What's the best passive soundbar: a worthy investment or a waste of money?

Def Tech? Fancy! The klipsch rp-440d is another solid passive soundbar option. Bit cheaper too, and still packs a punch for movies and games.

Oh boy, another soundbar thread! )) But seriously, passive soundbars can be pretty sweet if you've already got a good receiver. It's like giving your TV a voice upgrade without the extra electronics. Just don't expect miracles, yeah?

That Denon's solid for driving a passive soundbar. You thinking 3 channel passive soundbar or something simpler?

If you're going passive, might as well go for a 3 channel passive soundbar. Gives you that nice wide soundstage. The Definitive Technology Mythos SSA-50 is pretty sweet if you can swing it.

Y'all are sleeping on DIY. Built my own passive 3 channel soundbar last summer. Sounds bomb and saved a ton.

Passive, active, who cares? As long as it drowns out my neighbor's "singing", I'm good. xDD

Ngl, kinda sick of all these soundbar posts. Just get a proper 2.1 setup and call it a day.

Was scrolling through hivestyle the other day and stumbled on a massive thread about passive vs. active soundbars. Some good info there if you're still on the fence.

Just don't mount it above the TV. Pet peeve.

Passive soundbars are fine, but make sure you got the power to drive 'em. Your Denon should be good tho.

Hot take: soundbars are just a stepping stone to a real home theater setup. You'll upgrade eventually, trust.

End of the day, it's your setup. If you can, try to demo some passive soundbars before buying. Some local audio shops might have them set up. Nothing beats hearing them in person, you know?

My guy really out here talking passive soundbars when he got a denon receiver... respect the hustle but you playing yourself rn 💀

Hot take: passive soundbars are just speakers in a fancy box. change my mind

soundbar above fireplace = immediate red flag.

Just copped that Polk Audio Signa S2 and brooo this thing be hitting different. virtual surround + wireless sub = straight 🔥 worth every penny

Yall remember when tv speakers were actually decent? now we gotta drop a rack just to hear dialogue properly smh

Spent decade chasing "perfect" audio setup. Passive soundbar with existing receiver finally taught me diminishing returns are real. Good enough IS good enough when you're actually enjoying content instead of obsessing over frequency response charts. Personal growth painful sometimes

Neighbor filed noise complaint week after installing passive soundbar. Apparently sharing walls means sharing audio whether I want or not. Now only use between 10am-8pm like some kind of audio Cinderella. Urban living glamorous until it's not

beybut said OP is playing himself with a Denon and a passive bar and that's kinda backwards. X1700H is literally built to drive a 3-channel passive front stage - the whole point of having that receiver. a passive bar into that is a completely logical setup. what WOULD be playing yourself is using the X1700H as a glorified HDMI switch while a powered soundbar handles audio

15x20 is actually the argument FOR a passive soundbar here. Room's not huge, you're sitting maybe 12 feet out. A 3-channel passive at that distance with that receiver is going to give you proper L/C/R imaging without the room fighting you. n1234t saying just get a 2.1 makes sense in theory but adds floor space and more cables for a marginal gain in that size room

Practical thing nobody said: check the impedance on whatever passive bar you're looking at against what the X1700H is rated to drive. Most passive soundbars are 8 ohms per channel which the Denon handles fine, but some run 4 ohms and the X1700H's manual specifically caps minimum load at 6 ohms on all channels simultaneously. Just verify before you buy, costs nothing to check