Help Picking a Soundbar

[AaronJHarvey]

Hey everyone,

If there is a better section to put this in let me know. I'm VERY new to caring about sound. Until recently I never really cared about anything other than picture quality (and even that is a newer care). The only time I've ever used anything other than the tv speaker was when I was like 8 and my parents had a soundbar (that I don't think they hooked up properly).

Anyway, right now I am using a TCL 55inch that is 2.5-3 years old, not the best tv but it works. My plan (goal) is to get a 65in OLED in 2021 so at the moment I'm not looking to sink a huge amount of money into a sound system until I get a better apartment or a home and have that TV. I've been looking up some soundbars and have narrowed it down to 3. I was hoping to get some help deciding on one that would be quality without spending a ton of money.


The first two look to get pretty good reviews and are super cheap:

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/vizio-m...?skuId=6416783

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/vizio-m...?skuId=6416783

The last one is a little more expensive, but claims to have Dolby Atmos:

https://www.amazon.com/Soundcore-Int...5039675&sr=8-8

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated, or if you have a better suggestion that would be cool too. I'm not really wanting to go over $200 since, like I said, I'm saving up for an OLED, but if it's not way more and is outstanding I can be talked into more.

[Jonathan McLeod]

Be wary of soundbars. You'd be surprised how small a space you can fit a 5.1 setup into, and for relatively cheap. Once you get used to having even a basic surround sound setup you'll wonder how you could ever go back.

Of course all this is caveated on you watching films & TV dramas that will take full advantage of it, but from where your starting from I'd suggest that $500 into a sound system would enhance your experience far more than $500 extra on the TV.

[AaronJHarvey]

Originally Posted by Jonathan McLeod

Be wary of soundbars. You'd be surprised how small a space you can fit a 5.1 setup into, and for relatively cheap. Once you get used to having even a basic surround sound setup you'll wonder how you could ever go back.

Of course all this is caveated on you watching films & TV dramas that will take full advantage of it, but from where your starting from I'd suggest that $500 into a sound system would enhance your experience far more than $500 extra on the TV.

I definitely know that a full theater is better, but I don't really have the money to also do that right now and I want something temporarily a little better until I do get to move. It's also not so much the space, I have plenty of space, it's more that the apartment I live in right now is a home that wasn't designed to be dual apartments and the wall splitting them is super thing. I want something that will boost sound a little to make the experience better, but without booming through to the neighbors consistently (they once threatened to call the police because there was too much noise when it was just me moving furniture right after I moved in).