Best Soundbar/Sound System to Pair with LG C2

Faro on 07/11/2022 - 17:54
Last edited 07/11/2022 - 18:46 by 1 other user

Girlfriend wants to get me a soundbar or sound system to pair with our recently purchased 65" LG C2.

We both know basically nothing about the best brands, best value, best options for our space, etc.

At this moment in time we also know nothing about prices and, by extension, what the budget should be for it.

Obviously we have a decent TV, but this was a very one-off style splurge as we are not made of money by any means.

We are very frequently using the TV for Blu Ray movies, but we also stream regularly and use the TV for gaming.

I'm also not sure if I'll regret not having surround sound if we just go the soundbar route.

Please hit me with any and all info/opinions/personal experience stories. We have no idea where to start.

Thanks!

TL;DR GIVE ME SOUNDBAR OR SPEAKER SUGGESTIONS THAT WON'T CREATE BUYER'S REMORSE 🤗🤗🤗

Electrical & Electronics LG Soundbar

Comments

  • Hybroid on 07/11/2022 - 17:57
    +1

    Start by going to one of the larger JB HiFi or The Good Guys (same company) that have them on display to test out and try them out. See what different options of soundbars and surround sound systems they have, price brackets and spatial considerations for your own setup. You can then cross-compare with online offers once narrowed down what style and spec you want. Also good excuse to grab ice cream on the way home.

    • Faro on 07/11/2022 - 18:00

      That sounds like a great starting point.

      But I was also looking to see what the general opinions of people here are. Lots of knowledgeable people seem to drift through the comment sections with tech info.

      The general consensus of quality is what led me to the LG C2 in the first place before I went to look at TVs in person.

      I guess I'm just looking for good places to start in terms of brand of model reputation 🤷🏻‍♂️

      • apple2016 on 07/11/2022 - 18:11
        +2

        Actually skip jb hifi / good guys. They never have a proper listning room.
        Visit nearby hifi stores and check out various sound bars. Let your ears decide what you like.

        • Faro on 07/11/2022 - 18:16

          Yeah that's a good point too. Not sure on dedicated hi fi stores near us though.

          Surely the Gold Coast would have some somewhere though, right?

  • Bluee on 07/11/2022 - 18:11

    Keen to know what you end up with

    • Faro on 07/11/2022 - 18:15

      Might take a month or so 😅

      • [Deactivated] on 07/11/2022 - 18:19
        +1

        Can wait

  • spackbace on 07/11/2022 - 18:18
    +2

    Gonna be difficult. Some people buy a $2k+ TV and then pair it with a $500 soundbar and say they're happy. I like my movies and music loud and bassy, so I have a 5.2.2 surround sound system. Depends on room size, layout, house design etc.

    ie

    Apartment or House?
    Good or bad neighbours?
    Separate theatre room or open plan living?
    Can have surround sound speakers behind the couch in reasonable locations?

    Etc etc

    • [Deactivated] on 07/11/2022 - 18:20

      If you are loud and bassy. Does good neighbours mean they tolerate you ;)

      • spackbace on 07/11/2022 - 18:21

        Depends how close in proximity you are to your neighbours :P Ours are far enough away, and 600W worth of subwoofer power doesn't go far beyond the house walls

        • [Deactivated] on 07/11/2022 - 18:25

          Damn you are lucky. Less than Half volume on my z623 reaches next door neighbours. Blame bad wall design and windows.

    • Faro on 07/11/2022 - 18:29

      It's an open floor in a townhouse. Neighbours are new and we're on good terms, but they have mentioned wanting to install soundproofing in general on their end. They've made no direct complaints about our level of noise though.

      I think space could theoretically be made for back-of-the-room speaker placement, but not sure about running cables (would need tape or equivalent of imagine).

      The room is a fairly open space. Main couch is about 2m from the TV.

      • spackbace on 07/11/2022 - 18:31
        +1

        My gut feel would likely be soundbar + sub, but something where you could buy the rear speakers separately later on in case you felt there was something missing once it's all up and running

        • Faro on 07/11/2022 - 18:32

          See, I didn't even know that was an option. That's already super helpful to know

          • spackbace on 07/11/2022 - 18:33
            +2

            @Faro: Scroll through some soundbar deals for pricing and general conversation

        • Ultimate Gattai on 08/11/2022 - 23:35

          Just adding to this idea of adding more speakers in later, you could also buy an AV Receiver, start with a pair of Tower or Bookshelf speakers, then add subwoofers, a center channel, surround speakers, ect… If you feel that you need those later on.

