Question Dolby Atmos Soundbar for a small TV room

jasehigh

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I’m looking to upgrade my current (upstairs) TV room, which is a small (9ft x 8ft) room which currently has:
  • Samsung HD UE46D7000 2011 TV Wallmounted (purchased from Richer Sounds)
  • Sony HT-AS5 5.1 Home Theatre System
Plugged into this set-up is/will be:
  • Sky Q
  • Apple TV 4K
  • Playstation 4
  • Nintendo Switch
8 years on, I'm obviously thinking about an upgrade for the TV and sound system…

TV wise I’m looking at a 55 inch OLED, and top of the list (currently) is the Panasonic GZ950, although I wonder if sitting only 6 feet away from a 55 inch screen is a good idea!

However, the sound solution is whats really eluding me…

I have always plugged my devices into a receiver first and then run a single HDMI cable to the TV (downstairs I have a Denon AVR-X2400H receiver with Dolby Atmos speakers).

I’d like Dolby Atmos in the TV room and I’ve considered a separate receiver (maybe the slim Marantz NR1609… a good match for the Denon downstairs), however, an upgrade to a 55inch TV would remove the space required for wall mountable left and right speakers, leaving a soundbar as the only realistic option.

However, finding the right soundbar is proving difficult….
  • The sofa is against the back wall and while I currently have surrounds would I miss them if I choose a soundbar without surround speakers?
  • Very few soundbars have more than 1 or 2 HDMI inputs and I doubt (from what I’ve read) I’ll get full Dolby Atmos sound by connecting my devices to the TV and relying on ARC to the soundbar, is this correct?
There are a lot of great top end soundbars, but all seem overkill fo such a small space.

While not very high-end, the Vizio SB36512 feels like a good compromise between performance, features, and cost. Are there better choices for such small room?

If I did use this or similar soundbar I assume I would need a good/reliable HDMI switch that can pass Dolby Vision & Dolby Atmos to the soundbar. I can then plug all of my devices into the HDMI switch, running a single cable from the switch to the soundbar and then a single HDMI cable from the soundbar to the TV. Can anyone recommend such a HDMI switch or is there an alternative set-up available?

If I cannot find a suitable sound solution the only alternative I can see if is a the Philips OLED+ 934 TV, with built in Dolby Atmos soundbar. I suspect I would still need a separate subwoofer, but I assume this would give a good sound experience for the room (despite the lack of surround speakers).

Apologies for the long post, but any advise/recommendations is greatly appreciated.
 
What’s your budget for the soundbar? I personally think if going for soundbar then quality of audio should take priority over features.... if you give a budget we can narrow it down a little
 
Budget wise (for the soundbar)... somewhere in the region of £750 to £1250. Fairly flexible on price if the soundbar has the right performance/features. While I've seen some great top end soundbars, I'm worried I won't really be taking advantage of them in such a small space.
 
As you have a small space and do not want overkill, id be more inclined to go the non atmos route...option 1 would be the Dali Katch soundbar. Looks incredible and is compact and has been given some really good reviews.... option 2 a sonos beam with some surrounds and the sub? You can build this system over time and will sound really good. Again nice and compact. If you really want atmos then the Samsung q90 soundbar is meant to be good, as well as the Sony hts5000 although that’s getting a little old now. If you truly want atmos from a soundbar then imo the only soundbar to do this is the ambeo soundbar but that costs £2200 and is massive!
 
I’m looking to upgrade my current (upstairs) TV room, which is a small (9ft x 8ft) room which currently has:
  • Samsung HD UE46D7000 2011 TV Wallmounted (purchased from Richer Sounds)
  • Sony HT-AS5 5.1 Home Theatre System
Plugged into this set-up is/will be:
  • Sky Q
  • Apple TV 4K
  • Playstation 4
  • Nintendo Switch
8 years on, I'm obviously thinking about an upgrade for the TV and sound system…

TV wise I’m looking at a 55 inch OLED, and top of the list (currently) is the Panasonic GZ950, although I wonder if sitting only 6 feet away from a 55 inch screen is a good idea!

However, the sound solution is whats really eluding me…

I have always plugged my devices into a receiver first and then run a single HDMI cable to the TV (downstairs I have a Denon AVR-X2400H receiver with Dolby Atmos speakers).

I’d like Dolby Atmos in the TV room and I’ve considered a separate receiver (maybe the slim Marantz NR1609… a good match for the Denon downstairs), however, an upgrade to a 55inch TV would remove the space required for wall mountable left and right speakers, leaving a soundbar as the only realistic option.

