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Sound & Visual Bliss specializes in custom designed home theaters, whole house audio, and smart home systems serving mainly Manhattan and the Brooklyn community. Their main focus is on designing and planning with the client's lifestyle, home plan, and movie/music preferences in mind. The company doesn’t sell equipment; instead they implement a procurement shopping cart service to allow its clients to order any product required for the job directly through vendors while identifying new saving opportunities. The company works closely with with architects, interior designers, and builders on residential and commercial projects. Important features we looked for are quality components to ensure good audio and video quality, as well as any features such as video upconversion. Connectivity is generally less important on these budget-friendly systems, with manufacturers striving to make setting the devices up as simple as possible over allowing for too much customization.
We strongly considered making the Atmos-equipped JBL Bar 9.1 our top pick because it offers surprisingly natural vocal clarity, and its 10-inch subwoofer’s ample bass blended well with the midrange and treble from the soundbar. But the detachable, wireless surround speakers didn’t hold a charge for long, and it was a huge pain to have to keep recharging them. The M-Series Elevate is a more living-room-friendly device than the original Elevate.
Polk MagniFi Mini AX
Enjoy dramatic, high-quality surround sound from 5.1 separate audio channels with Dolby® Digital. This Home Theater system is one of the best selling sound system from Sony corporation. The Bose Smart Soundbar 600 is similar to the Smart Soundbar 900 in terms of features and sound, but it’s smaller and less costly and it needs a subwoofer more than the Smart Soundbar 900 does. If you’re planning to buy one of Bose’s subwoofers to go along with the soundbar, this one may be a better buy than the Smart Soundbar 900, but if you want to use it on its own, you may find it a little lacking in bass.
It measures 41.2 inches long (6.8 inches shorter than the original), and the soundbar and rear surround speakers are wrapped in charcoal-shaded fabric. The subwoofer is one of the shortest we’ve tested—just 9.5 inches high—so it should be able to tuck under many end tables. The M-Series Elevate doesn’t have holes for wall-mounting, but it can be wall-mounted using soundbar wall-mount brackets. Almost all of them support some method of wireless audio streaming over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. This feature allows you to stream music from mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, and computers.
Easy TV viewing via a single HDMI cable
This home theater system is extremely simple to set up, with calibration tools making the actual installation and optimization truly a painless process. Wireless rear speakers also prevent the need to have to run wires from the front of the room. Easily control playback with the remote to great audio from all of your devices.
With soundbars that offered special sound modes, I generally employed the mode intended for the type of content I was listening to—movies or music, for instance—but I also experimented with all of the other modes available. If the soundbars had an “auto” or “AI” mode, I relied mostly on that one but tried the others as well. For soundbars with HDMI inputs that support 4K HDR video pass-through, I tested whether this function worked properly with an HDR-capable TV. The Samsung HT-H4500 is an exceptionally affordable way to add a home theater system to your home. Although this system features 5.1 channels, 500 watts of power, video upconversion, and built-in apps, it’s only suited to a smaller room, as it lacks the power to adequately serve a large space. The HT-H4500 also lacks built-in WiFi, and needs to be hardwired to the router to use features such as the built-in apps for streaming online content.
Upgrade pick: LG S95QR Atmos soundbar
Firmware on the M-Series Elevate can be updated using downloaded firmware installed through a USB stick. The SR-C30A’s remote has dedicated buttons for every function and doesn’t require you to navigate a menu system. Despite being simple, small, and affordable, the MagniFi Mini AX outperforms many larger, more complicated competitors. The Polk MagniFi Mini AX is our top pick, the Vizio M-Series Elevate is our runner-up, the Yamaha SR-C30A is our budget pick, and the LG S95QR is our upgrade pick. Choose a room and location that lets you easily block out ambient light and minimize sound transfer. It should also have enough room to comfortably seat the number of people you may want to join you for movie viewing.
The Polk React is a 2.0-channel soundbar with Alexa capability, and the option to add a wireless subwoofer and surrounds. We like the à la carte concept, but the soundbar doesn’t play very loud and it didn’t sound as enveloping as some other models we tested. The MagniFi Mini AX has one HDMI eARC port, plus optical digital and 3.5 mm analog audio inputs. The LG BH9431PW home theater system offers excellent sound quality and smart TV capabilities that are easy to set up right out of the box. The BH9431PW includes 5.1 speakers, but LG claims that the extra tall vertical speakers create an effective 9.1 channel experience. The system has plenty of power, with 1460 watts in total; definitely enough to annoy the neighbors.
