Polk Audio AM9500-A Surround Bar 9500 BT,Black

I have owned very high end expensive audio equipment, but this time I wanted something inexpensive, wireless, with Bluetooth that sounded respectable with my 50" 1080p flat panel TV.The "good news" was that this system has great mid and high range sound plus a surprisingly powerful sub woofer. You won't believe how much sound comes out of this little sound bar. My fancy Panasonic TV only has a 20 watt speaker like most flat panels these days... however this Polk Audio 9500 has over 500 watts so there is going to be a big difference.Get ready for a giant box when your system gets there though... guess they didn't want anything to happen to it in transit and short of a forklift hitting it dead on it would come out unscathed.Set up was simple except they should tell you that the Toslink fiber optic cables only go in one way, they have 4 sides and one is ever-so rounded and needs to fit into the hole one way... its hardly noticeable at first. It is amazing that these thin cables can transfer Dolby Sound. By the way if your TV doesn't have a optical port your cable box will. All the talk about the your cable not fitting under the bar is out the window as they were referring to the Polk Audio 9000 not the 9500, it has the ports on the back.The sound bar finding the sub was slick as was connecting several of my Bluetooth devices. The sub size was surprising to me as was the open down firing speaker. I had a MX-5000THX M&K Subwoofer (the best most powerful sub made) and it was front firing, however this Polk Audio packs a real punch.Don't know what your looking for in an inexpensive unobtrusive sound system, but for the price this one delivers. As far as surround sound goes, no you won't hear sound behind you, but if you could see my cat looking all around the room for the sound source you will not be disappointed in how well this system works.

This is our second sound bar and it outperforms our fairly new Sony HT-CT770. But it does lack some functionality and control that Sony offers. The sound of music and movies at medium to high volume is quite impressive. The bass from the subwoofer is really powerful too. That's a big step up from the less expensive Sony. My wife agrees that the Polk does a better job at projecting voices on normal TV shows, although I think the Sony is better overall for normal TV viewing.What Sony also does better is offer a visual indication of the volume of both the bar and the subwoofer as well as offer several different sound modes, one of which is customizable. With the Polk you just click the volume until it's at the right level without knowing where you are. That becomes a big deal when using the Blue Tooth for my Android phone. There is a huge disparity between the volume of my TV and music from my phone. I have to remember to turn the Polk volume way, way down before switching back to TV mode or else the sound is far too loud. I really expected to have more control on the more expensive Polk product.Speaking of control, I was also disappointed to learn that some TV's , including our Sharp Aquos, are not compatible with the remote control programming offered by Polk. That means we have to use the little bitty remote that comes from Polk instead of our TV remote. That wasn't a major issue to us but it is a potential drawback that you should know about. The Polk sound bar fits neatly in front of our 60" TV and does not block any of the IR sensors on it, which makes it easy to turn it off and control the TV volume without the signal being blocked.In summary, the Polk 9500-BT is powerful, sounds very good and is definitely a step up for us. But I'd be willing to spend more for more control. But from the research I did the next step up costs several hundred dollars more. Therefore the Polk is a great value too. That's why it sits in our main living room.

This was rated the highest out of all sound bars on the market....it sucks!! The sound is horrible!! Very disappointed for the amount of $$ we spent on this item.

I didn't hear a big difference between this and the Polk 9000. It has additional functions and bluetooth capability, but even the bluetooth technology is buggy. Can only connect to one device even though the device is off.

Gave it 5 stars based on sound quality alone.Lot more expensive than Vizio it replaced.Visual Display sucks, like mentioned before, can't see volume level or bass level, but if you have a set of ears, you can figure it out.My only complaint, not as loud as a 510 watt system should be, but not quiet at all.I am bias, been a Polk Audio owner for a long time, just sold my man cave speaker setup, little over 4k invested, so this is a downgrade to say the least. Having said that, having owned Vizio's best system in this field, I am more than happy with this purchase.You have to ask yourself one question, is sound quality your goal or features, then you will know if this system is right for you.-blair penningtontexas

The highs and mids are strong and the wireless sub is fun although not fantastic but it makes a very nice combo that is easy to set up (although could be easier, the remote that comes with it won't work until you program the remote to copy functions (volume etc) from another remote), like the one you use from your TV). That was a bit quirky but it was still easy. You can't really compare this to a real stereo system with 5.1. However, for something that doesn't require a component stereo system it is great right out of the box. Jazz sounds very good, rock is pretty good and movies are great. Its currently connected to my iMac via blue tooth and that seems to work without a hitch. However, when it was connected to my iPhone and the phone was sitting next to the speaker the sound would break up on a fairly regular basis. That's unacceptable for a $700 soundbar. In fact, I've seen $50 bluetooth speakers with better bluetooth than this. If that was my main source of music, I'd probably knock it down another star. That said, for my set up, its great.

I used a bracket mounted to the back of the TV and mounted the bar on the top of the TV. The sub is on the floor to side about 10 to 12 feet away from the bar. It sounds wonderful. I love that it's plug and play, not too much fussing. Programed the bar to respond to cable remote, instructions to do so were right on. Used the optical cable to connect to the back of the TV. Bar turns on when TV turns on. Played around with the sub level to get the right bass. The sub is powerful. My room is approx. 13 by 17 feet with 8 foot ceiling that opens up to the kitchen. The bar and TV are placed on the back wall with the bar actually near the ceiling. The sound fills the room and it even sounds good from the kitchen while cooking and cleaning. Movies sound great as well as music from the TV....i.e. We get music stations through cable. I am very happy with the bar. Great sound, minimal fuss, easy set up. Wins for me all around.