Polk Audio SurroundBar 9000 IHT Now Shipping

Polk is now delivering its new top-of-the-line reference SurroundBar 9000 Instant Home Theater (IHT), illustrating how a sleek new single-cabinet multichannel speaker can deliver a home theater experience that belies its price point.

Originally announced earlier this year and first demonstrated at the 2012 CEDIA Expo, the SurroundBar 9000 IHT and its accompanying wireless subwoofer (included) feature an array of proprietary Polk Audio technologies to create a truly enveloping listening experience.

Polk Audio SurroundBar 9000 IHT

“Nobody knows sound bar design better than Polk, but even we are blown away by the output of the SurroundBar 9000, says Polk Product Line Manager Al Baron. “The combination of simplicity and sonics is easily the best we’ve seen from us or any manufacturer in the field. We’ve elevated driver design to new heights with this model, and it includes all of the technologies that have made our Instant Home Theater line such a success, including SmartBar programming, which enables the SurroundBar to easily learn power on/off, volume up/down and mute from your existing TV remote control. It makes operation as simple as can be.”

The new SurroundBar 9000 Instant Home Theater (IHT) joins the line at the top of the list, delivering exceptional, component-caliber 3D audio surround audio while maintaining the sleek, low-profile design and easy setup that have made Polk’s IHT line a favorite among home theater lovers and gamers in search of an enveloping surround sound experience without the clutter and complexity of a traditional home theater array.

The SurroundBar 9000 IHT is self-powered, delivering 45 Watts of discrete peak power to each of its eight drivers (five 2½-inch midrange drivers and three ½-inch silk dome tweeters). Add to that the system’s 150 Watt, 8-inch wireless subwoofer—which can be located as far as 50 feet away and connects to the system automatically upon powering on—and the SurroundBar 9000 IHT as a whole is capable of delivering 510 Watts of total peak power: 25 times as much as the typical TV speakers it is designed to replace.

The SurroundBar 9000 IHT isn’t merely about brute force power, though; it employs a number of key technologies engineered to deliver a highly refined audio experience. The 9000’s Optimized Center Array (OCA) design results in unprecedented clarity and intelligibility of center channel audio over a very wide listening area.

With the OCA design, outer and inner driver pairs reproduce center channel information from 80 to 400Hz, and 80 to 650Hz respectively. Translated into plain English, this benefit allows listeners sitting far to the side to hear dialogue and other critical sonic details with the same balance and impact as those listeners situated in the center “sweet spot.”

Unique to the SurroundBar 9000 is Polk’s new Full Complement Bass design. All five 2 1/2" drive units reproduce the summed L/C/R/SL/SR channels over the 80Hz to 200Hz passband, resulting in deep resonant bass that is experienced in every listening area in the room.

Polk’s patented SDA (Stereo Dimensional Array) Surround technology also works to eliminate crosstalk between channels, ensuring that left and right ears independently hear the sound intended for them, creating a lifelike three-dimensional sound experience that closely replicates the way the listener experiences sound in the real world. A proprietary Polk technology, SDA creates a 360-degree soundfield that envelopes the listener without the need for side and rear-channel speakers.

Polk Audio’s SurroundBar 9000 IHT features dual tuned ports designed to provide optimal blending between the midrange drivers and the subwoofer, no matter where the sub is located in the room, and no matter if the bar itself is shelf- or wall-mounted.

The SurroundBar 9000’s cabinet measures just 3¾ by 44⅝ by 2¼ inches—the perfect visual complement to a 50-inch flat panel display, although the SurroundBar 9000 IHT will sound just as impressive with any size screen. And with two digital optical inputs (in addition to two analog audio inputs), combined with internal Dolby Digital and DTS processing, the 9000 IHT is designed to deliver more dynamic, high-impact sound from digital audio sources, straight out of the box.

It’s What’s Inside That Counts One key to the stunning performance of the SurroundBar 9000 is Polk Digital Logic technology, which relies on proprietary digital signal processing to optimize the system’s acoustical performance in the typical room, without the need for complicated setup menus and baffling instruction manuals.

The SurroundBar 9000 IHT is Energy Star certified, and comes with a backup remote control, which can easily be programmed to understand the customer’s own TV remote control. Each system also features built-in keyhole slots for mounting, which ensure a wide range of placement options.

The Polk SurroundBar 9000 Instant Home Theater is available at a suggested retail price of $799.95.