I’ve wanted a soundbar for a couple years now. Every time I look for one, I don’t find anything that meets all my requirements, or I get overwhelmed looking and just give up.

My setup:

  • We have an SBC hooked up to my dumb TV through HDMI. HDMI handles both audio and video for the computer. We never use any other input to the TV, so this is the only audio concern here. This is currently a Radxa Rock 5b, but I’m considering replacing it with an x86 NUC or mini-PC.
  • We have a cheap little record player nearby. This sounds fine but could really stand to have better speakers attached. It has stereo RCA output.

What I want:

  • All sound to be output through one speaker/set of speakers. Ideally it would be a soundbar, since the TV is mounted above a fireplace and we can run the soundbar along the mantle.
  • If the speakers have to toggle between inputs to get sound between the PC and the record player, so be it, but it would be much nicer if the two were mixed. We’ll never have a record playing and have something on the TV, anyways.
  • I’d prefer not to have any extra cables coming from the PC to the speaker. I’m trying to avoid any wires showing, and so I’d like to keep the PC audio through HDMI if possible.

I’d love to know if such a product exists. Please, internet denizens, give me your recommendations if you have any.

  • @9point6
    2•4 months ago

    You’ve not included your budget, but I think one of the Sonos sound bars would do what you need if you can stretch. The arc is still reviewed as one of the better sound bars out there in terms of sound quality, though the beam is still very good and a bit cheaper.

    I don’t think you’ll find anything in that form factor that mixes the audio between two sources, I’m afraid. For whatever reason, it’s tough to find any kind of AV receiver that mixes an HDMI audio signal with another source. That’s just anecdotal from my experience though, perhaps someone else knows of some gear that does this.