Goodmans 60 W 2.1 Bluetooth Soundbar

Product Information

The first thing that strikes us about the Aspect is how compact it is. At just 500mm wide – or high, depending on how you install it – it’ll take up very little space on your TV stand, and is unlikely to obstruct the set’s remote sensor either. Turn it vertically and you can put it alongside your TV if you prefer.

Switch to music via Bluetooth and you get more of the same – a punchy sound with a dynamic tone and agile bass. This well-balanced, fluid sound is much better than you might expect for the money, although other soundbases deliver a more sophisticated sound overall, with greater subtlety and insight.Dirac’s analysis tool builds an acoustical model of the speaker, and then creates a tailored digital controller that optimises the performance. This controller is built into every Base in a bid to achieve the best possible sound quality. Goodmans Base – Operation And when the MUTO destroys a domino chain of airplanes, the explosions sound thin and strained, which is also the case when Godzilla thumps his foot on the ground and lets out a bellowing roar. You don’t get the deep, chest thumping impact that you do from other soundbars, and the promise of room-filling sound is left unfulfilled. Base is a 4.2 sound system, with four speaker drivers along the front and two subwoofers on the bottom. Power output is quoted at 100W (4 x 10W and 2 x 20W). Beautifully crafted with soft angles and neutral earth tones, the HT-MT300 sits in harmony with your environment.

We gave the Aspect every opportunity to shine by supplying it with the best sources possible but it never hit the mark. Bearing in mind it is primarily marketed as a TV soundbar, our first port of call was to hook it up to the TV via the toslink optical input where, to be perfectly fair, it did perform slightly better than the in-built TV speakers but only just, and the TV in question was no great shakes in the sound department. Taking a direct connection from our Blu-ray player and things perked up slightly but the Aspect still managed to introduce some unwanted fizz. Movies sound big and exciting. The speakers have enough puff to fill a large living room – even at two-thirds of maximum you might start annoying the neighbours – and when you push loudness to the upper echelons it stays composed, with only occasional signs of distortion. The subwoofers get a little boomy at loud volumes but nothing a fiddle with the bass controls can’t fix. As the tidal wave powers through the streets there’s supposed to be a big, thunderous rumble but it’s just not there. You can sense a bit of bass depth trying to poke through but not enough to get your adrenal glands going, even with the bass level pushed up to maximum. COMPACT, CINEMATIC, WIRELESS: The Bowfell is a compact, slim audio sound bar device that fits perfectly on desks and sits comfortably under your TV. Use the buttons on the side of the soundbar or the supplied remote to go truly wireless and adjust the volume, equaliser settings, source and much more. An ideal sound bar for TV or PC, fill your room and immerse yourself with cinematic sound in your very own home. For reasons of hygiene and safety, personal grooming products, cosmetics or items of intimate clothing cannot be returned.

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BUILT-IN SUBWOOFER: Delivering high definition sound, the Bluetooth stereo speakers fill the room with your favourite sounds using the provided remote control. It also features Dirac HD Sound technology, which analyses and corrects colouration caused by the physical constraints of the cabinet. This is not a psychoacoustic ‘virtual surround’ effect but a sound correction technology that has been specifically tuned for this soundbase. It’s also very attractive, wrapped in a dark grey cloth and capped by shiny silver panels at both ends. One of the panels sports a couple of hard buttons for power and source selection, plus touch-sensitive volume controls. There’s no display panel but the input button has a small light that glows different colours to denote the selected input. After the terrible performance of the Aspect soundbar we didn’t hold out much hope for this soundbase, but our trepidation was misplaced – Base delivers a powerful, room-filling sound with a decent amount of detail, deep bass and an exciting tone.

Its impressive power is evident when watching Pacific Rim on Blu-ray. As Gipsy Danger and Knifehead go toe-to-toe in the film’s opening Kaiju/Jaeger fight, the rumble of thunder is deep and solid, while the robot’s blaring foghorn sounds enormous. The sheer loudness and scale makes you feel involved in the action, even without the presence of surround processing or beam technology. And when the hulking beasts start thumping each other, you feel each blow viscerally. This little guy is compact and clean with buttons on one side should you loose your remote control and this are tactile buttons too and work well, the unit is finished off with a glossy plastic and an aluminium grille which looks clean and will suit most compatible TVs.Unwanted Food or Drink Products - Once supply conditions are broken, there are a number of factors outside of our control that can affect the quality of a product. Therefore perishable goods such as food and drink cannot be returned. Build quality is surprisingly good for a ‘budget’ soundbase, with heavy aluminium bodywork providing sufficient sturdiness to support our 55-inch Samsung LED set. However, with no front display panel it can feel like you’re flying blind. You have to set the volume, bass and treble levels by ear, which is no great hardship but we like a visual reference. The LED on the side panel flashes when you’re adjusting the volume or tone, and stops when you reach the maximum, but you can’t actually see it from the sofa. The remote is a slim, compact device with a spacious button layout. All of the keys are clearly labelled and the five input buttons are colour-coded to match the front LED. The important volume controls are bang in the middle and fall naturally under the thumb, while dedicated bass and treble controls are conveniently placed at the bottom. Goodmans Base – Performance Well you can’t expect the earth for under a hundred pounds although we have heard some very decent wireless speakers costing approximately that but the Aspect doesn’t really match up to any of those. In fact this product seems to be fatally caught between two stools as it doesn’t really deliver as a soundbar, either. The reason for that is quite simple, it just doesn’t sound very good at all with music, TV or movies. Audio is thin, sometimes muffled even, and occasionally descends into a bit of a hissy mess with lots of interference masking the sound.