I’ve had my Samsung Q700A soundbar for almost a year now, and, I really love the sound it provides. Has all the Dolby codecs, including Atmos. It has great expansive sound quality. One of the reasons I was interested in it, besides that the center channel, where the voice comes from, does not over power the other channels, was that you could add on the satellite speakers. They went on sale at Amazon for $219, so, I ordered them.
I’m not that impressed. I haven’t been that impressed with other systems I tried. I can’t blame all that on Samsung, though. The sound is fantastic, when there is sound. What happens is that when the broadcast is 5.1 sometimes you get sound, sometimes you don’t. You can be sitting there and all you get is some soft atmosphere, then you’re getting all the spoken dialogue from all the speakers, then an explosion off to the side out of the blue, then nothing. It’s inconsistent, and that goes to those who put the sound to the film/tv show. But, it mostly has to go to films. Not that many shows are done in 5.1. Even something great like Carnival Row (on Amazon) which has Atmos is all over the place.
I suppose if you have a dedicated room to mostly just watch movies it would be great. But, if you also watch TV shows, sports, and other stuff like that, it is really distracting to have different sounds coming out of those satellite speakers. So, this doesn’t work so well in the living room.
Plus, when connected the volume of the soundbar drops. Where I would have it at a 12-13 I have to turn it up to 18-19. So, it’s being returned.
What do you think of surround sound like 5.1?
The wife hates sub-woofers, even when I minimized its volume level. Ended up with just a soundbar, though I got the largest I could find. 40 inch with 4 speakers plus 2 tweeters. Also has the open tubes which add to the bass response.
I’ve had the surround sound in the past, but arranging the room and furniture in order to place the speakers properly seemed impossible. Yeah, if you’re rich and have a dedicated ‘theatre’ room…
I have my sub turned down a bit, especially since it is right next to the couch. Since the couch is against the wall, the “rear” speakers are on the side tables. Would have to jack up the sound. Not good for most TV shows.
If she doesn’t like subs, should try a stereo system and get 2 nice speakers. Get something capable of doing 5.1 with atmos, but, only hook up the 2 speakers.
I like it. Plus, with panel style TVs, the speakers are in the back and the sound quality sucks. It is as if they expect you to get a sound system anyway so they don’t bother. the extra speaker on the front for voice channel is especially useful; since it can help those movies that cover over their dialog with explosions and loud background music.