Greetings everyone, The Good Guys have dropped the price on this soundbar once again :)
Price match at Officeworks for 5% price beat, by either calling 1300 OFFICE or matching in store. I believe matching over the phone comes with free delivery also.
As always, enjoy :)
at exorbitant amounts apparently
That’s probably the RRP they never updated.
I've never seen it cost that much, noone should buy it at that cost. You could buy a yas 209 2.1 with subwoofer for $345 from harvey norman and thats not even looking proper
Everyone just sells it at a permanent discount I guess.
They’re selling it at $1 below RRP. Now that’s hilarious.
True.
Its just funny "hey OW can you pricematch this and take $206 off?" Its a 60% discount
This is why -
https://hbr.org/2012/10/why-price-match-guarantees-can
Price matching has long been known to reduce incentives for a store to lower their price or have sales.
if you go to Good Guys, and tell that OW will pricematch to X amount, would they then match the OW pricematch?
Could you then go to OW and ask them if they can pricematch TGG pricematch?
Repeat for infinite discounts!
:D
Round and round it goes, where it stops, nobody knows!
Hoarding free soundbars > hoarding toilet papers
Pay the extra and get the 109b with suri built in
Who needs suri?
Sounds like an Indian virtual assistant
Don't do that, because the 108 has a 3.5mm jack you can use the 109 gets rid of - also the Bluetooth version on 108 is newer (??)
And on top of that, the 109 doesn't come with "Suri", it comes with Alexa… and the reviews say the Alexa integration is a bit spotty and laggy - so no point having it anyway. I got the YAS-108 instead, it seems like Yamaha made everything worse with the 109. The speakers themselves seem exactly the same.
You can simply use the TGG discounted GC for the 5% off, if you are shy. The 5% off OW giftcard is hard to obtain (for me).
what do you mean OW giftcard?
Wonder if this would be worth getting to replace my old YAS-203B
Newer connectivity is a bonus, but the 203 looks like sound wise it is better?
Isn't this just using Optical anyway?
Regardless, seems a downgrade as you said. A sub to no sub will never be better.
Well HDMI Arc is a big feature, so you can use the one remote for it all.
@superroach: can you give me a quick description on how to setup/use HDMI ARC with one remote?
can't seem to understand :/
@RevMet: Your TV needs to support it, simply plug into the right port on the TV, it should be labeled, and connect to the soundbar.
I just got it, not impressed. Not sure what you have, but for me not even a big upgrade from the TV inbuilt speakers.
Bought one in last deal, surprisingly good, way better than the integrated speakers on my C9. Will hold me over till a good range of eARC + Atmos sound bar systems come out.
I bought one a while ago, and have it connected to my C7. I find the mid-high range a bit muddy in comparison to the built in speakers. Especially with vocals. Obviously bass and dynamic range are much better on the YAS but due to vocals being much clearer in the built in speakers I only ever use the YAS for watching movies.
Have you tried lowering the sub levels and using the clear voice settings? Agree that the highs arent a strong point, but seems ok in my room.
Yeah spent some time trying those and other settings. Couldn't get it to a point where I was really happy with it. I ended up connecting through optical instead of HDMI so I can run sound though one and/or the other depending what I'm watching. If the picture mode is set to something with limited processing, the sound is usually in sync so I get the benefit of clear vocals from the built in speakers and the better bass from the soundbar.
Do you have the 55"? My 65" C9 is loads better than any of the soundbars I have owned. Did you try tuning the sound on the C9? Turn AI/and atmos modes off and it sound fantastic, much more leveled compared to a soundbar.
I do have the 55, and yea no bass, not terribly loud either, even after messing with settings.
Depends on the size of the room I guess. Have a 55 C9 in the bedroom and sound is amazing after tuning.
Oh wow that's crazy. Yea my c9 sounds incredible haha. Sold my soundbar! Although I'm not a bass head, I prefer more even sound with good miss and good clarity in speech. I found with soundbar I kept having to change the volume levels during a movie to hear speech. Terrible haha.
