 As good as 5.1 Surround Sound Reproduction gets... |
| Review Date: September 2, 2008 |
| Reviewer: RFG, Philadelphia, PA USA |
This is a copy/paste of my review i posted over at CNET...
Pros:
- best surround sound reproduction i have heard to date
- no subwoofer needed, bass sounds true!
- easy to set up, easy to configure, easy to use
- excellent price compared to other high end virtual surround sound systems
Cons:
- could use a few more notches of volume
- lack of equalizer and presets (no fine tuning of sound)
- no HDMI inputs for audio or video passthrough
I had previously owned a Philips Soundbar and always seemed to want more from it - better 5.1 surround sound reproduction, more inputs, and better sound quality. I looked at the Yamaha's but the price and its lack of compatibility with my apartment layout (works best with square room, solid walls on all sides) kept me away. Along came the Polk SurroundBAR 360. It did everything my Philips Soundbar did, but better.
The sound from the system is fantastic. You obviously are not going to be tricked into thinking you have a set of rear speakers, but the processor in this system got the reproduction right. There is a near perfect balance of the various simulated speakers (center, front right and left, rear right and left and subwoofer). Other "soundbar" systems I have tested had problems with voice and center channel sounds, almost always being hollow and full of reverb and echo. Standard PCM or Stereo sources also provide a full, rich sound spectrum - something the Philips lacked. Another amazing thing about this system is the lack of a subwoofer. For an average sized apartment like mine, plenty of full bass is output through the single speaker unit. For those wanting to add a subwoofer, there is an input.
As well as the system reproduced sounds from all types of encodings (Dolby Digital, DTS, PCM) I still wish I had the ability to tweak a little more. Maybe this system is playing all of the audio tracks as the producers have intended it, but it's always in my nature to tweak.
The system is extremely easy to setup. The video quality from the DVD player is very good (not the best I have watched). The remote is simple (although I have a Harmony Universal Remote).
Hopefully CNET can throw up a full review sometime soon. In the meantime, check the manufacturer's website for the full specs of this unit and explanations of the technology behind it. As somewhat of an video and audiophile who is limited by his living arrangements on what he can setup in a hometheater, I highly recommend this system.
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Great system
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| Review Date: March 11, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Jeffrey Petka, |
This is a great product for people who can't have a true surround sound system with speakers behind them. I have hard wood floors so i couldn't hide the speaker wire and i didn't want to have to drill holes in my walls and run wire.
Also, since i had a HDTV and a blu ray player, i didn't want to pay for a system that included an additional blu ray player, i wanted most, if not all, the money i was going to spend to go towards sound quality. This is the closest thing i could find for that.
Very easy to hook up. All you need is digital optical cables (it comes with one). Ran one from the polk box to my blu ray player and another one from my cable box to the polk box. Plug it in and you are ready to rock.
Even though the 360 theater system says you don't need a subwoofer, i disagree. If you don't care about bass or don't like to watch action movies, just want nice and clear sound, then no subwoofer is needed. Me, i like action movies and wanted the true 'rumble' for the explosions. I went with a polk 8" psw111 speaker. Great addition. You can control the volume from the speaker so you can use it when you want, or turn it down when you don't want it. It's small and doesn't take up too much space. All you need is a speaker wire (the subwoofer does NOT come with ANY wire to hook up the sub. get a good RCA cable, the polk 360 has a "sub out" output, connect both and you are ready to go)
The sound quality is really amazing. I'm not sure if it gives you a true '360' feel since i have never owned a sound system with speakers all around, but i do know it's a HUGE improvement from your tv speakers.
