Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #5009 in Speakers
- Color: Black satin
- Brand: Energy
- Model: Energy Power Bar Elite
- Number of items: 2
- Dimensions: 4.40" h x
40.00" w x
3.00" l,
32.00 pounds
Features
- Two-way speaker driver design
- Digital optical and RCA cables included
- 10" wireless side-firing subwoofer
- Features Dolby Digital Decoder
- 3D Surround Mode
Energy Power Bar Elite Soundbar with Wireless Subwoofer (Black Satin)
Product Description
The Energy Powerä Bar Elite is a true, two-way speaker driver design similar to that used in a fine music loudspeaker. A .75" tweeter is mated to dual 3" midbass drivers for highly detailed, high output sound for almost any size room. Those drivers are aligned in the exclusive Energy Convergent Source Module, allowing the soundbar to deliver wide dispersion, low distortion and flat frequency response. The soundbar is designed to quickly connect to most TV's without purchasing additional cables.. All the cables are included for digital optical and RCA inputs. The built-in Dolby Digital Decoder allows the soundbar to automatically reproduce detailed, high-quality sound no matter what format of sound is coming from the TV's output. The soundbar comes complete with a powerful 10" wireless side-firing subwoofer. The remote control learning feature allows the system to function via your existing TV remote or you have the option of using the included wireless remote. Use the included remote to turn on the 3D Surround Mode, which adds spaciousness to the sound, simulating the effect of having multiple speakers surrounding you. The soundbar can be positioned on its own feet on a shelf or stand, or can be wall-mounted using the included easy-to-use template. The 2.5" soundbar depth provides for an aesthetic matchup to either a wall-mounted or stand-placed TV set.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful.
Energy Powerbar Elite
By Joshua Tracy
Well, if you have ever listened to a pair of Klipsch towers or bookshelf speakers these sound about the same. What I mean is that they are incredible. The only couple of reasons this is not a 5 star is that it fights you on blu-ray playback. Definitely PCM downmix your bluray player to not get static garble. I tried out Lord of the Rings in Bluray last night and I did get a significant surround effect-although not anything close to what would come from a 5.1 system. It doesn't handle DTS at all but...what I have come to realize is that this is more of a SOUND bar versus a SURROUND bar! Keep that in context when listening and...it is incredible.I have owned several Bose systems and Polk systems which all but one set sounded fantastic. This actually sounds as good or better depending on the music. My wife is a classical musician and we sampled some piano tracks yesterday. You can actually hear the hammers hitting the chords in the piano! Granted, one note that others are bringing up is that the high end does trim off around 12khz and higher. It's present in the playback but seems to not blow you away. That's something I can live with since it's so clear and tight sounding-and HAS A MIDRANGE WARMTH versus other soundbars!All in all, I have debated between this, Bose Cinemate 2, and the Polk 6000IHT soundbar. I will allow these to break in another week or so and update my feedback as to whether they hold up to their impressive results so far!UPDATE: 3/30/12Something else I have discovered is that this soundbar is very sensitive to the track that is being played. Meaning your playback experience will depend highly on the quality of the track being played. Some might think this is not a good thing but I disagree. It just shows that there are no sonic "smoke and mirrors" happening with your output. This system works well to duplicate your track as created (unless using the 3d mode of course). AS noted previously, the high end is rolled off a tad more than I like but I also think that may have to do with placement which in my situation I have limited control over (above TV slightly pointed down mounted between 2 12" deep bookcases 46" apart).One other notable is that it lacks auto balanced volume control--some commercials are really quiet and then BAM the show is blaring. Again not the bar's fault inherently but would have been a nice add on feature!Another update after 3 week break-inUPDATE: 5/24/12I have noticed that as I play this system the speakers are sounding better and better! The highs are crisper and the vocals are richer--this thing really does need a good break in before it rocks! SO, in summary I highly recommend this soundbar hands-down. Energy has made a new long-term customer!