Have the 55" B8 and the inbuilt speakers are actually pretty good, voices are actually clearer than with soundbar + sub. However the sub adds much needed bass, making the sound a lot less tinny and more immersive which is great for movies/games.
If you have a Hisense TV the remote for this tends to interfere with playback - notably volume controls will play/pause Netflix playback (super annoying).
Also for some reason via digital i noticed that audio will sometimes get "out of sync" and cause content to basically be playing catchup with audio, which seems to be an issue others are having randomly and i determined it was actually the soundbar.
To fix this i tried flashing firmware on tv (first) and then soundbar, checked the input devices weren't the cause (happened across two devices), changed hdmi cords, etc. Then tried a different tv and found the sync issue occurred on another TV.
A switch to using the aux works fine and tbh i can't tell the difference in general viewing/gaming, it also means I can just use the tv remote for volume
This means I can't use HDMI-CEC, but this also never worked properly with the Hisense TV anyway.
what model TV is it?
I'd be willing to bet it'd effect more than just his model…. remotes often work across the range for many many years…. i'm using 2015 Sony Remotes on my upgraded 2019 models due to the new ones having random connectivity issues.
Probably because the signals run on the same frequency or use the same codes. It’s bound to happen with manufacturers that don’t check.
Hisense 55P7, i've read in other places that the soundbar remotes from Yamaha do this to other Hisense TVs too
My Hisense 50R6 also changes the light values on my RGB light strip behind the tv when I change volume or inputs. Super annoying
I've had similar issues with my Hisense 55P7, connected to a Vodafone TV box. With recent update to the vodafone tv android version and also updating firmware on the yas108b it seems to have broken the ARC support to a point that it cannot do 4k and only does 1080p. Volume control and other functions are quite problematic that we have just switched to not using the ARC and using audio via optical.
Have exact same setup - found I had to reconfigure the HDMI connections - now have the Voda TV direct to the 55P7 via HDMI 1 and use the HDMI 2 ARC back to the soundbar. Previously had Voda TV as an input into Yamaha soundbar and then in to 55P7 via HDMI 2 worked fine prior to Voda TV update. Also tried the latest Yamaha firmware update to no avail. Not sure how you had yours configured.
"A switch to using the aux works fine "
What input are you using on the YAS-108? the analogue or tv/optical?
I bought this for my computer, was the same price around Christmas I think, great sound highly recommend.
Bought it! Office works price matched to $141. Delivery wasn’t free though. They said something about $10 fee even though I live in the metro. Anyway there is a shop close by so I’ll collect from there. Thanks for posting!
Is this any good? I.e. better than the TV's Speakers?
god yes. PS anything is better than TV speakers
Keep in mind that most soundbars just offer loads of bass and treble which doesn't actually sound better, but might sound good to people who don't really care about quality. So in most cases TV speakers of decent TV's would sound better, but might not suit the persons desire for booming/muddy bass and treble to make your ears bleed.
I found the bass in this soundbar to be quite good. Checked the in store displays before buying and to me it was much better than the soundbar+sub combos in the price range, which were all guilty of the cheap booming/muddy bass. This one gave a nice presence to the bass without being overpowering. But don't expect the room to shake.
@tbone74: Yea you can't really compare while on the store displays unless you are in a silent/soundproofed room hey. Many frequencies get drowned out by other sounds. Again, bass is one of the things people associate with "good sound", but in most cases it just drowns out the rest of the freq range. You have to pay very good money for a tight sub, these are not tight at all. After a few weeks they become very loose. Luckily for soundbars, bass does drown out all of it's poor abilities, so it's why many don't realise how bad they sound compared to an actual good speaker setup.
@onlinepred: Agree that in store isn't the ideal environment for testing. But it was clear that the cheap soundbar+sub combos were much worse for quality of bass than this one.
And while I agree with your comments in general about soundbars, this particular soundbar has ok bass considering the price and relative to speakers built in to my (and likely most any) TV. In my experience from using it anyway. Nothing special but I much prefer it to a similarly priced boomy soundbar+sub combo.
@tbone74: Yep agreed if all you want is a boost in bass, these cheapo bars will do that. And potentially sound "better" than some TVs. Although realistically when buying a $149 soundbar, you aren't really looking at quality sound anyway right? Just making things louder and boomier.
