Surround bars...

ryanjoachim

Anyone have experience with them in general?
I have a really crappy layout for my new house, and my TV is stuck in a 90 degree corner with the sliding door right next to it. This makes a surround setup a little difficult, especially when I want to use my old RTi10s that I have sitting around. So for now, I just need something that'll be better than my crappy TV speakers.

My price range is probably under $300. I would love to have a sub included, but not sure if it's worth it. Just wanted to get your thoughts on them!

EndersShadow

I bought the Polk Surroundbar 1000 for like 100 bucks off Polk ebay for use in our bedroom.

Works great. My wife didnt want one with the wireless sub, and neither did I (dont care if I hear Bravo, Lifetime, etc with good bass ).

It gets more than loud enough for me at even a couple clicks of the volume button.

Easy to setup, cheap enough for me.

Would gladly buy it again in a heartbeat.

ryanjoachim

Have you had a chance to listen to any actual surround situations?

drselect

I had a chance to demo the Polk Surroundbar 6000 IHT in my home a few years back and was impressed with its quality of sound. During the demo while watching master and commander I actually turned my head a couple of times to the side looking for where the sound was coming from. I would recommend it and once and a while one will show up on polks ebay sight. If I recall correctly the 4000 had some issues and would be careful if you come across one cheap.

If you could stretch your budget a little bit this might be worth a look athttp://www.ebay.com/itm/Polk-Audio-SurroundBar-6500BT-Sound-Bar-with-Bluetooth-Wireless-Sub-/361053071690?pt=Speakers_Subwoofers&hash=item541070a94a
or strech your budget a little more and go with this
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Polk-Audio-SurroundBar-9000-IHT-Sound-Bar-Wireless-Sub-/390801252878?pt=Speakers_Subwoofers&hash=item5afd91e20e
I think a few polkies heard this one at a polk fest a couple a years ago and may chime in on with their impressions.

ken brydson

drselect wrote: »

I had a chance to demo the Polk Surroundbar 6000 IHT in my home a few years back and was impressed with its quality of sound. During the demo while watching master and commander I actually turned my head a couple of times to the side looking for where the sound was coming from. I would recommend it and once and a while one will show up on polks ebay sight. If I recall correctly the 4000 had some issues and would be careful if you come across one cheap.

If you could stretch your budget a little bit this might be worth a look athttp://www.ebay.com/itm/Polk-Audio-SurroundBar-6500BT-Sound-Bar-with-Bluetooth-Wireless-Sub-/361053071690?pt=Speakers_Subwoofers&hash=item541070a94a
or strech your budget a little more and go with this
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Polk-Audio-SurroundBar-9000-IHT-Sound-Bar-Wireless-Sub-/390801252878?pt=Speakers_Subwoofers&hash=item5afd91e20e
I think a few polkies heard this one at a polk fest a couple a years ago and may chime in on with their impressions.

I had the same SB6K demo. Pretty impressive unit...

Jstas

The nice thing about Polk's SDA based surround bars is that room dimensions, while important like any other speaker, are not critical to the surround sound experience. So they are much more tolerant of goofy room shapes.

They get lost in larger rooms though.

Still, I've had a few of them in my possession at one point or another and they work great for everything from music to movies to video games. IMO, nothing in their class or price point can touch them performance wise. They are a stellar solution and with a decent sub, they'll knock your socks off.

gce

I have the Polk Surround Bar 3000 in the bedroom. It has a wireless powered Sub. Sounds great and can be programed to use your TV remote for volume, mute and base control. Tons better then the TV flat screen speakers.

ryanjoachim

anonymouse wrote: »

What are you using for a receiver? I have the original 42" Soundbar in Black I could sell you if you are interested.

It is a LOT better than TV speakers, and I did experience the surround effect if I was not too far off axis. In my experience, it needs clean power and a good set of cables (the ribbon it comes with does not do it justice). It looks sharp and is much heavier than it looks. It does need a sub.

Unfortunately, right now I don't have a receiver. It's tough getting the wife to drop $300-400 on a decent receiver right now.

Thanks for all the information guys! I'm still looking around, and it's good to know that there are some offerings out there from Polk that are getting good reviews.

tratliff

I am using a Yamaha YSP-4100 in my living room. Works great for what it is and has receiver built in. Says it provides 7.1, Yamaha calls it a sound projector. Nice piece of equipment but cost is over $1k. Worth a look to see whats available.