POLK AUDIO BAR 6000 MOVIE

It is certainly cool to improve the sound quality, but don't integrate what wasn't there to begin with. Want to restore dirty and damaged film prints? Go for it. Call me the grumpy old man if you desire (In my day, we didn't have surround sound, we stood in traffic and went deaf listening to the cars and trucks going by and we liked it), but I think it is wrong to add surround tracks to movies that were originally mono or stereo. Criterion did the best job that they could with the original source material and that's all there is folks. Our own Chris Chiarella recently reviewed the Blu-ray release of Charlie Chaplin's classic Modern Timesand what resonated with me were his comments about the uncompressed linear PCM mono track. Over the past few weeks, I have had the opportunity to watch a lot of movies and television through the Polk Audio SurroundBar6000 Instant Home Theater, and I must confess that it flipped a few switches in my head about the necessity of rear chanel speakers. But wouldn't it be great to get some of that immersive experience - some of that illusion of space - without the added expense (and complexity) of rear speakers? Well that's where Polk's family of SurroundBar Instant Home Theater speaker comes in.

POLK AUDIO BAR 6000 MOVIE

That being said, Apocalypse Now is an awesome movie in stereo too. Yes, it did add to the cinematic experience. I've taken my fair share of helicopter rides and I was genuinely floored by the intensity of the sound. I recently watched the Blu-ray release of Apocalypse Now which has a tremendous attack scene filled with helicopters. My existing surround system is a 5.1 configuration and while I love the overall sound quality, I could live without the surround channels if I had to.

Running cables through your walls and under your floors is an expensive endeavor (I did it myself and it wasn't a walk in the park). In-wall and in-ceiling speakers might work if that is the issue, but there will certainly be a trade-off in sound quality.

Most of the sound emanating from a film does so from the front three speakers, so is it really necessary to spend the extra money for two, four, or even six additional speakers and the channels of amplification required to power them? OK, I know, the illusion of space is important and rear speakers can be helpful in getting that illusion across, but where does the escalation end? There are surround receivers available now that offer a 9.2 channel configuration and unless you have a dedicated home theater in your home, I can't imagine that installing that many loudspeakers in your den or living room is going to be a huge hit with the lady of the house. I have wanted to utter those horrible words for years. Surround sound, as in speakers placed all around your room, is a gimmick.

Polk audio bar 6000