Panasonic SC-HTB10 user reviews

Pros See summary

Cons See summary

Summary Coming from a 700W 5.1 "custom" home theater setup to a 2.1 channel sound bar is a big difference. That aside, I'll try to be fair and unbiased.

TV:Sony BRAVIA KDL32EX710
Speaker: Panasonic SC-HTB10

The most important and confusing part (for most): SETUP. Unpacked the speaker and connected a OPTICAL CABLE to the speaker and to the TV. Most if not all HDTVs has a Optical Out port. Cable cost less than $40 for a 6' at most places. Set the speaker/sound output on the TV to external or audio system. This will divert all sounds coming from my connected devices (PS3, XBOX, TV/Netflix) to the sound bar. There are two HDMI ports(one in one out) on the sound bar, but if you go that route, you will need a ARC compatible Panasonic TV and an extra HDMI cable. Its probably easier if you just went with an optical cable than to fiddle around with ARC and setting that up. HDMI is a better option because of audio and video in one cable. Since your not setting up a "complicated" audio system with advanced sound (THX, DTS-HD MA, Dolby trueHD, etc etc) that need the bandwidth of a higher end HDMI cable. Most people would have 2-3 devices connected to the TV already and the OPTICAL OUT port is unused and available, even in my dads 8 year old plasma. Set the TV to that and you dont even need to unplug anything else.

Design/Size: Speaker is 31.5" wide and is 4.3" tall, it might not seem that tall but from the table top to the bottom edge of my screen is about 4", so it will actually block part of the display. Hanging it on the wall is out of the question for me because my walls are cinder blocks.. yes.. cinder blocks. So, I put it BEHIND the TV. So some sound quality is blocked, but overall still good. Now its out of sight too. Looking for mounting options now.

Sound Quality: The subwoofer is okay. Cannot compete with a stand alone woofer on the ground giving you ground shaking effects but it wont disappoint either. Sound is huge upgrade from TV speakers. It will fill a small room with sound. Still playing around with it so, i cannot say for sure how the sound quality is. But, from what I heard so far, its pretty good. Worth the investment.

Interface: Single light telling you which input it is at when its on. Vol +/- will just be blinking lights, L to R for higher and vice versa for lower. Same goes for subwoofer level. No adjustment for anything else except for "various audio effects". Blinking confirmation and then lit for selected effect. Hasn't worked for me, dont know why, I'll play around with it next time.

Overall, the sound bar has a lot of potential from what i heard. I just need to set it up and mount it in the correct way. Well worth the investment made.

*** P.S. If you will buy this SoundBar, It's best price at amazon's store: www.amazon.com/exec/******/****/B003TIHPC6/cnet-offer-20

Updated on Sep 29, 2011

Update Link:

I suggest for best deal at: http://beam.to/SC-HTB10

Updated on Sep 29, 2011

Update Link:

I suggest for best deal at: http://beam.to/SC-HTB10