Polk REACT Soundbar and REACT Sub
THERE HAVE BEEN SOME TRULY AWESOME SOUNDBARS RECENTLY.
Majority’s K2 produced a big, broad sound for under £100, whereas’s Harman/ Kardon’s Citation Multibeam 700 produced skyscraper-shaking sound (and brought a lovely touchscreen interface to the party) for just under £500. So what do you go for if your budget only stretches to somewhere in-between the two? The answer lies here…
We two are one
We should point out each of the units featured here – the REACT Soundbar and the Sub – are sold separately. For your £250 you get the REACT Soundbar, whereas the REACT Sub will set you back an additional £179. That is a big outlay for a standalone sub, especially as the Soundbar does a decent job of handling the bass on its own, but the two in unison are formidable. The sizeable bass unit is wireless, automatically connects to the Soundbar when powered-on and instantly adds a huge complimentary rumble to your music that is seismic enough to cause heart palpitations.
The REACT Soundbar is so-called because that’s what it does, react to your voice. With Amazon Alexa built-in (which can be connected to Wi-fi and calibrated via the Alexa IOS app), you can throw the full barrage of smart speaker commands at it. Connecting the speaker to your Mac or IOS device is slightly trickier and involves the supplied remote control. Sadly, the REACT Soundbar doesn’t support Airplay, so if you want to start playing tracks
“The wireless bass unit adds a huge rumble to your music that is seismic enough to cause heart palpitations ”
from Apple Music, you’ll need to connect with Bluetooth. And with no apparent pairing button on the speaker itself you’ll have to hold a button on the remote for this action. This isn’t a massive deal, it’s just a shame this device isn’t instantly discoverable, as so many are.
Expertly engineered
The REACT Soundbar’s internal tweeter, mid-range and woofer speakers do an amazing job of handling your audio and they’re engineered to produce room-filling sound without the need for additional speakers (but they can be added if desired). If you connect the soundbar to your TV (and with a free high-speed HDMI cable included, why wouldn’t you?)
“You can use Polk’s Voice Adjust technology to boost the dialogue of films and TV shows to hear every word”
then you can also use Polk’s Voice Adjust technology to boost the dialogue and hear every word.
The only aspect of the REACT Soundbar that didn’t impress us was its appearance. While we approve of the general slim, low profile design and the light strip that indicates the mode (such as Bluetooth, Dolby, Night mode, etc), the large, very plastic, very ugly disc of control buttons on the top cheapens the look considerably. Judged on sound though, the REACT Soundbar is as impressive a sound slab as you’ll find for this price. Pair it with the REACT Sub too and you’ll really start to feel the audio.