✅ *GET THE PANORAMA 3: **bit.ly/3MXStNQ**, **bit.ly/3s0dqQt**, **amzn.to/3yj9Ncv* ★ *QOTD: What do you think of Dolby Atmos music?* ★ *CLICK 🔝 “SHOW MORE” in the description for answers to many of your questions* ★ *RULES: Please be respectful. NO OUTSIDE LINKS, URLs, email addresses, etc.*
At this point, I am starting the videos on Kristi's take, and then start from the beginning... I remember doing the same with the newspaper, I start reading from the last pages...
Another great video makes me rethink the future for needing all these expensive speakers all over your livingroom. For me I think I will always just love the look of looking around my livingroom seeing speakers. For me it brings a Nostalgia feeling of growing up with a room full of crazy speakers my dad collected over the years. Everything from FISHER (who else remembers fisher),SONY, TO B&W'S.. Every friend I had wanted to watch a movie at my house because of my dad's Obsession with speakers. But anyways these soundbars are really killing it this year. maybe in the future I'll get over the speaker thing and get a soundbar! Or maybe not 🤷🏽♂️
I can completely understand your conundrum. I like seeing a pair of speakers in my room (if they look nice), but I typically DO NOT like seeing more than 2 speakers in my space. So I get it. Soundbars are changing the game and the Panorama 3 here is another great example of getting more for less when fed the right signal.
B&W and soundbars hold a special place in my heart. So excited to have an Atmos B&W bar review from you guys. Honestly this sound bar sounds intriguing in many way for me, 45hz is such a high floor for bass. You said there is no sub "yet". Do you think that is a likey addition?
I’ve never bought a sound bar - but it is great to see them getting better. It’s so much cleaner than the wires you need to manage with an AVR and speakers
Sounds to me like y'all were being generous. How can B&W ship a product with an obvious technical flaw? How does that escape product testing and not get fixed?
It kind of feels like B & W is playing "catch up" in the digital audio space after doing so well with what they've always done - building great sounding speakers... it's a new playground for them and I feel like they are in the learning curve portion of it. They're getting some things perfectly spot on and then completely missing others, i.e. - creating the amazing sounding Formation Duo speakers, and then creating the Formation Audio that doesn't even have an HDMI ARC or eARC port. I'm hoping they can get caught up and nail a few of their next attempts.
@@andrewrobinsonreviews Thank you for the reminder. Just gotten off work for the weekend, and this was a treat to watch. It is strange that, like the Phantoms at the beginning, no tone controls were provided at the onset. Early adopters of their products tend to get a raw deal, and i love your candor and honest assessment of the Dione. Should have made a shout-out to my favourite Bose 700 though, lol (same frequency range, with the sub included 🙂).
Thanks for your honest and comprehensive reviews Andrew. One question: Have you heard about the Devialet Dione soundbar? It goes down to 24 hz and it has a very unique design. Dione is priced at $2400 so it is very comparable to Ambeo and other high-end soundbars.
Thanks for watching! We have yet to hear the Devialet soundbar but it has been requested. We always recommend that you let brands know what/where you'd like to see their products reviewed.
@@andrewrobinsonreviews Thank you so much for that honest review. I watched it a few hours ago. I wanted you to review Dione because I noticed that the available reviews were all paid advertisement for Devialet. I expected better from Devialet but I didn't want to pay $2400 for a mystery box! 😀
Ahhhhhh…B&W! I was underwhelmed with this sound bar on paper, and now frustrated with B&W as a company once again after your review. When it comes to powered gear, they are capable of bringing spectacular (on all levels) but for some reason they always fall short. Especially when it comes to sound bars. I was going to ask if you thought the stereo performance could be improved with firmware updates and future features, but history says B&W won’t follow through. Kristi is exactly right. They have a ways to go! For Atmos music I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the Steven Wilson mix on the new Tears For Fears album.
