Swapped my thrift store receiver for a used soundbar and wow what a difference

I had this old 5.1 receiver I found at Goodwill for $30, (it weighed like 40 pounds) and I figured it was the only way to get decent sound. Last month I grabbed a used Vizio soundbar with a subwoofer off Facebook Marketplace for $50. The receiver had all these tangled speaker wires running everywhere, and the soundbar just sits under my TV with one cable. Honestly the surround effect is cleaner and I didn't lose any bass. Has anyone else traded a full surround setup for something simpler and regretted it later?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_rowan21d ago

Lol I did something similar but backwards. I traded a soundbar that kept cutting out for a thrift store receiver and old speakers. The receiver was like $20 at a garage sale and the speakers were these giant 90s Pioneers. My living room looks like a dorm room from 1998 but man the sound is so chunky and warm. The soundbar was cleaner looking but it just couldn't handle action movies without distorting. Plus now I can swap speakers whenever I find something cool at the flea market. Its a sickness honestly lol.

miller.eva17d ago

Oh man, that's a good point actually. I mean, isn't that kind of the fun of it though? You can't really swap out a soundbar's drivers if they blow, but with old speakers you can just find another pair at a garage sale for pocket change. I've got a pair of those big Pioneers in my shop and even with a cheap amp they just fill the room so much better than any skinny bar could. But yeah the sickness is real, I've got like three spare pairs of speakers in my garage right now just because they were too cheap to pass up.