Polk Audio SurroundBar 360 Review
Polk Audio's SurroundBar 360 has some solid features, including a space-saving soundbar design and good audio. However, we would expect that a $400 HTiB would include a Blu-ray player rather than a DVD player, which is yesterday's technology. It's difficult to justify spending so much on a package that doesn't include the latest in player components.
The Polk Audio SurroundBar 360 is a bit unusual as it's an HTiB with one long speaker instead of several speakers and a subwoofer. This makes setup a breeze according to both Cnet and Bigpicturebigsound.com. However, both reviews also pan the SurroundBar 360 for including a DVD player rather than a Blu-ray player. Still, the HTiB sounds good. Hometheaterreview.com notes that the SurroundBar 360's bass is very impressive even though the unit lacks a subwoofer, but also mentions the lack of component or HDMI inputs is disappointing.
The SurroundBar 360 is a pretty simple device in terms of its specifications. It's one long speaker, with no subwoofer, and the unit has an integrated DVD player. The 360 has several audio inputs, including two digital audio inputs and three analog inputs. Its video inputs are rather limited however, with an S-Video input and two composite inputs.
Based on reviews we've read, we have no doubt that the SurroundBar 360 sounds great. However, it's mired in old technology. The fact that it includes a DVD player rather than a Blu-ray player is disappointing, especially considering the 360's hefty price. We also don't like the fact that it includes composite and S-video inputs, but has no HDMI or even component inputs. The SurroundBar 360 is due for a serious technology makeover.
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