SP8YA

My first soundbar ever was the LG SP8YA w/ sub and rear speaker kit. Since I was coming from built in tv speakers, I was unbelievably happy. Then I heard a Q990D at a friend's house, and immediately went to reddit where I saw basically everyone recommend it. Tried it off of Amazon for almost a month. It was definitely much better than the LG, but I couldn't help but feel the bass was lacking. Then I got a JBL Bar 1300X from Best buy to test side by side. The bass had me giggling like a little kid. I could not believe a soundbar based system was shaking my entire apartment like that. Unfortunately, I thought the rears flat out sucked, and the soundbar itself just felt small/tinny. Not that big of a soundstage. I returned *both.* I now have a Sonos Arc ultra w/ rears and dual subs. Its not even a comparison for me. Dual Subs give as much or more impact than the JBL in a much cleaner, higher quality way. The rears literally blow anything else I've ever heard away, and I don't even have the era 300s yet. And the soundbar itself is everything I wanted the Samsung to be. No I don't think it's 3x the system... So the q990f is a better value. But now that I know Sonos, id rather build a used system second hand (arc, sub 3 or sub mini, and era 100s for example for around 1k) or spend the extra money and just know I have way better sound. AND FOR MUSIC? Sonos gets even further ahead.

I'll share with you what I shared to someone else with the exact same problem. I had an LG SP8YA w/ sub and surrounds to start. Hot garbage. Sub virtually did nothing (literally.) I got to hear a friend's sound system once, no idea what components he had, and it made me want so much more for myself. I played around with some stuff from Onn and Vizio, but all garbage as well. Because of this subreddit I upgraded to the Q990D. Huge improvement over the LG. I think if *all* you care about is value, and you're coming from TV speakers or a really basic soundbar, it's a freaking sweet deal and system. But I still just wasnt happy with the bass, or how the system *felt * I returned it and tried the JBL 1300X. HO. LY. CRAP. The subwoofer was absolutely unbelievable... That 12 inch downward firing driver had me giggling like I was a kid again. But everything else about it was meh. Surrounds barely did anything for me no matter what I tweaked, and the bar didn't sound as good as the Q990D either, which I already didn't love. Then, because of a reallyyyyy annoying mishap with a Best buy store, the manager helped me out and I ended up getting a 2nd Gen Sonos Beam, w/ a sub mini for literally a couple hundred bucks. I got some cheap random Sonos/IKEA surrounds off Offerup, a PAIR for $90. It...... *DESTROYED* everything is heard. The subwoofer was absolutely phenomenal, the surrounds were ACTUAL speakers so just so much more capable than all the little surround satellites kits come with, and even though the bar was small, it sounded much bigger, but more importantly, FELT great. Really really rich and warm sound profile that I loved. I bought a pair of era 100s to replace my cheap rears to add rear virtual Atmos since the beam 2 has virtual Atmos up front, and LOVED that system. Blew everyone that came over away. Since then I've moved that system to my inlaws, and myself have an arc ultra w/ dual gen 3 subs, era 300s, and used a 3rd party app to add era 100s as FRONT surrounds. The system literally makes people who come over say they would never go to a movie theater again lol my first Sonos setup already blew everything else out of the water, but my current setup makes the Q990 series sound like a toy. If you're a bass head, I recommend Sonos first overall. If money is no object, and for some reason you're opposed to Sonos (like you have a ton of physical blu ray discs so you require DTS), check out the nakamichi dragon, or you can also look at Klipsch. The flexus core 300 bar w/ 2 subs and their surrounds will be much better than the Samsung. If you're coming from TV speakers, but you love bass AND value, so you want the cheapest thing possible with crazy bass, unquestionably the JBL 1300.

I had an LG SP8YA w/ sub and surrounds to start. Hot garbage. Sub virtually did nothing (literally.) I got to hear a friend's sound system once, no idea what components he had, and it made me want so much more for myself. I played around with some stuff from Onn and Vizio, but all garbage as well. Because of this subreddit I upgraded to the Q990D. Huge improvement over the LG. I think if *all* you care about is value, and you're coming from TV speakers or a really basic soundbar, it's a freaking sweet deal and system. But I still just wasnt happy with the bass, or how the system *felt * I returned it and tried the JBL 1300X. HO. LY. CRAP. The subwoofer was absolutely unbelievable... That 12 inch downward firing driver had me giggling like I was a kid again. But everything else about it was meh. Surrounds barely did anything for me no matter what I tweaked, and the bar didn't sound as good as the Q990D either, which I already didn't love. Then, because of a reallyyyyy annoying mishap with a Best buy store, the manager helped me out and I ended up getting a 2nd Gen Sonos Beam, w/ a sub mini for literally a couple hundred bucks. I got some cheap random Sonos/IKEA surrounds off Offerup, a PAIR for $90. It...... *DESTROYED* everything is heard. The subwoofer was absolutely phenomenal, the surrounds were ACTUAL speakers so just so much more capable than all the little surround satellites kits come with, and even though the bar was small, it sounded much bigger, but more importantly, FELT great. Really really rich and warm sound profile that I loved. I bought a pair of era 100s to replace my cheap rears to add rear virtual Atmos since the beam 2 has virtual Atmos up front, and LOVED that system. Blew everyone that came over away. Since then I've moved that system to my inlaws, and myself have an arc ultra w/ dual gen 3 subs, era 300s, and used a 3rd party app to add era 100s as FRONT surrounds. The system literally makes people who come over say they would never go to a movie theater again lol my first Sonos setup already blew everything else out of the water, but my current setup makes the Q990 series sound like a toy. If you're a bass head, I recommend Sonos first overall. If money is no object, and for some reason you're opposed to Sonos (like you have a ton of physical blu ray discs so you require DTS), check out the nakamichi dragon, or you can also look at Klipsch. The flexus core 300 bar w/ 2 subs and their surrounds will be much better than the Samsung. If you're coming from TV speakers, but you love bass AND value, so you want the cheapest thing possible with crazy bass, unquestionably the JBL 1300.

SP8a for better bass performance

I have the LG SP8YA for my C2 which is much better than my previous Sony soundbar I had with my Bravia. Atmos makes a massive difference for me. Obviously will be different depending on the location etc.