The best soundbars and home theaters

The development of IT-technologies has allowed moving the viewing of high-quality films from huge cinema halls to home rooms: huge screens show the smallest details of frames. The best soundbars and home theaters allow you to get enough of the beauty, the depth of stereo sound.

Acoustics allows you to fully plunge into the atmosphere of the film

What is a soundbar?

Before those who decided to radically update the sound quality when watching a high-resolution movie, the question arises of what type of sound system to choose - a soundbar or a home theater. Which is cooler and better, will help assess the familiarity with the characteristics of each type of equipment.

Soundbar - a compact audio system with a horizontal orientation. Connection to the signal source and receiver is carried out in two ways:

• using wires;
• “Over the air” (via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi).

There are two types of connection:

1. Passive. The soundbar is connected to only one device - a media player.
2. Active. Since this type of device is equipped with a separate high-class active acoustics, they require a separate 220 V network input. A pair of TV speakers, a subwoofer, and a soundbar acoustics form a 5.1 stereo system.

Soundbar gives clear surround sound

The sound monoblock is controlled by a digital algorithm “wired” into the processor. Budget sound candy bar, not being able to provide spatial sound, is still higher in quality than the TV speakers. The best soundbar does an excellent job of imitating surround stereo sound of the highest purity.

What is a home theater

Before monoblock systems, devices that are mounted on a discrete principle have entered the AV technology market. A set of home theater can be made using equipment from different brands.One of the common definitions of a home cinema is a high-quality signal reproduction system for a music and television receiver. A set of equipment allows you to recreate sound conditions in the room, comparable to broadcasting surround stereo sound in a movie theater.

It's not easy to choose a good home theater

Home cinema includes several separate components:

• video audio source;
• AV receiver or amplifier;
• speaker system from 4-16 speakers;
• set of connecting cables;
• video receiver.

The signal in the home theater is not transmitted “over the air”. Cable transmission through the input / output connectors prevents its distortion on the way from the transmitter to the receiver. Signal sources are HD players, Blu-ray players, or personal computers. Projectors or televisions with high-resolution screens (Fill HD, Ultra HD) are used as the receiver.

Signal processing is carried out using the AV receiver. It combines a multi-channel amplifier plus a processor for changing signal parameters, encoding / decoding it into various audio-video formats. Ideally, the amplification and signal processing should be divided by the presence of a middle-class receiver / amplifier. But if the latter is missing, then the receiver copes with its functions.

Principle of operation

Signal switching schemes in soundbars and home theaters are very similar in many respects, as they are based on the same technologies.

The soundbar works in a circuit with a signal source / receiver:

1. Receive from source: HDMI-out - HDMI-in.
2. Processing using the built-in processor, feed to the audio system.
3. Digital to analog conversion via S / PDIF-toslink adapter.
4. Submission to a TV-receiver: HDMI-out - HDMI-in.

Soundbar switching circuit with source and receiver

In a home theater, things are much more complicated. There are more wired connections. To connect the receiver with the source / receiver of the signal, you must have several types of cables:

• composite;
• with HDMI support;
• RGB
• S-video;
• network filter.

Connecting home theater elements

Additional difficulties lie in the proper placement of acoustic equipment.

Home theater acoustics layout

An ideal sound background is created when the speakers are located at an angle of 45 degrees with respect to the audience. Acoustic configuration may change after setup.

Specifications

Choosing a device for creating surround sound while watching movies comes down to a comparison of the main parameters. The list of technical characteristics of soundbars:

• signal decoding system;
• formats / playback modes;
• interfaces, wire / wireless connectors;
• soundbar power;
• signal to sound ratio;
• frequency range;
• size, weight.

Wooden speakers for high-end home cinema

In the case of choosing a home theater, a few important parameters should be added to the standard list of “functional”:

• type of amplifier or AV receiver;
• subwoofer type;
• number of acoustic channels;
• power of individual elements of the speaker system - front / rear speakers, subwoofer.

Of no small importance is the material from which the speaker boxes are made - wood, MDF or polypropylene.

2019 Soundbar Rating

Monoblock sound systems have been ranked this year as follows. Which soundbar to choose is not easy to decide.

Monitor Audio Soundbar 2

Price - 54990 rub.

