yup, had an early 5.1 way back when, my lounge isn't huge and i would struggle with rear speakers, and wouldn't wall mount

The problem when TV’s changed from massive cathode ray tube boxes with plenty of room for speakers to the need for as slim and edge less as possible new tech is there is no room for speakers, speakers need a large coil and magnet to produce the energy and response to make the sound with clarity, clear tones and big bass.

A simple rule when looking at speakers is bigger (housings, coils and magnets) will nearly always be better along with more speakers both type and numbers of each to get you those notes, base and spacial immersive sound set a film requires.

Same for amps, a larger amp will be able to dissipate heat better than an amp stuffed into a sound bar this may not mean a sound improvement but can translate into a reliability as electronics don’t like heat.

There is a B&O store in Glasgow; https://stores.bang-olufsen.com/en/united-...vin-avenue ...

Personally I think B&O are the equivalent to a fullfat wrt form&function! We have an B&O 65" Eclipse OLED TV (which has a brilliant sounding speaker itself) setup with 2 Beolab 5 speakers in our living room, and the Beovision 5 with the Beolab 8000 + Beosound 9000 in our "winter garden house" - just amazing how well the B&O speakers sounds! And of course one can use all B&O speakers in the different rooms at the same time, if needed. (I don't have any provision from B&O - just want to share how fantastic the B&O speakers are!)

It depends what you want.

We have a Dolby Atmos system built into the lounge with Q acoustics ceiling drivers and a Q acoustics speaker package and extra active sub all run by a AVR-x4500 denon amp.

Overkill for Telly but ace for movies. If you have an upto £1000 budget and the space I wouldn’t go for a sonos kit (and I’m a fan and have a lot of sonos gear) but I would go for a starter AV reciever something around the £300 mark will be fine both Denon and Yamaha do one at about that price and a 5.1 speaker setup, something like the Q acoustics 3010i package, probably sneaks over the £1000 but will blow a sonos sound bar out of the water.

That said, if you want convenience then the sonos Arc bar with the sonos sub and 2 sonos ones is about as good as sonos can get but it’s about £1800.....

They do cheaper, a beam and 2 ones is about £750, that will give surround, and you could add a sub later while Swmbo isn’t looking..... it won’t be light on bass, compared to a Telly, but for similar pennies the separates system will be better.

On its own the Arc will give the better result of the sonos kit and again you could add the sub later. The Arc is atmos enabled so is on its own well regarded for doing a decent job at throwing the sound around the room. There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

Some tech thoughts for you. If you get a soundbar, think about what you are after. Does it merely need to replace the TV speakers, in which case almost anything will do. Do you want an immersive audio/video experience? Ing such case you need to be picky.

A study by MIT in the US some years ago determined that when audio quality was improved, viewers perceived an improvement in picture quality. All that means is that if you have good sound, you enjoy the system more and appreciate your TV more.

When you visit your A/V dealer, ask how they expect you to connect a soundbar to your TV. An optical cable will carry compressed 5.1. Thats OK, but its basically 20+ year old tech. If they suggest an HDMI cable for ARC (audio Return Channel ) which your TV supports, then you can get compressed 7.1 audio. However, if your TV, and the soundbar you select support eARC (Enhanced Audio Return Channel) then you van get uncompressed 7.1 audio, as well as Dolby Atmos.

Having all that doesn't help unless you have a soundbar that can adequately replicate it. With a budget of £500 to £1000 you are fine, there are many options out there that can do what you want.

Questions for your A/V dealer: how should I connect this to my TV? Does this support eARC? Will my TV remote control this, or do I need to use a second remote? Will this sit flush with my wall mounted TV? etc.

As an aside, the best sound bar I have ever heard was the Senheisser Ambeo, but its £2k and you cant get them for love nor money.

Many people recommended Sonos. I’ll agree with them, it’s not the absolute cutting edge of sound quality, but it works Every Single Time and is very versatile. The Sonos Beam does support eARC, and you could get one of those and 2 witless rear speaker inside your budget.

Really appreciate the insight . Shall report back in due course . Makes a change from discussing car trouble

Indeed, when we built our new house I decided to add loads of audio, so I’ve got a reasonable handle on it, started my first separates system 25 years ago, and this was meant to stop the spending.....

Since moving in I’ve updated the Apple TV’s bought a new Pioneer 4K Bd player, fiddled about with the turntable, added some more sonos, added a sub to the patio system. It’s a disease......can’t stop buying gadgets..... There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

Don’t laugh but the last time I bought audio was late 80’s, pair of Bose 301, pioneer amp and a stable platter single CD player , which is still hooked up... mibbe time to upgrade

Could be.....  There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

I love the up-selling on these threads

We start with the tv speakers being below par & we're heading towards re-wiring the whole house for sound

I think the wife is slowly agreeing with the proposed increased budget. I senses a trade off coming soon ...

If it helps on the negotiations with the wife, I can send you some links to some absurdly expensive ‘lifestyle’ solutions for TV sound. Suddenly everything you are suggesting will look se single and reasonably priced….

I have lived in a lot of modern homes with full stereo systems installed, a part from the rear fill speakers in the lounges we nevertheless used any of the fitted stuff, free standing front speakers, AV tuner/amp and a nice big screen have been our go to set up. Speakers in every room and terrace sounds great but in reality will you ever use them, guess that’s a personal question.

Currently sitting on my patio in the sun with the outside speakers on and a beer... not too shabby. Really depends on the quality of what the builders put in whether it’s worth using or not.....My outside setup runs off a sonos port, my dayton 12 channel amp (which also runs 4 other rooms with Q ceiling speakers) and has 2 Yamaha outside speakers and a polk passive sub, it’s only 60W a channel but is plenty and requires no effort to turn on, so is on almost all the time I’m outside!

Depending on how close your neighbours are determines whether they are worth the money, if you have plenty of space then yes if you live in a town with close neighbours then you will likely annoy them, so a Bluetooth speaker will me more socially acceptable.  There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

Agreed 👍