Guest blog by Neil
Got an amazing TV? Delighted with the picture but disappointed with the sound? Then a soundbar is a great investment. With TVs getting ever-smaller, the integral speakers have got smaller too and this often means that you have an outstanding picture but less-than-perfect audio. I recently got a Panasonic SCHTB690 soundbar and it has given me amazing audio that, when teamed with UHDTV, brings the cinema, home.
The Panasonic SCHTB690 differs from most soundbars by being a 3.1 system. This means that is has three separate speakers: left & right for the main sound, coupled with a dedicated centre speaker for vocals, all housed in a stylish looking soundbar.
The design gives clearer vocals and the ability to customise and enhance the dialogue to make those hard to understand scenes more intelligible, while giving a much fuller, more dynamic sound than my tinny TV speakers. There’s also a subwoofer to produce a rich, deep bass when the dynamic sound effects of your favourite films kick in or when listening to music, and, being wireless, it can be hidden discreetly out of the way.
As far as connections go, there’s the usual optical connection, as well as HDMI. If your TV has ARC (Audio Return Channel) on one of the HDMI sockets, this is the best option as it also allows your TV remote to operate the soundbar, saving on clutter. Bluetooth is another useful feature, allowing wireless connection to some TVs, but more usefully, enabling you to pair your smart phone or tablet to the soundbar to play music, making full use of the 350W power output & excellent sound quality.
The soundbar can also be wallmounted using the supplied brackets & has an additional HDMI input with 4K pass-through to make connecting other components easier.
All-in-all a well-designed, well specified soundbar with plenty of power. The crisp, clear sound & dynamic bass, coupled with the fact that it’s easy to set up and use makes me give this a firm thumbs up recommendation. See if your local store has a demo available or buy online today.
