Need advice for simple speaker setup
I just moved into a new apartment, and am using a 32" tv in the living room. The TV is already way too small, but I'd rather prioritize spending on the speakers first.
I thought I could live with the TV speakers, but have quickly realized that they have made watching movies impossible. The dialogue is impossible to hear without cranking up the volume. And then if there is anything other than dialogue, it's way too loud.
The walls in the apartment are fairly thin, so I'm pretty sure a subwoofer is out of the question. So I was looking at soundbars but keep seeing conflicting advice. There are articles like this that make them sound fine, yet when you go to place like /r/hometheater, everyone despises them.
So my next step was to look at powered bookshelf speakers. They seemed like a pretty good option, until I went to best buy to listen to them. I'm not sure if they just weren't set up properly or what, but none of them sounded that great. Especially when compared to the tower speakers they had.
So now I'm at a loss. Should I go with a soundbar, bookshelf, or tower speakers? My budget is under $500.
I would just buy a soundbar. Even the cheap ones are fine, and waaaay better than the inbuilt speakers on your TV. I have a 2.1 Samsung bar+mini-sub which was £100 for the set and it delivers decent bass and nice clear mids and highs. It's great at what it does, for the money it cost. Could it be better? Maybe. But realistically, not that much better.
I used to work in a hi-fi shop and audiophiles are one of the worst sort of philes. While they're usually nice enough people, nothing is ever good enough for them but honestly, almost everything is actually just fine. It's a bit like wine - when you blind ABX test all this stuff almost nobody can tell the difference between anything. Literally bent coathangers perform as well as the insane speaker cables some people buy. I've heard systems which cost more than my house and, while nice, they're really not that great.
95%+ of everything you'll watch has a bad enough audio mix and sound design to really not benefit from a super high-end setup anyway. If you cared enough about full-blown 3D surround sound you wouldn't be asking here anyway, so that's not a thing you want. Other than that, make sure you buy from a shop you can return it to if you absolutely hate it and you'll be fine. Or just buy online, then you can send it back for any reason you like (consumer rights may vary by country).
As much as I like dunking on the ridiculous things some audiophiles do, within the price range of the OP, there's definitely still meaningful differences between equipment where anyone (meaning those without a "trained ear") can tell the difference. If they found themselves wanting something better, they could definitely upgrade further without getting ridiculous.
Still I agree that a soundbar is enough of a step up that the OP should probably go for it. It'll be an infinitely better experience than TV speakers and there's a good chance they'll be completely satisfied.
Yeah OP just to emphasize this, dialogue getting lost in the mix under everything else isn't your setup's fault, it's the source's. We're all just kinda fucked on that.
A soundbar should be good enough for an apartment situation where you don't want too much bass but still want to fill a medium sized room with decent sound. It's not really an expandable option though, so when you do decide to upgrade you will be selling it or trashing it.
Getting an AV receiver will enable you to expand down the road. You can even look for a used 5.1 receiver with 80-100W per channel to save some money now then build a 2.0 setup which you can expand to 3.0>3.1 or 5.0>5.1 and after this point buy a decent 7.1 or 9.2 receiver with atmos and w/e newer tech we have in the future. The important part is buying speakers that are going be good throughout those upgrades. Polk Audio TSi200 Through newegg you get 5 year warranty and dealing with Polk customer service is also 5 star. These are 20-150W so they will be able to handle any AV receiver you get until you start getting a dedicated amp (somewhat audiophile excessive).
All together you could find a used receiver for ~$100, those speakers for $200, center for $100 and spend the rest on tax/shipping and some speaker wire for a decent 3.0 system within your budget with a solid start to expanding it when you have more money and aren't living in an apartment.
Whatever receiver or sound bar you end up buying, make sure it has a "night mode", "smart volume", or other form dynamic range compression. This will help you keep the volume consistent so you don't end up bothering the neighbors.
I went with a Sonos Beam because I wanted simplicity over audiophile sound quality. Been happy with the decision.
If you’re in an apartment, go for a sound bar. They’re not as good as a dedicated speaker setup but they will get you 80% of the way to a good audio experience.
You also don’t need to worry about getting an amp or receiver to power the speakers if you go with a sound bar.
Either way, both will be a major step up from your TV’s built in speakers.
Unrelated to your hardware question, if you're using Kodi, you can fix that volume issue by playing a video > go to Audio Settings > Volume: -20db, Volume Amplification: +20 > Set as Default for all media.
If I had $500 to spend on speakers, I'd personally probably get the Fluance Fi70. They also make a soundbar. I purchased some tower speakers from them a few years ago and loved them, no direct experience with either of the products linked however.