Harman Kardon has announced the release of two posh new sound bars, the Sabre SB 35 and the SB 26, which will be showcased this week at the IFA electronics show in Berlin. Both systems pack a heavy dose of HK’s DSP technology into low-profile frames, and the SB 35 is purported to be ‘the slimmest multichannel 8.1 sound bar on the market’. We’ll take a deeper look into each system below to see what kind of goodies HK has squeezed into its slim new sonic toys.
The SB 35
Check out our review of the Harman Kardon Sabre SB35 sound bar.
Throwing in everything but the kitchen sink (and surround speakers), the $1000 SB 35 looks poised to become THE sound bar for audiophiles hoping to supplement their videophile habit without moving the furniture. The bar itself is sculpted into a razor-thin frame, just 1.25 inches thick, while the wireless “compact subwoofer'” boasts similarly slim dimensions, providing 100-watts of low-frequency power that’s wall-mountable to create an extremely unobtrusive two-piece sound system.
Among the laundry list of features included with the SB 35 are 3 HDMI inputs, an HDMI output with ARC support, Bluetooth connection, an optical digital and stereo analog input, on-screen volume display, an IR repeater, and a whole lot of DSP, including 8.1 virtual surround sound with Dolby Digital TrueHD and DTS HD decoding. Of course, with such lean dimensions and its tiny 1-inch and 1 3/4-inch drivers, the system will likely need to lean heavily on all that signal processing tech to produce quality audio with some punch.
The SB 26
The $600 SB 26 offers a more conventional (and affordable) design, providing 2.1 stereo sound from a circular, matte-black tube. The driver system includes four 3-inch drivers, and two 1-inch dome tweeters coupled with a 10-inch, 100-watt wireless sub in a standard enclosure. Though the SB 26 isn’t as feature rich as its skinny cousin, it still offers an impressive set-up including 2 HDMI inputs, an ARC HDMI output, Bluetooth connection, analog and optical digital input, an IR repeater, and Dolby Digital decoding.
HK reports that both of its new sound bars will be available later this month.
