Polk Audio IHT - Instant Home Theater - Demo

[dorokusai]

I'm sending labels to Jimbo & Poee7R. They will expire on Feb 1, 2010.

[jimbo1421]

Packed up and ready to go out tomorrow. Ricardo is next. I think the box is about 3/4 of the way through its lifespan. I did a major rewrap with packing tape all over.

This is a great little speaker. I will have a review up early next week.

Thanks, Mark.

Jim

[dorokusai]

Ricardo - When you get it, let me know what shape the packaging is in. I may get new stuff sent to you. Thanks Jim.

[jimbo1421]

I dropped the IHT off at FedEx an hour ago; PM sent to Ricardo with tracking info.

Jim

[dorokusai]

Thanks Jim!

[Ricardo]

I dropped the IHT off at FedEx an hour ago; PM sent to Ricardo with tracking info.

Jim

Cool. Didn't have this on my radar so it's a nice surprise.

Ricardo - When you get it, let me know what shape the packaging is in. I may get new stuff sent to you. Thanks Jim.

Will do.

[jimbo1421]

Thanks Jim!

Sure thing. My review has also been posted. I think I will put a copy up in the SurroundBar sticky.

Will you be doing a demo round with the SB 50"? I notice that there are only two reviews.

Jim

[dorokusai]

I have an extra one I'm not using, Shawn474 has it now but I probably won't do anything formal like these threads. If you want to try it out, just remind me and I'll ship it to you in a couple weeks.

[jimbo1421]

Great, I will mark my calendar.

Jim

[wutadumsn23]

I have an extra one I'm not using, Shawn474 has it now but I probably won't do anything formal like these threads. If you want to try it out, just remind me and I'll ship it to you in a couple weeks.

I wouldn't mind getting in on that action too Mark, if possible. Looking to buy a plasma/LCD for my bedroom and need a low profile type system for that small space. This would be a great option to put up against the IHT I just demo'd.

-Jeff

[dorokusai]

Like I said, remind me. It won't go public and its actually mine :)

[wutadumsn23]

Like I said, remind me. It won't go public and its actually mine :)

Np Mark, glad you are letting us in on such a generous offer.

-Jeff

[Ricardo]

Ricardo - When you get it, let me know what shape the packaging is in. I may get new stuff sent to you. Thanks Jim.

Got it today. Box is pretty beat up, but still structurally solid. A couple of the styrofoam inserts are shot, but not in critical places. If you can get new stuff great, but this can still be used for a couple more shipments.

[Ricardo]

I am impressed. For the FIRST time in years, my wife actually made a positive comment on a piece of audio gear.

She said:

"So, you have to send it back? Why? I like the sound"

I couldn't believe she said that. There IS hope :)

I placed it in the family room. This is where she watches TV. There's a big opening to the kitchen on one side, so the effect is not so god on this side. But the little effect you get, plus the added bass is great.

I guess I'll have to buy one of these things now....

[dorokusai]

Dave - New label sent, it expires this week.

[dorokusai]

You ready to ship by say Monday Ricardo?

[Ricardo]

I'm ready (Wife is not :)).

[dorokusai]

Who on the list feels they are closer to Ricardo in Ohio?

[Conradicles]

I'm actually not too far. Then I could get it to all of the NC/GA polkies just below me on the list.

[dorokusai]

It's scheduled to arrive on the 17th for you Eric.

[Conradicles]

Cool and thanks Mark.

[dorokusai]

Okiepolkie...its coming from Ricardo to you this week.

[shawn474]

I have had the opprotunity to demo this unit for the past couple of weeks (Thank you to Mark and Polk Audio). My mini-review is below:

My father-in-law has been searching for a long time for something that he can apply into his living room. He HAD the perfect set-up, but he moved his mother into the house and made an in-law suite taking away his original space. Te room he has now is not optimal and requires television placement in a corner of the room, making a 5.1 set-up almost impossible. He has been looking at the surround bars, but wakes up in cold sweats when he thinks about how to connect them, use them properly, and cannot even think about changing any of the settings to his AVR. For his sanity (and mine because I am the one he si always calling to fix something he pressed, etc.), I thought this would be the perfect application. Boy was I right.

