2023-09-13 23:00:00
Signa S4 The sound bar market continues to grow as a result of the spread of video streaming and the expansion of time at home. While many high-end models costing more than 100,000 yen are appearing, even in the lower price range, the number of high-performance models that support Dolby Atmos is increasing. Many readers may be wondering, “I want an Atmos-compatible sound bar with good cost performance, but which one is best?” That’s why we’re paying attention to Polk Audio, which is attracting attention for its “good value for money” as a pure audio speaker. Actually, Polk Audio also makes sound bars, and the cost performance of these is also crazy. For example, the “Signa S4”, which sells for around 40,000 yen, has a 3.1.2ch configuration that supports Dolby Atmos, and has enabled speakers built into the sound bar. Rather than a virtual sound, the sound is actually emitted toward the ceiling and reflected, reproducing the sound pouring down from above. Additionally, it comes with a separate wireless subwoofer and also has a Bluetooth reception function, allowing you to play music from your smartphone. How much satisfaction can you get with the actual price of 40,000 yen? Let’s actually listen to it. First of all, what is Polk Audio? For those who are familiar with Pure Audio speakers, there may be no need to explain, but Polk Audio is not a “low-priced speaker manufacturer that has recently appeared.” It is a long-established audio manufacturer with a history of over 50 years, and can be said to be a global speaker brand, with the top market share in the United States. In 1971, two young men, George Klopfer and Matt Polk, who had no money but were passionate, started making speakers in their garage with the idea of making good speakers that even students might buy themselves. is the origin. In 1975, they completed a product called Monitor 7 (official name: MODEL 7), which became a huge hit. Since then, they have continued to release popular models and become a popular audio manufacturer. Although it has entered the Japanese market several times in the past, in 2017 it merged with D&M Holdings, which is familiar with the Denon and Marantz brands, and will make a full-fledged return to the Japanese market in 2020. entered. This is why despite being a long-established brand, it was not well known in Japan, but recently it has been attracting attention for the high cost performance of its bookshelf speakers and floor-type speakers, and has grown to be a popular brand in Japan. It’s coming. Even though it is a full-fledged floor type, the “ES55” costs 63,800 yen per unit.Our commitment to creating sound bars as “high-quality speakers” At first glance, sound bars are “long, black bars” so all models look similar. However, if you look inside, you will see that it is a rather “elaborate” product. Signa S4 As you can see from the internal photos of the Signa S4, there is one full-range unit installed in the center of the housing. Although it is small at 1 inch in size, it is actually not an ordinary thing. It is an extremely efficient unit equipped with a lightweight aluminum diaphragm, and has a wide band of 400Hz to 20kHz and flat characteristics. The newly developed 1-inch full-range unit installed in the center of the Signa S4 is that this 400Hz to 20kHz band covers the range of the human voice. Dialogue is important in movies, and this full-range unit can cover the range of dialogue. For example, if it is not a full-range system but has a two-way system (tweeter and woofer), the higher-pitched voice will be assigned to the tweeter, and the lower-pitched voice will be assigned to the woofer, resulting in an unnatural change in the location where the sound comes out. I feel sad. In other words, it is a full-range unit that focuses on the “naturalness of human voices.” Both ends are equipped with 2 midranges and 2 tweeters.Equipped with 2 midranges and 2 tweeters at both ends. The focus is on the enabled speakers inside them. As mentioned above, this is a unit that reproduces Atmos’s “sound from the ceiling.” The enabled speakers are mounted diagonally upward to reflect the light off the ceiling. The one facing diagonally upwards is the enabled speaker.His role as an enabled speaker is quite difficult. Other units can emit sound directly toward the front, that is, toward the listener, so there is less loss, but enabled speakers reflect the sound off the ceiling, so the distance the sound simply propagates is longer. Therefore, enabled speakers need to output volume and sound pressure more powerfully than other units. Generally speaking, this is done by increasing the output of the amplifier that drives the enabled speaker by regarding 3dB, but the Signa S4 is a little different. The edge of the enabled speaker has been changed to a urethane material that allows the diaphragm to