Long Beach, Calif. — Pioneer reentered the soundbar market last year and will launch its first under-TV speaker base this year.
The under-TV speaker is the SP-SB03 Speaker Base TV Audio System, which ships in October at a suggested $349. It was designed by noted speaker designer Andrew Jones.
The bar, which connects to a TV via a single cable, “delivers an audio experience that rivals if not exceeds traditional speaker bars without the need for a dedicated subwoofer,” said Chris Walker, A/V marketing and product planning director.
The bar features a composite-wood cabinet, six drivers, a 6×28-watt amplifier, stereo Bluetooth streaming, active crossover network, Dolby Digital decoding and three sound modes (music, movies and dialog). Dialog mode optimizes dialog reproduction and lowers loud passages for late-night viewing.
The speaker base features two custom 4-inch down-firing woofers, two 3-inch midrange drivers, and two 1-inch soft dome tweeters. The midrange drivers and tweeters fire from the front of the base.
A learning mode feature lets users teach the speaker to respond to their own remote control’s commands. The Bluetooth feature enables the pairing of two devices simultaneously. As a result, users can stop/pause audio streaming on one device and start it on a second device without going through the pairing process.
Pioneer’s first active speaker bar in more than a decade shipped last fall at a suggested $399.
