PHILIPS B5306 2.1-Channel Soundbar with Wireless Subwoofer & Roku TV Ready, Black

Small but mighty sound
I love this Phillips sound bar! It’s small but, has a nice full sound! I adjusted it to make the most out of the sound quality! Play around with the options on the remote! It works great for me! I also like that it doesn’t take up a lot of space! It has a great surround sound!

Very frustrating and lacking
If you get it to work, it sounds extremely tinny with absolutely no depth and the EQ settings don’t make it any better. Following the instructions to the T doesn’t make it work. Days of experimentation finally make it come to life, and then it won’t work tomorrow. The requirement to link it to Google Home offers absolutely nothing other than a volume control on your phone. It doesn’t reliably join in with the other HDMI equipment, so if you want it to work every time without fuss you must use an optical cable to make it work, which also means you can’t use the common remotes to control the volume, etc., thus you always must keep the ridiculous remote it came with to control it separately. Not enough control to set the speakers or the subwoofer to any personalized levels, which is very frustrating since they put out almost no sound – most of the time you don’t even know if they are working. Unfortunately, I’m keeping it because someone being a big help has already destroyed the box, and there is a part of me that thinks I might be able to get it to work; if I do I will post a new review.***UPDATE FOR THE NEW YEAR*** If your TV speakers really do a good job and you just want your friends to see you have a soundbar taking up space, then this is the set for you. When it works, it’s okay, but most of the time I get frustrated trying to get it to work and just turn the TV speakers back on. You get what you pay for I guess. Next time I’ll just go with the Amazon brand – bad idea trying a name I knew.

Quality
Wasn’t what I expected,doesn’t play very loud but loud enough .Easy to connect to the tv though

Plug it into tv and go!
Very easy to set up. Has decent sound.Have not figured out to connect it to the tv controller; so having to use both controllers at present. One for tv and 1 for the sound.

I went back and forth with a number of soundbars – checking reviews, features, price, ease of use etc., and settled on this one. It has great sound and even on less than half max volume it is very substantial in creating a rumble effect. Sound travels to the room underneath on volume setting 14 but transfers as a low bass (the subwoofer is on the floor though) however it doesn’t penetrate horizontally to 2 rooms away (1 room away it does but fortunately that is unoccupied) We had it at full volume (32) for about 5 secs before deciding it was probably not wise if we intended to require windows that were not blown out. (it’s very loud)This is in my son’s bedroom and I work nights so sleep during the day and if he has it on a volume setting up to 15 I have no clue it is even on. Does not disturb me with the advantage of having a room between us. He is very impressed with it. His new favourite toy he says. He’s a baker and he says he reckons even with the noise of mixers, ovens and associated machinery in the bakery the sound bar would cut through that and drown them out. Unfortunately his boss won’t let him test that theory.Above volume 15 and in the room below his you can make out lyrics from music but also with a TV on in the room below it again just becomes a background bass-y rumble that fades into the background once you get immersed in the TV you are watching.I have read reviews about the scrolling text being distracting even on the dimmed setting. I asked my son about this – his first response ‘What scrolling text?’ then after watching the display he said ‘That reviewer needs to stop being so easily distracted’ He says if you are concentrating on what you are watching or playing it doesn’t distract you, you have to actively look down at the soundbar. It could also possibly be a placement issue with the reviewer. My son has it below the TV but it is also wall mountable and comes with some fittings.It did take a few goes to get it connected and even now 11 days later neither me or my son are quite sure how we got it working as we thought we’d tried every combination and we still couldn’t do it but then suddenly it came to life. I’m quite willing to accept unknown forces played a part, magic is real!We have it connected through HDMI(ARC) – not gonna lie had to google that, didn’t have a clue. Check your TV has a HDMI port with ARC support for this. It will say ARC in brackets next to one of the HDMI ports on your TV. However, I believe it can also connect through regular HDMI.Price is very reasonable and being able to get it on monthly payments through Amazon made the price easier to handle.One very impressed gadget-loving-console-playing son on his 23rd birthday and one happy mum to have monthly payments with a son’s birthday 20 days before Christmas.

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