move more easily, and the magnetic circuit has also been strengthened to drive the diaphragm more powerfully. By increasing the efficiency of the unit without increasing the output of the amplifier, the sound can reach the listener even through the long reflection path from the ceiling. The problem can be solved by increasing the output of the enabled speaker amplifier with an improved drive system and strengthened magnetic circuit, but in terms of sound quality, it is definitely better to increase the efficiency of the unit. First of all, as a speaker, we do what we can do with the acoustic part, create a speaker that sounds really good, and only rely on amplifiers and DSP for areas that cannot be solved…This is a pure audio speaker manufacturer’s way of thinking. You might say that. D&M collaborated on the built-in amplifiers The amplifiers that drive these units also have a Polk Audio feel to them. We requested the cooperation of engineers from D&M Holdings, a group company familiar to Denon and Marantz that has been developing amplifiers for many years. They are developing the amplifier that will be installed in the Signa S4. When it comes to audio manufacturers, there are cases where they insist on “manufacturing everything using their own technology,” which results in products becoming more expensive, but in Polk Audio’s case, the decision is reasonable. I decided that if there was a manufacturer that was good at making amplifiers, I would be able to make a better-sounding soundbar if I left it to them. What D&M’s engineers created was a powerful amplifier section with a total output of 150W for the sound bar and subwoofer. Utilizing Pure Audio’s know-how, we pursue the shortest path from input to output, and are also equipped with a heat sink to cool the heat generated by the amplifier device. Another key point is that it uses a unique design to prevent “squealing” from occurring due to vibration. The Signa S4 has a unique design that prevents the amplifier board heatsink from making noise, and it also features “Voice Adjust” as a convenient function. This function makes it easier to hear voices, such as lines, even at low volumes when watching movies at night. When you hear this, you tend to think, “Aren’t they using an equalizer to adjust the vocal range?” But that’s not the case. DSP is used to constantly check the audio input, and only when a human voice comes in, it makes corrections to make it easier to hear. In other words, even if Voice Adjust is turned on, no correction is applied in scenes where it is determined that the voice is not human speaking, so background sounds and BGM will not appear unnatural. This is likely to lead to frequent use of Voice Adjust. Let’s listen to the sound Let’s listen to the sound. Connect Fire TV Cube (3rd generation) via HDMI and listen to Atmos music Before watching a movie, listen to music in Dolby Atmos format. Connect Fire TV Cube (3rd generation) to Signa S4 via HDMI. Listen to “Dire Straits/Diary of Sorrow” and “REM/Drive” on Amazon Music. Diary of Sorrow starts with a richly resonant piano, and progresses as the guitar intertwines with it. What’s surprising is the spaciousness of the space; the sound field doesn’t just “protrude from the TV screen,” but spreads out across the entire left and right sides of the room. From there, the sound of the piano suddenly spread towards me, and I was surrounded by the sound right next to me and behind me. What’s even more amazing is the sound of the guitar, which spreads upward and downward, with the sound pouring down from above. Rather than the virtual surround-type sound that somehow sounds like it’s coming from above, you can clearly hear the sound of the guitar coming down from the ceiling. This is the effect of enabled speakers. The sound comes not only from left and right, but also from above and below, making it feel like your body is completely enveloped in a gigantic space of sound. It’s amazing how you can create this rich surround sound with just one sound bar and a wireless subwoofer. Not only the sound field, but also the range from low to high frequencies is wide, and the sound of the bass sinking deep and approaching thickly, and the high notes of the piano that seem to go through the ceiling, are well expressed. The sound connection is also excellent, with no particular band becoming excessively swollen or harsh. If you pay attention to the vocals, the sound of the voices is also natural. The sound image does not become enlarged due to being pulled by the subwoofer, and the vocalist’s mouth is perfectly positioned in the center of the screen. Human voices, which we often hear, tend to stand out if they sound unnatural, but the Signa S4’s singing voice is extremely natural. It doesn’t feel like the sound is being forced by manipulating the sound at all, and there’s a sense of relief and