Heard the SurroundBar360 tonight..

mmadden28

I was passing time before the movies and stopped into the Best Buy next door.
In the aisle they has a SurroundBar360 setup. It was an awful place, right there in a busy main aisle.

Anyway I pressed the demo button and crouched on the floor practically sitting on the floor to listen. I was impressed.:cool: I was impressed with the sound stage, and how well it rally did sound like surround sound from just that one speaker. Cool. Even with the horrible placement I still got the idea. It was interesting when somebody walk past in front of me how the sound changed/shifted.

Now, taking into consideration the poor placement, ambient noise, and large open space for the demo, I thought it sounded a tad bright and lacked much bass although I could feel air coming from the Powerport. Hmmm I guess that would remain to be seen once tried out in one's own home. I was still taken back when a Torrie Amos(?) song with piano was on, how good the piano sounded. It says it doesn't need a separate subwoofer.

I want to get a real demo of this on. Interesting to say the least. Since I already have a full HT set I would consider this for a smaller room where I don't have space for a full setup and lots of speakers.

shack

mmadden28 wrote:

Now, taking into consideration the poor placement, ambient noise, and large open space for the demo, I thought it sounded a tad bright and lacked much bass although I could feel air coming from the Powerport. .... It says it doesn't need a separate subwoofer.

There is no way this works well for HT without a separate sub. The demos at Polkfest made that clear. Can you do without a sub? Yes. Should you? No IMO. I'm confident that the folks at Polk would agree.

mmadden28

shack wrote: »

There is no way this works well for HT without a separate sub. The demos at Polkfest made that clear. Can you do without a sub? Yes. Should you? No IMO. I'm confident that the folks at Polk would agree.

Yeah, for HT a sub would be an absolute must with this, even if a small one in a small room.

If I consider one for my bedroom, where I wouldn't be watching movies, just catching up on shows, and depending on how it performed, I probably wouldn't need a sub.

By the way, when I said I could feel the air from the Powerport, I meant when holding my hand right above it.

disneyjoe7

Then again agree with Shack, I would say the "Powerport" in such a large area wouldn't do anything either.

fireshoes

It has a subwoofer preout for the people that want one. It has decent range otherwise. Obviously it is not trying to be an audiophile system, but it is a great solution for people that want better sound than what the terrible lcd or plasma speakers will put out. It has been a very popular system for people mounting a tv above a fireplace as well.

ohskigod

for HT nuts like us, a sub is needed. but I can see how someone not being as crazy as we are just wanting the ambience of surround doing fine without one as well. I couldnt do without a sub, but was surprised what it could do without one.

madmax

mmadden28 wrote: »

If I consider one for my bedroom, where I wouldn't be watching movies, just catching up on shows, and depending on how it performed, I probably wouldn't need a sub.

That means you would probably be listening in stereo rather than 5.1. In stereo it is just a set of very small speakers, not mucht to speak of. It is using 5.1 that makes it shine. In this case of catching up on shows without a sub I would put the money into two good book shelf speakers.
madmax

zingo

madmax wrote: »

That means you would probably be listening in stereo rather than 5.1. In stereo it is just a set of very small speakers, not mucht to speak of. It is using 5.1 that makes it shine. In this case of catching up on shows without a sub I would put the money into two good book shelf speakers.

+1 I have a stereo sound bar (not made my Polk though :eek:) and it works really well for what you are referring too since the 5.1 would have been wasted.

mmadden28

Most of the shows I watch are in HD and are 5.1, so the effect wouldn't be wasted. Granted some of the shows would not be HD and would not be 5.1. I'm pretty sure though, that I would likely have a sub, but it wouldn't be on for late night viewing. Again, I'd have to hear for myself in the room it would be in to see how it performed w/o a sub first before jumping right into adding a sub.

fireshoes

BTW, the standalone SDA SurroundBar has nicer speaker components than the SB360, so if you have room for a receiver, that would probably be the better way to go.