We bought the Samsung b650F and we were not impressed at all. It was way too crisp with too much treble and not enough low/bass. It actually hurt our ears to listen to. We tried all the settings and couldn’t get it to balance out.
The Polk audio signa s4 was on sell for $359 and still might be. That is a very good sound bar/sub for the money.
Even the Vizio 5.1 SE we have has better sound than the b650f and that was $120.
Polk Audio Signa S4. On the bedroom TV. (2025 C5) Very happy, third year of use. 9/10 It can't do DTS/DTS-MA/DTS:X. (wasn't willing to pay either, since I have AVRs & HT speakers on my other TVs
You can sign up at Polk and get 10% off your first purchase. It’s on sale now for $359 before the discount. I just ordered one. It seems like a solid choice to start out. I considered those three from Costco as well as a JBL Bar 500.
What’s wild is JBL and Polk both appear to fall under Samsung (parent company). It’s wild how many of the audio brands fall under them now. I ordered the Signa S4 as well and strongly considered the JBL Bar 500. The 10” sub at least at a friend’s house overwhelmed the sound from the bar. How do you like the 5.9” Signa S4 sub?
I'd personally go with the JBL. I had a JBL for well over a decade and it sounded and worked great. Plus JBL ONLY manufactures audio so that's their only focus (Sonos does as well, but it's pricer and you don't get a subwoofer). I think you'll really enjoy the JBL.
But as someone mentioned below; I moved from a JBL to a Polk myself, and it sounds fantastic; so much better than the JBL. Granted it's hard to compare a 12 year old JBL with a brand new Polk as audio technology is much more advanced nowadays, but I absolutely love my Polk. I also have the Signa S4.
The way companies fall under each other nowadays is absolutely wild; I agree with you. It's hard to even keep track sometimes! lol..
I was also considering the same JBL as you last year, and I might've gone with it had I not stumbled upon a really good sale with the Polk. The one thing I was hesitant about regarding the JBL was how strong JBL is known for their bass, and I wasn't sure if I wanted that in a soundbar. I think the Signa sub is perfect for what I was personally looking for. It's not going to blow the floor off, but it compliments the soundbar quite nicely, and you'll still get some rumble as well. Admittedly I don't use it for any music, but for TV, movies, and games; I have zero complaints with it! I think you'll enjoy it!
Got it setup and I’m very happy. It integrated with my TCL perfectly through eARC. It’s nice just using one remote control now since my old Yamaha no longer worked with the tv.
The bass isn’t really that loud and overall it’s just a bit quieter than my Yamaha 209. However if you turn it all the way up it gets plenty loud. But for our usual viewing area for TV, movies and sports it’s just fine. The dialog enhance buttons work as they should as well. If you want thundering great bass for action movies look elsewhere though. As another viewpoint my partner said to turn it down and she didn’t really notice much of a difference from the Yamaha which is a good thing.
I played some streaming music from my phone and it was well balanced with decent quality. Especially once I turned it up. It’s not a substitute for a proper audio system but that goes for most soundbar systems except maybe the Samsung Q990 series which I have in another setup.
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