Panasonic SA-BT228 = BT230 5.1Ch 1000W BD/DVD Home Theater System Player (only)
Additional components such as TiVo, Blu-Ray, Apple TV, and AV receivers can also be connected, and the owner previously ran the Product Management function at home theater equipment distributor ADI. This system offers good overall sound quality, while video upconversion and I/P noise reduction contributes to solid video quality as well. Built-in WiFi allows for streaming online content from Netflix, Pandora, and more, while Bluetooth streaming and DLNA file sharing are included as well. This system supports 3D content provided that you have a 3D-capable television. The Sony HT-A3000 is a pricey one-piece bar to which you can add a subwoofer and surround speakers. We tried it with and without the sub and surrounds, but didn’t like the sound either way—dialogue tended to have a boxy character, as if actors were speaking into cardboard boxes, and the vocals in music sounded buried in the mix.
Connect to music on your USB drive, control playback on-screen or from your phone, with the Sony
This home theater system features a 5.1-channel speaker setup and included Blu-ray player with video upconversion and built-in WiFi. The BDV-E3100 is very simple to set up, although those who want to expand the system should take note that the speaker wires are hardwired to the speakers. Like most affordable home theater bundles, the BDV-E3100 is primarily for those who value plug-and-play simplicity over the ability to customize. We tested the AV203 and the SB380, both of which have six preset AccuVoice levels. With both, we found the tech to be more effective than the “voice” modes on most soundbars at rendering dialogue clearly—but the more you step up the AccuVoice effect, the less natural everything else sounds.
Technicians are certified by the Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association, are manufacture-certified to sell, program and service all products, and regularly collaborate with architects, interior designers, and builders on projects. Clients can choose between simple media rooms to elaborate home theaters with custom products and systems or game rooms with the technology of their choice. Mattera also provides home automation, smart home systems, and various commercial services as well, and potential clients can peruse an online gallery of past work then contact the company for a consultation.
The Bose Smart Soundbar 300 sounds very clear, natural, and enveloping with movies and music, but for a one-piece soundbar with no Atmos capability, it’s expensive. The remote control is simple and straightforward, with all controls clearly labeled and no menu system to fuss with. It provides dedicated buttons for all of the inputs and sound modes, plus a Clear Voice dialogue enhancement and Bass Extension buttons, neither of which seemed to do much. One nice advantage of the MagniFi Mini over most more costly models is that it’s simple to operate. In what seems like a radical ergonomic revolution these days—but should really be nothing more than common sense—the top-mounted controls have raised white labels against a black background, so they’re easy to see in the dark. The same for the remote, which lets you access all of the soundbar’s adjustments directly, instead of requiring you to navigate a menu system that’s been abbreviated and encrypted to fit onto a four-character front-panel display.
To help conserve electricity, considering plugging the various components into a power strip that you can switch off when your home theater isn't in use. Intech, Inc. has been setting up home theaters in Hicksville for over 15 years. Clients hire the team to bring a movie theater experience into their home with movie screen, projector, acoustic panels, reclining seats, and decor. Crews can also simply add/upgrade the needed components to an existing space for a similar effect. Intech has been named a TOP 50 Custom Integrator by CE Pro magazine since 2005 and offers home audio systems, and other automated controls as well.
Can a Good Soundbar Rival a True Surround-Sound System in a Blind Listening Test?
For our official listening tests, I concealed the identities of the soundbars behind thin, black fabric. I told the panelists nothing at all about the soundbars, although they could see that at least some of the soundbars used dedicated surround speakers, which were arrayed on speaker stands behind them. I set the volume of each soundbar to the same playback level, using a sound pressure level meter and a shaped noise tone taken from a Dolby Digital receiver. I then played them the same movie and music selections I used for my testing, plus one music track of their choice. If your top priority is getting the absolute best surround-sound experience, or if you have a lot of source devices to connect to your TV, you’re better off with an AV receiver and a multi-channel speaker system. If you just need a simple audio setup with no video pass-through, you might also consider wireless powered bookshelf speakers or a stereo receiver and a pair of bookshelf speakers.
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