What do you think of soundbars compared to speakers?

Yes i popped my cookies on my Bose sound bar just use it for movies and tv.

For me a sound bar is perfect but I don't watch action adventure films so a 7.1 system is a waste of money. TV and movies to me are brain dead activities that don’t require a lot of money invested to be satisfied.

There is a wide enough range in soundbar quality, size, and price points that sweeping generalizations aren't particularly useful. Sure, if you get a $200 self-powered internal matrix TV add-on, it will have limited power and range, but not so for the ones above $1K designed to mate with a real subwoofer that rely on an external AV processor to feed it the surround signal.

Sure, there are plenty of little self-contained soundbar/sub/rear channel combos for $200-300 for people who don't want complexity and wires. They aren't up to the standards we're used to, but they're a major improvement over the built-in speakers on an ultra-thin flat panel display.

On the other hand, several reputable speaker companies make some excellent-sounding soundbars. A few years ago I heard a factory rep demo of the Goldenear 3D Array XL combined with its Forcefield 5 Subwoofer. That's a $2600 rig that also needs an external surround processor and amplification. It has eight 4.5" mid/bass drivers and three folded ribbon tweeters.

From the moment sound came through this system I didn't pay any attention to the form factor, because is simply sounded *right*--full-range, great tonal balance and clarity, and equally adept at music and dialogue.

There are many other soundbars coming from respected manufacturers such as Focal, PSB, Paradigm (self-powered, review here), and several others that perform far beyond what we hear in the Big Box stores.

I utilize a Paradigm soundbar with a REL subwoofer for my secondary viewing area of our home.  Our everyday area is a 7.2 B & W arrangement driven by Parasound amps and separates.  Although the two areas don't compare, I like the simplicity and quality of sound the Paradigm and REL provide.  It does the job!

I don't disagree with anything said here: I think there are more factors than 'just' sound and budget which dictates whether you go soundbar or separates. I have a dedicated listening room with a nice 2ch rig, but we put the TV elsewhere. There 'could be' room for speakers and amps and processors, but I opted for the Martin Logan Vision soundbar for a number of reasons, mostly aesthetics but also ease of use (Btw... I am THRILLED SILLY with it) for their intended use (hooking to TV to replace awful little rear firing speakers). It is seamless to use (auto on when the TV is on); optical pass through of audio signal, from TV (no switching inputs); I tend to think the 'bar is voiced with movies/TV in mind ('fit for purpose'). Now, specific to the ML model I have, it was the best sounding one that I could audition: the ribbon tweeters and woofers are just superb. The bass is excellent without a sub (I may add one later). It wasn't cheap!! But in this case, I feel as though it was worth every dime. The 'simulated surround' even works creepily good on some material. If I were to pick something with no other regard than sound, it would be a pretty complex system taking up LOTS of space. Adding in considerations I mentioned, and then listening to high end soundbars, the soundbar choice provides very little compromise in sound quality!