Hi guys - great review…. Honestly I’m so happy you have finally experienced Dolby Atmos music on a system that exploits it. On my system it’s got me listening more then ever, exploring new music, new artists and rediscovering songs from my past.
To answer the question…about Dolby Atmos.. I agree Andrew .. it’s weirdish to me upon playback of music coupled with connectivity issues that come with it I own a Sonos Arc. It’s not just Sonos.. I’ve seen issues expressed with Bose & Samsung owners as well. The mixes always sound weird. Heavier on bass and everything else sounds a bit misplaced. However, I will try Dolby Atmos again and listen to Norah Jones.
Totally, soundbars are really the new movie speakers (see my Atmos post here). They need more finishes as these may end up in pretty nice cabinets that costs double or triple the price of the soundbar itself.
Happy Mothers day out there. I had my mom over to the home theater yesterday to watch Ford Vs Ferrari in Atmos after a nice lunch. She was upset when Ferrari lost, but loved the experience. She actually appreciated and understood my home theater for the 1st time. Cheers folks
I love the all in one standalone soundbars that go for quality sound over surrounds. It makes sense for them to do something different than the traditional home theatre set up, while also playing to its own strengths. I would love to hear your take on the devialet dione.
We've been told that we are being sent Devialet (not sure which product) but so far nothing has been confirmed. Be sure to let them know you'd like to see the Dione reviewed here!
I would rather have a sennheiser Ambeo or Devialet Dione than most of the bars out there. Higher quality drivers, more detailed lows, mids and highs. Another RU-vidr spare change has said most bars with surrounds are like home theater in a boxes.
@@MrNickster12345 The AMBEO is a fantastic sound bar but it is more than double the price of the B&W so not really the most fair comparison. We're hoping to get Devialet to send us product at some point. Not sure about the HTIAB comparison. It seems like the bulk of his reviews are done inside a retailer showroom so there's that...I think some soundbars do a really good job at replicating the traditional home theater experience.
I don't want a soundbar to reproduce music well. It makes me feel bad about the $23,000 I spent on the "real" sound system that surrounds my TV. Then I start to question my choices in life.
Sounds like it suffered the same signal-switching problem as Emotiva’s processors since the start. Quicker changes from 2.0 to 5.1 are missed (almost 100% of the time in the HBO app) and it continues to only pull in LR and upconverts to surround. We’re still using the Sonos Playbar, which is also mind-bogglingly good for surround material and flat, mono and chesty for music.
@@andrewrobinsonreviews you’re the only content creator that’s appointment tv for me. Appreciate the production quality, the interior design aesthetic, Kristi’s POV (sorely lacking in this topic), and the info overall. Cheers!
I have read reviews of this soundbar from purchasers at Best Buy and they are rating it two stars so I would assume that they are none too happy with it.
I wanna start a philosophical discussion about the evolution of soundbars. Over the past year we've seen high-end soundbars and new semi-soundbars such as the Klipsch Heritage (3 front speakers in a soundbar) and Sony HT-9. If I'm not mistaken, you requested a sub I believe from Klipsch for soundbars showing that there's room to grow. What I personally would like to see is a product that integrates a sound bar with front speakers. Essentially, the sound bar would be smaller and house the center channel, rear, and atmos speakers and it would be coupled to 2 real front speakers like the Formation Duo, KLH5, or your favorites the Klipsch Heresy. Manufacturers could also offer a choice of front speakers like the KLH5/KLH3 to accommodate different budgets and spaces. Room correction would also be an absolute must. In many ways, the Sony HT-9 is similar to this product but the HT-9 foregoes the center channel for 4 speakers around the room along with a mandatory sub. So that's 4 speakers, 1 sub, 1 hub requiring 6 plugs and the plugs can be an issue. It also requires stands or a furniture to put the speaker on. My proposed design reduces that to 3 speakers all housed up-front - a center channel and 2 front speakers requiring 1 plug if the amp is housed in the soundbar or 3 plugs if the speakers are independently powered as opposed to powered by the center channel. What do you think of a set up like that?
how would I connect if I use mainly Apple TV to watch... should I airplay the sound to the sound bar or should I connect eARC to the TV? I listen to music a lot via airplay as well... any advice?