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful.Great complement to a flat panel TV
By s e bush
Summary - excellent product; we'd give it 4.5 stars, marked down slightly for subwoofer power / volume, roll off of very high frequency sound and fiddly wall mounting (we'd rather have a positive bracket).Installation and set up. The speakers were well packaged and protected which ensured that the product arrived safely from Amazon. The excellent and detailed instructions, in six languages, made the set up very easy straight out of the box. It is important to follow the step by step 'plug in and power up' sequence as described. You can review the User Manual online at the Energy website before purchase.Shelf mounting (not used in our case). Two curved, self adhesive, legs are provided to stick to the underside of the soundbar. They looked as if they would complement the overall size and shape of the soundbar, but I wonder how effective the adhesive is over time.Wall mounting. A thin cardboard template is provided to assist wall mounting. Energy require at least 1 inch of space between the soundbar and the TV above; take this into account when deciding whether this will work in your room. The mounting is via two slots in a molded feature that stands proud of the rear of the soundbar. Mounting hardware is not provided - the slot is just OK for a maximum 5mm shaft screws with a 10mm head. The template is not quite accurate; the two screw holes on the template are about 1mm longer than the actual soundbar attachment slots (28.18 inches/715.77mm). Note that this dimension does not correspond to standard drywall stud spacing. The major issue with this style of mounting (slotting the soundbar over pre-positioned screw heads in the wall) is the juggling necessary to ensure that the screws stick out just enough to ensure a tight fit to the wall. The soundbar power wire has an in-line transformer similar in size to that for a laptop. Take this into account when planning your layout. The optical cable provided by Energy is 1.8m long. All connections plug into a central indentation in the back of the soundbar. This indentation is at the bottom half of the soundbar, so if you have to then run the wires upwards towards the TV, they must be squeezed in a tight radius and through quite a narrow gap between the back of the soundbar and the wall. Take this into account when planning your installation.Subwoofer positioning. There is one left side firing speaker and a rear port. The power cable is approx 68 inches long. The integration of the subwoofer sound is soft and subtle; and it is relatively tolerant to placement. We found that it does have to be turned up quite high using the rotary volume control on the rear, and that the last 1/8th turn of the volume control appears not to be very linear. The family room is 16ft wide by 20ft (which extends into a kitchen / breakfast room another 22ft).System integration. The soundbar and subwoofer hooked up to each other easily. We chose not to integrate the soundbar volume control into the TV remote, as the TV remote does not have the '3D' sound button (and so we'd need two remotes anyway). The optical connection worked perfectly - excellent, easy set up and instal.Appearance. High quality moldings with a matt black finish. Looks better than the online photos. It is larger than most of the soundbars that you see in local stores (40 inches wide by 4 1/8 inches high), and complements the 55 inch Panasonic nicely.Sound quality. This sounds better than anything else I've heard in a store. Overall it is warm and slightly 'midrangey'. The very high frequencies are softened, and this becomes most apparent with music in DVDs where, for example, symbols and high frequency content is somewhat muted at the top end. The sound is well controlled, imagery is nicely focused and the '3D' effect is noticeable, albeit not a true surround sound. Pressing the button to go to the '3D' effect also includes a shift in sound balance. As mentioned above the subwoofer needs to be turned up, but then our room is quite large. The integration of the subwoofer sound is very good and any 'side to side' imbalance from the side firing speaker is masked by this. We do feel that the subwoofer could use more power to fully use the 10inch speaker though. Overall the sound is excellent, and the built in soundbar amplifier can go quite loud with no sign of excessive strain. It is not, of course, a true substitute for a quality receiver and separate surround sound speakers.Installed with:Panasonic TC-P55GT30 plasma TVOppo DVD playerReference sound system - Rotel / Bowers & Wilkins 2 channel HiFi system in another room.
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful.
Great for a soundbar - do not overlook
By G. Bourque
The other review by s e bush was an excellent review and I will just add my two cents and support what he/she said. This is an excellent overall soundbar and I've been looking for a good soundbar for about 2 years. This will not substitute for a receiver and decent pair of speakers though. I really wanted to do a 5.1 or even a 3.1 system, but I just don't have the room and space for even bookshelf speakers. The room I placed it in is approximately 10 x 11. I also didn't want to spend a significant amount of money, but still wanted something "decent" and that I can later move without issues to another tv when I buy a real sound system. Anything system or soundbar will be better than the awful speakers that are in televisions, especially as these flatscreens get thinner and thinner. I weighed the options of soundbars that need receivers, but it appeared the cost was going to be higher. I really think soundbars don't become worth it when you start getting up towards $1,000 and more for a system. I was really impressed with how well the system was packaged and how nice it looks...even nicer than the pictures show. I did not wall mount mine, just placed the feet on it and put it in front of my tv.This was simple to set up, just plug the optical cable (included) into the back of the soundbar and then to the tv. You just need a plug outlet for both the subwoofer and the soundbar. The subwoofer connected flawlessly to the soundbar. Both my cable remote and my television remote (Samsung) also paired up with no issues. I later read in the Energy guide that Samsung remotes ideal to pair up this system. Also a neat feature is after your done when you turn off the tv the system will shut down in about 10 minutes as it no longer receives a signal from the tv. So you don't have to turn on and off the soundbar. I decided on the elite model over the regular energy soundbar because I thought the dolby decoder was worth it, and also the option of the surround feature. It isn't true surround sound, but you will definitely notice a difference and I like having the extra option. If you want real surround get a receiver and a 5.1 or 7.1 system.For performance the energy elite never seems strained or feels pushed. At first we felt the subwoofer wasn't really working, but as soon as I went over and turned it down you immediately noticed it was working perfectly. I like bass and low-end sounds, but I'm not a fan of "booming" bass just to show the subwoofer is there. This subwoofer is there by becoming part of the sound and not standing alone. I prefer it that way more than some big vibration in the corner. You can turn the subwoofer up and get some pretty good low-end. The speaker does a good job with vocals and I've greatly enjoyed it for video games. I had been using my tv speakers and I started to think everything sounded the same.Only minor complaints I have is that there isn't more option settings. I've seen a few soundbar systems which have movie, game, normal, etc. options that change the sound from each setting. With this one you get normal and the "modified" surround mode. Two more modes would have been a plus. Also, there is no number for the volume or anything that lets you know what the setting is. I like knowing that volume around 10 or whatever number is normal listening. With that said, I always found some little issue with every soundbar I considered, which was about every brand you can find that makes a soundbar. I looked and considered a lot, but prefer a brand like Energy who makes great speakers. If your looking at a small 5.1 look at the their Take Classic or RC-Micro which are almost impossible to beat for the price.This is a great system if your looking for something that doesn't take up a lot of space, looks good, and performs excellent for a soundbar. I think it is perfect for smaller to medium sized rooms, but don't think the best option is a soundbar in a larger room, but neither or any tiny "cube" speakers. I'm hoping word gets out on this one, because this system shouldn't be overlooked compared to the many other soundbars on the market right now.
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