Best soundbar under $300?

mrgstiffler

mrgstiffler

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My friend is looking at picking up a soundbar for his TV and is wondering what he should get with a $300 max budget.
 
I have the LG SB316 which is pretty nice for the money.

It only takes optical or analog stereo inputs, but it has some cool features:

1. It can take bluetooth input (stream music from your smart phone)
2. It can stream the audio to bluetooth headphones for night listening.
3. Comes with a nifty wall mount bracket

On the negative side:
1. The Tivo remote does not seem to have codes to control the volume
2. I would rate the sub as "adequate".
3. Exposed soft dome tweeters are irresistible to little fingers.

It looks nice sitting in front of our 51" Plasma and I ended up putting some black socks on either end of the bar so my 2yr old does not see the tweeters (it looks like speaker cloth)
 
I have the $90 Visio soundbar.....if you don't need a sub,this one sounds great for the price.
 
Why not get a pair of stereo speakers (front & left)?

I'm just not a fan of soundbars. I think they are inherently inferior for TV sound (and almost any other use). I certainly wouldn't spend $300 on one...I could see spending $100 on one for a special purpose (like a small TV with very tight space around it).
 
Don't know much about tv speakers, but that $90 soundbar sounds 10x better than the speakers on my tv. Lots here were buying the refurbished ones for about $60, lots of info on these in the forums. Granted...they won't sound as good as 2:1' s but for my situation(townhouse with shared walls)I couldn't even use my sub, they work well in situations where there aren't many solutions.
 
I was going to suggest the one from Monoprice but they dont seem to have it on their site any longer, in that case I would say look at the Vizio one as well.
 
I've got a Sony CT-150 and I like it very much, Sound is good, bass is good, and it comes with 3x1 HDMI. I think I paid $150 for it too.
 
The only problem with that Sound bar is the volume is pretty dang low.

Polk Audio makes some really nice audio stuff.

And I don't care who makes it. All Soundbars need a sub.
 
Zvox soundbars/soundbases are quite nice. I have an older model, a 525, under my TV in the living room, and it sounds solid and the gf loves it's look. It's built like a tank.

The bass is very good on the sound bases.

They've recently added digital inputs to their systems -- mine just has analog. I don't know how good their DAC is.
 
Soundbars are not very good please dont spend $300 on one....

Just buy a pair of decent stereo speakers instead...
 
Nicholars said:
Soundbars are not very good please dont spend $300 on one....

Just buy a pair of decent stereo speakers instead...
Click to expand...

Not everyone has room for that. The great thing about a sound bar and sub is that you get much better sound in nearly the same space as the TV alone.

$300 is a trivial sum to get so worked up about.
 
DoubleTap said:
Not everyone has room for that. The great thing about a sound bar and sub is that you get much better sound in nearly the same space as the TV alone.

$300 is a trivial sum to get so worked up about.
Click to expand...

if you have room for a TV, you have room for speakers. There is no point in watching anything that will sound like shit.
 
Bugalaman said:
if you have room for a TV, you have room for speakers. There is no point in watching anything that will sound like shit.
Click to expand...

+1. Two speakers or two and a sub works just as well as some funky sound bar.
 
Building off all the responses here... Would it be better to get a powered 2.1 system for a computer? Looking for something for a bedroom tv so do not want a receiver and big speakers.
 
Bugalaman said:
if you have room for a TV, you have room for speakers. There is no point in watching anything that will sound like shit.
Click to expand...

I don't have room in my living room for speakers.

My wife is a home decor... enthusiast and blogger and just getting a 51" plasma into the living room was nearly an act of war.

We plan to move this year so I am not going through the hassle of installing anything in the wall and visible speakers are not happening.
 
There are good sound bar units out there, but they don't cost anywhere near as low as the $300 limit. Leon speakers make some great sound bars as well as other speakers but they are not cheap as the tweaters and midrange drivers they use cost more than $300 wholesale in some of the units.
 
Bugalaman said:
if you have room for a TV, you have room for speakers. There is no point in watching anything that will sound like shit.
Click to expand...
Here's my TV (37" LED). Care to tell me where I could fit a 2.1 powered speaker system? Believe me, I'd prefer it to any soundbar.

IMG_0004-2.jpg
 
I need a sound bar also. Want it in my master BR. Don't have any room for a receiver, and i'm renting so don't want to be fishing down walls and doing anything crazy with IR. A simple sound bar mounted under the tv on the wall would look great.

In my scenario, the MBR is pretty large. The TV is about 15-20 feet from where we are at in the bed.. So we have to really crank the volume up depending on what is playing to hear.

Would a sound bar help our scenario?
 
DoubleTap said:
I have the LG SB316 which is pretty nice for the money.

It only takes optical or analog stereo inputs, but it has some cool features:

1. It can take bluetooth input (stream music from your smart phone)
)
Click to expand...


This would make an awesome bedroom setup. I could stream Dr. Hook whilst getting my fingers wet.
 
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