Philips AmbiSound Home Theater Sound Bar with Integrated 1080p-Upscaling DVD/MP3 Player | List Price: $799.99
Discount Price: Too low to display
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Brand: Philips
Binding: Electronics
Features: - Integrated DVD Player can also play audio CD including CDR and CDRW with MP3 files
- FM Radio Tuner
- Has iPod / Philips GoGear docking capability
- Component Video ports for progressive-scan capabilities
- Features HDMI connectivity with video upscaling
A Great Sound Bar [Posted on 2008-01-29]
To start, I have to say that this sound bar deserves a 5 star rating for it's look alone. The fact that Philip's has managed to pack a DVD player into it, is pure genius. So then why am I giving it a 4 star rating? A few small things really (Intruth, I'd give it a 4.5 if Amazon allowed 1/2 stars).
Included in the box is almost everything you'll need for the install. The only thing missing? - an audio cable to run from your TV back to the sound bar so you can listen to your TV through the sound bar (if you're using a digital receiver/satelite receiver, you'll need to supply the audio cable to run back to the subwoofer because all of the 5.1 decoding is done in the sub). Wall braket, HDMI cable, MP3 line-in, Ipod dock with video out cable and AM/FM receivers all included. Set-up shouldn't take you more than a half hour.
Once installed, DVD performance was excellent. The upconverted image (720p for my TV) is great, and the audio is crisp & clear. The simulated surround sound is very good and the sound field created is wide enough that at times things seem to be happening around you. The bass from the sub is present, but there are times when you may wish you could turn it up (which you can't - the sub's output is fixed. All you can do is turn up the volume to the whole system). But let's remember, this isn't meant to be your home theater - this is better suited to dress up & enhance your living room.
Now, music reprodution is the systems flaw in my ears (ha). Admittedly, I'm a bit of an audiophile when it comes to music, so most people probably wouldn't notice this, but music seems to be slightly muddled from the sound bar. I found there were times that I couldn't make out the individual instruments on some songs. Having said that, for my own use I have found that it works great as a music player for dinner parties or when friends stop by for drinks.
There is one slight design flaw as well. The plug in for the Ipod dock is located on the side of the sound bar instead of the back. This placement makes hiding the dock cable virtually impossible. When I'm not using the dock I unplug the cable and tuck it in the mounting braket to maintain the clean look (I buried all the cables in the wall, so this is important to me)
Overall though, this is a great system at a great price.
Satisfied Customer [Posted on 2008-05-03]
My goal was to purchase a good quailty sound system without having to wire up 5 to seven speakers. I looked at Denon systems and Bose systems and decided on the Philips for price and the fact that I purchased a Philips 42 inch LCD TV and the Philips Ambisound mates up nicely with the TV.
Easy to wire. Easy to set up.
I was not expecting theater like surround sound experience from the Ambisound but this product comes close. I can turn up the volume and bass thru the subwoofer and drive the rest of the family out of the house with it. The sound quality is very good on TV, CD and DVD. The disc player works well and I like the the way the player cover slides open for disc loading. You can't tell that there is a CD/DVD player in the speaker bar when the cover is closed.
The Ambisound looks good and the controls integrate nicely with the Philips TV it is hooked too. It comes with an iPod dock (this is an extra with the Denon system)so you can listen/watch to your iPod music/video library through it.
I am happy I purchased this product and would recommend it to anyone looking for a good quality two piece (speaker bar and subwoofer) system.
Video Noise in 1080p [Posted on 2008-05-11]
Be careful buying this product if you expect to upconvert to 1080p resolution. There is a discussion thread concerning this in the discussion area so check it out. Essentially you get significant video noise in the form of green vertical lines in 1080p. Frankly, the more I read the more I suspect that most people simply haven't tried 1080p and thus haven't encountered this yet. Or they don't have a 1080p capable TV. Could be wrong about that but I do know that Philips has their head in the sand when it comes to this problem and their customer service (if you can even call it that) is horrible. Too bad because the unit is a good idea, looks great, and otherwise functions as advertised. I'd wait until another company with a clue comes out with something similar in Blue Ray.
Good subwoofer, but not much of a Surround experience [Posted on 2008-06-05]
The Surround sound experience is somewhat ambiguous, there are moments during a movie where you are indeed tricked into thinking you are hearing sound effects from the side or behind, but 90% of the time you won't.
In addition, just having one digital input (and co-ax!) seems a bit outdated to me. And what's the idea behind having it in the subwoofer rather than the main bar, where all the other plugs are?
However, the set-up is really easy and I don't miss all the wires my previous 5.1-system had at all! And the design is very sleek, too.
All in all, you get an audio system that is much less "invasive" in your living room, but you pay with a fairly limited Surround experience.
No Optical In? [Posted on 2008-06-19]
I was excited about this unit but ended up returning it when I discovered it has no optical input. Both of my HDTVs pass-thru sound via an optical output and that's really what I wanted from a unit. Next time I'll do a better job reading the specs!
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