List Price: $499.95
Sale Price: $358.99
Today's Bonus: 28% Off
I've had the Polk IHT 6000 Soundbar for a week now and it has been an interesting experience.
I got a new 60 inch Sony LED-LCD TV and was looking to have sound to match. My old sound system was really great with a Yamaha AV Receiver, 3 Infinity speakers in front, 2 JBL surround speakers, and a 10 inch Polk Subwoofer. The sound from that system was awesome, but the wires and speakers everywhere was too much for me anymore, and with the new big TV I no longer had room for the receiver.
I went looking for a soundbar and tried several. Sony, Vizio, and Polk. I tried the Vizio since it was the only soundbar out there with separate rear channels and a wireless sub. It was great looking and great in terms of functionality, but the sound was awful. Muddy, nondistinct, just all around bad. The Sony was OK, but a little tinny and I didn't like that you had to wire everything to the sub first and then to the soundbar... I was trying to get rid of wires. Then I got the Polk.
The Polk's sound is full and rich. The setup is easy, one audio wire, one power cable. I was very happy, but not thrilled and still felt a longing for my old system which went bye by on ebay. After doing a good amount of research, I found that I may have had the soundbar placed wrong. It was above my TV angled down, kind of close to the ceiling (this is in my basement so the ceiling is low). I decided to move the soundbar to just under the TV (They are both wall mounted). It is much closer to ear level now
All I can say is WOW. The difference in sound between the locations is astounding. I am now TOTALLY happy with the Polk Soundbar. The sound is full and rich and really great. It is NOT however as good as a true 5.1 or 7.1 system, but it is pretty darn close and considering how nice it looks and how easy it is, I have no regrets. The surround effects are good but not like a true surround system. If you need to have true surround, this is not the system for you. I am very happy with it, and with a blu-ray in the player, that sound really does fill the room. You do get the feeling that there is surround sound, but it is just a feeling, not the reality you get with a true 5.1 system. Don't get me wrong though the sound is VERY good.
With that said, there are some negatives. First off, there are no audio settings like bass or treble, there is however a sub level adjustment (more on that later). Polk feels that you get what you get. I wish I could boost the treble a little, or that they would put a quality tweeter in the center of the soundbar. The sub level adjustment is OK, but it is basically a volume control for the sub, and there is no level indicator, so I have no idea if it is set at 1 or 10. It is just a guess.
I have also listened to the B&W Panorama soundbar and the Yamaha sound projector. Those 2 units do a better job than the Polk, the Yamaha is slightly better, and the B&W is a lot better, but the Yamaha is a thousand dollars more expensive and not nearly worth the extra expense for such a slight improvement over the Polk. The B&W is truly amazing and a true audiophile solution, but at well over 2 grand, it was way out of my price range.
In conclusion, the Polk soundbar IHT 6000 is in my opinion the best soundbar out there under $1500.
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