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I recently upgraded my home theater to 7.1 and went with a great in wall installation for the rear 4. If that is what you're hoping for, then get 5+ speakers and be done with it. The variety of mounting/stand solutions was very nice and allowed me to place the bar on the console under my 65" LCD without a hitch.
I investigated several soundbar solutions to add to my existing setup and finding unpowered LCR bars was not easy until I found the Polk SurroundBar 50. Surround is as iffy as I would expect, no matter the mojo, but since I was looking for LCR it was perfect. Unfortunately, my wife liked the clutter reduction and "requested" that I ditch the huge tower LCR speakers as well.
Setup and calibration was simple, but as others (including the vendor) have indicated they are a little bright and you MUST have subwoofer support if you want an accurate experience. I bought mine through the Amazon Warehouse and it arrived in a truly shredded box, but the contents were in perfect order. Hookup was simple, although the included wires are too long for my install and a little on the scrawny side, but they are well sheathed and color coded for easy install.
I ended up wiring the SurroundBar's surrounds to give me a 9.1 setup and it does an admirable job.Soundbars ARE a compromise - I doubt anyone's bar will give you the same surround experience as a discrete speaker system. However, if you're looking for a single speaker solution to give you a reasonable portrayal and you already have an amplifier then look no further.
I've got it on very small feet and it looks great.As far as sound, for movies and TV it works well, though make no mistake that there's no way anything sounds like it's coming from behind you. Basically this was the only thing that would work. I've got this SurroundBar 50 hooked up to a Sony mid-range receiver, a Polk PSW111 sub, and a Sharp 52" LCD in a cathedral ceiling, trapezoidal room. However, I have heard sounds from beside me, which was a cool feeling. The overall effect is very good and I'm happy with the piece. It's not insignificant to me that this is a very attractive piece of A/V equipment, with easy hookup and three mounting options out of the box. I've experienced a few times where the center channel of speech gets a little lost, but that's happened less with this SurroundBar than with other multi-piece systems I've had.The bottom line is that, despite sometimes being slightly on the bright side, the overall sound from this bar matched with the PSW111 is very good. My dad is a professional classical musician and commented that the system playing digital cable music was exceptional--that says a lot.
The Surround 50 bar by Polk provides little or no surround sound. I then played the same movie with individual Polk surround speakers. I installed it with my Pioneer Elite Receiver and a Polk sub-woofer. All sound seemed to come from the sound bar. They provided true 5.1 sound. I am returning the bar to Electronic Expo as a result.
Never thought I would like a single speaker surround solution. Unfortunately the wife's opinions on interior design made finding one a necessity. Not surprising, Polk Audio delivers once again. What a great speaker company.
Easy installation. Nice sound. I haven't tried it on many DVD's yet but so far I am satisfied with the quality of the sound. It is not true surround but probably as good as you can get without rear speakers.
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