This newest contraption from milestone loudspeaker manufacturer Polk Audio comes as the neatest solution especially for those persons who, despite their utter preference for hi-quality surround sound, are in total disagreement with what serious surround sound involves, namely lots of loudspeakers scattered across the room with the ubiquitous wires that are a real pain in the back when it comes to dusting or other similar things.

The Polk SurroundBar is one multi-channel loudspeaker that looks awesome and seemingly it also sounds great. It's called "bar" because it IS a bar, neatly fitting under your plasma TV or even above it with the optional cradle. While the Polk SurroundBar sports a 51" width, it will match perfectly with most large flatscreens. The Polk SurroundBar comes in an extruded aluminium cabinet containing no less than 10 drivers that promise to reproduce a 5-channel surround, using the Polk proprietary Stereo Dimensional Array (SDA) technology.

The Polk SurroundBar and SDA technology claim they do not require rooms with precise and close to perfection, uncluttered characteristics in order for their sound to be perceived at its full potential, like some others do. The drivers inside the Polk SurroundBar are placed at precise distances that are similar to the distance between the eras and this causes the SurroundBar to interact directly with the hearing sense rather than bouncing sound off walls. The Polk engineers claim that this array, combined with the four-PC board crossover with over 60 components is capable of creating such an audio response that makes the human ear hear the intended spatial 5-chann surround, pretty much like a common surround system would deploy.

In any case, the Polk SurroundBar is one loudspeaker (or should we say "it's a loudspeakerS"?) that brings forth a very promising technology with a really feasible future, even if not into professional audio field but in the nifty, high-end home audio segment, definitely. The announced price is $1,099 and the Polk SurroundBar is due early October; it remains to be seen what the first reviews and customers will say...

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