# Cambridge Audio Soundbars for Classical Music



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Does anyone have any experience with this brand of soundbars? I'm curious how they sound with Classical Music.


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## Eva Yojimbo (Jan 30, 2016)

I wouldn't recommend messing with soundbars unless you have to. Soundbars are useful as an alternative to using TV speakers (which suck) when your TV is in a space that doesn't allow for speakers.

BTW, instead of asking these questions here, you might notice that there's a Hi-Fi forum here where you'll probably get more responses.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Eva Yojimbo said:


> I wouldn't recommend messing with soundbars unless you have to. Soundbars are useful as an alternative to using TV speakers (which suck) when your TV is in a space that doesn't allow for speakers.
> 
> BTW, instead of asking these questions here, you might notice that there's a Hi-Fi forum here where you'll probably get more responses.


Thanks for the advice. What do you suggest over soundbars? What speakers?


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

I second Eva’s recommendation about moving this to the Hi-Fi forum. I have never used a soundbar, but I’m pretty sure she is right on that as well.

Beyond that, some questions?

What are your space constraints?
Do you need self-powered speakers? Could you include one of those tiny Class D amps?

About 10 years ago I bought AudioEngine 2 and AudioEngine 5 powered speakers. 
There are a lot of alternatives now, but I wonder if the AE 2s can be surpassed for their size. Sound on the AE2 varies. Boomy mid-bass and rolled off treble. I like playing bright recordings through them.


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## Eva Yojimbo (Jan 30, 2016)

Captainnumber36 said:


> Thanks for the advice. What do you suggest over soundbars? *What speakers?*


You might as well ask "what car?" There are thousands of speaker options out there, and which will be best for you depends on dozens of factors: What's your budget? What's your room? How much space do you have? How far do you sit from the speakers? How loud do you listen (knowing your max and peak volumes is important)? What's your amp? What's your sonic preferences? The world of speakers is mostly one of trade-offs unless you have a lot of room and a lot of money to spend. You're typically going to be deciding between size vs bass extension & volume. Generally, the bigger you can go, the more bass you'll get and the louder they can play. Beyond that, there's the issue of finding speakers that are accurate, which basically means linear on-axis response and even off-axis so that the room has less affect on the sound, and that's not easy considering most speaker companies don't publish or even take measurements of their speakers.

It's really difficult to buy speakers with any kind of confidence. You can't rely on reviews, because most publications are just shills for companies and most customers aren't good critical listeners and, even if they are, the speakers in their system in their room to their ears might not sound the same as the speakers in your system in your room to your ears. Even being able to audition speakers yourself doesn't guarantee anything because you'll rarely be hearing it in your system and room. Basically, buying speakers is a real crapshoot. In general I've found the most reliable method to be to listen to what people in the DIY community have to say about various brands, as they generally have better ears and a good technical understanding of what goes into making good speakers, so at the very least they can speak to the quality of drivers, design, crossovers, etc.


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## Eva Yojimbo (Jan 30, 2016)

jegreenwood said:


> I second Eva's recommendation about moving this to the Hi-Fi forum. I have never used a soundbar, but I'm pretty sure *she *is right on that as well.


*He ("Eva" is short for "Evangelion," a favorite series of mine).


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

jegreenwood said:


> I second Eva's recommendation about moving this to the Hi-Fi forum. I have never used a soundbar, but I'm pretty sure she is right on that as well.
> 
> Beyond that, some questions?
> 
> ...


You just went way beyond my head. :lol:


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

Captainnumber36 said:


> Does anyone have any experience with this brand of soundbars? I'm curious how they sound with Classical Music.


I have read mixed reviews of the Cambridge soundbar. If you're looking for a good Bluetooth connection, there have been complaints. Perhaps better a candybar.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Captainnumber36 said:


> You just went way beyond my head. :lol:


As Eva said, there are thousands of speakers to choose from in all shapes and sizes. While historically the amplification electronics were in a separate component (amplifier or receiver), these days it is becoming common (especially for budget components, almost all portables, and to my knowledge soundbars), for the amplifiefier to be incorporated in the speakers themselves.

The reason I mentioned the AudioEngine 2 (now 2+) comes from my assumption that you had limited space. The AE2+ is tiny (4x6x5.25) but can cover a remarkably wide frequency range. Not transparently, but better than one can expect from such a small unit. And the amp i(15W RMW per channel) s built in. (There is, however, a power brick.).

If you want/have room for something larger, the options expand exponentially.


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