Arin/Mickey, I don’t know much about speakers, other than that the ones in my TV aren’t good enough. I’m interested in a soundbar. Can you tell me why I’d want the QP 9W PWRBAR over the FRONT ROW SYS 8210, or vice versa? I realize the 8210 comes with a wireless subwoofer. How else do they differ? Why the difference in price (retail)? Anything else you can say about these that would be helpful in making a decision?
Things to consider when buying a soundbar:
- How much space do you have near your TV (ie, can you accommodate a bulky subwoofer). If you’ve got the space, it will probably sound better $ for $ than a smaller solution.
- What inputs can you handle? If you don’t have a separate amplifier, you probably don’t want the 9 element wooden soundbar, lovely thought it looks. Instead, drop $100 on the Sharp or a bit more on one of the others and be done. My favorite input is the optical audio (fiber optic) one.
Hope that helps you get a quality soundbar for a great price!
I have the Sharp 2.0 soundbar hooked up to my Woot Visio Smart LED. The Sharp soundbar has ONLY a 3.5 mm input. Many on this site can’t deal with that limitation.
My goals were simple. No additional remote, fill out the tinny sound out of the flatscreen, and forget it’s there.
I had an L-R RCA to 3.5 plug handy to covert my Vizio audio out to this thing, so no financial pain to connect.
I fiddled with the settings, and driving both the TV and soundbar simultaneously (look for variable output to prevent flat volume out) results in a sound that is controlled by your single remote, and is not bad for standard TV front-forward watching – News, sitcoms, sports.
Better than the Visio alone, but it ain’t theater sound. Don’t set your expectations too high. Stay away if you think you’ll get anything approaching “theater,” “rich,” or “full.”
Bottom line: with this thing the sound is about as good as the old high-end Sony or Panasonic CRT TVs with 2 or 4 built-in stereo speakers. To be fair, for this price and simple connection philosophy, that’s acceptable.
Really, Woot? I bought the PBAR 6200 on Tech.Woot for $129.99 August 11 - just over 2 weeks ago - and now you have it on Woot Plus for $119.99?
Not good. In fact, bad. What gives?
Hmm. That seems odd. I would write into Woot Member Services at support@woot.com and let them know.
They’ll be able to answer any questions or concerns you may have about your previous purchase.
Thanks, I thought it was odd as well, and will write Member Services.
Regarding the PBAR 6200, I am impressed. Very good sound, attractive unit and comes with excellent mounting hardware and an optical cable.
Hi, Arin with Pinnacle Speakers, TEAM LEADER to assist. Model QP9W is a passive (non powered SPEAKERBAR. That means it is hooked up to an audio receiver as part of a home theater system. Hook-up is the old fashioned way with Speaker Wire. The QP9W has all three front channels, front left/right and center in the 1 cabinet. It is an excellent SPEAKERBAR.
Now, Pinnacle SOUNDBARS are self powered items with their own built in amplifier and will not hook up through a receiver. They hook up directly to the TV with a simple 1 cable hook-up. Their best use is for significant improvement over today’s “Acoustically Challenged” flat screen TV’s. The ones with beautiful picture but so thin they have stripped out virtually all acoustics and High fidelity sound. So, the SOUNDBAR is a direct hook-up to the TV and is for significant detail and clairty for voices and dialogue in TV and movies. If you want more than that, add the wireless powered subwoofer for significant bass depth. SYstem 8210 includes a SOUNDBAR and subwoofer.
NEW ITEM: QPW POWERED is our highest end SOUNDBAR. It has a SUB-OUT to allow purchase of a separate Powered SUbwoofer. We make many excellent powered subs. So, here is the Recap:
SPEAKERBAR: not amplified, hooks up to Audio Receiver as part of Home Theater system. MODEL QP9W
SOUNDBAR: Self powered 2 channel speaker for significant upgrade to low TV sound quality. Hooks up with 1 cable (supplied) from SOUNDBAR to TV. Models FRONTROWPBAR6200 or higher end
QP9W PWBR.
SOUNDBAR + SUBWOOFER PACKAGE:
For a serious dimension of bass, which SOUNBARS alone do not provide, we offer FRONTROWSYS8210 which includes SOUNBAR + Wireless Powered Subwoofer or
QP9W PWRBR + purchase a separate Powered subwoofer to connect to the SOUNDBAR.
There’s your recap. I hope it answers all you questions.
Arin
Thanks for the detailed response, Arin. A few follow-up questions. Can I interpret from your response that the QP9W PWRBR is a better quality soundbar than the one included in the FRONTROWSYS8210? Do you sell wireless subwoofer that can be paired with the QP9W PWRBR, or does it only match with a wired subwoofer? Finally, I read somewhere in a previous sale’s discussion that a subwoofer may be positioned at either the front or back of the room. Is that correct, or does that rule apply only to full 5.1 and up systems rather than just with a soundbar?
