# On-wall vs soundbars input



## Erin H (Aug 26, 2009)

We're building again and started framing last week. Things are picking up quick. So, I realized I need to get my butt in gear and start ordering the things I need (wiring, speakers, etc). I looked at going in-wall for our living room; at least LCR if not full bore 5.1 to hold me over until I can afford components for the movie room that will be pre-wired upstairs. I remembered I had a set of Pioneer in-walls a friend sent to test which pretty much act as a surrogate for any other in-wall in size. I got the sw8 version out of the box and put it up to my wall. The wife shot it down. She said it would be too obvious in our walls, even painted, and I agreed. In-walls are now out of contention. I will be buying some cheap ones for the garage, though. 

We are not going to use floorstanding speakers simply because we want to keep the space and layout we designed the living room for. So, that leaves me with either a soundbar or *on*-wall speakers. I want something that looks very nice, aesthetically. Deftech has some interesting speakers for on-wall use. As does Kef. I'm more familiar with Kef's offerings via my testing on their UniQ speakers and feel they're a solid brand. I have no idea about Deftech, though. 

Deftech & Kef also make some interesting options for soundbar use. 

Bottom line: Soundbar vs on-wall. I'm not sure. Soundbar seems to have the convenience of simple: one bar, supposed surround sound. I can't help but think 5 speakers placed in a surround config wouldn't perform better; I'm just not sure I believe a single bar would really work well here. 

For what it's worth, I will be using a separate sub and likely will wire up a place in the living room to place it, but that location has yet to be determined. 

These are some of the ones I've spotted and like:
Soundbars:
http://www.kef.com/html/us/showroom...ndbar/Fact_Sheets/speakers/HTF8003/index.html
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_735MYSSA50/Definitive-Technology-Mythos-SSA-50.html

On-Wall speakers:
These come as a 5 channel set but here are just the fronts:
http://www.kefdirect.com/t-301-satellite-speaker.html
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-cg7JDe...ive-Technology-Mythos-XTR-50-Wallspeaker.html

I know there are a lot more options out there that I'm probably overlooking but I'm just trying to get some ideas going.

Thoughts or input?


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## Peter Loeser (Aug 11, 2012)

Looking to do something similar in our living room as well, for the sake of convenience. I have almost certainly settled on a soundbar as my solution. I have browsed the offerings from Atlantic Technology and Definitive Technology as well and both seem to have some good options. I actually have an Atlantic Tech PB-235 review unit sitting on our mantle below our TV at the moment, though it is only a 2 channel. How much are you looking to spend on a soundbar? I think there are some pretty high end ones, like B&W and Martin Logan.


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## Peter Loeser (Aug 11, 2012)

Anyone tried the Sonos Playbar?


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## Tooley (Jan 2, 2011)

The Sonos soundbar is a very good product nice and clear plays fairly loud can't go wrong with anything from Sonos.


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## Tooley (Jan 2, 2011)

Auto correct put soundbar instead of playbar


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## Utopianemo (Dec 12, 2012)

I've heard great things about the higher end Yamaha offerings. They actually have 5 separate channels in the soundbar and use some convincing trickery to make the "rear" channel sound as if it is actually located behind the listening position. It's not simply an out-of-phase stereo pair, either. Apparently it sounds pretty good.


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