Even at B&W's launch party for the Panorama 3 they specifically stated, several times, that it wasn't geared toward the home theater crowd - but was more to make your TV sound better... Other than the small Atmos drivers... this seems like a step backwards... from the Panorama 1 & 2... going from 3" drivers to 2" drivers... and doesn't look nearly as nice... Of course it's cheaper, so...
I think it’s pretty important to highlight the fact that it shines in Dolby atmos source material and falls flat on stereo source material. … what do you think if you go to a box store or somewhere with it on display … it will probably be a demo for it to shine. You decide to bite the bullet and spend the 1k … get it home and have the realization that … it’s not what you expected.
I love your reviews. I suggest you should do a ranking video of soundbars they have become the go to solution for movies and music in most modern homes.
Yes, I’d love a video like this. AND a written list stored somewhere to refer back to for all component / speaker reviews. As you do a review add it to it’s “proper rank” on the list. (only one more thing for you to do! 🫣😉🙂)
One of the things that's stopped me moving to an all in one cinema bar is the lack of inputs, if you've not upgraded your display ( still using a still amazing late Panasonic plasma here ) you are ruled out from E-ARC usage.
I think the reason why people buy sound bars is for ease of use; plug it in and with minimal set up it should sound good for tv, movies, music, whatever. For $1000 I’d expect it to sound pretty dang good ALL the time. But doing only a few things (or ONE thing) well would be maddening to me. But great video, folks. Thanks!
I saw your very positive review on the ambeo. I know it's quite a bit more pricey. If price wasn't an object, what would you recommend as the top soundbar (for music and movies)? Congrats on your house btw!
I've owned this soundbar from the release date , this review is great but I'd like a re test if possible with the 1.5.1 recent update it's a completely different soundbar! It's gone from pretty good to a much better sounding performance all around from all sources!
@@navizat To my ears streaming movies in either Dolby Atmos or 5.1 the dialogue sounds well separated, after the 1.5.1 update, voices sound more natural like they're utilising all the speakers better along with there frequency range. From a physical disc movie the voice and overall mix really do sound much fuller and weighted. The object detection alongside voice reproduction in my opinion is much better after the update I'm very happy with this soundbar!
@@navizat You're welcome! I use the soundbar as an do it all speaker. From my Reavon player , stereo plays through the front channels and uses the bass speakers only and it sounds very good , there is some projection from the sides after the update but it generally sounds better if you're sat bang in the middle at around 7-8 ft If you're streaming music I believe it uses some computational processing in the bar as it does sound really good over CD in my opinion I guess the Reavon through HDMI isn't really the best way as it's not using Reavon's Bur Brown DACS to push the sound Streaming to the bar via Bluetooth or internet sounds absolutely fantastic though! Hope this helps
I can't believe this soundbar can sound better than your cinema speakers! If the sound should come from above, then this is not how not to do it from below! How is it not atmos in comparison with lji soundbars in music?
Does having a 3 channel setup on the panorama take away from the atmos experience? In a market of 5 channel, 7 channel or even 11 channel soundbars, it seems odd B&W went with a simple 3 channel front configuration. Any idea why?
I can’t comment on the panorama as I haven’t heard it but in my experience the ambeo is the one to go for over the stage. Both amazing but the ambeo wins hands down on surround.
