For me? Two reasons: Erick (7 years old) and Ethan (6 years old).

Trust me, I would much rather have a 5.1 or 7.1 system to go with the brand new LG 55LW5600 TV we got from Amazon.

The problem is always speaker wires, and where to put the surround sound speakers without totally changing the way the living room operates.

If you have kids, you know how hard it is to have speakers in the middle of the room and pray they don't get banged, run over, disconnected, tripped on, etc.

When my wife and I were younger with immobile children, the 5.1 was awesome. We loved it. Okay, okay, I loved it. My wife was indifferent to it.

The reason we got the new TV in the first place was because my sons broke our other TV. I love my boys, and I would enjoy the sound quality a good 5.1 or 7.1 receiver system with awesome speakers and a subwoofer would give us. But I don't want to be the dad that freaks out when his kids break his toys. If I didn't expect that to happen, then I'm an idiot, plain-and-simple.

A sound bar is definitely not an equivalent to a stereo system. But it upgrades the TV speakers. And let's face it...it would be a waste to have a 55-inch 3D TV and limit my audio to the built-in, cheaply made TV speakers.

So, while I'll have to wait until my kids can drive to get the 11.1 system, I'll stick with finding the best sound bar I can find.

I've seen a few reviews, and I've looked at one of the places I go to most to get reviews and recommendations on products I'm in the market to buy, http://www.consumersearch.com.

I've heard the Yamaha YAS-101 is a good sound bar that does the best it can at simulating 7.1 sound, and it also has an IR push-through, in case it blocks the IR receiver of your TV. It has two speakers, and two subwoofers (I think they are a puny 3.5", but it removes the additional subwoofer most sound bars come with).

Another one people are saying is a good one is the Panasonic SC-HTB520. This one does come with a separate subwoofer, and has 240W total, which is a lot for a system to which kids are going to be listening.

I know if I asked any audiophiles about a good sound bar, they would tell me "That's like asking the Ferrari owner if an Audi is a good sports car."

So, they are entitled to. Heard of any other good sound bars?

12/21/2011 12:15:50 AM

Is there a reason you're not going the route of in-wall/ceiling installation for a #.1 setup? That's pretty kid proof and it's a simple weekend project.

12/21/2011 12:47:45 AM

I go 5.1 -2 so I don't have wires running halfway around the room and messing up the scenery.

In other words, 5.1 with no rear speakers...I guess that's ghetto 3.1 or something. My Denon fronts and Bic subwoofer will move the house when I want to kick out the jams in stereo mode. They seem to do just fine for watching TV with the Boston Acoustic center channel speaker activated. I have four nice Boston speakers that would work great as rears or as part of a 7.1 config, but I never felt like installing them and having more stuff cluttering up my living room.

[Edited on December 21, 2011 at 1:24 AM. Reason : s]

12/21/2011 1:19:32 AM

speaker level to line level converter + wireless audio transmitter + 2 channel amp = no speaker wire running around the room.

12/21/2011 9:37:09 AM

^^^ We are renting and the owner is pretty particular about the walls, so no wall holes.

12/21/2011 10:23:56 AM

how many more threads are you going to create to brag about your new TV?

12/21/2011 10:34:39 AM

^^^ Sounds like a plan stowaway, but the speakers out in the open for my boys to knock over is something I would like to avoid. I'm trying to keep it as simple as possible, and I know it means sacrificing sound quality.

^^^^Skack has a good idea with the 3.1. How far away are the R and L speakers from the center speaker? I have two end tables to match the entertainment center and I guess I could put the speakers on them.

12/21/2011 12:13:04 PM

actually, you should probably just go buy a soundbar.

12/21/2011 12:26:36 PM

Getting back to the topic of actual soundbars, the Yamaha Digital Sound Projectors are actually really cool bits of technology if you're willing to spend that much.

12/21/2011 1:58:44 PM

Quote :

"^^^^Skack has a good idea with the 3.1. How far away are the R and L speakers from the center speaker? I have two end tables to match the entertainment center and I guess I could put the speakers on them."

R and L are bout 4' apart; sitting on top of a credenza below the TV which is mounted on the wall. They're spaced just a little wider than the TV itself. The center channel is in the middle, but it is mounted a couple feet higher (just below the TV).

[Edited on December 21, 2011 at 5:31 PM. Reason : s]

12/21/2011 5:20:54 PM

haha, I have a 5-year old daughter, and plan on buying a 5.1 set of Martin Logan electrostatic speakers as soon as I find a house.

12/21/2011 7:48:50 PM

^Random: What did you end up doing with your spot in New Bern?

12/21/2011 8:45:29 PM

It's on the rental market; expect to have someone signing a lease within a day or two.

12/21/2011 10:11:17 PM

I'm actually using a nice $100 set of computer speakers plus subwoofer with my 65" LG... It sounds just fine and people comment on how nice of speakers my TV has Then I show them the cheapy PC speakers behind it and they're like

12/22/2011 1:54:30 PM

I've been keeping my eye on this:
Sony - BRAVIA 3.1-Ch. Home Theater Soundbar Speaker System with Subwoofer
Model: HTCT150 | SKU: 9770697

12/22/2011 2:54:20 PM

reasons not to get a sound bar
1. tiny speakers
2. it's a bar
3. $200+

get (at least) a 5.1 and tack/nail/clip wires off the floor and along the ceiling. mount speakers onto brackets/shelves above children's reach

12/22/2011 9:35:20 PM

have kids but still renting?

