Hi,

I'm looking to spend around £200 on a sound bar or sound base. Initially I was looking at a sound bar for my 40" TV but I live in a flat with someone underneath and thought the subwoofer on the floor might be annoying. Would a sound base be a better alternative?

It's only annoying if you turn it up to 11

And you can get soundbars without a separate sub

http://www.richersounds.com/product/...ama-ats930-blk
http://www.richersounds.com/product/...yama-yas93-blk

to name but two.

Low frequencies will penetrate the floor/ceiling (depending on which side you are looking from ) more readily than higher frequencies but volume plays a part as well.

If you like to emulate a Motorhead concert at full whack then sub or not the downstairs neighbour will be round "to have words". But at more reasonable levels even with a sub you should be OK. Especially if your side is carpeted as that will absorb some of the sound and vibration.

And if you avoid subs where the speaker fires at the floor that will also help.

Headphones!

Anything with a sub woofer, or just good bass, will annoy the neighbours. Bass gets everywhere even at low levels.

Probably makes little difference in reality. Your neighbour will hear the bass regardless as it's non-directional.

Are there any good sound systems that don't have a sub?

Having or not having a sub is not the main thing that makes the difference. You can annoy the neighbours just as readily with any speaker system whether there is a sub there or not. It is the volume you play stuff at and the frequencies involved in the content that matter most, not what you are playing it on.

A good quality full range HiFi speaker is perfectly capable of reproducing the same sort of frequencies as a sub. Even some small bookshelf speakers can go down surprisingly low, plenty low enough to create a thump, thump, thump through the ceiling of the flat below. Hell even a really cheap and crappy stereo system that cost ten quid from Currys can annoy the hell out of the neighbours if you crank it up too loud.

Getting a clearer picture now, thanks. So if I play the sound at low levels it should be ok? I`m not looking to shake the house, just looking for better quality sound than the TV speakers produce.

Most basic soundbars produce sound similar to the CRTs were putting out 10 years ago and few complained then.

"Subwoofer" is a misnomer with these smaller products. They're essentially little more than a single woofer with a hole in the front in lieu of a bass port.

Have you considered a speaker base? I've just got one of these and it sounds pretty darn good even at low volumes.

http://www.petertyson.co.uk/ebuttonz...ker_base.shtml