Event Coverage

HWM+HardwareZone.com Tech Awards 2013: Editor's Choice - Part 1

By Team HardwareZone - 11 Mar 2013

Best Sound Bar System

Best Sound Bar System

No home theater is complete without a sound system capable of delivering audio with impact and great directionality. Our Sound Bar category seeks to find the best set of speakers to augment the performance of your television in the audio department. The criteria for this category have not changed from last year’s installment: the products need to have a dedicated subwoofer and a horizontal speaker bar. In addition to the products selected to be launched in our assessment timeline, the price point for the category is set at around the S$1,000 mark.

Nominees: 

 

  • Philips Fidelio HTB9150
  • Pioneer HTZ-HW929BD
  • Samsung HT-E8200

 

And the Winner Is...

Philips Fidelio HTB9150

Unlike last year when the Yamaha YHT-S401 easily walked away with the crown for Best Sound Bar of 2012, this year, the contest this year is a much more closer one. The eventual winner is the Philips Fidelio HTB9150. The product impresses with its simple and elegant aesthetics, as well as sturdy build quality. When switched on, the intuitive user interface makes the menus easy to navigate. Its Blu-ray playback performance also gets in our good books with its short loading times and prompt operations. Out of the box, the audio wasn't spectacular, but with a little bit of tweaking with the EQ settings, we managed to get a great, balanced sound. Philips’ Ambisound feature also helps this product cast a wide and expansive soundstage, helping you gain maximum enjoyment from movies.

Scoring Breakdown
Criteria/Model Philips Fidelio HTB9150 Pioneer HTZ-HW929BD Samsung HT-E8200
Design 8.0 7.0 7.0
Features 8.0 8.0 8.0
Performance 8.0 7.5 7.0
Value 8.0 7.5 7.5
Overall 8.0 7.5 7.0
Price S$1,299 S$1,199 S$999

For more details on how we selected our winners, check out the full reviews and articles listed at the References section at the end.

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