Center Channel Vs Soundbar

[Lenora Rademacher]

OkaySonos Community I want you to let Sonos know that as a home owner that has one dedicated room where I have a home theater set up as well as enjoy listening to audiophile quality sound I am having a real hard time with all of the Sonos line in order to get the sound I want. I either have an excellent home theater system with the Arc, Sub (or even two Subs), and Ones (or Fives) or I have a great music system with the Fives and Sub (or two Subs). The Amp and Port are no goes as I do not fine them that great when it comes to their DAC (sound is too bright at higher volumes) when it goes to my Dynaudio tower speakers. Yes the Amp and Port are good in their specific uses but not in a music room (my opinion only).

My perfect world would be a Sonos Center (center channel) that would support the entire home theater system while allowing someone to not use it or the surrounds when they just want to listen to music.

Sonos Center (no soundbar) for the center channel. The Sonos Center would have to match the left and right front channels for sure so really you could just take a Sonos Five and program it to act like the center channel.

Since there are complaints about the volume of the dialogue channel on Arc and Beam being too low, and because the quality of the centre channel is so important in a HT system, we might see it one day...

Hi, i got a Q900A a few days ago and really enyoing it so far. I watch mainly trough Netflix/Prime. Atmos content works great but in some series/movies that are labeled as 5.1 in Netflix/Prime, my center channel doesnt play any voice/dialouge at all. I can hear them talk but extremely quite and muffled (probably because its coming out of the subwoofer). Other sound like background noise play normaly trough the center channel. If i hit pause and play again it works normal again, if i rewind or fast forward a bit -> voice is gone again -> pause and play -> voice works. Same when switching between internal speakers and soundbar.

Soundbar is connected trough arc to my Sony X900F. TV and Soundbar have the latest firmware. What i found trough googling is, if i put the digital output on my TV to PCM the center channel works normal and i can hear the dialouge again, but Atmos doesnt work anymore. So thats not really a solution.

If this info helps -> i just tested playing netflix on my PC (PC goes into TV -> into Soundbar), everything works fine here, TV also shows Dolby Digital + in the connection infos. So i guess its some problem with my TV?

I'll go into a little more detail below, but the quick solution to fix this problem is to either disable Dolby Atmos in your TV settings (if you're on a Samsung TV that should be under "Settings -> Sound -> Expert Settings"), or leave Atmos on but change your soundbar connection from HDMI-eARC to WiFi. Both solutions might be a compromise for you on the quality of your listening experience, but you can at least pick and choose whether you're willing to sacrifice Atmos or general sound responsiveness. If you demand both, then you may have no choice but to return the soundbar, as I doubt that this is something Samsung can fix.

Some more details: this is an exceptionally difficult problem to diagnose, because audio test files seem to play just fine. I was able to use a Dolby Atmos 11.1.4 test file shared on this thread on AVForums and each channel played fine. The issue was only obvious when playing actual media, and generally media that was mixed in 5.1 or 7.1. The only thing I didn't test was using 5.1 and 7.1 test files. Those might make it extremely obvious.

My best guess without knowing how things work under the hood is that there's an issue with how Atmos is interpreting the centre channel on content that isn't mixed for Atmos. I don't know where it's sending that audio, but it definitely isn't our ears.

A soundbar is a compact bar-shaped speaker system designed to create home theater sound for your TV, without the complexity and expense of a multi-speaker sound system. However, only a few soundbars are designed to reproduce TV dialogue with maximum clarity. If you love watching movies and are looking for more vocal clarity while you watch, ZVOX Soundbars and TV Speakers are for you.

Most soundbars do not include dedicated center speakers, which are essential for voice clarity and sound quality. An audio system with center speakers usually cost more, but if clear dialogue and TV sound are important to you, the extra cost is easily worth it.

Many brands offer soundbars with "enhanced dialogue," but most of those speakers simply boost the frequency range where most voices occur. The problem with this approach is that the "boost" makes everything in that range louder - not just the voices.

