Any home theater gurus in here?
 

If so, check in and I'll post some questions I have about sound bars and powered subs.

I have a little experience with home theaters. I may not be able to answer questions about soundbars though as my systems are a bit beyond that. ;)

What are your questions ?

I currently have a 5.1 surround system. I would like to get rid of my 5 surround speakers and AVR and replace them with a sound bar that's capable of 5.1. I don't really care whether the sub that comes with it is enough for my living room as I will buy a separate sub if I want a more powerful one. I just don't know which ones are 5.1 capable. I've heard sound bars that actually sound pretty decent, as long as they're coupled with a sub that can do all of the heavy lifting. I was initially looking to build my own sub, but for not much more money I can buy a premade sub with a known level of performance. Subs I've been looking at are made by HSU, SVS, and Paradigm. I'm estimating for the size of my living room I need at least a 15" sub, or a pair of 12s. Any suggestions would be appreciated...

I personally don't care for the sound bars as they don't have the separation that I prefer, but it's up to you if you're happy with the sound or not. As far as the sub, I personally like Klipsch speakers, all my stuff is high end, but Klipsch makes some lower end stuff that's respectable also that Best Buy carries. What I'd suggest is go to a place such as Best Buy and listen to some of the subs they carry, they may also combine them with a sound bar you might be interested in for you so you can hear the two together.

There are a lot of options for 5.1 or 7.1 channel sound bars or projectors. Quite a few years
ago I bought a Yamaha YSP-1 sound projector. The concept is good but you need a good room
with more wall space, flat surfaces because you are essentially bouncing the sound off the walls
to get your front, sides and rears.

My room just wasn't good for that so I got rid of it after about 1 year and went with 7 8"
Speakercraft AIM8 in ceiling speakers. Also have 1 10" Paradigm sub that will easily rattle windows etc.
As madsonp stated, sound bars just don't have the separation.

I think I will have to go with a 3 channel sound bar that supports two rear surround speakers. My living room is an odd shape so the projector systems wouldn't work. I have been impressed with the sound bars I've heard without the rear surround speakers and they seem to do a pretty good job of spreading the sound out. My buddy has a JBL (without the rear surround speakers) that sounds pretty decent, I could actually hear sounds to my sides. I've been to Best Buy to listen to theirs, but its tough to tell how they would perform in your living room by listening to them in the store. I've also checked out their subs and they don't have anything with more than about 400 watts. My living room is huge and I would need either a large sub with at least 1000 watts or more, or two smaller ones with 500-600 watts each.

It all depends on what your goals are. If you wanted higher fidelity sound my recommendation would be at lest 2 subs and separates for the other speakers. Two subs are better than one. Getting even low frequency response throughout a home theater is very difficult and the recommended way to that goal is more subs strategically located.

Sound bars are for convenience, not high end sound. That doesn't mean one won't meet your needs.

The shape and size of my living room is the limiting factor. I'm never going to achieve sonic purity with any type of speakers. I'm currently running Polk Audio bookshelf speakers along with a center channel, which produce very good sound, but I can't locate them where they need to be for proper directional 5.1 sound. A 5.1 sound bar (with wireless rear surround speakers), coupled with a powerful sub I think will sound just as good, or close enough for me not to notice a difference, and I can get rid of my A/V receiver, the speakers, and all of the speaker wire. To me, just getting rid of the eyesore speaker wires, and getting rid of the receiver and speakers is worth any little bit of sonic quality I may be giving up.

It's difficult to discuss this without at least a floorplan of your living room, but have you considered in-wall/in-ceiling speakers?