However, finding the right soundbar is proving difficult….
  • The sofa is against the back wall and while I currently have surrounds would I miss them if I choose a soundbar without surround speakers?
  • Very few soundbars have more than 1 or 2 HDMI inputs and I doubt (from what I’ve read) I’ll get full Dolby Atmos sound by connecting my devices to the TV and relying on ARC to the soundbar, is this correct?
There are a lot of great top end soundbars, but all seem overkill fo such a small space.

While not very high-end, the Vizio SB36512 feels like a good compromise between performance, features, and cost. Are there better choices for such small room?

If I did use this or similar soundbar I assume I would need a good/reliable HDMI switch that can pass Dolby Vision & Dolby Atmos to the soundbar. I can then plug all of my devices into the HDMI switch, running a single cable from the switch to the soundbar and then a single HDMI cable from the soundbar to the TV. Can anyone recommend such a HDMI switch or is there an alternative set-up available?

If I cannot find a suitable sound solution the only alternative I can see if is a the Philips OLED+ 934 TV, with built in Dolby Atmos soundbar. I suspect I would still need a separate subwoofer, but I assume this would give a good sound experience for the room (despite the lack of surround speakers).

Apologies for the long post, but any advise/recommendations is greatly appreciated.

The sony zf9 with rear speakers is in your buget5 has 2 hdmi inputs.
If your tv supports earc you will get atmos through tv inputs or upscaled sound if not.

The only way to get true atmos is with ceiling mounted speakers, the sony does a simulated atmos which envelopes you in a bubble of sound.
I have an 8ft 5 x 11ft room and find it works well.

Not sure if dolby vision passes through or not on it.


best thing would be go and get a demo of a few soundbars and compare.
 
Budget wise (for the soundbar)... somewhere in the region of £750 to £1250. Fairly flexible on price if the soundbar has the right performance/features. While I've seen some great top end soundbars, I'm worried I won't really be taking advantage of them in such a small space.
I'd recommend the Samsung HW-N950, it's last years model but pack a big punch.
I have it running in a 3.2m x 2.5m room and it works great.
 
Thanks for the suggestions, both look to be great soundbars. However, my issue is connectivity.
I want to connect more devices to the soundbar than their are HDMI inputs.
I could connect my devices to the TV and use ARC to the soundbar but I believe I would loose the Dolby Atmos signal (not much point in having a Dolby Atmos soundbar if I can't hear it).

Can anyone offer advise on how to connect 4 HDMI devices to a such a soundbar, using a TV that does NOT support eARC (like the Panasonic 950)?
 
Thanks for the suggestions, both look to be great soundbars. However, my issue is connectivity.
I want to connect more devices to the soundbar than their are HDMI inputs.
I could connect my devices to the TV and use ARC to the soundbar but I believe I would loose the Dolby Atmos signal (not much point in having a Dolby Atmos soundbar if I can't hear it).

Can anyone offer advise on how to connect 4 HDMI devices to a such a soundbar, using a TV that does NOT support eARC (like the Panasonic 950)?
What devices will you be using? Do they all provide Dolby Atmos output?
You don't need eARC to pass through Dolby Atmos, ARC works fine which is what I am using on my LG C8.
 
I’m in the same situation, looking at an ATMOS bar as my home cinema all in one is on its last legs. I did go into richer sounds yesterday to have a look but I’m still non the wiser. I was advised not to buy the ZF9 by Sony 3.1 as it had no side or upward firing speakers.
I’ve noticed that nearly all of them don’t have a lot of inputs. I am interested in the LG SL8YG which has a 3.1.2 configuration and rear speakers can be added. It only has one input and an ARC input/output, seems to have quite good reviews but the thread on here seems quite small although most seem happy with it. My budget is about 700, any advice would be appreciated.
 
Decided to go for the LG C9 and the Sony HT-ZF9 in the end.

The LG won over the Panasonic as I have lots of Dolby Atmos content and no HDR10+ content so dual HDR format support didn't appeal as much as the future-proof HDMI2.1 inputs and the additional features such as homekit support. It also helped that with various discounts and offers (including their promotion with Sky) I saved over £500 on the purchase price.

The Sony HT-ZF9 was my soundbar choice as I just didn't see up-firing speakers working that well in such a small space (I have a Dolby Atmos system downstairs). The zf9 sounded fantastic in the in-store demo I had, and with eARC support this seemed like the best choice for price/sound. I can always add the additional rear speakers if I miss then, but with the sofa against the back wall, I never got much from my current 5.1 set-up.

Now I just need to get all of this set-up and on the wall :)
 

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