@tbone74: It's 'sub' only goes down to 60hz. It's not a built sub at all. Cheap soundbars with real subs probably just needed to be adjusted correctly. They will always be better than a soundbar without a real sub. Watch the movie Interstellar with this soundbar, much of the music you can't hear with this soundbar because it can't output the bass frequencies. This is ok for a soundbar without a sub, but it doesn't have good bass, it doesn't have any lower bass
I would say in 99% of cases yes, with my TV definitely
yes
One thing to keep in mind, that the speakers in this sound bar are probably smaller than the ones in your tv - depending on what TV you have.
Talk about the RRP being extremely over priced.
Silly question.
What connection/cable do you use to connect a 10yo Panasonic Plasma TV to this?
This is for FTA.
Optical or aux, your plasma should have both
Thanks..
Just checked my TV's instructions.
You're correct, I can connect via Optical, RCA or HDMI^
^applicable if your amplifier has ARC (Audio Return Channel) function.
Does this soundbar have an ARC function?
Yes it does. I'm using it on mine :)
I got this in the last deal. So far very happy with it. I have a 55' Kogan, as far as I can tell it has no optical port. So at the moment its just using an old headphone jack. Watching Netflix sometimes and the sound has this "drop" before a loud moment - I am thinking this is because of the inferior cable? I will go get a HDMI for it but does anyone have any relevant experience with this?
Got this one about 6 months ago. Excellent upgrade over the crappy TV speakers.
I have my setup like this: Vodafone TV -> Sony TV -> Yamaha Soundbar (all are HDMI cables btw). And the best part is I can control everything via the VTV remote :)
[Of course, this assumes that you are using the soundbar only for the TV which may not be the use case for everyone here.]
I have a wall mounted TV in my bedroom, does anyone know the best way to wall mount a soundbar such as this as well? I'm thinking some form of bracket that connects to the TV and holds the soundbar below?
Would this soundbar be suitable to use with an Epson EH-TW5600 and streaming sound from laptop via Bluetooth?
Amazing how this soundbar always gets so many upvotes. This one is far better IMO: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/520674
It's not available, link is down.
I've got this running with the LG OLED (2019 B series).
It has generally been pretty good, at times I find voice can be a little muddy for movies.
It also can be somewhat temperamental with ARC feature. It stopped working altogether recently and reading online it seems a factory reset for the TV is needed to detect again.
Likewise setting sound profile with ARC on this is strange, probably the LG tv but once using ARC you can't change the sound profile (e.g. Cinema, game, music). Perhaps this is by design if it just passes straight audio output, but the workaround is to set sound to TV Speakers, set profile then change the output to ARC.
Got mine for the $105 deal at Good Guys some time ago so not complaining for the price.
If anyone has any experience with lag or desyncing between audio can you let me know. I got one of these last time and whilst it sounds pretty good i cant help but notice some small lag i think.
Very common with ALL soundbars. You need to use the sync button on the remote, and your TV might have this within the settings menu also
Just set it up. Not really impressed. The reason I got it is that my Logitech z623 i got on sale a few years ago don't have an optical output so I can't connect them to my new TV. So for anyone who knows what the Z623 sound like, this sound bar is at least x2 weaker in sound quality and loudness.
This is helpful, looking for something to replace now cracked z2300. Nearly hit buy on this, will keep looking.
If your tv has a headphone jack, you can still use your Logitech's. I bought that cheap 50" linsar tv the other day from theGG and it sounds awesome with the z623. And you can use the tv remote to control volume.
How's this compared to Samsung 3.1c?
Just wondering if someone can answer this for me as I'm new to this sort of thing.
My TV has 3 HDMI ports. 1 ARC enabled.
I utilise all 3 ports.
Is installation simply plugging this into the ARC port and plugging the device that was previously plugged in there into the OUT on the bar?
Plug HDMI ARC TV to HDMI ARC soundbar and use the spare HDMI-in of the soundbar for your bluray, PS4 etc. For the Yamaha this is 4K enabled
Just what I was after. Thank you.