comfort when listening to it. You can experience the benefits of covering the human voice range with a 1-inch full-range unit. So what happens when the source is a 2ch stereo video? Let’s listen to the 2ch music video for “Billie Eilish/Everything I Want” converted to virtual Dolby Atmos using the Signa S4’s upmix function. Although the “enveloping feeling” is a little weaker than with a source created with Atmos surround, Billie Eilish’s deep resonant singing voice pours down from above, giving you the feeling of leaning into the spacious and comfortable sound. be able to. What is noteworthy is that even in upmix playback, the description of each sound is not blurry, and Billie Eilish’s breath can be heard delicately and with a direct feeling. This is probably proof that the Signa S4 not only has high upmix performance, but also has high playback ability as a “plain speaker”. I also played an upmix of Billie Eilish’s live video (2ch), and the way the sound spreads out without being reflected off the walls clearly conveys that the live venue is outdoors. The music flowed through the vast space, but even within the swell, the cheers of the audience might be heard sharply and minutely. Now it’s time to experience Atmos surround for movies. The opening air raid scene from “Unbroken” is often used in home theater demos. The inside of a bomber is filled with a mix of the sounds of the propeller spinning, the engine, and the aircraft cutting through the wind. Signa S4 reproduces this with a sound bar + subwoofer, and the mid-low range with rich sound pressure is powerful and the harshness of the noise is realistically depicted, making you feel like you are actually on the plane. . The next moment, the pilot taps the clothing of the soldier next to him to signal him, but even in the midst of such tremendous noise, you can clearly hear the faint sound of his hand tapping his clothing, something like “Tostos.” Even following that, the scene depicts the nervous breathing of a pilot, and even the faint “squeak” sound made when operating the gun sight used to drop a bomb. Even though the powerful mid-low range protrudes, the mid-high range is not masked and maintains a solid amount of information. When you think of a soundbar, some people may have the image of a speaker that uses DSP to manipulate the sound a lot to create a sense of spaciousness. However, such soundbars cannot produce this kind of sound. The Signa S4 is a soundbar that sounds like someone used DSP as a “final touch” following creating a speaker with a good sound before DSP was a thing. I watched the forest scene and the beautiful sea diving scene from “Avatar: Way of Water,” which were also spectacular. The sounds of birds, the rustling of leaves, and the sound of the wind blowing through the trees convey not only the vastness of the forest, but also its incredible height. In the underwater scenes, the movements of the free-swimming Na’vi are expressed through the movement of sound images. What’s interesting is that while listening to the close sound of the water as the Navi crosses in front of me, I can also feel the endless expanse of the ocean behind me, and the vast amount of seawater that fills it. You can hear that the volume is spreading as the sound of heavy waves, “Kwon… Kwon…”. When you actually dive into the ocean, you feel both fun and at the same time frightened by the overwhelming size of the water, and that feeling comes back to you just by watching the movie. A sound bar that conveys “serious sound production” even at a low price When listening to Polk Audio’s pure audio speakers, you can tell that they are “serious in production”, even if it sounds pompous. We are firmly pursuing the basic performance of a speaker, such as wide sound and high resolution. However, it has a natural feel that makes you feel relieved when you listen to it, and a powerful mid-low range that is highly satisfying, making it a sound that many people find desirable. A speaker that is simply “cheap” cannot become a popular brand. Listening closely to the Signa S4 this time, I realized that this same method of making speakers is also applied to soundbars. With pure audio, you have to prepare an amplifier and player, but with Signa S4, you can use it right away by connecting it to your TV via HDMI, and it also supports Bluetooth reception, so you can easily stream music from your smartphone. . It would be a good choice as your first device to easily enjoy Polk Audio’s sound. Even when compared to sound bars from other companies, it is undoubtedly powerful in its ability to provide Dolby Atmos with realistic sound. Yet, it is cost-effective and can be purchased for around 40,000 yen. It can be said that the Signa S4 is the one that makes the most of Polk Audio’s strengths. (Cooperation: D&M Holdings)
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