This is a great product for people who don't want, or can't have, wires and speakers everywhere. A+ product. |
Polk SoundBar 360 vs Bose 121GSX vs Yamaha Ysp-4000
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| Review Date: February 16, 2009 |
| Reviewer: T. Flowers, Cornelius, NC |
The living room at my girlfriends place where this system is at & where I spend alotta time, has no back wall & plus has only hardwood floors. There really just isn't a non-ghetto way to have rear satellite speakers of a true surround sound system in this room. So, I had to decide between these three; so I went and listened to all three at Best Buy. In the store, the Bose sounded better than either the Polk soundbar, or the yamaha ysp. I found this counter-intuitive, so I waited to learn some more before deciding. I now attribute that to the fact that all three were in a big open room, which puts the sound bar designs at a disadvantage.
One of my workmates has the Bose at his house, so I made the special trip to go and hear his all set up correctly. Just not enough Bass, and not full enough range. Voices were loud enough and clear enough, but music & background sounds were just not full enough for my tastes. Plus, As i have my own Polk RMDS-1 System at home, I was just pretty disappointed with the Bose 121 GSX by comparison. While I do think Bose makes good stuff & I'm pretty impressed with my Bose sound dock portable; I still wouldn't want it to be my theater system.
Plus the Bose had to be eliminated for their screwy wiring. Every wire originates from the subwoofer bass module, then to the satellites & the receiver. The wires from the bass module to the two satellites aren't long enough out of the box... Even after, either buying more wire, or splicing them; they still would be a nightmare to hide. A "gotcha" design in my opinion..
So now I was down to the Yamaha & the Polk surroundbar. I like the fact that the yamaha has 3 hdmi inputs which gives far more future expandability. but, I found the controls and menus to be clunky like a car stereo & i didn't feel like my girlfriend would be able (or willing) to go through like I would and figure out what each of the countless menu items actually does. I never could get anybody at Best Buy or Queen City to give me any kind of decent demo on it; so I don't know that the Yamaha was fairly represented from a sound standpoint in my comparison. In the end, it wouldn't mount nicely above the 50 inch plasma (due to its weight & needing to be mounted to the wall) or to the top of the Plasma, and I didnt want it hanging off of the front of her Mantle where the TV is in order to mount the Yamaha ysp below her TV's screen.
I ordered the surroundbar from Amazon, & then I went to crutchfield and ordered the Polk Brackets for mounting it to the top of the TV, and now you can not see any wires to or from the Polk's receiver or the DishTV HD receiver. I'm surprised that even without a subwoofer, that it was able to give me a full range of sound, acceptable surround, and actually rattles this good sized room a bit. Now that i've since paired it with the wireless JBL 12" subwoofer, I've got to say that it has probably 90% of the sound of my full polk 5.1 system at my place; but without any of the wires or rear speakers.
I'm happy with my purchase & feel like I got my money's worth. If I had it to do again; I believe I would have looked at the Yamaha a bit harder, but feel like I still would have come to the same conclusion in the end.
My only con is that I wish the SurroundBar 360 system I purchased was avilable as Blue Ray and not just DVD only...
creekbankstroller@hotmail.com
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Awesome Sound and Easy Hookup
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| Review Date: February 5, 2009 |
| Reviewer: David A. Krueger, Indianapolis, IN USA |
| I bought the Polk Audio Surroundbar 360 theater system to work with my 50" Panasonic 1080 Plasma. The bar by itself sounds good but doesn't have very good sounding bass so I also purchased a Polk PSW-111 powered subwoofer to go with the system to give it that rich deep bass it was lacking. Now I have an amazing system in a small package without a bunch of speakers mounted to the walls and cables running everywhere. The hookup took about 1/2 an hour including taking my time to mount my soundbar on the wall above the plasma tv and routing my cables. |
Polk Audio Soundbar
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| Review Date: January 14, 2009 |
| Reviewer: TK Knight, Orlando, FL |
| excellent product; great sound; not designed for the pure audiophile who has to have discrete 5 channel surround sound. Is more for someone who wants the general sense of surround sound without the clutter of speakers and wires. Extremely easy to operate which is a plus for non-pure audiophiles. |
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