end Onkyo AV center combined with top of the line front speakers combined with ceiling and back wall speakers everywhere. The walls and ceiling were covered with black fabric. Both light and sound reducing. You only heard an echo if the speakers wanted you to. I had the ultimate AV environment. I had a very specific Blu-ray movie that I think was called Sunshine. People sat down in this room and got blown away.
Those days are over. I am not climbing up to my ceiling and installing speakers. I am not allocating space a few feet behind me to get the full 3D immersive effect.
Give me a front speaker bar. Let's see how well it pretends to do subwoofer. Let's determine if I need a subwoofer. Let's see how well it does bounce around immersive effects. Move on.
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Post #440,649
1/6/22 7:05:50 PM
1/6/22 7:05:50 PM
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We've got a couple of Yamaha sound bars
One I bought on sale, another I bought a few years later "renewed" on Amazon. ATS1080 or something.
We really like the "Clear Voice" button - it can bring out the dialog over the noisy music (and help some with strong accents).
We don't have any surround sound stuff, but it's been fine for us.
Cheers,
Scott.
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Post #440,652
1/6/22 10:45:11 PM
1/6/22 10:45:11 PM
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I hadn't heard of the "Clear Voice" button before.
The "surround music" is definitely a problem in obliterating speech. Alex
"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
-- Isaac Asimov
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Post #440,653
1/6/22 11:21:19 PM
1/6/22 11:21:19 PM
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Yup. It's not perfect, of course, but it works.
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Post #440,655
1/7/22 10:16:57 AM
1/7/22 10:16:57 AM
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voice is usually always on a separate track, cool that they identified it
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" – Richard Feynman
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Post #440,656
1/7/22 3:30:15 PM
1/7/22 3:30:15 PM
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In the old days I had a separate center front speaker
That usually provided the boosted dialogue from that separate track. They put it on all speakers but that center speaker allowed much better dialogue in total.
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Post #440,659
1/7/22 10:00:58 PM
1/7/22 10:00:58 PM
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Well, Costco doesn't have it anymore.
But, Amazon and others do for $30 more as Yamaha SR-C20A.Anyway, I ordered one to replace the old Vizio 5.1 sound bar that I have. The Vizio sporadically drops down in volume for while at inconvenient times and then recovers. Given my hearing condition, that "clear voice" option is something I really need. Thanks for the extra info you provided! Alex
"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
-- Isaac Asimov
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Post #440,661
1/7/22 11:48:13 PM
1/7/22 11:48:13 PM
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Good luck with it!
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Post #440,666
1/8/22 9:19:07 PM
1/8/22 9:19:07 PM
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We shall see
It says it will show up on Tuesday.
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Post #440,695
1/14/22 9:55:04 PM
1/14/22 9:55:04 PM
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Re: We shall see
Mine came on Tuesday too. I installed it yesterday and again today.. My TV hangs on a wall mount and the speakers need to be attached to the TV. I had to make some aluminum adapters to make that work.
The reason for the second installation was that I missed the clue that the speakers are intended to be pointing at the ceiling and not at the listeners. That also makes the LED status lights visible to the listeners.
Attached to the HDMI ARC connector on the TV, turning On the TV turns on the speaker soundboard and let’s the volume be controlled by the TV controller as well as sound bar controller.
Also the Yamaha’s SB Remote App allows my iPhone to fully control the soundbar via Bluetooth.
The sound is just fine! Alex
"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
-- Isaac Asimov
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Post #440,704
1/16/22 12:04:54 AM
1/16/22 12:29:51 AM
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Nice for the purpose but not good enough
I can stream music to it via Bluetooth from my phone so it gives me a nice set of portable speakers for when I'm working on my plants. But as far as all-encompassing, it doesn't do it.
It's got a great bass for a little thing but I accept it's a little thing. I will get a real subwoofer. I will get back speakers on the ceiling about 8 ft away up and behind me. I will get a real AV console that does 7.1.
When I left Colorado to move to Washington I gave up my speakers. They were too heavy for me to lift. I will find someone to deliver a pair for me here.
Also it has no digital display. Various blinking lights. So I have no idea what the actual numeric volume is until it blasts me away or is silent and then I have to figure out from the blinking lights. I don't like that.
That's okay. It served its purpose. It will be music while working on the plants. I will do a real 7.1 environment when I set up my home theater. I've done it before, I know what I'm going to do now.
Scratch that. I don't know s***. We are up to 7.2. what the 2 is I'm figuring out.
Scratch that scratch. 7.2 is the same thing as 7.1, they just decided to add another number to account for the subwoofer. Assholes.
Edited by crazy
Jan. 16, 2022, 12:12:04 AM EST
Edited by crazy
Jan. 16, 2022, 12:15:15 AM EST
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Jan. 16, 2022, 12:25:31 AM EST
Edited by crazy
Jan. 16, 2022, 12:29:51 AM EST
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