So I went out Wednesday and got my new 75 inch Samsung QLED Q7FN, now I have a HT decision ahead of me.


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Now I have my super size TV, and I move the my 65 inch to the bedroom. I decided to move my onkyo 2.1 with the 65 into the bed room. Because Samsung gave me a surprise offer. Get a HW-MS750 for 275 as a special offer. Prompting me to think about upgrading the HT in the living room.

option 1
Get a Beam. I am not a fan of the playbase and playbar because of lack of HDMI for the price. The Beam might get me to move to sonos for HT. But I am not sold on it, since it seems to be marketed for people looking for a boost in sound quality over the flatscreen speakers. But since it is not out yet. I really do not know 100% if the sound of the beam can match the playbase or playbar. So I have not ruled out the Beam yet.

option 2
Take the deal and spend 275 and get the Samsung HW-MS750. Seem to have a good sound stage with the upward firing tweeter. But all the older Samsung speakers I ever heard were marginal at best. But people said the sound+ series form Samsung has taken their sound quality to a new level. Getting close to the higher end competition.

option 3
Look at other sound bars in the 300 range, from Yamaha or Canton or Onkyo. And call it a day.

Dame Samsung. Getting me to rethink my HT needs with the new TV. Should have never open the offer.

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12 replies

Userlevel 1
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BEAM
A couple thoughts.

- I would check the resale price on the Samsung. Since it looks like you can get it for around 50% off, perhaps you can try it out and resell (at a profit?) so not much risk.

- Sonos states the Beam is for small/medium rooms, it physically has less speakers, it has a significantly lower price point, and no 3rd party review has said it matches the playbar/playbase. It's not going to sound as good. That doesn't mean it won't sound great or plenty good enough though.

- I'll probably regret this, but I'm not seeing why the lack of hdmi is a problem for the playbar, when comparing it to the beam. Is it because of atmos? They both have the same codecs. Do you plan on getting additional speakers later on? Otherwise, aren't you essentially getting stereo PCM?

- If you get the Samsung or some other soundbar, won't that mean you're living room is no longer part of your sonos system? I don't know what you have or what you put in their before.

- A fourth option....move your 2.1 back to the living and get the beam for your bedroom.
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Surely with a 75" Samsung Q Series TV it's a part of a nice setup so Sonos shouldn't really be in the conversation - and I'm not really sure you are.?..
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Sorry if (slightly) off topic, but what do you think of the TV?
Userlevel 5
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Sorry if (slightly) off topic, but what do you think of the TV?

It is not the Q9FN, but it pretty nice. And I got a fantastic price for it and the option to get the HW-MS751 which is the silver color one at a steal. Saving 1,500 over the Q9FN 75 was just to hard to pass up. It is really good for PC gaming, the freesync works great. It is like playing a game on a pc monitor vs a TV where you get screen tearing in high action games. Color is outstanding, they are vibrant. HDR is nice.

But my short list with the Q9FN 75, the Q7FN 75 and the NU8000 82. But the the price clinch it.
Userlevel 5
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A couple thoughts.

- I would check the resale price on the Samsung. Since it looks like you can get it for around 50% off, perhaps you can try it out and resell (at a profit?) so not much risk.

- Sonos states the Beam is for small/medium rooms, it physically has less speakers, it has a significantly lower price point, and no 3rd party review has said it matches the playbar/playbase. It's not going to sound as good. That doesn't mean it won't sound great or plenty good enough though.

- I'll probably regret this, but I'm not seeing why the lack of hdmi is a problem for the playbar, when comparing it to the beam. Is it because of atmos? They both have the same codecs. Do you plan on getting additional speakers later on? Otherwise, aren't you essentially getting stereo PCM?

- If you get the Samsung or some other soundbar, won't that mean you're living room is no longer part of your sonos system? I don't know what you have or what you put in their before.

- A fourth option....move your 2.1 back to the living and get the beam for your bedroom.


I have bluray HDR master in DTS. So the sonos can not handle that codec. Not a big deal with streaming, but can be annoying if you want to watch insanely good HDR on a bluray.

HDMI ARC Pass through allows me to use a sound bar as a hdmi switch for adding a 5th hdmi source. I have 4 ports at 2.1 with the Q7FN, but they are all used up. By going with a sound bar like the samsung or a Yamaha. I add at least one more port. And one remote can control everything in my living room.

I have my sonos for music only. But after reading a member post about the Beam and how it sounded in the Sonos Berlin store in a sound demo room. I think I will rule it out. While but my coworkers has a smaller 46 inch so he is going Beam. It just does not work for me.

I get the samsung for 275, retail at the stores is 650. Not going with Atmos right now. But I might down the road. Could not get a great deal on the HW-MS850 with Atmos.
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Surely with a 75" Samsung Q Series TV it's a part of a nice setup so Sonos shouldn't really be in the conversation - and I'm not really sure you are.?..

For most people it would be just fine with PCM 5.1 but if you run PC gaming and other things to the TV. The sound is lacking.
Userlevel 1
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Sorry if (slightly) off topic, but what do you think of the TV?

