When I went to JBL’s European launch for its soundbars in Copenhagen earlier this year, one thing stuck out that I couldn’t stop thinking about.
All of its soundbars should be have a modular design.
You’re probably reading this thinking, “what is this person babbling on about?” but stick with me and I think that you might agree.
We live in an immersive world… sort of
What soundbar manufacturers often do is set their designs for pricing levels or for the audience they’re attempting to attract.
That often means that the cheapest model loses all the frills and features of more expensive models, it’s a single bar unit that’s compact and it’s for those who want to improve their sound. While the most expensive model comes with all the frills, features and best specs.
That makes sense, right? Offer a more complete experience as you go up the range, while the cheaper models focus on improving the sound of your TV at an affordable price.
I think soundbar brands should shift their position a little bit.
Audio brands would have everyone thinking that immersive audio is everywhere and the best way to enjoy films, TV series and music. Except many of the devices that we use don’t utilise the potential of surround sound. In a lot of cases, they’re just compromises.
There’s no way that you can get a surround sound experience from a single bar, no matter how brands may try to convince you. Surround sound is all about have speakers positioned around you to create that sense of immersion.
Having a soundbar in front of you only creates a sound… in front of you. It may fire audio at you well enough, but to make sound arrive at your ear as if it were coming from behind? That’s practically impossible.
My solution? Make all soundbars a modular design.
What do I mean by this? Well JBL’s more expensive models have detachable speakers that connect to the main bar. You can clip them off and then put them around your room (they’re battery powered) and they’ll turn into surround sound speakers, creating the immersion you need from Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, and soon-to-be Eclipsa Audio.
What gave me more clarity on this issue was the Majority Everest 5.1 surround sound system. Like the more expensive JBL surround sound systems, this comes with detachable speakers that connect to the main bar. But the price for the Majority system is £299.
While the Majority Everest doesn’t support true immersive audio in Atmos and DTS:X – imagine if it did? A soundbar system that’s modular, which you could place the speakers in your room to fit wherever you had space for them. That’s convenience with a capital ‘C’.
Why don’t more soundbar brands do this? Your guess is as good as mine, but my assumption is that they might think if you gave them all the frills with cheaper models, they wouldn’t plump for the more expensive models.
If that’s the case, that thinking is incorrect. These potential customers were never really going to go for the most expensive models simply because they wouldn’t be able to afford them anyway.
Rather than harvesting the best features for the most expensive models, the modular design should be available on all them rather than some. That’s the convenience, and hopefully performance, that home cinema fans are looking for. Bring immersive audio down to a convenient price so everyone can it. Let’s move past the compromised version from a single bar and enjoy spatial audio as it was meant to be enjoyed.
