Around the Bend Again
I’ve decided that a sound bar (Yamaha-made) is the way to go for the Pearland house’s living room audio needs. These are made for people exactly like me, who want more fidelity at higher volumes without (1) installing a 5.1 system, or (2) spending a whole bunch of money pointlessly.
My Wife Acceptance Factor band (generally just slightly a subset of my own acceptance range) is especially narrow because our “TV nook” architecture doesn’t give me a lot of room to place a bunch of souped up free-standing equipment without pretty much putting it in tripping hazard territory. Plus, this stuff generally looks hideous enough without being crammed somewhere it clearly isn’t meant to go.
Sound bars are elegant and include the receiver (it takes special technology to drive an array of speakers meant to project sound in different directions). The Yamaha versions provide a iPod dock functionality through an inexpensive attachment, and the look is more than acceptable given you’re installing one module (and maybe a subwoofer attachment behind the table somewhere) that drives something like a well-placed 60 W at a decent level of quality.
Uniquely, the WAF is more permissive of a 5.1 system primarily hanging from the ceiling, but this is such a visual and logistical mess I personally can’t take it. I’m more a recessed-speaker guy for surround systems, which for various architectural reasons would look terrible in our house.
Most negative reviews seem to come from Monster Cable buying types who actually expected to get 5.1-quality surround out of a mono-located system. Give me a break.
In fact, the next best option is actually just a really good 2.1 computer speaker system. They’re really not that bad!
Our big problem is our living room backs up against the kitchen, which is open floorplan in a big way. This is not the ideal installation case for a sound bar (since it must count on various angles of reflection to make the surround thing work right). But, this floorplan is not the ideal case for just about anything home theater-wise.
When you don’t have a back wall, it’s hard to know where you would even install the two rear channels. I’m sure Tweeter or whoever [did Tweeter go broke?] would come out and say it’s no sweat when installing using the proper credit card, but I’m really just looking for an acceptable solution for basic stuff. Even if the sound bar can’t be a 5.1 mimic, it’s pretty nice to have a decent slim-featured receiver without needing a discrete unit.