Polk Readies Next Surroundbar

By Joseph Palenchar -- TWICE, 1/5/2009

Baltimore—Polk plans January availability of its second surroundbar, a $499-suggested model called the SurroundBar SDA Instant Home Theater.

The 4x31.75x4.65-inch unit comes with external wireless 6.5-inch subwoofer delivering bass down to 40Hz. It lacks embedded DVD player and connects to the stereo audio outputs of any TV to deliver an “immersive surround” effect without surround speakers, a spokesman said. The speaker complement consists of four 2.5-inch bass/midrange drivers and two 13mm dome tweeters.

The new surroundbar joins the $1,199-suggested SurroundBar 360, which incorporates DVD player, AM/FM tuner, and higher output. The 360 also doesn’t need an external subwoofer to produce deep bass, the company said. Both surroundbars use Polk’s proprietary Stereo Dimensional Array (SDA) speaker design to deliver a virtual surroundfield.