  • l005e on 07/11/2022 - 18:23
    +1

    i have a sonos beam hooked up to our 65" C2
    sounds amazing

    • Faro on 07/11/2022 - 18:26

      I know I could just Google, but is it just a soundbar alone? Or is it paired with a sub/additional speakers?

      And what's the price you bought at/RRP?

      Sorry for the many questions 😬

      • l005e on 07/11/2022 - 19:05

        $500 No sub.
        Have a sub on our other tv and i find myself turning it off alot.
        Hope this helps

        • Faro on 07/11/2022 - 19:17
          +1

          Curious now as to why you turn the sub off

          Just too bassy? Or loud?

          • l005e on 07/11/2022 - 20:02
            -1

            @Faro: Overpowers the voices in some aspects so you cant hear whats being said in low volume. Its much better at loud volume.
            I guess it depends if u have close neighbours or kids. We have young kids so alot of the time on low.
            Hope this helps

            • Faro on 07/11/2022 - 20:38

              @l005e: Yeah that's helps a bit. All becoming a little clearer

              • spackbace on 08/11/2022 - 01:05
                +3

                @Faro: Subs really don't overpower things, and if so you can easily adjust volume levels to compensate

                Sounds like a bad quality sub or badly tuned system imo

                • Ultimate Gattai on 08/11/2022 - 23:40
                  +1

                  @spackbace: That and alot of sound systems include Night Mode or Dynamic Range Compression to reduce the difference between voice/music/effects, ect… I have never come across hard to hear dialogue because of the subwoofer (that's a bizarre issue). I've had bad center channel speakers or watched some modern movies/series with poor sound mixing before, I have to agree that it's a very bad subwoofer, or a badly tuned system.

  • freefall101 on 07/11/2022 - 18:42
    +1

    IMO I'm really happy with my samsung one + sub. The Q800B reviews well and seems to currently be $700 everywhere (RRP is $1100).

    Only thing is I don't know squat about atmos/surround sound, I'm deaf in one ear. But again, reviews well and gives that fake surround thing in a small package.

    • Faro on 07/11/2022 - 19:18

      Would that be considered a mid range or high end soundbar?

  • Archi on 07/11/2022 - 19:32
    +2

    Sonos beam gen 2 and sub mini.

  • The Value on 07/11/2022 - 19:33
    +1

    So many options. Just get an LG soundbar to match your TV. Make sure it has Dolby Atmos and a separate sub woofer.

    https://www.jbhifi.com.au/search?query=lg%20soundbar&page=1

    • Faro on 07/11/2022 - 19:49

      Is there any advantage/disadvantage to mismatching brands?

      • The Value on 07/11/2022 - 20:25

        I know Samsung has Q-Symphony which uses the speakers on Samsung TV's to assist with the sound.

  • zoltanc on 07/11/2022 - 20:44
    +2

    There is always RTINGS… very comprehensive reviews and comparisons between different soundbars.

    https://www.rtings.com/soundbar

    • Faro on 07/11/2022 - 20:57

      I'm actually currently watching their video on the Sonos Beam, but I'm so uncertain.

      I have quite a spacey open room where the TV is, so I'm not sure about a "small" soundbar.

      RTINGS also recommend Vizio soundbars, but I can't seem to find them from Australian retailers.

  • keo on 07/11/2022 - 22:14

    https://youtu.be/SYHnEnhpZeQ

    https://youtu.be/qlcTREHsvC0

    If you wait for the Samsung to go on sale it is a very good value for price, main question is how much do you want to spend on a sound bar?

    • Faro on 08/11/2022 - 06:53

      I saw that this one topped RTINGS scores
      It's currently $2100 at JB, $1500 at HN and ~$1300 at some other online retailers.

      For what it includes and how it scores it almost seems too cheap in the Australian market.

      Might keep an eye on this one for Black Friday though

  • LordofWar on 08/11/2022 - 08:30
    +1

    I went with the Sonos Arc + sub+ surrounds with my C1. Definitely well worth the money in my opinion. Prefer the Arc over the beam as I feel physical Atmos speakers is far superior to virtual Atmos.

