The subwoofer module is a heftier cube, about the size and weight of a good quality bookshelf speaker system. It has a rating of 150W total power, which is needed to provide enough oooomph to balance the midrange+tweeter bar. It's wireless, using the same frequencies as the Wi-Fi network in your home, and automatically switches channels and bands to find one that's interference free. The big advantage of having the subwoofer wireless is that you can place it anywhere that makes sense and is convenient for you, without having to worry about stringing wires or having them visable. The subwoofer unit does require its own power, however, so you'll have to find within the standard 6ft (2m) of a power outlet. My suggestion would be to place the subwoofer on the floor and somewhere near the TV/Monitor, since, although bass is largely omnidirectional, having it originate from behind or beside you can be a bit weird when the Monster Truck is roaring through the monitor in front of you.

Figure 7: This is actually the back of the subwoofer. I used this shot since the front is basically a flat panel -- pretty boring. Here you can see the vented bass port used to supplement the actual speaker element. There are small LEDs on the top of the unit to tell you when the power is applied and it has successfully connected with the Audio Bar.

So, how does it sound?

All in all, the sound from the HD-D550 Audio Bar is not too bad. Although the 10% THD is a bit higher than what I'm used to, for TV watching it is very tolerable. The midrange+tweeter combination is a bit 'bright' and overemphasized for my liking, but that's in comparison to my paired dual-element ported bookshelf speakers which are standing on the floor. This tends to soften midrange a bit, so I wasn't used to hearing quite the 'presence' the Samsung provided. It might sound different if it were mounted to the wall.

The subwoofer did a pretty good job of filling out the bottom and there was no apparent delay caused by the wireless connection. The low end of the bass wasn't quite as solid as I'm used to with my bookshelf speakers but, together with the midrange unit, it was very listenable -- competent, but not amazing.

Samsung markets the unit as having digital sound processing which provides a '3D audio depth' with virtual surround sound capability. This is what intrigued me the most at first and triggered my desire to do this review. I was hoping that Samsung had captured/copied some of the audio engineering Bose has pioneered in being able to make it 'seem' like sound was coming from different parts of the room. Unfortunately, not quite. There are a number of 'programs' available on the HW-D550 as well as 3D sound processing. The programs are mostly just combinations of frequency response tailoring mixed in with some phase shift and/or reverb (hence, I think, the need for two mid-range speakers for each of left and right clusters.) The vitural surround sound seems be a mix of delay and reverb which didn't really change the originating direction of the sound. I still knew it was coming from the front -- it just sounded like I was in a bigger, empty hall.

It also incorporates a 'Smart Sound' feature where it will automatically adjust the sound level between inputs to ensure they come out at the same level. I turned this off very quickly, as the automatic adjustments were getting annoying and the selected 'level' wasn't right for us.

Conclusion

Would I get one of these? For the price currently on Amazon ($310USD) it certainly would be a consideration for TV or casual/entertainment movie watching. The compactness of the unit and simplicity of installation are major bonus points for me. However, for more serious music listening and/or full-blown gut renching home theatre gaming/movie watching, I think I'll stick to the component pieces for now.

Don Tolson is the lead Solution Architect for Fujitsu Consulting in Canada, specializing in mobile technologies. Years ago, he was that teenaged kid that was always building new speaker enclosures and trying to buy bigger speakers and amps to blow the windows off his basement bedroom. Since then, his dear wife has convinced him that he just needs to buy a REALLY GOOD SET of headphones:-)

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