I have a 65” Samsung OLED tv in my living room. I love the picture, but speech is sometimes difficult to hear. I have tried adjusting the sound settings to no avail.
I suspect they have designed it to sound impressive for Star Wars and the like.
It’s on a cabinet.
I am thinking of trying a soundbar but the tv stand has a gentle slope so putting a soundbar on that would look odd and I don’t like the idea of putting in front of the tv, it would be several inches out.
I could mount the tv on the wall, or perhaps get a soundbar wider than the stand and put rubber feet under it so it is just above the stand. There is only about 2.7 inches clearance.
Having read reviews I quite fancy the Sonus Beam 2, but it might be a bit tall.
We have just purchased a new 2026 model Samsung 48” OLED television and paired it with a Sonos Beam Gen 2 soundbar. They are both mounted on a lamp table with the soundbar immediately in front of the screen. We used some Herbie’s Fat Dots, that we happened to have, under the soundbar. Height clearance is tight but not a problem and we’re impressed by the sound quality.
I forgot to mention that the rear of the soundbar sits on the television base so extra Fat Dots at the front.
Probably too high but I’ve recently acquired a Sennheiser Ambeo Plus. I have an adjustable stand and was able to set the TV up just above soundbar which sits just in front of the TV. An impressive bit of kit much better than the Q Acoustics M2 Soundbase it replaced. Speech is much better than TV on its own. Interestingly background music on normal stuff really stands out. Film sound is great for a one box solution. I don’t see any need for a sub.
I put the soundbar on little riser feet I found on eBay to clear the TV stand. Different heights and depths available to suit.
Consider replacing the TV stand, there are loads available on Amazon.
Ultimately I’m going get my joiner nephew to wall mount the TV. He builds full media walls so this would a simpler project for him. First I need to sort out the cabinet underneath which has my hifi equipment in it.
Sonos are about to introduce the Beam Ultra soundbar, which looks like being a better small scale soundbar than the Beam 2, which I had my eye on. It could be ideal for my needs - I am after a smaller footprint unit but with good sound and sufficient connectivity, I will not be looking at full surround speakers or sub-woofers. Cost will be £699.
I note that it does not have HDMI passthrough, I am unsure if this will be a problem.
I have a modern 2026 model Samsung TV, which has plenty of HDMI ports, eg for my Blu Ray player and my Apple TV+ box (which I love), but I have read that there can be some lip synch/delay issues.
I mainly use Apple purchased downloads; streaming from Apple /Netflix /Prime /Disney /Paramount+; Blu Ray movies/music and terrestrial TV.
I am weak technically on all things TV-related, I should probably invest some time in this area.
I had a Sonos Arc and mounted the TV on the wall above the fireplace so I was able to sit the soundbar on the mantel.
The Arc does have a wall mount so you could mount the TV on the wall and mount the soundbar just below it.
I’ve given it to the parents as they had the same issue that dialogue was muffled they had the TV so loud that action sounds rattled the windows before they could understand the speech. They think the ARC is great now.
Speech from TVs is generally indistinct in my experience - a soundbar and/or subwoofer can greatly enhance the overall aural experience. I still have trouble making out everything people are saying, maybe its the soundtrack or my older ears but I find myself switching on the subtitles and it makes a big difference and its not as intrusive as you might imagine - hope that helps
Years ago i used to have the YSP-2500. It was very good and at the time was highly rated. Over time though it became obvious i would have to change it because it did not decode Dolby Atmos. I passed it to my nephew who still uses it.
If your beam is connected to tv with eArc hdmi then after switching to Bluetooth phones it aggressively switches back to eArc connection.
A workaround I saw but didn’t try was to switch off soundbar to prevent this by using a smart switch. I thought it easier to get yet another set of headphones
I had other issues with Playbar being optical only and syncing with TV. I ended up only using Sky Q box with TV as it was too much hassle to get lip syncing.
