Sound quality: In the Music sound mode Polk Audio's Magnifi Max SR delivers sound quality that falls in the good range - it reproduces music and dialog reasonably well despite the obvious shortcomings in its sound. The bass has good impact and goes fairly deep, but is a bit boomy. The midrange is fairly even, but is slightly soft, hazy, and echoey. The treble is thin, slightly subdued, and sizzly. The overall sound is slightly congested, and while this model does a decent job of recovering room ambience (the sense of the acoustic space in which the music was recorded), that ambience is a bit obscured by the slightly echoey quality of the midrange. With stereo program material and the rear surround speakers not activated the sound image extends somewhat above the soundbar and beyond its sides, but lacks depth. The Music mode also has an "All Stereo" setting that activates the rear surround speakers; in this mode there is a sense of being immersed in sound, but instruments come from peculiar places (i.e. cymbals may come from the rear instead of from the front). The Movie sound mode sounds louder, more echoey, the bass becomes more boomy; in this sound mode the rear surround speakers are activated and there is a sense of being immersed in sound, but instruments also come from peculiar places. In the Sports sound mode the rear surround speakers are also activated; the overall sound is even louder and more echoey than in the Movie mode, and midrange sounds like voices become more prominent. When playing 5.1-channel material in the Music mode the tonal balance and volume level is the same as with stereo program material, but the sound envelopes the listener from the sides and rear and sounds are heard in their proper positions. The Movie sound modes sounds louder, more dynamic but more congested, and the bass becomes more boomy. The Sports sound mode is even louder and midrange sounds like voices become more prominent and harsh. The Voice level control raises and lowers sounds in the center channel in the vocal frequency range (whether they are voices or other sounds) regardless of whether the program material is 2 or 5.1 channel. There was no significant difference between the HDMI, analog, optical, Bluetooth, and WiFi inputs. The system can provide satisfying volume in a medium sized room.
TV setup and ease of use: Very good overall. Setup: Programming the soundbar to respond to a TV remote was quick, easy, and straight forward. HDMI CEC activation is done on the connected TV and not on this soundbar. It can also be controlled by TV remotes from major brands without programming, and this feature is always active. All appropriate cables for TV connection included. Ease of Use: This model has several features that allow it to work seamlessly with your TV - it can be programmed to respond to most TV remote control volume and mute commands, it can be set to respond to the volume and mute commands of many major TV brand TV remotes without programming, and it can respond to the volume and mute commands of HDMI CEC compatible TV remotes without programming when connected via the HDMI ARC ports with and HDMI cable. Its own remote's controls are generally well labeled but the layout is a bit jumbled and the mute control was somewhat erratic - it sometimes took multiple presses to get the soundbar to respond. The console has a power status indicator. Source, stereo/surround mode, and DSP mode indicators consist of momentary unlabeled patterns of lights that require the instructions to decode. The console has a blinking mute indicator light and momentary graphical volume display with increments that are very rough which can be seen from the typical listening position.
Features setup and ease of use: Fair overall. Setup: WiFi setup requires an app download to an Apple or Android mobile device and is straight forward. The user must setup an account using the Google Home app for full multi-room streaming functionality; registration asks for name, birthdate, gender, and email, so it is more intrusive than the basic email address, location, and password usually asked for. Setting up with a LAN wired connection also requires downloading an app to an Apple or Android mobile device and would have been easy, but no LAN cable is provided and the setup instructions in the apps are ambiguous so it takes a savvy user to figure out how make the setup work. Multi channel setup is simple and straight forward with clear instructions. Channel levels can be adjusted and levels are displayed during setup, but no test tone function is provided to ease adjusting the channel levels. Bluetooth pairing is very easy - if no Bluetooth device has previously been paired or the paired device does not have Bluetooth activated the unit is automatically in pairing mode once it has been switched to the Bluetooth input. Ease of Use: The soundbar remote's controls are generally well labeled but the layout is a bit jumbled and the mute control was somewhat erratic - it sometimes took multiple presses to get the soundbar to respond. The soundbar relies on Chromecast audio player apps from Internet audio content providers downloaded to Apple or Android mobile devices for content streaming over WiFi. A Chromecast compatible app is also needed to stream content from a mobile device over WiFi - while Google Play and other apps are available for Android we don't know of any that are available for Apple. Multi-room streaming to other optional Chromecast audio devices is also done with Chromecast apps. The console has a power status indicator. Source, stereo/surround mode, and DSP mode indicators consist of momentary unlabeled patterns of lights that require the instructions to decode. The console has a blinking mute indicator light and a momentary graphical volume display with increments that are very rough which can be seen from the typical listening position.
