Source
r/BudgetAudiophile•
whimbrel

My wife wants to replace LS50s with a sound bar! Help me keep a 2.1 system?

Purchasing USA

I enjoy listening to music through good speakers. My wife enjoys being able to pick up the remote and have sound accompany the program she’s watching. This is proving harder to reconcile than you’d think, so I need help.

We currently have an LG C2 television, a Yamaha RX-750 and the original LS50s. (And an Apple TV, PS5, Hue Sync, etc). Using just those three primary components, I have completely failed to get ARC working reliably. I’ve switched cables. I’ve unplugged stuff and let it think about its choices. I’ve specified decoding formats and also let them choose their own adventure. I’m ready to give up, and the Yamaha is my least favorite component in the mix. I’d like to get a pared down 2.1 amp that Just Works with the other devices. My wife keeps talking about how simple it is for all her friends to watch their shows with their sound bars.

Any thoughts on how to resolve this?

I really need:

  • enough power for the LS50s
  • a headphone jack
  • reliable ARC, eARC, or some way that we can pick up the single remote, have things turn on, and change the volume as needed
  • a reasonable cost and acceptable form factor

This doesn’t seem like a huge ask, but here we are, anyway… so help, please?

Thanks!

Posted Nov 23, 2022, 3:51 PM UTC

1048
smackdaddiesI aim to misbehave•

divorce?

17
Bloodyhogg•

Too expensive. Good idea, but... That would be the r/audiophile territory.

18
LaFave77•

Golden comment

4
SantaOMG•

Just put a sound bar in and she uses the bar and you use the speakers. Get like a $50 soundbar so she thinks it sucks and wants to use the speakers and eventually get rid of the bar

13
VegaGT-VZ•

This guy is living in the year 3000

Other easy fix is to set the stereo back to whatever your wife wants when you're done

4
WillkuerlicherUnrat•

Just get an AV-Receiver with HDMI Arc? Most modern AVRs will have all the features you want.

I would just get a Denon, Yamaha, Onkyo or Marantz one. Whatever you and your wife find good looking.

I think theses look better than most and won't break the bank.

11
slackinfux•

Maybe the Denon DRA-800H would be what you're looking for? It's a 2.2ch receiver with HDMI, ARC, a headphone jack and 100W per channel into 8 ohms.

4
thCuba•

Try it but I think you will give it back cause it don't have Earc that is imho what you need

1
izeek11•

real simple and both get what they want.

we simply use the soundbar through optical from tv to soundbar. my wife can get to her shows no prollem without five on switches.

we have a 2ch system for the music in the same room. i can play music just as easily.

they both have their purpose and can coexist very well. power plays not necessary.

i actually enjoy casually listening with the soundbar playing sports underneath. using the tv speakers, it was harder to get the voices melded. with the sound bar its great.

i can listen to music and keep track of whats going on in the game im watching. or just listen to music.

my wife can watch tube w/o complications.

a little giventake on moments and alls good, mang.

4
whimbrelOP•

Here’s the only wrinkle, and I realize this will out me as not a true audiophile — I often listen to music streaming through the appleTV or airplayed through the appleTV, so there’d be overlap in the two systems, which seems not ideal.

2
damgood32•

I second this. This seems like the best option. People always diss soundbars but it’s great for casual TV watching. This way, the wife gets something simple for her to use and they can get their music setup when they want

1
sfdude2222•

I'm looking for something similar, my wife wants me to get a turntable again because she really liked when we used to play records and what we have now will not work with a turntable. I also know that ease of use is important to her. We currently have a KEF V300 system which has a really small HDMI amp that mounts behind the TV and the whole thing is controlled by a Roku remote and it works flawlessly. Only problem is it doesn't sound the greatest.

Couple of options that I like and should work pretty easily for you:

Svs soundbase has HDMI input and plenty of power. Also is in a small form factor. Drawback is you have to hook all devices to tv, could be harder to wire cleanly.

Bluesound powernode. There are two different versions available. Small form factor, not as powerful as the svs.

My experience with having one HDMI output from the TV to the amp makes things pretty easy. At best it automatically switches when you turn something on, at worst you have to change the input on the TV remote.

3
Laggoh•

I had a similar issue and I solved it with a Sonos Amp. I know they aren’t a popular option here but it was a compromise I had to make and has been a great happy middle ground.

I was able to hook up my KEF Q150s and the turn table no problem.

We have an older Vizio TV and a 4K Apple TV.

The Apple Remote turns everything on and controls the volume of the Amp.

Put something on the turn table? The Amp auto switch to that source. Press buttons on the Apple TV remote? Auto switches to that source.

Wife can AirPlay to the KEFs and other Sonos speakers.