Recently had this unit installed wall mounted below my 82 inch new Samsung through the ARC hdmi, works very well and punches above its weight when compared to more premo soundbar. Bought it for $139 in the last good guys sale. Terrific value for money
Anyone knows of a good sub for this soundbar?
Is the inbuilt dual subwoofer not very good?
Is the subwoofer in your phone any good? Or what about the subwoofer in your TV?
Not sure what you're getting at. My phone and TV do not have a sub, so how would that make a comparison? I'm interested to know what the dual inbuilt sub is like on this device for general use as I'm not an audiophile.
@LikeMike: Because size matters in subwoofers. It needs to push large amounts of air. Phones and Tv's have "subwoofers", but they don't really compare to an actual subwoofer. If you don't really care much about audio quality in movies etc, any of these will do, preferably with a dedicated subwoofer though.
@onlinepred: I was meaning is the inbuilt sub in this not very good compared to other soundbars of similar size that have inbuilt subs. I wasn't expecting it to be good compared to a soundbar with a dedicated sub.
@LikeMike: Well it's a $150 soundbar, so you can safely assume it's not great. Even the best soundbars without subs don't have much bass. Their speakers are tiny.
@onlinepred: I still think you're on the wrong mindset here. If I was after a small affordable hatchback car you'd be telling me it's crap and I should buy an SUV? I don't want an SUV to compare with, I want to know if the hatchback is good compared to other cars of it's same size. Your assumption that it's not great is not really relevant as I'm not after big bass.
@LikeMike: If you were after a small affordable hatchback, but you are looking at a chinese replica import that costs 1/10th that of a regular hatchback, then yes that would be relevant.
It's like saying, I really want a hatchback because it will allow me more space, if I buy the smallest hatchback ever, will it still have loads of space?
The bass will be less than what a modern TV puts out, due to space and speaker size. There is no getting around it. I have had many soundbars, I haven't owned the 108b, but I have owned Sonos, Bose and Yas109. Only the Sonos had PASSABLE bass without a sub, my C9 tv has more bass that the Bose and yas109
@onlinepred: I have no idea if your C9 example is better, worse, or equal (in regards to bass) relative to an average "modern TV". It would depend in part at least on what age range you consider modern.
The YAS-108 appears to be the same ballpark as the C9 for bass response according to RTINGS.com (although don't know how reliable a source of information they are).
https://www.rtings.com/soundbar/reviews/yamaha/yas-108-ats-1…
And both the C9 and the YAS-108 definitely have more than than my own C7 (which I'd think could reasonably be called modern even though a few years old).
https://www.rtings.com/tv/tools/compare/lg-c7-vs-lg-c9/421/8…
I'd suggest the general statement that the bass in the YAS-108 would be less than a modern TV isn't really correct. Less than some modern TV's would be more accurate. One would need to compare to their specific TV to assess if they would get any benefit from the YAS-108.
I personally enjoy the YAS-108 with movies on my C7. It provides some bass that is lacking in the TV, and although doesn't compare to a quality sub (in regards to quality, depth or volume of bass), I find it much less offensive than the boomy bass of cheap soundbar+sub combos.
@tbone74: Agreed. Not sure what they did with C9, but they really stepped it up with audio. I guess I was just meaning recent hid/high end TV's. Many are now focusing on offering good sound out of the box without requiring a soundbar. We went through such a big phase of having thin TV's with terrible sound, I think they are coming out the other end now.
@onlinepred: Well that went off-topic. What's a good subwoofer for this soundbar? Preferrably something decently priced or something that can be had at quite a large discount when it goes on sale.
@driew: https://voll.com.au/product/s8/
This is probably the best value for money sub you can buy I reckon. And they do free shipping for metro areas.
A high quality sub with solid bass, that doesn't sound boomey. It produces a nice low frequency for that deep bass sound. Probably the best thing I bought last year.
We got this one and it is great: https://www.todds.com.au/collections/yamaha/products/yamaha-….
We aren't painful pedantic audiophiles though so YMMV.
Office works sells soundbars? Damnnnn