Review by atomx
Rating:
I bought this unit to pair with my Panasonic TC-P42S2 42-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV, and am generally pleased. I live in an apartment, so a unit with a booming external subwoofer or a complete home theater setup would not be very neighborly of me. The sound is a great improvement over the TV’s stock speakers–there is more than enough bass for me, especially when playing films like The Dark Knight on Blu-Ray–the sound was surprisingly good. The sound from the TV’s stock speakers seemed to go down and a bit behind the TV; the sound bar sends sound forward (which allows me to lower the volume). The sound is not surround. I also found that playing with the settings helps a lot. For example, the Dolby virtual effect sounds great when watching Blu-Ray movies, but sometimes doesn’t sound so good when watching sports–depending on the quality of the audio feed, announcers may sound a little tinny. You will therefore want to keep the sound bar remote handy, in order to make adjustments as needed.

As my TV has an ARC connection (the sound bar is connected to the TV via a single HDMI cable), I am able to adjust sound volume from my TV, DirecTV, and Panny Blu-Ray remotes–the sound bar also turns on and off when I activate or shut off the TV. So integration is pretty seamless, once you get all the settings correctly entered. Speaking of settings, the directions for changing the TV’s settings are awful–they are general to all TVs and not specific for Panasonic products, so you will have to mess around with the menu settings by trial and error in both Audio and Viera Link to synch everything up. In spite of this, set up is actually pretty easy.

If you plan on placing the sound bar in front of your TV on a level surface, I recommend that you place the TV on a 2″ or 3″ platform, as the height of the sound bar blocks the TV’s infrared sensor. I made a simple platform with a channel for the sound bar’s cords, so it looks uncluttered.

Also, there are no separate bass and treble controls at all–one can only adjust the internal subwoofer. I have my subwoofer set one or two notches below maximum for films like The Dark Knight (which has extremely high audio quality and a ton of bass), and maximum for the sports I watch, which have lower quality sound.

Finally, it is worth noting that the sound bar matches Panasonic TV’s aesthetic form, so they look really good together.

EDIT: The curves and glossy plastic match, but the accent styling does not match–the TV has a bluish line below the Panasonic label, and the sound bar has a silver line below the label. In this respect, they look a bit different. Perhaps other Panny TVs have the silver accent.

This sound bar is not a home theater system–it’s not even close. However, if you are on a budget, do not need or want surround effects blasted at high volumes, or live in an apartment where you have to minimize sound levels, this is a great way to improve upon your TV’s stock speakers.