Philips HTL5140B/12 2.1 Channel Soundbar Speaker with Wireless Subwoofer - Black

PROs:For a bar of that price range it is unbeatable. It renders sounds for both lower and higher frequencies very well and works very well also at lower/normal volume for both movies/series and news channels. It was easy to install and the wireless sub-woofer is a nice addition and reasonably easy to synchronize with the base unit. The remote doesn't have an unnecessary amount of options and choices. The sound bar looks good, it's not too small nor to big and fits perfectly under a 50"-55" TV.CONs:HDMI connectors on the back of the sound bar were a little difficult of access/install.The Sky Box for the UK market interferes with the start of the unit.Subwoofer could be a little more responsive at lower volumes even at maximum bass settings.Could have made the most important + and - volume buttons on the remote a little larger/more obvious.Still noticeable performance difference with a high end full 5.1 sound system but we are not comparing apples to apples anymore.CONCLUSION:I would buy it again and would recommend it to anyone that is looking for a 2.1 sound bar system in that price range. Even much higher priced sound bars units I explored were far from to the performance of this one.

I have had to re-write this review after Colin pointed out why my 3rd unit appeared to be faulty.I hadn't had much luck with the first two units.The first had a faulty HDMI input socket so had to be returned. Great sound through the optical input though. Trouble-free replacement arranged by Amazon.The second unit had a faulty crossover unit, so all frequencies were played through both the sub-woofer and the soundbar producing a really weird sound. I had though been really impressed with the sound of the original unit and requested a replacement unit, thinking that as the two problems were unrelated I had just been very unlucky. However Amazon advised that due to a lot of reported problems with this item they were replacing all existing stock with a new batch, which would not be available for several weeks so I had to return it for a refund. This didn't automatically occur - I had to chase them when it didn't appear in my account- make sure you hang onto your collection slip if you ever have to return anything. Once I had given them the details from this the refund was processed within minutes.Thinking there would be no problems with the new stock I ordered a third one a few weeks later which was great - until the sub-woofer wireless connection kept dropping. This occurred no matter where the unit was placed - and I tried numerous places and distances from the soundbar.The comment by Colin identified the cause of the problem. Although I had moved the sub-woofer around, I hadn't moved the soundbar, and this sat immediately above the wireless router on the shelf below. Moving the router resolved the problem.Am now very pleased with his unit. There is a tendency for the bass to be a bit boomy at times, but this is resolved by turning down the bass.

I purchased this product like many others after reading the what hi fi review rating it the best sound at under £300 firstly the positive it sounds great playing music via a Bluetooth device (iPad or phone etc) the sound is loud clear and has good bass the unit looks good with the bar being compact and stylish looking I havent mounted my bar on the wall but I can see how it could droop at the ends as mentioned in previous reviews.What is slightly less good is the sound when using it with the tv it isn't as loud or a good quality as from an external Bluetooth source but it still is a good improvement on the tv speakers it can also be very bass heavy on programs where you really don't want it for example if you are watching a programme with a male voice narrative the low voice notes are very bass heavy and muffled even with the bass turned to minimum and night mode on it doesn't get to a level where it is acceptable to listen to so I have ended up unplugging the sub unless I am watching a film or listening to music.The worst part of the soundbar by far is the lip sync problems as reported by others, when I first set it up I had an optical cable from tv to soundbar and an hdmi from Sky box to tv and the sound and vision were so far out it was unwatchable, I changed it so the optical cable is now directly from the Sky box into the soundbar and it has improved it a lot but when watching some channels and particularly recorded programmes on sky+ It can get quite bad im not sure if connecting to the soundbar with an hdmi arc cable will sort the issues but my tv doesn't have an hdmi arc out so I can't try it.So in conclusion good sound but flawed in other ways hence 3 stars (if I hadn't improved lip sync by direct connection to sky it would be 1 star and going back to Amazon) so buyer beware