The patented ZVOX AccuVoice system uses digital algorithms that separate the voices from the rest of the soundtrack. The voices are then manipulated using hearing aid technology to make them sharper and more clear.

The tiny speakers built into flat-screen TVs just don't do a good job of improving dialogue clarity. Plus, new Hollywood mixing techniques often result in TV dialogue that is very difficult to understand. And many people with minor hearing impairments have difficulty understanding voices coming through TV speakers.

There are several reasons why people experience poor voice clarity when watching TV.

For one, people who have a history of listening to music at high volumes, especially through headphones or earbuds, are at a higher risk of developing hearing problems. This in turn impacts your ability to distinguish voices from other sound effects.

Over and above this, modern TVs are designed to be sleek and thin, which leaves limited space for high-quality surround sound speakers. As a result, the built-in speakers often lack the depth and power needed for optimal voice clarity.

ZVOX SoundBase, PhaseCue and AccuVoice are registered trademarks of ZVOX Audio LLC.

iPod is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.

This site and its contents 2006 -2019 ZVOX Audio, LLC.

Soundbars and centre speakers are similar pieces of equipment. They both are meant to sit right under the TV in a home audio setup, producing sound from the centre of the room. So, are they interchangeable? Can you use a soundbar as a centre channel speaker in your surround sound system?

In terms of power, centre speakers are passive; they do not have amplification abilities. This means they must be hooked up to an amplifier and receiver like the rest of a surround sound system. Most soundbars are active rather than passive, meaning they have a built-in amplifier to boost the input signal. This allows them to be plugged directly into the TV or audio source.

In addition to these audio problems, incorrectly hooking up a soundbar to a receiver can damage your equipment. As stated before, most soundbars are active. Connecting an active soundbar to a receiver means the soundbar is receiving and amplifying an already amplified signal. This will definitely cause sound issues, and probably will damage the speakers. You can use a line-out converter to avoid double amplification, but nonetheless, an active soundbar is not designed to receive such a powerful signal, so it is generally not a good idea to do this.

If you're building out a home theater, the minimum demand you probably have is that the vocals are crystal clear. Polk center channel speakers enable just that, powering every piece of dialogue with precision.

Casavant says not to let the A/V receiver outsmart your own ears and it really comes down to common sense - make sure your center channel is level with the rest of your speakers, in terms of the soundstage.

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I have a 5.1 Home Theater using a KV1 Klipsch Center Speaker , front left and right speakers are KSB3.1 Klipsch and rear Left and right are IC525 Klipsch Ceiling speakers. The Sub-woofer is an Infinity powered BU-1. I also use an iLive 37" Sound Bar to enhance TV dialog at low volume. The system runs through a Onkyo TX-NR626 A/V Receiver. The center and sound bar have been on a TV cabinet (with storage for the EQ inside). Normally, the positioning is the sound bar off center right and the center off center left behind the TV. With the TV stand, 1/2 the center is blocked so the back is lifted and it aims down. This sound is OK and when necessary adjustments can be made by movement of the sound bar. See photo. However, I recently upgraded my TV to a 4K 50" Samsung UHDTV. I plan to consider a wall mount for the new TV. Since the center channnel speaker is large and heavy would it be OK to leave it on top of the cabinet and try and hang the sound bar from the TV? I see several items designed to do that. I fear the Klipsch is too heavy to hang from a rack setup. This means that from the listening/viewing area, the center speaker would be below the sound bar. The sound bar is connected to the TV audio via optical cable so when I am in Home Theater mode with the audio through the A/V Receiver, no sound comes from the sound bar. I would appreciate any comments.

Choose one center speaker. You might buy a monitor stand from monoprice.com to get your TV high enough for the bottom of the TV screen to clear the top of the KV-1. Check the stands out, they're cheap. They sell several different sizes.

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