The ease of setup (if you know how to plug something in and use a set of RCA cables) is incredible. I sat down while he unboxed everything, read the instructions and hooked it up. It took more time to move the tv stand to access the plug then it did to hook this up.

The sound that comes from this little bar and subwoofer is pretty impressive. It filled the room and he and my mother-in-law were very impressed with how much of a difference it made from their television (Sharp Aquos 46" LCD) speakers. They were very happy with the sound and they both stated that they "could hear things better". The sub packs quite a punch for something so small and its wireless!

The remote is easy to use and probably easy to lose (especially with the 2 grandkids running around the house!). Sub is wireless which is a great feature.

Now the review. When I was over, we watched the Vikings playoff game. The soundbar and sub performed impressively. However, one thing I noticed was the crowd noise - when there was a really loud cheer in the crowd the soundbar got pretty harsh and almost seemed to distort. It wasn't turned up too loudly so the only thing I could think of was it was either the broadcast of the game or that the bar reached its limit. This was confirmed while watching a movie, Blood Diamond. The same "distortion" happened during an explosion in the movie. Mind you, these were very few and far between and only happened in 2 instances that I can recall in probably over a 10 or 12 hour period of me physically using this. My in laws say that they haven't noticed it again.

The Subwoofer during viewing packs quite a little punch. It is compact and blends into any room. It definitely adds a whole new dimension to the in-laws listening experience. There was a scene where someone was knocking on a door and the dog barked and my mother-in-law got up to answer the door thinking it was the UPS guy or something. We had a laugh over that one.

Now the "drawbacks". Aesthetically the subwoofer looks fine. The soundbar could use a little dressing up. It is made of plastic and it didn't blend in well with the gloss finish of the LCD tv. The plastic is a matte finish I guess you could say. Maybe Polk could offer two finishes in this speaker (gloss and matte?). Just thinking out loud here. The other aesthetic thing is that I was accustomed to the larger surroundbars. Seeing this one in front of a 46" tv looks tiny and, well, cheap. The other surroundbars are very sleek and trimmed nicely. This one seems to have cut some corners in the trimming of it. If Polk expects people to place this in front of larger tv's (maybe the application is for smaller tv's), I would expect them to dress it up a bit.

Anyways, there you have it. My ONLY complaints about this unit are the aesthetics of it. The sound coming out of it is quite impressive for the size and the ease of use is awesome. My father-in-law does not want to give this back; usually he is calling me a couple days after asking me to come over and "Get this thing out of here". This is a HUGE plus in my opinion. For the price, you get the quality of Polk Audio and something that is fool proof in its application. This would be perfect for a bedroom set-up, a play room, a gaming rig, etc., but certainly will not be mistaken for a 5.1 or SurroundBar set-up.

Overall, I would give Polk a 3.5 out of 5 stars for this; if they could address the aesthetics to match the gloss finish of most televisions now I think they would really be onto something here (and would raise my rating to 4 stars:)).

Shawn

[wutadumsn23]

Good review Shawn, did you put this on the product page as well? There is a link in the first post of the thread.

-Jeff

[shawn474]

Good review Shawn, did you put this on the product page as well? There is a link in the first post of the thread.

-Jeff

Yes, just waiting to be approved.

Shawn

[wutadumsn23]

Yes, just waiting to be approved.

Shawn

Awesome.

[Conradicles]

It's scheduled to arrive on the 17th for you Eric.

Got it today safe and sound. The packaging design is fantastic!
Hooked it up and thanks to the "Sticky" thread I was able to program it to my Pioneer Plasma. Let the fun begin...:)

[dorokusai]

Okiepolkie....it's pretty hard to ship something to you with no address, email or phone number. Di I miss an email?

[Ricardo]

No problem okiepolkie. Take all the time you want.

[treitz3]

While we are waiting on OP, I'm a hop, skip and a jump away from Eric and you have my addy. If it pleases all parties, you could just send it my way....

Just a thought...

I'll be meeting up with Eric tomorrow AM at Trey's house, FYI.