This is the consequence of atmos - every manufacturer is focusing on soundbars because hanging speakers is extremely complicated as Andrew and Kristi figured out. And they did the clever thing which is put in-wall speakers as opposed to suspending a B&W 804 over your head and fearing you'll die if it ever falls on you;-) I was recently chatting online with Technodad and he recently upgraded his ceiling speakers from Klipsch to Focal. However, since he has separates, his Atmos speakers required a separate Parasound amplifier in addition to his other 5 speaker Parasound amp. So going upscale with Atmos requires 3 separates, not 2 which makes sense if you think about it. You won't find an external home theater amp for 9 channels out there. Just an indication of how much more expensive and complicated Atmos is. More separates not only requires more money, it also may require more cabinetry, more space, more in wall outlets as you may exceed the 1800 watt limit etc. In the old 5.1 days, the main complexity was getting the wires to the rear of the room and that was no easy feat. In my case, Atmos is insurmountable as I have cathedral ceilings. Plus AV receivers have nearly increased in price from 50% to 100% in some cases, just for 2-4 extra speakers and I think some may have fans in them. I can definitely see the appeal of a $1,000 Bowers & Wilkins soundbar to answer all your Atmos needs. For most people, this is the cheapest way to own a B&W piece of equipment and it's a great value when the Zeppelin sells for $800.
As I was watching this review, I was as like “Wow, I should get that sound bar.” Then I realized, “Oh wait I already have a pretty nice sound bar with wireless sub, airplay, and Bluetooth.” And I remembered why I forgot about it. It was too much fuss having two remotes for volume, have some occasional syncing issues, and I couldn’t get a proper universal remote. So I just use the regular tv speaker.
Thank you so much for your content. I enjoyed this video - especially about Dolby Atmos music. I have both a Hi-Fi and a Samsung N950 soundbar. My Cambridge EVO 150 paired with PMC Twenty5.23 blows the soundbar away with regular stereo mixes. However, the Soundbar is excellent with well-produced Dolby Atmos tracks from Apple Music via Apple TV.
Budget or entry level, no. At $999 I don't consider the B&W budget. The Sonos Beam Gen 2 bit.ly/3qJdaFf is (in my opinion) THE "best" entry point into the space.
@Andrew Robinson, great review as always, just want to confirm, the P3 is ok with normal Dolby Digital 5.1 signal i.e. not flat sounding as with stereo? If that's the case I might just be able to live with it.
Nice review. I find REALLY hard to believe that any soundbar around the same price + a subwoofer doesn't sound better than a soundbar without a subwoofer
Thanks for the review. For my money I think I'd rather go down the Sonos rabbit hole, so I'd have the option of expanding in the future. I have yet to experience Dolby Atmos music, but it sound like it might bee very cool.
IMO Dolby Atmos 'music' is overrated! Besides one can never compete with the Beautiful imaging from a 2-channel stereo setup! And this is coming from someone who's got a full high-end Dolby Atmos setup.
Hi, as usual a great review. How does it compare to the Bose 900? Bar vs Bar without the additional sub and rears. thanks a lot and also waiting for Kristi getting the Devialet Dione :)
Hi Andrew, I really like your videos and have been watching them for a long time. I'm wondering how do you feel about the fives from klipsch with a 10 inch sub against all the newer soundbars that you've come across in the past year. I watch a lot of movies and Netflix but i do care more about music sound quality. If pcm and rumbling bass is enough for me for watching movies, are the fives with sub still the best plug and play option against all of the soundbars you've heard in terms of music hifi sound quality?
Love the new tv set up. I agree I love the way the bar looks but the performance has to be there also. The Samsung bar is amazing for regular tv watching. I have the q900a with rears and it's amazing. I can't wait for that LG premium one with the center speaker. I forget the model number because they put too many numbers
@@westcoast708 I recommend getting a color that's darker than you what you ultimately want as this is a lime wash and doesn't go on like regular paint. We did a video where we show you the application process if you want to check it out. You'll find it in the home reno playlist.
We've requested one but that's as far as the conversation has gone. As I've told others here in the comment section, the best thing to do is let the brand know where you'd like to see their products reviewed.
