Yamaha 2ch Soundbar SRB20AB Is This Ok with a Sony X9500h TV?

souths123 on 25/09/2021 - 13:49
Last edited 25/09/2021 - 17:54 by 1 other user

I am a complete novice with this sort of thing. We just bought a Sony x9500h TV and the sound is only basic no matter how I tweek it.

I saw this soundbar for $180 at Officeworks as a clearance item and I can do click and collect, or do a price beat at TGG or JB as they have it too ($299 and $269 respectively) as I can get discounted gift vouchers to use for payment. I read reviews and it seems this is a good soundbar for the price. I don't need anything OTT, just something that sounds better than what we have now (which wouldn't be hard lol)

I just want to know if this soundbar would be compatible with the TV? i.e. the right HDMI connections etc? We have a Foxtel IQ4 box that the Tv is plugged into, does this make a difference as to how we connect this?

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  vinny98 on 25/09/2021 - 15:12

  Can't comment on sound quality of this particular model, but I can vouch for Yamaha as the quality of their products is outstanding. This Soundbar does have TV ARC capabilities, so all you need to do is plug the soundbar in HDMI 3 on the TV and you will good to go, everything connected to the TV will output sound through the soundbar.

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  freefall101 on 25/09/2021 - 17:48

  IMO, from the research I did it's often better to go for 3 channel. Reason being is that it gives more clarity for dialogue, I found moving from 2.1ish (it was a soundbase with a tiny sub) to 3.1 made it easier to understand people talking. The extra sub makes big thumping movies more fun too and the cost isn't all that much higher (I paid $300 for a Samsung HW-T650 via an ebay sale back in April)

  As mentioned above, make sure it has TV ARC. I feed everything into my TV (PC + google TV) and the TV feeds it back out to the soundbar or headphones (depending on what I choose). It's pretty standard these days, although getting the PC to do more than 2 channels was a nightmare.

  There is definitely diminishing returns on spend with home theatre audio, but you did just spend ~$2k on a TV, cheaping out on the audio seems a little silly.

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    souths123 on 25/09/2021 - 19:39

    although the tech reviews I read say that they were impressed with this even though it was only an entry level sound bar. We aren't total tech geeks and we don't need the best, or surround sound etc. Until now we have just used a normal TV's speakers and they have been fine, but I noticed the speakers on this one just really let it down, esp, as you said, we paid just over $2k for the 65". Are they doing this on purpose with TVs now? It wouldn't surprise me if they do this so you have to spend more, lol

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      freefall101 on 26/09/2021 - 10:09

      Most likely a spend thing! Only TCL tend to do a version of TVs with better than garbage sound.

      Main thing though is that TVs are so thin these days, fitting decent audio is impossible without bulking it up and why do they when you'll pay more for a matching soundbar? The Yamaha does look very good for the money though, they stripped away any extras and left it with excellent sound from a small package which is something to appreciate, I doubt you'd go wrong with it. I just thought I'd add what a little more money can get you :)

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        souths123 on 26/09/2021 - 10:45

        should have done this yesterday (purchased). Maybe by mentioning the deal other Ozbargainers have Ozbargained me lol….can't get it now lol