3.1 Speakers or Soundbar

[Talal86]

Not sure if this is the right forum for this.

I recently got rid of my cheap Onkyo speakers, and I'd rather not have speakers cables around my room, so which 'compromise' would be better in this case?

1) buy good 3.1 speakers (Left/Right/Centre/Subwoofer)
or
2) buy a 'virtual surround' soundbar


the AVR I have is Marantz SR6010 btw.

[chip75]

You have a nice AVR, I'd complement it with some nice speakers.

You can an 11.1.4 Atmos sound bar with wireless speakers (you'd need to power them with wall outlets (some are rechargeable), but it will be down to your budget.

[unberechenbar]

I would recommend going for 3.1 too.

[CreasyBear]

3.1

Budget?

[oddbox83]

A good 3.1 system will beat any soundbar with "virtual" surround. You could also do Atmos with 3.1.2 without "extra" wires around the place, simply wiring upfiring speakers alongside the left and right - you could cable tie them together. More than anything else, it'd be such a shame to ditch a good AVR for a soundbar.

[Canada]

I would say go with the 3.1 because later you can upgrade to a 5.1 or 7.1 set up if you so desire. If you go with the soundbar, you're sort of stuck if you want to upgrade.