Ok, Thanks for the follow up question.
Yes, the QP9W PWRBAR is our best SOUNDBAR. It will work with any one of our powered subwoofer with the cable included with our subs. It will not work with the wireless powered subwoofer in the FRONTROW8210 system. The system SOUNDBAr and SUBWOOFER are designed to mate to each other.
We suggest placing the subwoofer in the front as opposed to rear since this is not a full home theater set up. However, if the room is not too big it is OK to move the sub around for best sound. So, 200 sq’ or less and feel free to put the subwoofer front or back of room. We offer many excellent powered subwoofers that go on sale here at WOOT periodically. So picking up our best SOUNDBARQP9W PWRBR now, and I expect the powered subwoofer selection will be available here too over the coming weeks.
Thanks. Arin
I dunno guys. I just got my Boston Acoustic Tvee 26, since I couldn’t text out the Pinnacle soundbar and sub in a store nearby (closed that day, go figure). Now it’s back, and I’m considering selling that 26 to get the Pinnacle. One of those times where I thought I could settle but still uneasy about the purchase.
Thanks again, Arin. One final question. I see online that the FRONT ROW system has an additional input for mp3 players. Does the QP9W PWRBAR have that as well? That may be the deciding factor for me, as I’d like to have the versatility to choose between TV and auxiliary inputs.
-Ryan
I do believe it has the MP3 hook-up feature but I will confirm with our R/D. With the Labor Day Holiday, not sure I can get confirmation 100%, but from my experience, I am confident this SOUNDBAR would have that feature too. UPDATE: I confirmd with Pinnacle Enginnering and yes, you can hook up your MP3 player to QP9W POWERBAR
I am interested in buying the Pinnacle Wood 9. Anyone know if this would be a good choice for a center channel speaker in a theater room? I would have to hook all three speaker connections to the center channel. I already have a in-wall surround sound. I am just not impressed with the current center speaker. Is this possible? Any thoughts??
HI, this is Arin with Pinnacle Speakers to address your question. QP9W comes in 2 versions. a SPEAKERBAR with all 3 front channels in 1 cabinet. And the POWERBAR which is an outstanding SOUNDBAR to hook directly to the TV.
We do not recommend hooking up QP9W SPEAKERBAR ($159 on this woot blowout)with all 3 channels to the CENTER channel output of the receiver. This would be trying to create 3 separate CENTER CHANNEL speakers from 1 output. This can create issues for your receiver. We do make many excellent Center Channel Speakers that go on special with Woot.
What you can consider is the SOUNDBAR version model QP9W POWERBAR and hook that directly to your TV for a vastly improved TV/Movie experience. This is our best SOUNDBAR and a brand new item! Then later, if you still want to upgrade the center channel with a differnt Center channel speaker, but we think you will not need to with our QP9 PWRBR
I hope this helps.
I am going to hook this speaker up to a projector not a tv. I also do not have any power near the speaker.
OK, then we think it best you upgrade the center channel speaker you mentioned. We will have several great choices on WOOT soon.
I bought the SYS 8210 at the last event and am really happy with the sound quality. But I can’t seem to find the code to use with my DirecTv remote.
My wife will kill me if I need to use a separate remote for the volume 
Not that anyone has asked yet, but I thought I would mention my impressions of the Audio Solutions TVAM2.1 TV mount I got during the last Woot-off.
My previous mount was a cheap and flimsy Cheetah mount that was bending from the weight of my rather heavy older 42” Panasonic plasma monitor. The Audio Solutions TVAM2.1 seemed like a good idea since my Panasonic doesn’t have any speakers, and the price was right.
Upon receiving it I was surprised by the size and weight of it. Upon opening the package I was thoroughly impressed by the build quality. It is made with heavy gauge steel (unlike the Cheetah). The instructions were clear and it came supplied with everything you would need to mount on different surfaces.
Some of the images of it on Woot are deceptive. Your TV will stick out from the wall a few inches because of the subwoofer. And the speakers are kind of small (that conference picture is total BS).
I am using it in my garage and think it looks fine. Just keep in mind that if you want your TV as close to the wall as possible this might not be the solution for you.
Now for the unexpected part; the sound quality is phenomenal! My wife and I were totally surprised by the sound this puts out. At first I thought the original MSRP of $500 was BS (kind of like those Invicta watches), but considering the build quality and sound quality it seems reasonable.
If you don’t mind your TV not sitting flush with the wall, I recommend this definitely this TV mount. Especially at this price!