I may not know much about home theatre sound, but I'm surprised that a product like this doesn't include a center channel. Or is it perhaps simply so that 3.1 audio is hard to find proper support for in a lot of setups?

Not at this price range. Probably need to go closer to $1000 to get >2.1ch.

I see. Thanks for clearing that up.

My last comment is specific to sound bars.

You can find 5.1 systems with discrete satellites + sub for peanuts. Whether they're any good is another matter. At ~$400, there are 5.1 systems from many audio-specific brands like HK, Klipsch, Yamaha, Polk, Mirage, Infinity, etc.

The 3.1 sony ct150 at $250.00 (CAD) has an adjustable centre channel. Whether or not it sounds nice is an entire question. According to Missus, the 15year old JVC stereo sounds way better. The mini stereo looks similar to this.

How's this related to the soundbar?
Who cares about DivX anyway? I expect x264 support.


What does it output?


How/why?

1. I presume the signal it is fed; it should be a pass-through. It was not tried.

2. Speaker drivers are similar to electric motors. There is a voice coil -- enameled wire wound around a tube which fits around a pole piece in the magnet structure. That tube is called a former, and it is attached to the cone, which has a structure called a spider attaching the cone and former/voice coil to the basket (frame), keeping it centered. The surround is the soft material around the rim of the cone which attaches it to the basket.

In normal use playing program material, the signal is usually not steady, it is quite dynamic, making the coil move back/forth vigorously sometimes, and very minutely sometimes, most often simultaneously. Typical power range might be from well under 1W to 50W+ with program material when the volume is set to what I'd call medium-high. The fact that the signal is not steady is the main reason why the coil usually doesn't get too hot, it cools off between high power periods. Usually the biggest risk of damage is from an unexpected sudden peak, which might force the voice coil farther than it is designed to go, which can permanently break the elasticity of the suspension (spider & surround), break the wires to the voice coil or deform the former. But these are very unusual results with modest power amps.

When fed a steady state tone, over time, the coil heats up much quicker because it never gets a chance to cool down with a lower/different signal. Do this long enough with enough power, and the coil can get hot enough to burn the enamel. Most modern speakers use a very tight gap for the voice coil, because this improves efficiency. When the enamel on the coil burns, it bubbles, then after it cools, it is no longer flush with the coil, it forms little lumps on the surface. Those burn artifacts now rub against the wall of the gap, and case a scratchy noise whenever the speaker is played, sometimes intermittently, sometimes with only certain kinds of signals. If the burn is severe, it can actually fuse voice coil to the gap wall or break the wire or short it.

All the above can happen while playing program material at very high volume, but usually only when the users are under the influence of alcohol or drugs -- the audible distortion when speakers or amps are overdriven is usually too annoying/upsetting when people are sober, and they will turn the volume down before real damage occurs.

The only way to repair a burnt coil is to remove the whole cone, and replace the voice coil/former -- which often cannot be done except at the factory, depending on exactly how the driver was manufactured.

That's probably more than you wanted to know... but you asked.

The twin midrange drivers are in a sideways D'Appolito configuration so the dispersion could a bit odd -- did you listen nearfield or farther away?

A lot of music nowadays is extremely compressed, meaning the peaks are not much higher than the average. It may be "easy" to damage a speaker if you set the volume at maximum, but who does that? The higher power signal also sounds louder, so you turn down the volume.

Almost all the listening was done in a seated position ~2m away, either slightly left or slightly right of center. My thinking on speakers such as these is that they're intended to be used exclusively with TVs, and their most important function is not playing music but playing the soundtrack of video programs. While watching video, most people don't move around much.

I did notice all kinds of oddities in both measurements as well as perceived sound when testing in the anechoic chamber. I am sure you're right about the dispersion, these speakers will not be good playing only music in a space where people move around... like a standup cocktail party? But then in such settings, the music is rarely the center of attn....

PS -- I may have a somewhat skewed take on TV and TV sound. The only TV in the house is in a den that's used only for the purpose of watching video/TV. The sound system in there has to sound good with soundtracks; if it does well with music, that's gravy. Elsewhere in the mouse, music exists w/o video, usually through my main 2-ch stereo in the extended LR/DR. In contrast, I have several friends who play their music through the audio system that's tied to the TV in their living rooms, sometimes with the TV also on, perhaps because that's required for the music to play. Perhaps their TV/audio usage is more the norm than my audio-only system these days... in which case, I would actively steer music lovers away from sound bars.

I ended up buying this system about a week ago (got a 46" panasonic plasma for the bedroom, but it only had optical sound out, no other options). I think best buy had this on sale for about $300 and I don't think it's worth even that much. It's good enough for a bedroom system, but I wouldn't rate the sound any better than a 4 out of 10. The wireless "sub" isn't bad, but the sound is just mediocre. My 10 year old panasonic platinum boom box has better sound, but no optical input.