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Non-bluetooth soundbar & woofer (1 Viewer)

dhinged

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Dave H
I've had a $200 wired Samsung soundbar and Bluetooth woofer forever, but where I live has too much interference and anything 2.4GHz just doesn't work consistently.

Any recommendations for a decent $100-300 wired soundbar+woofer or where to look for them? Google hasn't been much help, and I've really had my bubble popped on wireless home gadgets.
 

dhinged

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I think you're going to have to go up the price ladder a bit to get a wired sub. The Yamaha YAS-105 is in your range and has a wired port, but doesn't come with a sub. But you can start with that and add the sub later.
http://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-YAS-10...UTF8&qid=1464429005&sr=1-23&keywords=soundbar

The description says "with Bluetooth and Dual Built-in Subwoofers"... and those subwoofers... are... tiny.

Why are wired speakers hard to find now? It's not like people are walking around near the back of the TV often, the wires can just sit there along with all the other wires. I don't understand the popularity of Bluetooth TV speakers.
 

Al.Anderson

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The description says "with Bluetooth and Dual Built-in Subwoofers"... and those subwoofers... are... tiny.

Yes, the built-in "subs" are barely a mid-range, but that's common in marketing. So what the soundbar would be is a good regular speaker (for a soundbar) that you could extend with a real sub later.

Why are wired speakers hard to find now?
Just a guess, but I think it's cost (because $5 at the $200 price point matters. And because of "WAF" (wife approval factor), the wives don't like wires.
But they're not hard to find, you just have to go up to the $400-$500 range to get the option.
 

dhinged

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Yes, the built-in "subs" are barely a mid-range, but that's common in marketing. So what the soundbar would be is a good regular speaker (for a soundbar) that you could extend with a real sub later.

Just a guess, but I think it's cost (because $5 at the $200 price point matters. And because of "WAF" (wife approval factor), the wives don't like wires.
But they're not hard to find, you just have to go up to the $400-$500 range to get the option.

How does a wire cost a manufacturer more to make than Bluetooth?! A wire is way less complicated and has been done for decades by manufacturers before Bluetooth

Where is your subwoofer located? Mine's always been in a spot where you can't even see the plug, and previous wired speakers I've used you also couldn't see the wires.

I feel like I'm in topsy-turvy land.
 

Al.Anderson

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It 's not a matter of "or", the manufacturers believe most people want wireless, so adding the additional port will cost a few dollars more (for the port and the circuitry); so they drop the one they think most people don't care about. And the sub wire would have to go from the soundbar which is by definition in the line of sight to some other location, probably by going around the wall.

Anyway, believe me, I'm not defending it, just taking a shot at explaining it My subwoofers are visible and my one soundbar (in the bedroom) uses a wired sub. My wife's not crazy about wires but she gave me these because she understands this is what I've into.
 

dhinged

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I'm not sure where I said "or" so I'm not sure which statement you're referring to, but the reason manufacturers believe most people want wireless is probably because they initially advertised it as "cool", people thought it was "cool", and then they just sold better for a while because they were "the cool new thing to do", but now that our homes are covered with 2.4GHz devices, they're starting to interfere with each other. That spectrum was a really terrible choice to try to do the "wireless everything" idea.

"adding the additional port will cost a few dollars more" - adding Bluetooth cost more when subwoofers were already wired, and Bluetooth probably still costs more (including software development) than just having a wire. The wire from the soundbar to the woofer is in the same line of site as the plug from the woofer to the wall.

So now we're stuck with having to get an ironically more-expensive wired sound system if the more-advanced Bluetooth is a problem because people want the "cool" thing rather than the practical thing, like widescreen laptops over more space-conscious and pixel-packed SD monitors (I'm typing on a laptop with a 1440x1050 4:3 screen which was a standard a decade ago while most laptops today have a 1366x768 widescreen resolution, a loss of almost 500K pixels, and now people froth at the mouth over possible 4K phones and TVs).

I don't understand people freaking out over wires, I guess it's a snake thing; plus it's usually easy to hide them, which is why they generally come out of the back (oh unless it's a MacBook or modern laptop which put all the ports on the side *slow clap*).

Anyways, I'll have to do deep diving for a good wired soundbar/subwoofer combo, or look into non-soundbar options. Thanks for the advice and info, I just think people are crazy today.
 

ArmSC

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One of my rules for soundbars is a wired sub. One of the reasons is exactly the issue you're having. I would look at these setups.

  • Sony HTCT80 $90 Good entry level soundbar. Tone controls, wired sub, and bluetooth are handy features of this unit. Sub is good for what it is don't expect miracles. Best for a smaller living room/bedroom
  • Vizio SB3820-C6 $100 (also at Target) + a powered subwoofer to go with the sub out on this unit. This setup will probably be the best you can get as you're getting an actually HT subwoofer vs something that's powered off the soundbar with like 30 watts. The benefit here is that if the soundbar dies you still have a working sub. You can also upgrade the sub to a larger or smaller unit depending on what your needs are. This is what I would do.
What sub you get depends on the size of your room and if you have any size/space requirements. Here are some options on the smaller end of the spectrum that will be comparable to what you would get with a soundbar (maybe a bit bigger).
  • Martin Logan Dynamo 300 $150 - great small down firing sub.
  • Dayton Sub 800 $100 - About the cheapest sub that still gets the job done. Impressive for the price a bit larger than some of the other 8" options.
  • Polk PSW111 $180 - This one is more expensive but brings a good bit more power with it. I thought this sub was much better than the Pioneer version that is close to it in price.
  • Earthquake FF6.5 $185 - pretty small option if your space challenged.
If you're not limited on space you can certainly go larger. Something like these would fit the bill
  • Monoprice $140 - wirecutter.com named best budget sub
  • Jamo J-12 $170 - Solid brand at a good price
  • Dayton 1200 $150 - Great all around budget sub
  • Klipsch K100 $150 - 10" Klipsch should be a good entry level option
Depending on what unit you choose you might need a "y sub cable" so keep that in mind.
 

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