Andrew, what happend to that review of DALI OBERON C LINE? DALI announced the wireless 7.1 OBERON C range with the HDMI SoundHub module. Is that coming any time soon? I personally lost faith in Bowers & Wilkins as a brand... Regarding soundbars: I wish the DALI KUBIK ONE stereo soundbar would've been more recent for you to review. I have one in the living room and it's just such an amazing piece of kit. It's a simple stereo soundbar which is on the taller side because of the 5.25 inch drivers. The same ones they use in their ZENSOR speaker line. I hope DALI will update it.
We had a series of multiple Dali products arrive broken and/or damaged due to poor packaging materials. The Oberon 7C sadly was no different and so we returned the speakers without a review. While we really enjoyed our time with the Oberon 1 speakers, until the packaging QC is addressed, it is unlikely that we will review Dali products on the channel.
@@KristiWright Thanks for the great content. The Formation sounded nice but the app Integration was missing many key things. No HDMI. Just optical. But at least there was subwoofer and rear speakers add-on.
With the soundbar sounding so good with Atmos content, one would hope an update could bring upscaling of some kind so stereo content could sound better
Hmm seems B&W and Sound United is going full steam here. B&W dipping in the Sound United pool is a big perk for B&W. Hope this is as good as Andrew says it is.
I have two questions: 1. Do you still think the JBL 9.1 is a good Dolby Atmos/DTS:X sound bar 2022? 2. Will you review the LG C2 anytime this year? I’m curious to hear your take on it. I have the C1 and I LOVE IT! I have paired it with the JBL 9.1, but I am waiting to see if they will update the bar.
A 9.1 soundbar. I would like to ask what it sounds like but mind you if you never had a soundbar prior to this one, its probably pointless asking really!
@@totalplonker824 the sound is very nice, it gets LOUD! The bass is very strong if you place the subwoofer in a good spot in your room. The only grip I have is that there is no detail in the sound, it’s hard to hear the little details in music and movies with a lot happening. Dolby Atmos/DTS:X is good with this sound bar, but I don’t have flat ceilings. They are at an angle and the Atmos isn’t very convincing because of that.
I really want this SB so bad... but I am not sure if it's worth the upgrade from my Samsung, which is already 2 years old... I've almost written off ATMOS and 360 music as its implementation in headphones is just horrible in my opinion.
Manufacturers seem to target separate markets with no expansion or flexibility to what users might want to migrate to (when funds allow or usage changes) or have room to accommodate in their homes. The Panorama is for those who are looking for a better TV speaker. No expansion, no rear channel (e.g. Formation Flex), no side drivers and far from the performance of stereo speaker solutions if used for hi-fi audio. The Formation series has Bar, Bass and Flex for rears so offers more but stops short of the quality the Formation Duo give for hi-fi audio and it is not possible to add the Duo to the Flex and Bass for surround sound system. You can get all but when watching a movie the Formation Duo are silent - even when the video is stereo only (lag). The other markets are the traditional hi-fi stereo with adding in wireless, streaming and DSP room correction - all great, interesting and useful - but nearly always fail to expand to surround sound (sole exception seem to be WiSA supported systems e.g. Buchardt, B&O (expensive) or over complex additional and expensive boxes e,g, Meridian (really expensive)). Otherwise an AV Receiver with passive speakers or analogue only active speakers. A third market being wireless streaming speakers powered or active and will not even work as stereo from TV or computer unless you have another means to change the lag (e.g. VCL has some control for movies, including DVD/Blu-ray on a PC but a web browser for RU-vid etc does not). USB computer speakers and battery powered Bluetooth speakers also have their limitations particularly if you would like to avoid any compressed audio (MP3, AAC, Bluetooth) but would like fewer wires and a stereo sound stage.
Don’t ever accept half baked products from a manufacturer. It’s obviously a no-go of it cannot play all type of content well. Dolby atmos is maybe 5% of all content right now (I’m being generous here) and you have to pay for that content. Go with a Bose 900 or Sonos arc and eventually add a sub and surrounds when deals are available. You’re much better off this way both sonically and from a value standpoint.
