Panasonic HTB490 2.1 Soundbar with Wireless Subwoofer, 320W, Dolby Atmos and Bluetooth , Black

Finally! A soundbar from amazon that works and is actually better than the internal speakers of my tv!The size of the soubar is perfect for my LG 48" C2 tv. Mt Tv is on an wooden unit with spaces for DVD player and games console and this fits nicely in one of those gaps, with the wireless sub behind the sofa.Most soundbars, especially in this price range or lower, suffer from no mid range, ultra boosted low mids, minimal treble and non existent bass.Initially I didn't want a sub, but after so many bad experiences, I thought I'd risk it and if it sounded awful I put the sub back in the box..So, unboxing was very simple and setup was simple. If you have older tvs, you can have issues with HDMI ARC compatibility, but not for me.The soundbar itself is great for vocals, being nicely tuned to mid range frequencies. Think of it as a nicer quality version of the crappie ones built in behind your TV. It's worth highlighting that it's a fairly balanced, sound, but without the horrific booming liw mids as featured on other soundbars.The Wireless sub connects to the main bar out of the box with no issues. I understand it uses a 2.4ghz frequency, so in some homes you may experience issues if you use a lot of Wireless products. Myself? Most of my home is wired with CAT7, so there's not a lot of wifi channels in use which means less issues with this connection system.Anyway, there's not a huge deal of space behind or next to my TV to place the sub, so i put it behind my sofa.Instantly, it was booming away haha.Some may like their sound to be overwhelmed by their sub, but for me, i prefer subtlety. I have only need it on the 1st (lowest) volume setting as otherwise, for my tastes, it's just too much.Using "music " preset, it'll give your home and house parties some extra "thump", where as "Cinema" will pay attention to vocal clarity, while providing a "wide spacial sound".The inclusion of Dolby Digital, DTS and PCM are an added bonus i wasn't expecting.Having now used this for 8 months, with zero problems, my only niggle is that the ability to adjust the treble would be advantageous. As with most things audio, it's down to positioning of course. If its in direct line of site, it's excellent, but where i place it, i do lose a bit of the higher frequency range, so an ability to increase it would really ice the cake.I did see another person mentioning that the remote was difficult to use? Well I've had smaller remotes than this in the past and this one is fine. The buttons are well positioned and you have to try very hard to press 2 at the same time.Other people have stated annoyance with volume limitation AND Auto Power Off. These can either be adjusted or turned off. You just need to RTFM.The manual is actually very useful and well written.I'm really pleased with this 2.1 soundbar. It's cheaper, yet better than the likes of Bose and sonos that are currently running the market.Save some cash and treat your ears with this little upgrade

Likes:- small compact unit sits perfectly beneath my Panasonic tv type 40DX600 smart tv, I did not want a powerful 300watt amplifier, I recommend to get the subwoofer which comes with this unit. Set up was easy and I did not have to play around with the tv sound menu to select pcm etc. The sound bar installation does it all for you. It supports Dolby and DTS automatically, but this may be the fact that Panasonic have got the software and installation setup just right, perhaps if you had an other tv type you may have to play around with setting the sound menu to cope with the right audio format.Dislikes:- The sound quality is not great when watching normal programs like the bbc news etc. The sound bar remote control just gives you 3 modes, standard,music, and cinema. All the normal sound options on the tv menu become grayed out when the sound bar switches on. The subwoofer does not come with an on-off switch which was shown on the original design, this would be handy if you just wanted the sound bar on its on. However the system is great on films from like Netflix etc. The rich deep sound is very good for a 120 watt system.The indicating lights on top of the sound bar are not easy to see unless you stand up from your chair in the lounge and the increase/decrease buttons for the subwoofer do not give you a display on the tv, so you do not know what the subwoofer setting is.The sound seems a bit muffled or perhaps on the soft side compared to the original tv speakers, perhaps I just need to get used to it, I have only had the system for 2 days, so my ears have not adjusted to the change in sound mode.I must just update my review after 3 days trying out my new sound system. When I tried to use my FreeViewPlay catchup system on BBC iPlayer or Netflix using the inbuilt apps on my Panasonic 40DX600 tv the playback kept buffering and the sound distorted. When I switched off the sound bar the problem disappeared. I could cast BBC iPlayer using my Chromecast link so the problem was with the sound bar system. By experimenting with the subwoofer position and moving it to the other side of the lounge the problem was resolved.The subwoofer was obviously interfering with the WFI receiver inside my tv when it was too close to the left hand side of the tv.So take note you may have to play around with the subwoofer position to get it just right, and by the way the overall sound improved considerably.