For whom?
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That’s a question that seems easy to answer at first glance, namely: “the Ambeo is meant for people who don’t want a collection of appliances and thick cables in their living room. They go for ease of use, simplicity and love to watch movies.”
But secretly we started to like the Ambeo quite a bit. Especially because it is so good at playing music. The ease of operation in combination with the sound quality makes it a suitable device for the living room. Streaming music during the day via the network or Buetooth and if we want to watch a movie, switch on the Movie Mode and enjoy. Yes, hi-fi nerds sometimes want simplicity and ease of use, you know..
Didn’t sing or anything?
As we wrote earlier, the Ambeo is an outside category, especially because of its size. Suppose you have your TV on a piece of furniture; then you can place the Ambeo in front of it but because of its height you will also have to place the TV higher; otherwise the sound bar will be in front of your picture. Sennheiser supplies a separate wall bracket and that is also an obvious setup: Ambeo on the wall and TV above. And a TV that is as wide or wider than the Ambeo.
The Ambeo does fine in the test room; yet we think that in a large room (50 square meters or more) it will not be a superfluous luxury to connect an extra subwoofer. We don’t expect the Ambeo’s amplifier power and drivers to quite pull this off. Fortunately, Ambeo offers the option of an external subwoofer. We haven’t tested this, but given the positioning of the Ambeo, we think this soundbar will regularly end up in spacious rooms. Our advice is to first play with the Ambeo for a while; should you need more layer after a few months, there are plenty of possibilities
Conclusion
A complete audio system as well as a surround system from a sound bar that can be installed in no time at all. A few years ago we wouldn't have believed this. Thanks to digital sound processing, a measurement procedure of your room and the right algorithms, with Ambeo you have a soundbar with room correction that shows the sound all corners of the room.What do you make of it? Multi-channel sound when you only have a soundbar connected under your TV; plug in, HDMI cable, Ambeo button on and enjoy. Because that's what we've done with this top-of-the-range soundbar from Sennheiser; we've enjoyed it, and not just movie sound, but music as well.
It's a substantial investment, but if you consider getting a complete music system and surround setup, without having to wire your entire room and add speakers, then the Sennheiser Ambeo might be a very responsible choice. Well done, Sennheiser.