Thank you so much for this review Andrew and Kristi. They are incredible informative and you do an excellent job or articulating the strengths and weaknesses of highly critical users in addition to its overall place in the market. I was wondering if you would be reviewing the Devialet sound bar?
Yeah, I've noticed that with the new Dolby Atmos music on iTunes I just don't think that's the fall of the sound bar at all. It's just the fact that it's able to re-create this Dolby Atmos Contant, which Mike Klipsch sound bar 48 did the same thing maybe it wasn't quite as noticeable, I would have to get the BMW sound bar and find out for myself to see how much of a difference it is but I just think that's because of the content and the sound bar is reproducing that immersive sound which is great so I don't know I think I'd rather have that than it not be able to reproduce that Dolby Atmos at all so I don't know him another thing are you able to add a sub to the sound bar or it's just not able to Bluetooth connector hardwire a subwoofer to this?
@@dexterie I didn’t so I just bought it myself. I hadn’t had any issues until recently being that I started watching “the boys” on Prime and now and then it will play it in stereo but if you stop the show and then resume it fixes it. Other wise the bar works great. I will say going from 2 HomePods to the B&W panorama 3 it was kind of a let down initially because the HomePods are so boomy with their bass and the panorama isn’t. But since using it daily and getting use to the less bass boosted stuff I enjoy it. Like they said as an all in one soundbar it’s fine but it would benefit a lot from a sub.
I am watching this a bit late, but I wanted to tell you that as you probably know, sonos released a brand new product, sonos "ray", a mini-soundbar. You NEED to try it, and review it for us👍
Hi Andrew and Kristi hope your well and ready for Christmas? just a quick question the above b&w soundbar is currently on sale in the uk at some stores for £499 which is roughly $608 is this worth buying at this price as its half its retail price ? Thanks in advance and great review, Merry Christmas.
The recommended price in the UK is £699. I bought the soundbar from the retailer selling it at £499, and received it yesterday. My initial impression re the sound quality is that the soundbar is revealing of poor quality audio such as that from Freeview Channels. One aspect that I have only seen mentioned once is that, as in any high quality speakers, the drivers need to be run in, and the audio performance of the soundbar improves with the passage of time. As someone with a TV that has four 4K 120Hz HDMI inputs the absence of HDMI inputs on the soundbar is acceptable. At £499 the Panorama 3 is a bargain, and if you are not happy with it you have 14 days within which to return it. I intend to keep mine.
@@terrym540 Thank you Terry really appreciate your help and advice it seems a really good deal for a high end soundbar, once again thank you and i hope you have a lovely christmas
@terrym540 obviously, I don't expect any stereo imaging or anything. But does the sound of the speakers sound bright while listening to stereo music. And do you mind telling me what music platform you chose. £399 right now at Peter Tyson 🤔
As I have no supporting system, I haven't listened to any Atmos music. I'm interested, just currently saving for all the necessary pieces. I'm conflicted with this sound bar as the lack of simulated Atmos at this price point seems to hold this one back.
If you can't necessarily feed this bar Atmos or Dolby Digital signals this bar may be a mixed bag for many. If you need to simulate surround sound this is the better choice: amzn.to/3bt6HpT
I apologise if you already touched on this and I missed it in the review but how does it compare to the ambeo? If price isn’t a factor is the ambeo still the one to beat as an all in one solution?
I tested it at home and my insight is very similar to yours. The problem with this soundbar is that while it sounds great when playing the surround source it fails completely when playing TV signal. The voice of speakers in studio are totally flat with literaly no bass - just a bit better than sound from smartphone. My general observation is that brand with such a heritage - should refine the way they recently develop new products. Got impression that too many staff with huge experience left the company and there is no link between old and new products at all.
