Philips Ambisound First Impressions

hts81001.jpg

I had the pleasure of checking out a few of Philips upcoming products today in Times Square and I’m not lying when I tell you that I’m pretty darn excited about a few products. The Ambisound home theater system, for instance, caught me by surprise. The sound quality was on par with other top of the line systems and its streamlined design adds a touch of class to any media center. The HTS8100 SoundBar puts out a full 5.1 surround sound in one system and the subwoofer adds the oomph we’re always looking for.

I watched a few minutes of X-men 3 and it sounded pretty good in the hotel room the demo took place in. I was also told that the next generation Ambisound system will be Blu-ray rather than that old forgotten standard DVD technology and we should expect it in ’08. One of the great features of this system is the fact that it only has three wires: one for the juice, HDMI output that upscales to 1080p, and a connection to the subwoofer. The SoundBar is shipping now and retails for $799.99. Keep checking our feed for more Philips goodies, including a head-to-head comparison with an Ambilight FlatTV and Samsung LCD TV.