    • Faro on 08/11/2022 - 11:33

      Based on my limited (one day) research, I found that to go the Arc + Sub route would end up over $2000 and ends up being about the same as the Samsung q990b although the latter includes two satellite speakers and is currently the same price or cheaper than the Arc alone.

      Am I missing something?

  • Faro on 08/11/2022 - 11:36

    So I'm strongly leaning towards the Samsung HW-Q990B set as many online reviews suggest it is the best soundbar, plus it includes the sub and satellite speakers.

    On top of that it is also much cheaper than I feel it is meant to be considering the price in the US? Finding that part confusing. Might head over to The Good Guys and check out what they have on display..

    • [Deactivated] on 08/11/2022 - 16:59

      Honestly last time when I reseached, this is the model I had in mind. I guess this uses a lot of reflective surfaces to give you surround? if yes, you should make sure your room has it I guess. Like if you have a pot and a plant where the sound is supoosed to get reflected, then it may not reflect that well.

      • Faro on 08/11/2022 - 18:30

        So I went into JB where they had it set up in an aisle and I'm pretty impressed by the impression it left - even in a semi-crowded store with other noise and music playing.

        Leaning that way. Hoping for a decent discount come black Friday 🤞

        • [Deactivated] on 08/11/2022 - 18:55
          +1

          But what I have read here on OZB is that it sucks as music but excels as a surround Speakers. If you need both then actual Reciever with speakers make more sense.

          • Faro on 08/11/2022 - 20:42

            @[Deactivated]: The music video they had in store sounded fine to me as well. I'm not really an audiophile by any means, but I could tell some of the percussive sounds were perhaps a little… dull? But other than that it sounded good enough to me (again, taking into account the store environment)

            • [Deactivated] on 08/11/2022 - 22:27

              @Faro: Sound quality for speakers should always be compared side by side. Else it always sounds "good enough" unless you have enough experience auditioning speakers. But if you are not much into listening to songs, that should be alright IMO.

  • xecutor on 10/11/2022 - 10:04
    +1

    I have the LG S95QR and I primarily bought it because I wanted the TV and Soundbar to 'just work' and I could use the LG TV remote to control the sound.
    Both the Samsung HW-Q990B and LG S95QR are both excellent choices it just depends on your use case.

    Both devices are great at providing the Dolby Atmos sounds for BluRay / UHD 4K movies.
    I have had my S95QR for about 4 months now (I got it around $1,275) via price matching and with Black Friday you will likely see this around $1300-$1500 maybe less.

    Overall I am happy with my purchase although if you are really big on deep bass (from the sub-woofer) then definitely go for the Samsung HW-990B which is much better.
    I've never had any issue with my rear speakers disconnecting and you really don't need to use the LG App unless you are in the habit of customising your speaker EQs.

    I still though recommend you go into a store and test the different models out and I would highly recommend at least getting a soundbar system with rear speakers. It just adds so much more immersion when you are watching UHD 4K movies. It might annoy your neighbors though!

    Very Good Pricing considering that most other places are selling them at their RRP ($2000)
    Samsung HW-990B
    LG S95QR

  • Zhotan on 11/11/2022 - 09:05

    Ideally, if you care about sound being good, not even audiophile level, you should be ideally spending around min 60-80% of your TV price for speakers, and get separates and an receiver/AVR. A great quality low end "audiophile-approved" 2.0 speaker setup would be around $1800 (Polk R200 + Denon S660H), and would blow the sound quality of all soundbars and the like. If you're willing to spend around $2700 or so, you can get the plug and play Sony HT A9 or add another Polk R100 for a 4.0 separates system. Separates would last forever like 30 years imo, while soundbars will become redundant while new technologies come out within 10 years. Separates are basically a buy once well, cry once thing lol

    • Faro on 11/11/2022 - 18:31

      Considering I've never had a soundbar or sound system or home theatre set-up, I feel I'll be satisfied with something like the Samsung q990B.

      I know very few people who even have surround sound, let alone an "audio-phile approved" set-up so my level of comparison is going to be pretty low.

      I don't see myself regretting such a purchase any time soon 🤷🏻‍♂️

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