Comparison Samsung HW-R530 vs Samsung HW-R550

Regular way to install a sound projector.

— Shelf. The installation itself on the shelf is extremely simple and requires a minimum of effort. However, in the absence of a shelf in a suitable place, you will either have to hang it there (for which, most likely, you will need to drill the walls), or install the projector "where possible" and try to adjust the sound as needed (and the success of such a setup is not guaranteed).

— Wall mounted. Projectors equipped with wall mounts, usually in the form of brackets or notches in the chassis for nails, screws, or other wall-mounted mounts. This option is good because you can choose the installation location of the projector at your discretion, not limited to the presence of shelves — the main thing is that there is a free wall.

— Shelf / wall. Projectors that can be either shelf-mounted or wall-mounted. Both of these options are described above. Here we note that the installation method determines not only the design of the case, but also some features of the sound produced by the projector. In fact, this means that a “pure wall” projector, when installed on a shelf, will not be able to produce sound of proper quality, even if there are no problems with the installation itself. In other words, if you need a device suitable both for a shelf and for hanging on a wall, you should choose from models for which such a possibility is direc...tly stated.

— TV Stand. In fact, such models are a variation of the shelf projectors described above, which have a flat body, so that a TV can be installed on top of such a device. This will prevent the sound projector from obscuring the controls and remote control sensor located below the screen (whereas with conventional shelf models, such problems often occur when placed on the same shelf with a TV). The disadvantage of "stands" can be called a rather large size in depth.

The projector supports the virtual surround function.

The purpose of this feature is that due to special sound settings and the reflection of sound beams from the walls of the room, the listener hears more channels than are actually available in the projector (see "Audio Format"). For example, a 3.1 system with virtual surround sound can produce sound similar to 5.1 surround sound. This allows you to achieve the effect of "immersion" in sound without increasing the number of channels and the cost of the projector. On the other hand, the reliability of such sound is usually noticeably worse than that of real surround sound, and the overall quality is highly dependent on the characteristics of a particular room.

Note that the virtual surround function is specified for 2.0, 2.1, 3.0, 3.1 format systems. In more advanced multi-channel systems, there are a priori additional channels for reproducing surround sound.

The ability of the projector to output a video signal in Ultra HD (4K) resolution — 3840x2160. This is the highest resolution used in modern consumer video equipment — 4 times higher than Full HD. However, note that this feature significantly affects the price of the projector, and to view such a video signal, you will need an appropriate screen. Therefore, it makes sense to specifically look for an UltraHD device only if you initially plan to connect it to a screen of the appropriate resolution.

This feature requires the projector to have at least one HDMI output (see below). In this case, the video signal source can be either an external device or the projector itself, operating in the format of a media centre (for example, a model with direct playback from USB media).

The total power rating of the sound projector speakers (including subwoofer, if present).

This parameter is often used to estimate the overall sound volume of the device, but this is not entirely true. The fact is that the actual sound volume is determined mainly by the power of the main speakers of the sound projector, and the total power is the sum of this power and the power of the subwoofer. Therefore, models with the same power rating can vary markedly in actual volume: for example, a 150-watt soundbar with a 50-watt subwoofer will be louder than a 100-watt projector with a subwoofer of the same power, although in both cases the rated power will be equal to 200 watts.

Summing up, we can say that it is possible to evaluate the volume by rated power only if the sound projector is not equipped with a subwoofer — in such models, the rated power is equal to the power of the main speakers. In other cases, it is worth focus on the power of the soundbar and the power of the subwoofer directly stated in the characteristics (see below for both).

The rated power of the subwoofer included in the design or delivery of the sound projector.

The higher the power, the louder the sub can sound, the richer the bass it can provide. On the other hand, an increase in power inevitably promises an increase in the size and cost of the speaker. Therefore, an overly powerful subwoofer is just as undesirable as one that is too weak. Detailed recommendations for selecting power for the size and acoustic characteristics of a particular room can be found in special sources.

Note that the external subwoofer in soundbars should be approximately twice as powerful as the soundbar in order to prevent sound sags at maximum volume. So, if the total output power of the speaker system is 300 watts, then 100 of them should come from the soundbar alone, and 200 should go directly to the subwoofer.

The diameter of the speaker in the subwoofer used by the sound projector.

It is believed that the larger the speaker, the louder the sub and the deeper and richer sound it can provide. Models up to 200 mm in size are entry level; This is exactly the size that built-in subwoofers usually have (see above). But free-standing bass speakers can use larger speakers, up to 254 mm (10").

HDMI interface version supported by the soundbar.

See the interface itself for more details (“HDMI input”, “HDMI output”), and its versions differ primarily in bandwidth. Here are the current options:

— v 1.4. The earliest of the widespread versions, which, nevertheless, has quite decent features: in particular, it supports 4096x2160 video at 24 fps, and in Full HD the frame rate can reach 120 fps, which already allows you to work with 3D. It has two modifications — v.1.4a and v.1.4b — differing from the original mainly in slightly advanced capabilities for working with three-dimensional content.

-v 2.0. The version introduced back in 2013. The increased bandwidth allowed support for 4K video at frame rates up to 60 fps, as well as up to 32 channels of audio and up to 4 audio streams simultaneously. This version also has two extensions: HDR support was added in the v.2.0a update, and this feature was improved and expanded in v.2.0b.

— v 2.1. An update to the HDMI standard released in 2017. Of the main innovations, support for 8K and 10K video at speeds up to 120 fps has been added, and HDR capabilities have been improved. However it is worth considering that all these features are available only when using special HDMI Ultra High Speed cables.

The diameter of the full range speakers installed in the sound projector. Broadband speakers are called speakers responsible for reproducing the entire main frequency range — from bass (with the exception of the lowest) to treble. They are used in single-lane projectors. The general rule of acoustics says that the larger the speaker, the higher its power can be and the lower its operating frequencies. Accordingly, the size of full range speakers is usually relatively small.