Verdict
There are game of two halves , and then there ’s the Panasonic SC - HTB490 , a soundbar system with a wireless subwoofer that impair the overall performance .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
Unless you ’re in the market for a microwave oven oven or something , the SC - HTB490 is one of the most affordable ways to get a Panasonic gadget into your menage – and there ’s no two way about it , when you want to upgrade the speech sound of your telecasting without spend an subdivision and a ramification , why would n’t you desire to involve a steel as believable as this ?
Well , as it turns out there are one or two reason …
I ’ll get to those reasons , but before I do it ’s deserving noting the Panasonic SC - HTB490 is on sales agreement for no more than £ 249 in the UK . In Australia it sells for AU$349 , maximal . In America , meanwhile , Panasonic likes to take things on a product - by - ware base – and the SC - HBT940 has n’t made the gash .
This is a nicely entryway - grade sort of price for a soundbar with wireless subwoofer from a believable brand , but the field is far from clear for Panasonic . competitor as substantial as Bose , DenonandSonosall have an alternative to sell you for very similar money – it ’s not hold out to be enough for the Panasonic to just show up and make some disturbance , not by a long chalk .
Design
With the ( obvious ) exception ofBang & Olufsen , no maker pushes the intent boat out when it comes to soundbars – especially when they ’re as affordable as this one . So what Panasonic has delivered with the SC - HTB490 is a reasonably compact ( 56 x 800 x 101 mm , HxWxD ) , light ( 1.9 kg ) product that stick very closely to the universal soundbar design template .
Its proportions are such that it will sit jubilantly beneath even quite pocket-sized TVs ( which these days incline to think 48 - in or so ) and wo n’t foul the bottom of the screen of any television that does n’t sit very low on its stand . There are a couple of introductory mounting points on the tail end in case you ’d favor to bond it to the wall .
The subwoofer , meanwhile , is a somewhat less circumspect 382 x 171 x 363 millimeter ( HxWxD ) and 5.7 kilo – but because it ’s radio receiver , of course , it can be position pretty much anywhere you like as long as it has access to briny power .
Both are utterly adequately built and finished , from materials that are as prosaic and prosaic as the asking price dictates they must be . The soundbar is of fairly tough plastic and quite a quantity of acoustical textile , while the subwoofer is vinyl radical - wrapped MDF . But you want them to mind to soundbars , do n’t you , not to touch ?
Features
The SC - HTB940 is a 2.1 - channel system – none of your fancy - pantsspatial audiononsense here . It intends to do nothing more spectacular than make the unassisted sound of the TV it ’s partnering sound thin and vague .
To that end , it ’s packing a total of 320 watts of Class D exponent . Half of that is used by the subwoofer to power its side - face 160 mm bass driver , while the other 160 Isaac Watts is taken up by the soundbar . It ’s fitted with a duad of ahead - face 45 x 120 mm racetrack drivers , and they ’re responsible for all frequency data above that the subwoofer mother .
The Panasonic is compatible with lossy Dolby Digital and DTS , as well as two - channel LPCM . And getting audio info on board the system in the first place can be reach using either physical or wireless connections .
On the rear end of the soundbar , in a little niche , there is anHDMI ARCsocket along with a digital visual input and USB expansion slot . Wireless connectivity , meanwhile , is taken care of by Bluetooth 4.2 with SBC codec compatibility . Here ’s where we use the word humdrum again – but by the same token , this suite of connectivity is completely fit for purpose .
Getting what you want from the SC - HTB490 can be achieved in a dyad of ways . There are a few ascendence buttons on the top of the soundbar – they extend business leader on / off , volume up / down , Bluetoothpairing and input excerption . Or you may use the outback control handset ( which , even by the standards of low-cost remote controls is remarkably unpleasant – it ’s tenuous , modest and feels almost showily cheap ) .
As well as the basics , it earmark you to cycle through five EQ preferences , to equilibrize the output of the subwoofer against the overall system mass , and mute the outturn all told . Or you could make an HDMI ARC connection to your TV and then practice your sieve ’s ( undoubtedly far nicer ) remote handset viaHDMI CECto command book and what - have - you .
Sound Quality
The performance of pretty much any production I essay is made up of a compounding of plus and minuses , of course . But I ’m clamber to recall a product with so little by way of in between .
The SC - HTB490 ’s performance ‘ pluses ’ all rivet around the way the soundbar go about its business . It serves up a direct , trenchant and detailed sound , with a prissy hotshot of spaciousness to its soundstage and plenitude of breathing space for even the dense or most complex soundtracks to operate .
Despite its lack of consecrate tweeters , the soundbar extends far up the frequency range , and creates triple sounds with plenty of bite and substance . And it does impressive work through the midrange too , especially where voices are concerned – Christian Bale ’s Brummie dialect ( with casual detour into Lancashire ) during Le Mans ‘ 66projects far ahead of the mechanical garboil , loaded with detail both broad and ok , and completely convincing as a result . The feverish , blaring engine noise that ’s a major part of the soundtrack has all the crunch and force it requires , too , with the dynamic variations within it leave plenty of expression .
‘ Minuses ’ , meanwhile , are all the property of the subwoofer . In the first instance , it does n’t have an awful lot in plebeian with the soundbar where tonality and broader personality are have-to doe with . The subwoofer is crude and vague where the soundbar is adroit and detailed , and there ’s not much variation in the sounds the subwoofer delivers – there ’s a monotonal aspect to its performance that ’s quite powerfully at odds with the adaptability of the soundbar it partners .
On top of this , the subwoofer contrives to be altogether too forward and upfront in its carrying out . The little remote dominance offers the opportunity to aline its end product , but it does n’t seem to be sufficient to bring the grinder ’s volume into line with that of the soundbar – so bass sounds , as well as being rather indistinct and one - promissory note , are constantly on the verge of overcome the rest of the frequency reach . When a soundtrack insist on lot of low - oftenness action , the Panasonic subwoofer ’s presence is always disproportional .
throw to a digital audio Indian file of Odd Future ’s Snow Whiteand the story is broadly similar . From the top of the frequency orbit to the bottom of the midrange , the SC - HTB490 is open , quite articulate and perfectly adequate to of give a well - organise soundstage . From there on down , though , it drone on in a rather indistinct way , intimidating the midrange , and spoiling rhythmic advantageousness thanks to its deficiency of onrush - and - decomposition control . It seems safe to say that this Panasonic is specially not the soundbar for you if you want to use it as a euphony - histrion too .
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Should you buy it?
The Panasonic ’s midrange reproduction is smooth-spoken , positive and direct .
‘ Full range ’ is definitely uncommitted here . ‘ Balance ’ is in rather shortsighted provision .
Final Thoughts
There must have come a moment in the development of the Panasonic SC - HTB490 that someone in a view of influence manoeuvre out its glaringly obvious shortcomings . So it seems potential that someone in a position of swell influence suggest that the fellowship had invested too much time and money in the mathematical product to abandon it now , so it should probably just be launched but with Panasonic ’s corporal finger’s breadth crossed .
Trusted Score
How we test
We test every soundbar we review thoroughly over an extended period of time . We use manufacture standard tests to liken feature right . We ’ll always tell you what we find . We never , ever , accept money to retrospect a mathematical product .
Find out more about how we test in ourethics insurance policy .
FAQs
No , as a 2.1 channel soundbar there ’s no living for Dolby Atmos or DTS :X , just Dolby Digital and DTS Surround sound .
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Sustainability
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As part of this foreign mission , whenever we review a ware we send the company a serial of interrogation to avail us approximate and make transparent the encroachment the equipment has on the environment .
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