hey guys, this is a winner. it's affordable and gives you a taste of the high-end. it's better than the Sonos (which is saying something) and unlike most soundbars, you get cutting edge DACs and soundfield processing. i've owned Meridien equipment since the 1980's, all of which still sound awesome. the very first CD transport and DAC ever made was by Meridien, and i'm using it for my mother's hi-fi (the DAC has a pre-amp function). my pair of M-2 (bi-amped two-way) speakers (not the i-pod thing) live on as my rear channels after frontline duty of over 20 years.

"Affordable" is quite subjective.... Seeing as how no price is listed in the article for any of the mentioned models, where exactly do you get that they will be "affordable"??? The other 2 articles I read both stated that they were provided no information regarding pricing and availability, which further makes me wonder where you get that these soundbars will be "affordable".....

sykozis:

"Affordable" is quite subjective.... Seeing as how no price is listed in the article for any of the mentioned models, where exactly do you get that they will be "affordable"??? The other 2 articles I read both stated that they were provided no information regarding pricing and availability, which further makes me wonder where you get that these soundbars will be "affordable".....

i'm a member of the CTA... the NDA lifts on 1/11/19 at the beginning of C.E.S., which we happen to put on. and yes "affordable" is subjective. but relative to Meridian products anything from LG is affordable. but we are talking the same playground as similar premium soundbars from Sony, et al... but what i will say is that for many, many people in apartments or medium to small rooms this is all they would need for a multichannel sound system. there will be wireless subwoofer options as well. for me, it would rock a bedroom.

tunejunky:

hey guys, this is a winner. it's affordable and gives you a taste of the high-end. it's better than the Sonos (which is saying something) and unlike most soundbars, you get cutting edge DACs and soundfield processing. i've owned Meridien equipment since the 1980's, all of which still sound awesome. the very first CD transport and DAC ever made was by Meridien, and i'm using it for my mother's hi-fi (the DAC has a pre-amp function). my pair of M-2 (bi-amped two-way) speakers (not the i-pod thing) live on as my rear channels after frontline duty of over 20 years.

I have the LG SJ9 Atmos soundbar. The price was around 1000€. I'm quite happy with the product in general now, but it did have the HDMI handshake issue giving random problems to get signal passthrough from home cinema or XBox to TV. And it took like one year to get a proper firmware fix. Still after that fix I have had to remove power from the device a couple of times to reset it fully to get anything visible on TV.

I am looking for something like this. I was waiting for the JBL link bar, which was shown on Google I/O, but it is still not released and I think it didn't had atmos build in.

@tunejunky so a soundbars sarround sound can it compare with a proper 5.1 set up? Does it come close ? Good enough? better? And will this work under my monitor? A year ago i brought 2.1 speakers because i never really had the space to setup my 5.1 so i had em in a line so it was kind of pointless for me! Sorry for the bombardment on the questions!

Venix:

@tunejunky so a soundbars sarround sound can it compare with a proper 5.1 set up? Does it come close ? Good enough? better? And will this work under my monitor? A year ago i brought 2.1 speakers because i never really had the space to setup my 5.1 so i had em in a line so it was kind of pointless for me! Sorry for the bombardment on the questions!

What do you think. can 2.1 soundbar give 5.1 ? Atmos soundbar is just hype to sell shitty products for high price to masses 😀 Its just a soundbar

actually this is a "real" surround soundbar. Dolby atmos is an "object based", not a "channel based" surround sound codec. as such, an enabled soundbar will not (other than the deepest bass) sound like a soundbar. is it as good as a true 5.1 (or higher)? the truth is not simple - it's better than many, but not nearly as good as some. what does it give you? well it allows the sound to accurately position itself in three dimensions instead of relying on the "speaker sweet spots" and multi-channel phase-shifting (wooshes, helicopters, etc...). mind you, there are extreme advantages to a sub...imho they're necessary. there will be optional wireless (and/or wired) subs for sale, but you could use any sub...even a 10 year old "Creative" sub would be better than none. this is exactly for those who do not have the room for full multi-channel systems, desktop UW monitors, and bedrooms.

Interesting ..so i can use my Logitec woofer! So i can put it under my monitor monitor ?! This alone making the atmos already very interesting and from the looks of it it will be better than any sarround i can set ....since i really had no sarround, mind you i am the average joe when it comes to sound i am relatively easy to satisfy. Thanks a lot for the reply!

curious how atmos and dts-x are gona work in sound bar,

tsunami231:

curious how atmos and dts-x are gona work in sound bar,

if you're familiar with old school Bose (and Allison) speakers, you may remember their odd angles and driver positioning for both direct and reflected sound. the DTS:X and Atmos soundbars do that (in a conventional shape on the outside) but they up the game with DSP and object based codec. so the signals sent to each driver are like a vast army of artillery, each cannon firing at a different angle, without line of sight, for each shell to arrive at the same time. having Atmos is better than not having it, esp. if you use the soundbar for music (32 bit based codec). but make no mistake, if you have the room and dollars/Euros, separates can give a more theatrical impact.

I never own bose speakers never heard of allison, but bose imo are over priced, polk audio is just as good if not better for less

tsunami231:

I never own bose speakers never heard of allison, but bose imo are over priced, polk audio is just as good if not better for less

No doubt. but for what I mean, Polk is conventional as are most speakers. reflected sound is a side effect for conventional speakers, for these it's designed.

I aware of reflective sound,Sound barsare still not the same a 5.1(speaker setup) let alone atmos/dts-x no mater how it made it not gona sound the same, a soundbar that directly in front of even if it supports DD/DTS/ATMOS/DTSX will never bee the same as a actual speaker setup for that. I had few sound bars 2 or 3 from samung and LG one too, and while they are ALWAYS better then TV sound they are no comparison to actual 5.1 speaker setup, as each time I got sound bar I went back to my 20year old klh 5.1 speaker setup that was 150$ with Sony DA555ES which is just as old. Quite few of them had DD/DTS support but they never sound any thing close to the true setup. all the issue is simple even IF there using reflective sound all the sound is still coming from the front of you. you can simulate true 5.1 or higher speaker setup. I sold all the soundbars I only kept a samung one cause my PC 2.1 setup died after 25+ years of service, so i just use it as my pc speakers for when I not use my headphones. I not saying they dont have there usual as they great if you dont have room for actual setup. and one is not willing to do such setup or have the wires. but to me for the price of these "high" end sound bars I rather buy new speaker setup, and have the real deal, and I did this is in 9x9 room

hehehe, Tsunami, you just may be a audiophile 😱:p;);)