I recently purchased a Samsung Q950T 9.1.1ch Soundbar with Dolby Atmos and DTS:X with rear speakers. It was on sale at Best Buy as an Open Box for $960.00 Fantastic sound. Wireless but still requires power cables for the Subwoofer and satellite speakers. My living room is 25' x 15' and the power is more than enough. Soundbars have come a long way in closing the gap with traditional component systems in power and quality of sound. Here is the caveat: the system is only as good as what it receives. Streaming services have a limited supply of shows with 4k or Atmos. I highly recommend purchasing a tv and soundbar from the same manufacturer for better integration. I made this mistake when trying to get the Samsung soundbar to cooperate with a Sony XBR tv- it works but at the expense of too much time and energy. As for Atmos- one of the newer technologies soundbars are pushing- it depends. The dimensions of the room, esp ceiling height can make or brake an Atmos system. My living room has 18' vaulted ceilings so as much as I wanted this system with all of its power to work, the Atmos experience falls a little short. The Samsung Q950A is the successor to the system I purchased- it has the added feature of self tuning/correcting- highly recommended feature. I found the Sonos soundbar impressive but more for the ability to add components than for its sound. The Vizio Elevate soundbar had a great sound and a cool feature whereby the front facing speakers rotate for an Atmos experience. Overall very happy with the Samsung I purchased. Best of luck with your search. https://www.rtings.com/soundbar/reviews/samsung/hw-q950t
When I "remodeled" (rebuilt) the garage/shop, I added space with the idea of adding a gym area. Once I had all the details laid out, I realized that I had a space I could make a nice "home theater" setup. The layout of my house really precludes this. My only "issue" was that the TV need to be able to move to allow watching while working in the shop, exercising, room for moving bikes around, etc. So, I put the TV on a rolling stand, put all the equipment in a cabinet against the wall and put the majority of the speakers in the ceiling. It has worked out great. If not video/audio-phile grade (mostly due to the hard surfaces in the shop rather than the quality of the equipment), it allows for a flexible space and still fun to watch movies (and racing!) on. As far as TV, I got a mid-grade 65" inch Sony (the biggest I felt comfortable with putting on a stand) with the highest-refresh rate I could afford (for racing). Can't remember the model right off of the top of my head. Great picture, but it is an Android TV and that was a mistake. It isn't intrusive enough to replace the TV immediately, but it will certainly be a "do not buy" factor when I eventually get a replacement. The garage doesn't have windows, so you can make it nice and dark in there midday. And you can roll the TV closer if you want a bigger picture!
I was trying to remember that brand of inexpensive speakers that were talked about as bang for the buck. Energy. Seems like they might have shit the bed. Newegg was their distributor and nothing is listed as available. Edit: Klipsch bought them.
I've looked at the new Sony OLED to compare to the LG, and the newer Sony's now have Google TV instead of Android TV, and by all accounts it is a big upgrade. Just FYI.
LG CX, don't make anyone fool you on some smart tv mumbo jumbo. Picture quality is all that matters. Tons of ways to make your TV "smart"
It is nearly impossible to buy a mid-range or higher TV without some sort of "smartness" built-in. In the case of the Sony, I went with the Android TV for two reasons. First, it seemed like it would be better supported and upgraded. Second, I thought I might be able to run Android apps, namely F1 TV, which only ran on Android and PC at that time (not Roku). Neither turned out to be true. Android TV was abandoned and now you have a less-open and more Google-centric "Google TV", which buyers of expensive TVs can beta test. Android TV wouldn't run just about any app, so that was a dud as well. I'm now of the school that TVs should show the picture and that's it. Firmware updates should be fixes to address picture quality or bugs, nothing more. As long as you can really disable the "smarts", I can work around the current explosion in crap operating systems that expire and are no longer supported before you can get the TV home. For Android TV, that meant barring it from network access. When I left it connected to make sure it was kept "up to date", Sony pushed an update down (in the middle of my TV watching forcing a reboot) that included forced advertising. I'd rather replace/update a $75 box, like a Roku or FireTV than a $1700 television.
FYI Sony buys their OLED panels from LG. I have two Sony 4K TVs. Bought them before OLED was "affordable", but I've been a Sony Fanboy ever since I purchased my 65" DLP TV from them back in the early 2000s. As far as I know that damn thing is still going. Moved that monster to 4 different houses in my early 20s. The Sony stuff just seems to last better than any other manufacture.
I figured I'd give a final update, I bought the LG C1 77" tonight. I was already leaning towards it and then the local electronics store had it in stock today and on sale so I had to do it so I could watch my Lions get killed on a big fancy TV. I will still need to get a soundbar or some sort of audio setup, just bought the TV for now.
Watching Porky's , Splash, and scrambled porn on one of these was how we rolled in my day. Daryl Hannah walking toward the statue of Liberty...
Does your local Best Buy have a Magnolia in it? That's a great place to do and audition your surround set up. Sound bars and lower end stuff is usually not in there (last I saw and Bose is over with the Kitchen appliances) but you can build a great set up in that place.
I hate TVs but recently picked up a Samsung The Frame to display rotating art. I really like it! All art, no television.
TCL and HiSense are great value TV's for sure. I do have concerns about where/who manufactures them and their inherent security or lack thereof.
sorry....Yeah, it is 2999 with the 3 year warranty...free delivery I think though in case anyone else was in the market
