First of all, I will introduce the Soundbar a little bit. According to the literal meaning, it is a bar sound device. It looks like it is shown in the picture below:
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Vizio Soundbar
LG Soundbar
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Xiaomi Soundbar
This is a luxurious, slim, and fashionable active speaker, which is generally placed directly under the flat-panel TV, which can significantly improve the audio experience of consumers, and it does not have the complexity of hanging surround speakers and wiring involved in the entire home theater installation Matters.
Soundbar originated from abroad, and it is considered an imported product in China. There are various domestic names for the name of this type of product:
- 1) Literal translation + transliteration, Soundbar, Soundbar, Soundbar;
- 2) Translated according to actual use, TV speakers, TV bars, whispering walls;
- 3) According to the translation, soundbar, soundbar;
Regarding this type of product, there is no unified standard in China, and there is no unified name. This has a lot to do with Soundbar’s domestic market performance and consumer recognition. Soundbar products are growing rapidly around the world at a rate of about 16% per year. In 2016, the global output of Soundbar reached more than 30 million units. However, in the domestic market, Soundbar products have always been tepid, the market has not become a climate, and it is difficult to find authority in China. Reliable market statistics. This is a very strange phenomenon. The foreign fire is in a mess, but the domestic fire does not rise. There will be a special article to analyze this aspect, so stay tuned.
According to national standards, Soundbar is audio-visual equipment. For domestic consumers, it is still a new form of a product. Various names are understandable. Most of the developers and producers of this type of product or those in the industry who know this type of product have given up on defining a Chinese name for it and simply called it Soundbar. Regardless of what others think or call Soundbar products, I think it can be called Soundbar directly, and soundbar in Chinese. Note that the sound is not a speaker. There is a difference between the two. I will continue to explain later in the article. Let’s take a look. The origin of Soundbar products.
In modern life that is increasingly pursuing simplicity, TV sets continue to develop in a thinner and thinner direction, which inevitably sacrifices sound quality. Why do you say that? With the existing mature technology, the sound system must have enough space to produce good sound quality. The thinner the TV body is, the smaller the space left for the speakers in the body, and the worse the sound quality. The space is small, and the main effect is on the midrange and bass. Most flat-panel TVs sound weak and have almost no bass. In the other direction, TVs pursue narrow bezels or even no bezels. In order to achieve this goal, the designers of the TV set the speakers behind the screen, and the soundhole is backward or downward, so as to realize the narrow and no lower frame of the TV. In this way, the TV speakers have to be vocalized toward the background wall, or toward the desktop, rather than toward people. The high-pitched component of the sound is directional. If the speaker is not directed at you, the sound pressure level and clarity of the high-pitched sound will drop a lot. Imagine a friend standing there and talking to a wall, what does it feel like when you listen behind your friend?
Such TVs have poor sound quality. Will consumers buy it? Don’t the TV manufacturers know? In fact, everyone is very clear! The key point is that for a long period of time (including in the future), the vast majority of people who buy a TV are not concerned about the sound quality of the TV at all. Few people will not buy a TV because of the bad sound quality. The focus is on image quality, appearance, intelligence, and other aspects, and manufacturers have not focused on TV sound quality. (Recently, with the lack of development of TV technology such as picture quality, TV manufacturers have gradually begun to pursue TV sound quality, Seeking differentiated selling points and highlights). However, the main task of the TV is to play video, and the video contains pictures and sound. If the sound quality of the TV is not good, it will definitely affect the consumer’s audio-visual experience. So how to improve the sound quality when watching programs and videos on TV? The traditional solution is to configure a set of home theaters, but the bulky, complicated, and pre-embedded requirements have discouraged many families. Is there a product that can condense a huge home theater system to save space? Soundbar came into being at this time. The earliest Soundbar appeared in 1998, which was the period when flat-panel TVs began to develop vigorously. A soundbar is a product that integrates multiple channels and power amplifiers into a long strip of speakers, has various audio interfaces, has decoding capabilities, and has a strong digital taste. It is a product that combines AV and digital technology most thoroughly. It is integrated. Home theater-in-a-box, which is designed to match ultra-thin flat-screen TVs, is a kind of bar sound. Why not call it a soundbar? Take a look at the difference between speakers and speakers I summarized,
Speaker: A sound output device, which refers to a device that restores electrical signals to sound signals. It consists of a cabinet, a speaker unit, a crossover, etc. In fact, a speaker is a box that can produce sound. Passive sound system. The speaker produces sound, the premise is that the speaker is connected to the audio amplifier, and the sound is driven by the power amplifier, and the speaker itself cannot actively sound.
Audio-a sound playback system is a system composed of audio sources (DVD, TV, PC, etc.), power amplifiers (power amplifiers) and speakers.
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Knowing the difference between Soundbar products and the above two, is it more appropriate to call a bar sound? Soundbar products are developing in full swing abroad, and the market share has far exceeded that of home theaters. What will happen to the domestic market? I look forward to discussing this with you later.