The novelty of the leader among world manufacturers of Hi-End class sound systems instantly took off on the first line of the rating - a device for broadcasting an audio signal when watching movies on panels 50-60 ”.A stylish vinyl finish hides a sound projector and 9 powerful speakers inside. Connecting with external devices is carried out using AirPlay and DLNA technologies.

Canton Smart Soundbar 9

Price - 74990 rub.

A powerful stereo audio device equipped with aptX support technology. The soundbar can stream wirelessly from devices that support Chromecast. The total sound power is 300 W in the frequency range of 40-30000 Hz. Instead of a Dolby Atmos processor, the device is equipped with four active and two passive emitters.

Ultra-budget soundbar from Xiaomi

Xiaomi Mi TV Soundbar

Price - 4490 rubles.

One example of successful marketing is the budget Mi TV home soundbar. 8-block acoustics provide excellent sound quality. The advantage of the soundbar from Xiaomi is light weight, connecting the interface settings, low price.

Canton Smart Soundbar 10

Price - 99990 rub.

Virtual sound system 2.1.2 without subwoofer. Total power - 300W. Sound can be delivered via Bluetooth 4.0 with aptX support. Soundbar Acoustics:

• two woofers / two midrange speakers;
• two broadband Atmos emitters;
• two dome tweeters.

The convenience of the system lies in the fact that it can be easily supplemented with elements up to 5.1.2 format.

Monitor Audio Soundbar 4

Price - 79 990 rub.

Another sound system for receivers with a large (up to 70 ”) diagonal. The composition of the soundbar acoustics includes:

• two 4 ”composite C-Cam speakers;
• 25 mm tweeters in three discrete channels - central, left, right.

High sound power is the result of installing low-frequency broadband oval ABR emitters. C-Cam's stiff bass diffusers are concave. The scheme of their attachment to the front panel completely eliminates the presence of sound distortion.

The best soundbars are in the top list of Monitor Audio. Two devices at prices over 60 thousand rubles. took places in the first five.

2019 Home Cinema Rating

The undisputed leader in the rating of the best recreation centers of the current year according to customer reviews is Onkyo. Her home acoustics systems to create high-fidelity surround sound occupy two first places.

Onkyo HT-S5805

Price - 49,990 rubles.

Great offer for listening to music files using Dolby Atmos technology. The channel power of the HT-R494 receiver is 1000 watts. The power of sound is emphasized by a 20-centimeter 80-watt subwoofer. The device is capable of generating Ultra HD video on a widescreen screen with an aspect ratio of 21: 9.

Onkyo HT-S9800THX

Price RUB 125,990

Home Theater Onkyo HT-S9800THX

This recreation center can be called “a monster in a box”. His heart is the HT-R997 network receiver. The device has a fantastic set of technologies:

• FireConnect for dual-band Wi-Fi;
• Chromecast
• DTS Play-Fi;
• Spotify, AirPlay and Bluetooth wireless connection to stream tracks from your smartphone.

Acoustics with dome tweeters operates in the frequency range of 50-45000 Hz. Convenience of management is provided by the built-in Onkyo Kontroller application.

Samsung HT-J5550K

Price - 23 980 rubles.

Despite the good functionality, a set of modern technologies (3D, Smart TV, Digital Plus, Dolby), a large total power (1000 W), the cinema received a number of complaints from users:

• lack of "bass";
• poor quality of plastic;
• noisy cooler.

Harman / Kardon BDS 880

Price - 80,990 rubles.

The center for high-performance home theater is the BDS 580BQ Network Receiver. Compact 5.1 speakers fit easily on shelves. Technologies are used to connect to sound sources:

• Bluetooth
• Apple AirPlay

The minus of the device is the high price.

Sony BDV-N9200W

Price 47990 rub.

The five-channel system features an elegant speaker design. Pure sound is created through the use of ferromagnetic fluid in the glass fiber speakers. Sound compressed digital files of MP3, ACC and WMA standards are restored using DSEE technology.

The top five included two Onkyo recreation centers. In addition to devices of world brands Samsung and Sony, only one device from Harman / Kardon was able to squeeze into the list of the best. Onkyo HT-S9800THX ranked second in the ranking. This is the most expensive home cinema option on the Russian market. Its price is almost 126 thousand rubles.