It is not the Q9FN, but it pretty nice. And I got a fantastic price for it and the option to get the HW-MS751 which is the silver color one at a steal. Saving 1,500 over the Q9FN 75 was just to hard to pass up. It is really good for PC gaming, the freesync works great. It is like playing a game on a pc monitor vs a TV where you get screen tearing in high action games. Color is outstanding, they are vibrant. HDR is nice.

But my short list with the Q9FN 75, the Q7FN 75 and the NU8000 82. But the the price clinch it.


Wise decision. The 82" is nice for the size but it's not a Quantum Dot display so the colors cannot match the Qled I'd personally gladly sacrifice the 7 diagonal inches for the improved color/nits
Userlevel 5
Badge +12
Sorry if (slightly) off topic, but what do you think of the TV?

It is not the Q9FN, but it pretty nice. And I got a fantastic price for it and the option to get the HW-MS751 which is the silver color one at a steal. Saving 1,500 over the Q9FN 75 was just to hard to pass up. It is really good for PC gaming, the freesync works great. It is like playing a game on a pc monitor vs a TV where you get screen tearing in high action games. Color is outstanding, they are vibrant. HDR is nice.

But my short list with the Q9FN 75, the Q7FN 75 and the NU8000 82. But the the price clinch it.


Wise decision. The 82" is nice for the size but it's not a Quantum Dot display so the colors cannot match the Qled I'd personally gladly sacrifice the 7 diagonal inches for the improved color/nits


My friend said it was perfect to get the 75 vs the 82. She side I did not have to rearranged my home entertainment furniture. I would have to get a bigger unit, or offset the TV stand to fit the 82. But I was happy with the q7fn.
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Ok, I went for the deal. 275 for the samsung HW-MS751 the silver one. And this thing is huge. 110CM wide. 11 speakers, 9 forward facing and 2 upward firing. This thing is a beast at 14 pound.

Actually the US design sound+ bar is not that bad for home thether. And music, it is pretty good. Not quite as good as my pair play3. But not shabby. App sucks, compare to sonos, not to much music stream service supported. Just 8 service. App is also slow to startup.

For music vs my sonos play3 paired going over wifi and not form my phone. We tried it out with Spotify and Deezer. And my friend said it was pretty good compare to my sonos playing the same song, it just lack the bass response. Mids and Highs were pretty good. Then going back and forth to my neighbor with the playbase. The playbase just out did the Samsung in bass as well. It plays 32Bit music from Deezer. But I could not really tell the difference. There is way more audio setting on the samsung vs the sonos with bass and treble, the samsung lets you adjust 7fqz and 3 presets for music. It has a Pop, Jazz and Classic music presets. And it has a dedicate button on the remote to adjust bass. Setting it to max made living with sweet home alabama respectable.

For a bar, it produce decent base. Not bad, but not great. I was surprise CNet wrote what they wrote about this bar. Not high end enough to justify the 650 price tag. The What HiFi review is more in line with my short experience with the HW-MS751. It would give the Sonos Playbar a run for it's money, but the playbase will out do it with the added bass response.

Watching Thor Ragnarok, It brought all the dialog forward doing the Hulk vs Thor fight scenes without issue. It needs a sub if you want that pop. Like the playbar need a sub for the pop. The bar has 7 HT mode when attach to a samsung TV, smart mode is not available to the speaker, only through a samsung tv. 6 When attach to another brand. Standard, Smart, Music, Clear Voice, Sport, Movie and Surround. Thor in Smart mode was pretty dynamic sound. And going to surround activate all 11 speaker. But with the fine tuning you can the sound to your personal liking. The Sound stage is huge with the upward speaker and 9 forward speaker. All over my livingroom, it felt like I did not mess any dialog from being out of the sweet spot.

So if CNet does not think it is worth 650 buck. I must say it is well worth 275. Build quality is excellent. the case is an aluminum mess grill, that is quit nice looking. I like the silver color 751 vs the black 750. 75 inch is a huge black spot when it is not on. Going with a silver bar helps off set the excess black from the in my living room. The HDMI with 4K HDR passthrough worked well. I had no problem push 4k HDR content from my pc to the TV. But when you do this, you need to adjust setting from the Bar vs the samsung TV.

But in conclusion, the bar is worth about 600 bucks. The sound quality is close to Sonos and Bose sound bars if you play around with the adjustment. But you need a big tv for this sound bar to look right. The sonos playbar would look tiny next to this thing. I can do without 32bit HiRes sound. It is really a gimmick after trying out the 32bit. DTS support work well. Wifi music is ok, nothing special with the limited services. Bluetooth was a nice touch. I have it connect to my google home mini to use as its default music speaker. HDMI ARC and a second HDMI is a really nice touch. Not planning to get any other samsung wireless speakers. So no idea how the multi room music function works.
Cool thread, but the most important question is being overlooked: A 65 inch TV in your BEDROOM? 😃
Userlevel 5
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Yeah a 65inch 4k in the bedroom. I need to rethink it. The old HT system is not going to work as well as I hope. It fires into the bed. I need to get a soundbar to mount over the TV. But good for me my neighbor wants my old onkyo.