It might not be the “best” sound stage (Bluesound Power Node/Node Edge or SVS Soundbase would most likely be better) but the easy of use and interoperability with other Sonos based speakers won here. Probably going to pick up some IKEA speakers as rears for movie watching and a wired sub sometime in the future.

I’m pretty happy with the setup.

3
SaltTheRimG•

This is the perfect compromise for OP.

1
ethos1234567890•

Universal remote?… Harmony worked great for me but is being discontinued. Can probably still pick one up though pretty easily. Especially the higher tiered ones are fantastic. You can set them up so that with one button it turns on all necessary components, switches to the correct input, and knows which device should be used for volume, channel, etc. (even dim smart lights and close smart blinds/drapes if you want). On the rare occasion something didn’t work, my wife knew to hit the “All Off” button, wait 5 sec, and hit the button again for the specified task. Easy peasy.

3
Few-Cricket8373•

This is exactly how I solved it when I had a home theater setup.

My current house doesn’t have space for a true HT setup. So we have a decent soundbar for the TV and a dedicated 2 channel system located elsewhere in the house.

Either one of those options may work?

1
fakecarguy•

Not any kind of expert but optical out from tv to optical in on receiver basically replaced internal tv speakers with the avr? So the sound always comes from the 2 channel setup

2
whimbrelOP•

I tried that early in the Struggles, but my recollection is that a single remote couldn’t change the volume for the speakers. Is that a mistaken memory?

1
fakecarguy•

ohh thats right you have to use avr remote for volume and your tv remote for other things, my mistake. Wow your constraints are tight :D I'm sure its possible with all the modern digital goodies on tvs and recievers

1
sandiegoite•

It's possible between eARC and CEC.

1
heroesarestillhuman•

Have a cable box remote? That could have codes that work for you here. Or even get a basic Harmony remote like the 665? Bonus points for the help feature, though prices have gone up for them since being discontinued.

1
[deleted]•

Try a universal remote ?

2
ILikeCharmanderOk•

Hercules 5 Monitor on Black Friday sale with a DAC (Digital Analogue Converter) plus DAC remote for your TV's optical out should come under $250 for a quality budget active speaker setup, though it's only 2.0.

The other route obviously is a receiver + active/powered speakers, but I've no experience with that so can't advise there.

1
Spuddy0108•

Kick her out.

1
JohnsConner•

You can run everything into the tv and connect the headphone jack to a small class d amp that is just always on so you don't need to switch in any separate devices. Then you can use the tv remote for everything and don't need to switch inputs except for on the tv.

1
thCuba•

I had the same problems and with 2 child's i talked the budget Denon 660sh...cheap sound too. I'm waiting for child to stop play with electronics

Budget? I am looking for integra 4.2.

1
wildmanheber•

Find a universal remote that will control your TV and the old receiver. This will set you back $6 to $20.

That or a more modern receiver with Arc. Because the A750 doesn't have arc according to the specs.

1
OrbitalRunner•

I don’t have a lot of space at the moment, so I have two discrete systems in the same space: a two channel setup for audio and a 5.1 system with an AVR for the TV. The AV system is trivial to activate. That said, I guess a lot of spouses wouldn’t be too thrilled with TWO systems in one place. My spouse actually thought it was cool to have so much gear in our media area. Maybe yours will as well?

1
Scottyg_1971•

The reviews of the Sennheiser sound bars are pretty good. They might be $1500 and higher for the two models, but you both might be happy in the end. Then move your speakers to another room.

1
jsnxander•

Get a slim profile soundbar with sub and attach it to the ARC/HDMI connection and use the TV's remote. Attach your receiver's HDMI out to the TV's HDMI 2 port for when you've got control using a secondary universal remote and want quality over convenience. Just treat the sound bar as the TV speakers in other words.

Im assuming your wife does not care for loud or good theater sound either so this setup will work with the only addito3coast being the cheap soundbar and universal remote.

1
[deleted]•

[deleted]

1
sandiegoite•

I'm not quite sure why everyone has a problem getting CEC and eARC to work.

Maybe it's the TV? I have Roku TVs and neither have a problem with this stuff. The way it's talked about on audio subreddits I thought it would give me all of the trouble in the world, but I hooked the Roku TV up to a Denon and enabled eARC and everything worked flawlessly.

The only thing that kinda sucks is switching the speaker profile in / out of stereo mode (which requires the AVR remote), but my wife doesn't even care and last night didn't notice that I had left the receiver in stereo mode.

EDIT: I also don't really understand the "it's perfect but my wife hates it" people. Like some setups are pretty esoteric and the questions I have are more along the lines of: why is this acceptable to you? Why does your wife have to tell you it sucks?

1