12/22/2011 9:42:10 PM

Go hard or go home.

http://www.martinlogan.com/electromotion/index.php

12/22/2011 11:00:09 PM

In the Navy. Have moved 9 times now in the 8 years I've been commissioned. Owning a home is not practical at this point.

12/27/2011 11:56:27 PM

Ah ok. I mean, I've lived in houses for the 8 years I've been commissioned in the Marines, even if I was renting...but yeah, if you live in an apt, a thousand or two watts that will bore a hole into your very soul will probably not go fully appreciated and utilized.

12/28/2011 12:06:44 AM

Also, I've been re-thinking getting a sound bar with a subwoofer. I've had the Klipsch system (mentioned above) for so long I think I would definitely notice the difference if we went from a 6" to a 3" subwoofer. With that, Consumer Search is recommending the Sony HT-CT150 sound bar + subwoofer. It's the same price as the YAS-100, and it has push-through 3D. I also like the fact that I can connect up to three HDMI devices (ex, PS3, Mac, 360) into the sound bar and use the one HDMI cable to go to the TV. The one thing I would love is if it had an RCA out so I could hook up my PX-21 headphones (for my PS3) into it.

I'm getting out of the house (finally) tomorrow with the wife and kids and we are going to Sears and BB to check it out.

12/28/2011 12:21:17 AM

[Edited on December 28, 2011 at 12:46 AM. Reason : Whoops]

12/28/2011 12:45:06 AM

i don't know, i mean, if I lived in an apt and was going with just a sound bar anyway, I'd probably just buy primarily on price, with sound and aesthetics both playing a minor role, but I wouldn't get all wrapped up in which stuff was the least grossly inadequate and crappy sounding.

12/28/2011 1:41:42 AM

You can usually hook up any sub to those sound bars, if you don't want to go with the smaller sub.

12/28/2011 1:45:30 AM

One thing I like about the CT150 is the hdmi 3d switching.

I went into Best Buy today and saw one of these on the shelves. So I turned the sound bar around and found only a green, red, and white speaker cable. Completely confused (and high on my Percocet), I just walked by and didn't bother to ask a sales person about it. I just saw a CNET review on the system and now I understand that all of the ports are attached to the subwoofer. Good idea, because all amplification happens in the subwoofer housing. Bad idea, because the IR sensor for the remote is also in the subwoofer, meaning I can't hide it anywhere. If I decide to buy it (which I probably will), I know where it will go and the placement isn't going to be a problem, but I don't like that it limits my placement options.

12/29/2011 3:02:35 PM

You could use something like this:

http://www.d-line-it.com/in-the-home.php

Those kind of solutions tend to start around $1 a foot if you buy the large kit/packages and go up from there in price so they can get expensive if it's a large room or with baseboards with lots of corners to follow.

You can shop around and find deals on them or just pick them up at Home Depot. Monoprice had one of the large ($200) kits suitable for a room the size of a mid-sized lecture hall on sale for 90% off recently. They've run out of course, but other online cable/wire retailers have rotating sales as well.

Here are some vendors that might be worth browsing for base-board wire-moulds:

http://cableorganizer.com/cable-raceway/
http://www.newegg.com/
http://www.frys.com/
http://www.monoprice.com/

1/1/2012 1:24:00 AM

^^ use a radio relay, you could put it in an entirely different room if you needed.

1/1/2012 2:00:58 AM

I had a Sony CT350 for awhile. It worked well for its purpose which was just to get better sound out of the TV in a smallish room. I didn't want surrounds so the 3.1 setup was fine.

I ended up returning it though. It was pricey and i moved and could fit a better system.

1/1/2012 10:11:25 AM

All of those wire-hiders are good ideas, but require some modifications to the house that I will not make, because we are renting.

After an exhaustive search of multiple Sears', Walmarts, and Best Buys, I finally found the CT150 for 249.99 + tax (262 total). I hooked it up and it sounds great.

I used the THX optimizer and couldn't tell a whole lot of difference in the surround aspects, but, DUH!

And I do like the all HDMI in and one HDMI out. It took me a while to figure out the proper settings to get the sound output from the PS3, but now it works great. And I tested the 3D pass-through with Avatar and wow...haven't seen it in 3D before last night!

1/1/2012 3:20:01 PM

Quote :

"All of those wire-hiders are good ideas, but require some modifications to the house that I will not make, because we are renting."

What sort of modification? Using the adhesive backing is optional - if the room is carpeted and you simply lay the assembled rigid runway where the baseboard meets the carpet I have found they stay in place very well.

1/1/2012 4:17:22 PM

sorry....let me add to that

because we are renting to people who are very...particular about what they want/don't want in their house.

1/1/2012 7:59:25 PM

Yay. My CT150 suggestion worked!

1/2/2012 1:06:45 AM

I have a CT-150. I'm pretty happy with it. Like the fact that I didn't have to run wires all over my apartment.

1/2/2012 12:33:51 PM

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002ZG7WIA/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?t=slicinc-20&tag=slicinc-20&ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Spotted this on Slickdeals and thought it was kind of interesting. Not my cup of tea, but maybe a good deal for someone who just wants their TV to sound decent without a ton of hardware or wall shaking sound.

I don't think I've seen a ported receiver before.

[Edited on January 23, 2012 at 1:10 PM. Reason : s]

1/23/2012 1:08:39 PM