Quote:
Originally Posted by davyo 
I called JVC today and yes, the BA1 is discontinued and no longer being made, the BA3 is not the replacement,,, they are working on a new replacement for the BA1 and said it would be out later this year or the first part of 2011.
Should be interestng to see what the new BA1 version is as the first generation bar is already pretty impressive.
I guess anyone interested in the BA1 should grab one right away as they arent going to be around much longer.
Cheers
Davyo
I called JVC today and yes, the BA1 is discontinued and no longer being made, the BA3 is not the replacement,,, they are working on a new replacement for the BA1 and said it would be out later this year or the first part of 2011.
Should be interestng to see what the new BA1 version is as the first generation bar is already pretty impressive.
I guess anyone interested in the BA1 should grab one right away as they arent going to be around much longer.
Cheers
Davyo
Still being sold at amazon and elsewhere. Some the stores have dropped the price a bit, which is nice.
Quote:
Originally Posted by drfreeman60
I know that most of you have read glowing reviews on this unit from Davey and several others and originally I was only going to add a few extra observations. However, after spending the past three days listening to this unit, I am going to do more or less a full review. If anyone is still on the fence about this unit, make no mistake, you can a whole lot worse for a whole lot more money.
Following are a list of attributes/criteria that are important in selecting a good unit for reproducing home theater sound. I will try to keep these in the order which are most important to me and my wife, who has been tolerating my obsession with high end audio for the past 35 years. For that she will probably receive a place of honor among the saints in heaven.
I am not quite the soundbar junkie that our esteemed colleague Davey is, but have had my share of units over the past four years. This unit is definitely the most impressive soundwise. Highly recommended for those whose rooms do not lend themselves to multiple speakers.
Am I going to keep it. The answer is a definite, probably. I have been made aware of some smaller speakers from Definitive Technology (ProMonitor 800) which with the proper subwoofer could replace my soundbar and home audio system. My preference is to have the two systems in two different rooms. To me music listening is a much more private experience and I prefer to do away with distractions and listen deeply. However, my better half would like to be rid of speakers that are as tall as she is and have her sunroom looking better (I think it looks great with my speakers).
Will post my impressions sometime next week on the JVC with strictly musical content.
I know that most of you have read glowing reviews on this unit from Davey and several others and originally I was only going to add a few extra observations. However, after spending the past three days listening to this unit, I am going to do more or less a full review. If anyone is still on the fence about this unit, make no mistake, you can a whole lot worse for a whole lot more money.
Following are a list of attributes/criteria that are important in selecting a good unit for reproducing home theater sound. I will try to keep these in the order which are most important to me and my wife, who has been tolerating my obsession with high end audio for the past 35 years. For that she will probably receive a place of honor among the saints in heaven.
- Clarity. Highest marks yet for a sound bar or HTIB less than $1,200. All sounds come out crystal clear. No hangover or coloration of the sound. This is something that $1,000 to $2,000 speakers try hard and sometimes (too many times) fail to achieve.
- Dynamics. As good as my Vizio SB200 which was much better than the $1,600 Yamaha YSP or the Sony CT-100. On some program material, the unit sounded more dynamic than I remembered the content from the theater. However, since sonic memory is a poor source of reference, I will chalk that up to being too engrossed in the movie while watching in a real cinema.
- Voices. Excellent reproduction of voice. This was one of the two factors (the other being dynamics) that kept the Vizio in my home theater for the past eleven months. I had assumed that adjusting the center channel level would have a great affect on voice. In my family room, this had little affect. I think after a small amount of experimentation I settled on either +1 or +2. Still extremely respectable at zero.
- Absolute Volume. Who knows. This unit will play loud enough to fill my 40' x 20' living area with 16' cielings. My better half had me back off the volume above 30 as she was afraid the gunshots from "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" would give one of our condo neighbors a heart attack. Plus get us a nasty letter from the homeowners associaation. To listen to this unit at full volume is to invite a major case of hearling loss. Huh?
- Overall Frequency Response. Pretty good. I ran a couple of slide tones through the system. The bass output is mostly gone by the time you get to the lowest octave. Treble response is missing in the uppermost octave (like I could still hear those frequencies if they were there). I few rough jags in the upper mid / lower treble. Does any of this matter? For movies, not a damn bit. For music, I need to do a little more listening to some accoustic instruments before I make a judgement there. Will keep you posted.
- Surround mode. Both are very good. If you have read my comments on artificial surround through most soundbars, you know that I am far from a fan of this. To my ears, on my three previous soundbars, the artificial surround sounded processed. It took away dynamics and clarity which were of higher importance. In fact my previous disappointment was enough that I used the other soundbars as 2.1/3.1 systems only. Both surround modes on the JVC are good enough that I have watched three entire movies this weekend with surround turned on.
- Volume leveling. This works better than on the Vizio. Seems to bring the lower volume settings higher, not sure about the higher volume content as it still came through very dynamic and loud.
- Sub-Woofer. Totally thrilled. This is the fastest woofer I have heard since I sold a pair of DCM TimeWindows to some good freinds back in 1985. Most people when evaluating low frequency response look at extension (how deep in the bass register will the unit play) and volume (how loud will it play bass / can it rattle the windows). Well this unit does not play all that low and I have no idea (and don't care) how loudly it will play those low frequencies. But it has the best rapid transient response for low frequencies I have heard in years. When you hear the crack of a gunshot, or a bass drum, thunder, you hear that instant attack of the sound. I have a number of classical pieces with extreme low frequency, fast transient material that I intend to try out over then next few weeks.
- Transition from soundbar to sub is seemless. That can not be said of any of the three units I previously have owned (still own).
- Digtal decoder. Excellent. I took Davey's advice and set my Blu-Ray to bitstream and let the JVC decoder handle the output. I could definitely hear the difference. I have done similar experiments between PCM/Bitstrean/Analog/Digital outputs and have had a very hard time latching on to any sonic signature associated with these until now.
I am not quite the soundbar junkie that our esteemed colleague Davey is, but have had my share of units over the past four years. This unit is definitely the most impressive soundwise. Highly recommended for those whose rooms do not lend themselves to multiple speakers.
Am I going to keep it. The answer is a definite, probably. I have been made aware of some smaller speakers from Definitive Technology (ProMonitor 800) which with the proper subwoofer could replace my soundbar and home audio system. My preference is to have the two systems in two different rooms. To me music listening is a much more private experience and I prefer to do away with distractions and listen deeply. However, my better half would like to be rid of speakers that are as tall as she is and have her sunroom looking better (I think it looks great with my speakers).
Will post my impressions sometime next week on the JVC with strictly musical content.
Thank you so much for that review. Makes me feel even better about shelling out $229 on this system.
Quote:
Originally Posted by drfreeman60
You can run optical from the TV to the soundbar to make your life easier.
Most newer TV's will not pass DD/DTS due to DRM. If you want the better sonic experience, the components should be connected directly to the soundbar via optical.
You can run optical from the TV to the soundbar to make your life easier.
Most newer TV's will not pass DD/DTS due to DRM. If you want the better sonic experience, the components should be connected directly to the soundbar via optical.
I hope it's not a huge downgrade to have to run optical from the TV. My Dell Zino HTPC and cable box only have HDMI out.
Edit: Just found a nice explanation of optical vs HDMI. I can't tell lossy from lossless music when listening to my MP3s (once I get above 192k or 224k or so), so I think optical will be ok for me as it can still do 5.1/DD/DTS.
