Right now I have a Denon AVR-X1600H reciever, a pair of Wharfedale Diamond 220s and a 220C making up a 3.0 setup. Not too shabby if I say so myself. System is used pretty much exclusively for TV shows and movies via streaming services (no music, no Blu-Ray collections or other uncompressed media playback).
I'm getting a new LG G1 soon though, and that super thin 2cm profile might make my 23cm deep speakers look a bit chunky in comparision. So I've been looking around at lower profile options, but I've gotten stuck in a bit of a rut:
The Martin Logan SLM X3 seems to fit the bill and has a few positive reviews floating around, however as expected it needs a subwoofer to compensate for its weaknesses in the low end. These two bits add up to $3k…
On the other hand, Samsung Q9 series soundbar packages can be had for $1.6k or less - soundbar, subwoofer, amp and wireless satellittes as a bonus. And all of these also seem well reviewed, though I can't tell if they are reviewed by people who have used full home theatre setups before or not. But then I could also sell my reciever, recovering some cash and space too in the process.
The only solid fact I have is that the passive soundbars have larger woofers in them vs the soundbar systems, though I guess the subwoofers in the soundbar systems help to make up that difference?
What do we think? Is it stupid to sink $3k into "soundbar" passives and a sub when full soundbar home theatre systems cost less, or is there something else I am getting with the old-school reciever and passives system that I would miss?
If you get an soundbar (which includes dac, amps, room correction etc) then you can get rid of the receiver. Soundbars like Bose 900, sonos arc have built in multi channel amps (sonos has 11 vs bose has 9). They still need a sub woofer to have a decent bass. i would prefer these to the Samsung soundbar. But these active sound bars need a power point for each component.
The Martin Logan is a good option but you prefer passive sound bar. they do not need power but need to be wired to the receiver.
The subwoofer will always need power as they are all usually active.
for low frequencies, you need a bigger driver and its not possible to achieve that with tiny subwoofers in the soundbar.