Re: Sound bar systems
Quote:
| You need to remember that they work by attempting to bounce the sound off of walls. |
Not all soundbars do so. Some acheive their affect by sophisticated computer-controlled delay patterns that fool the ear into "placing" the sounds somewhere else in the room. These systems are adjustable to compensate for placement and will even work in rooms with open sides. Any single speaker design is going to involve compromises, but in some application they are the best among a number of different compromises.
I looked into soundbars ages ago when when my brother-in-law was thinking about adding a sound system in his
very open plan and accoustically awful family room. The alternative would have been something like a Bose system because my sister would insist on virtually invisible speakers and in-wall was not an option. (Surround placement - assuming my sister didn't veto those based on wiring alone - would also have been hideous. The couch is over 10 feet from the back wall, there is a sunken bar on one side of the room, a metal spiral staircase leading to the open loft on the other, and 20 foot ceilings throughout.) Sadly I didn't keep any of the links I looked at during my search, so I don't know which systems aren't dependent on reflecting off walls. But a little Googling should turn them up quickly enough - and probably a few others that I missed or that weren't around at the time.
Regards,
Joe
