Energy Take Classic 5.1 or Sonos Arc

[Kazaam]

This is just hypothetical. Mostly. But I wonder what would be better in a small/mid room. The really old tiny Energy Take Classic 5.1 from years ago or the Sonos Arc soundbar with just the bar and no subwoofer or surrounds. (Or maybe soundbar and surrounds, but no sub.)

The Energy 5.1 speakers are very tiny but not Bose cube speaker tiny. (But certainly not tower or even bigger bookshelf sized.)

And I remember when sound bars first came around I figured they were pretty bad, but maybe some of them are all right these days what with psycho-mind-tricking soundstage widening trickery sometimes involved (?), I think?

https://www.soundandvision.com/content/energy-take-classic-home-theater-system

 

[Towen7]

I can't comment on the performance of these in your use-case but will say that I am a big fan of the Sonos ecosystem.

 

[Kazaam]

I generally like Sonos, too. I’ve got a Sonos Beam (gen1) on a 50 inch Samsung. Quite happy with it for TV sound. Bought it from Sonos refurb store for $179, which was a lower than usual. It was like new.

Also have a stereo pair of Sonos Ones with the bigger Sonos subwoofer. I like that for music. They’re not as good as the B&Ws I used to have, but they’re pretty good nonetheless. That said part of me sometimes wonders if I’d like the Bluesound wireless speakers even more. But I can’t complain.