Posted Tue Dec 15, 2009 at 11:05 AM PST by Mike Attebery
Two new soundbar based HTiBs have been announced by JVC. One, the TH-BA3, is more like a traditional home theater in a box. The other, the TH-BS7, is a standalone soundbar and subwoofer.
The less expensive of the two products is the BA3. While the BA3 does feature a soundbar, it acts more as a replacement for the left, right and center channels than as a full surround system. The power amp, surround decoding and system controls are all built directly into the soundbar of the TH-BA3.
The soundbar also houses the wireless transmitter for the included left and right surround speakers and wireless subwoofer. The BA3 sports an analog input as well as two optical inputs. It can decode Dolby Digital, DTS and Dolby ProLogic II and will run you around $549 when it hits later this month.
The TH-BS7 is the sort of soundbar setup we’re more used to. The 4.1 channel soundbar – yes, 4.1 channel – has a slim design and measures only 1.4 inches tall. The included amplifier/control unit, which is wall mountable, is a touch smaller than that at only 1.2 inches.
JVC’s BS7 soundbar offers a frequency range of 200Hz to 20kHz. It’s not a particularly impressive range, but a subwoofer is included to pick up the lows. The soundbar itself has four speakers, two for the left and right main channels and two for the left and right surrounds. Each speaker is driven by 20 watts, while the six inch subwoofer is powered by a 100 watt amp. The TH-BS7 ships before the end of the year and can be had for $599.
Source: TWICE
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