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However, there a few very annoying things you'll have to learn to live. You'll need to be within a few feet of the sound bar to read it. If you try to turn your set off, the sound bar will shut off as well. Quirky. While loud, it puts out a low end that is on par with the fluffing of pillows; it booms and its sloppy. The remote allows you to make changes at a distance but you'll need to be standing next to the unit to see them.
Most of the time this isn't an issue however if you want to listen to music only, you have to select one of two choices: (1) stare at the Samsung logo displayed on your active television set or (2) disconnect the HDMI cable from the sound bar, then turn the set off. Finally, and this is really strange considering the prior point, the unit's configuration and options menu are not viewable on your TV's display, but only the very small screen built into the unit. Most of the good points have been covered in other customer reviews but the best are: Integrated CD/DVD player plays both DTS Surround and DVD-Audio disks (but not SACD) and it will up convert your standard DVDs; wireless subwoofer which, when considered with the integrated DVD, eliminates a lot of cabling work when installing, and connectivity to Bluetooth media devices. If solid, tight bass is important to you, look elsewhere.
Just consider how important some of these are to you before making your purchase. Just another strange design choice by Samsung. Next, due to the manner in which the HDMI interface was implemented, turning on the sound bar results in the television automatically turning on. I have this connected to a Sony LCD KDL-52W5150 via HDMI with a digital output cable routing the TV sound back to the unit.
First, the subwoofer's sonic performance leaves a lot to be desired. It doesn't matter if you have content going to the TV or not. I called support and was told I should instead unplug the television. For $500, I guess you need to expect some shortcomings.
I have owned this unit for just about a month now and like everything in electronics it has some good features and some bad. I have the SW output turned all the way down which is almost tolerable. After I stopped laughing, I told the tech the TV was mounted on the wall and the suggestion was not real practical.
Getting the soundbar to work was more of a challenge. Be sure that you hook an audio L and R cable from the TV to the soundbar, or you won't get sound. My room is about 13'X15', and the sound seems very frontal and centralized, despite the fact that the sub is 13' away on the opposite wall. Not so.
However, for the price, I would expect a more stellar audio experience. It does nominally fit this need. I should add that we have this in our exercise room, and wanted the soundbar so that we could hear the TV during a workout. My big screen is Samsung, which I thought would be a bonus. Installation of the soundbar on the wall was easy and straightforward. When reading them, you might think that hooking up the HDMI cable (not provided) would be all that you need. In terms of the sound, I would give it a 3.5-4 out of 5.
Overall, I am satisfied with this purchase, especially since we can watch DVD's without extra wires and an extra box. After scouring the net for sound bars with built-in DVD, this was one of just a few with this option plus wireless sub. The instructions were a bit confusing. The sound fidelity is good, but at times the volume is barely adequate even when cranked up.
most of the problems are with the DVD player , most of the disc just dont work but when we install them in an old player that we have it works fine. We bought this system in Dec 2008 and already the problems are evident in less than a year of limited use. presently the samsung dvd just does not play any dvds at all.trying to call Samsung cust service is a nightmare with hold time of over 20 minutes.
I wish Samsung had a Blu-ray disc system rather than the normal DVD setup that's built in. I bought the system at Costco for $349.99 if you want to save some money. I'm pretty happy with the sound quality of a somewhat compact speaker system. I haven't noticed any RF interference in the wireless subwoofer.
I contacted Samsung and they sent a new remote in about two weeks or so (give or take). No complaints about the service other than having to pay for the box. So, I contacted Samsung again, and they arranged to have me ship the unit to a repair facility. The only problem I had was that the remote stopped working properly about a month after I got it. I just received the speaker back after about 1.5 weeks, and it seems to work fine now.
I read some prior reviews regarding the bass, and it is adjustable -- you can even disable the subwoofer off. on/off, but would not control any of the speaker/dvd functions. The new remote didn't work either. Bottom line, the speaker works well -- the sound is great and the movie quality is impressive -- but beware of faulty remotes. I bought this a few months ago and the sound is great.
It would turn my samsung t.v. They emailed me a ups shipment label, which saved me shipping costs, although I still had to buy a box, which costs about $35.00 (its a big piece).
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