TV Sound Bar Help

cbxjeff

I know nothing about these things and don't know what to buy. Without going into boring details, I have a little 35" Samsung located above two of my smaller gun safes in what was a closet (doors removed naturally).  My problem is that the sound from the TV s***s as it should be -  buried in a closet. I don't want anything fancy.  I just want the speakers to be out of the closet.  I don't want an additional woofer or hook it up to anything else other than my TV.  Why do they have a remote control?  Do they need any external power? I want to spend a max of $100. 00 and want to just plug and play.  It looks like my Samsung has 3.5mm connectors rather than RCA connections.  I'm so old that maybe RCA isn't used anymore. 

Thanks guys,

Nanuq907

I found a JBL Onstage 400p docking station speaker that stands alone and takes its source from the 3.5mm stereo jack.  It uses a separate remote that I taped to the back of my TV remote.  It sounds utterly fantastic, fills the room with amazing sound and cost $35 on eBay.

Rocky Raab

Jeff, it will cost you a bit more, but trust me on this...you want a ZVOX Accuvoice. It uses hearing aid circuitry to clarify dialogue, reduce background music that drowns out voices, and may more magical things. https://zvox.com/

Wild Turkey

first thing to do is check your TV for what kind of audio output it has.  
I wanted to build a sound bar for TV LOML picked only to find it's only audio out was the new-fangled  digital optical cable type that requires an amplifier that accepts that type of cable.  She was not interested in better sound, etc, especially when it meant another remote in addition to the two she already deals with.
I also wanted to use some wireless headphones so she could listen to her dumb shows while I went to sleep.  Didn't happen.
Next set will have analog audio out!
Here's where I go for audio stuff:  https://www.parts-express.com/cat/sound-bars-speaker-bars/100

clays

I bought a pair of blue tooth ear pods.  They allow you to move about the room freely, the sound is much better as you can understand more of what is being said.  Turn the volume to where YOU want it without disturbing others.  They recharge from the USB port on the computer.  Works well for me.

mark christian

Jeff, take a look at refurbished units on Ebay. I bought a 32 inch Phillips sound bar which was old enough that it had the RCA connectors, although I used the optical link. The unit had a couple of scratches, but it works fine. I think I paid $50.

cbxjeff

Thanks for the replies guys.  I'm making some progress as I now know that I have an optical audio output from the TV.  I see that some sound bars plug into 110 and they all seem to have a remote control.  I'm not sure why.  I don't want this bar to do anything except play the tv audio.  I don't need to control anything on it.

Nothing is simple anymore,

Rocky Raab

Jeff, the ZVOX has a remote because the sound bar has a lot of possible settings for you to customize how it reproduces sound. But it also syncs to your regular TV remote so that you get on/off, volume, and mute through that. You only need the ZVOX remote after that if you want to change settings. (Once it syncs, your TV speakers are set to zero volume, so there's no conflict.) Works seamlessly after that.

mark christian

Sometimes you get lucky. I bought a no-name Spectre TV for the living room- which has been a great TV by the way, and a LG soundbar to go with it. It turned out that the remote control for the TV was compatible with the soundbar, and without any programming. 

cbxjeff

Well that explains the remote.  Does that mean if I buy a Samsung bar I'll be able to use my Samsung TV remote?  Some bars have batteries.  I wouldn't think battery life would be very long if it's running an amp.

armilite

+1 on the Zvox we've had one for 10 years and it works just great.