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Yes, I know, sound bars are a compromise. I have good stereos with Martin Logan and VMPS towers. But in my new home, in the bedrooms, I am looking at soundbars. I am thinking Zvox (not auditioned), Polk (hope to auditions, looking for dealers), and Yamaha (same status as polk). I will be purchasing in late August.
Any thoughts from the masses, or any other brands that I should try out?
Both bedrooms are on the small side and plasma tv's will be wall mounted above.
I am thinking self powered and under $1k per system.
Advice and your thoughts appreciated.
Mark
Follow Ups:
I looked into the ZVOX for older family thinking it would be a great solution. Their hearing is still darn good. We ordered it, hooked it up (super easy), let them try it out for a week. They had mixed feelings, some movies it sounded great, others awful. So we did some research, the model we ordered didn't license Dolby, it used a simulated version. Long story short, it went back to ZVOX and after some research my folks ended up with a Soundmatters brand sound bar which does true Dolby.
Edits: 07/13/12
Had not heard of Soundmatters
I just left the ZVOX site - was the one that you purchased a less expensive ZVOX model - the new, top of the line models claim to have Dolby digital.
Thanks for your comment.
Mark
ZVOX 220 a couple months ago... wanted something small for our small 36" TV in our small living room that would take the sound
level up a notch or two, fit under the TV and be easy to use.
Done! Complete no brainer.
Never wanted a HT set-up and this adds enough bang to DVD films (minus any proper "surround" effect due
to less than effective corner set-up... but it's set-up the way I want) to impress enough.
The ZVOX is well made, the sound quality very good and it's... cheap.
There's a 30 day home trial too.
"One this was all Black Plasma and Imagination" - Michael McClure
I am also looking at a small system for a small home theater. I looked at that but I think you could do a bit better with maybe Orb Audio or Gallo. They look the same and see to have the same designers. Orb is interesting because you can buy the little balls and wall mount them - and can be used as a center channel on stands or wall mounted - and they're much smaller than a sound bar. They also seem to get very good reviews. The thing with the sound bar is that it is big if you think about it and very limited in where you can place it - so if you change your mind or move you're kind of stuck.
With the Orbs if you ever move to a bigger room you can purchase additional add on balls and it will then be suitable in a much larger room - or if you have to put the TV in a corner they'll be easier to move around.
I have not heard them but the home theater press has been quite favorable, especially for the mod2 (2 balls stacked) and mod 4 (4 balls stacked in a kind of line array) It's a bit more than a sound bar at $800 but you do get a subwoofer so...
Zvox is very good at $500.00 much better than the Polk. Except it is DEEP and won't work wall mounted. Martin Logan is good but more $$..
I think you can place the TV on top of the Zvox. Also it reduces the volume of the commercials! I wish someday they would eliminate the picture also.
Cheers
Bill
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