Whether it’s a movie, or one of my favorite sitcoms, I enjoy
my shows. What I don’t enjoy are the speakers built-in to the TV’s. If you
really want to enjoy your shows, you need good sound as well. Good sound also
does not need to surround you, with a bunch of speakers that need to be
mounted. This is where soundbars come in. Up for review today is the RBH Sound Impressions
5600-iwr soundbar.
RBH Sound has been around for decades. They are a one stop
shop for all your home theater needs, when it comes to sound. No matter if you
are looking for bookshelves, tower speakers, subwoofers, even in-wall and
in-ceiling, RBH has you covered. They even do soundbars. So if you want good
sound but don’t need the fancy surround sound with all the speakers all over
the room, a soundbar is what you need. And the RBH Sound Impression 5600-iwr is
one of the best.
Features and specs:
SYSTEM TYPE:
Impression On-wall Speaker Bar
DRIVE UNITS: (6)
5-1/4" (133mm) cast aluminum basket, black anodized cone with solid metal
phase plug (3) 1.38" X 1"
(35mm x 25mm) AMT tweeter
FREQUENCY RESPONSE:
75-40k Hz (+/- 3 dB)
SENSITIVITY: 90dB-per
channel, 92dB-Combined (2.83V @ 1 Meter)
RECOMMENDED POWER:
50-200 Watts / Channel
IMPEDANCE: 6 Ohms /
Channel
CROSSOVER FREQUENCY:
3000 Hz
CROSSOVER SLOPE: 24
dB/Octave
CABINET DETAILS: High
Density Fiberboard (HDF), Black or White Satin Paint
GRILLE DETAILS:
Magnetic Grille w/ white or black fabric
FINISHED DIMENSIONS:
57" x 6-3/4" x 3-3/4"
(1448 x 171 x 95mm)
WEIGHT: 27.85 lbs+
(12.63 kg)
WARRANTY: *10 year
limited
The RBH Sound Impression 5600-iwr soundbar came in a
standard brown box, which is fine as they are sold through authorized dealers.
Opening the box showed a well-protected speaker, held in place by custom foam.
Materials used in the construction was mostly HDF for the enclosure, as well as
aluminum for the drivers, NBR for the surrounds, and cast aluminum for the
baskets. Quality of materials used, as well as fit and finish, was excellent.
This is one of their Signature Reference Series soundbars, their top of the
line, and it shows! Also included was an aluminum mounting bar, with screws. That way you can mount it on your wall under the TV.
RBH Sound employed an excellent design with the RBH Sound
Impression 5600-iwr. At first glance, you see how big it is, and you get a
feeling this is not your typical soundbar. When I pulled off the grill, I
realized it was held on by magnets. Ok, that’s cool. Then I saw the drivers:
six 5-1/4” woofers, and three AMT tweeters. It’s a three channel soundbar with
two woofers and a tweeter for each channel. This just got really cool! And it’s
definitely not your typical soundbar!!
We’ve reviewed many soundbars over the years. Most, if not
all, of these soundbars have been made in China. And the typical design is a
plastic enclosure, with cheap poly woofers and tweeters, protected by a metal
grill. And there are internal electronic components for amps and processing.
They are a big jump in sound quality from the speakers built into your TV, but
still does so on a cheap budget.
Now enter the RBH Sound Impression 5600-iwr. I’m sure you’ve
seen the cheap soundbars found at your local Walmart or Best Buy. Remember
those models. Now take a look at the RBH Sound Impression 5600-iwr with the
grill off, and pick it up. You know you’ve got something special. It’s a lot
like car shopping at the local Chevy dealership, and then taking a test drive
in a Bently. The difference in quality from your typical electronics store, and
the RBH Sound Impression 5600-iwr is that dramatic.
The RBH Sound Impression 5600-iwr is a great example of
synergy. It starts with an excellent solid and well-made HDF enclosure. Then
the drivers are also well made with aluminum cones and rubber surrounds. The
AMT tweeters are of similar quality. The drivers all look great mounted in the
enclosure. The finished product gives an elegant look.
Unlike most soundbars, the RBH Sound Impression 5600-iwr is
a passive design. This means there is no built-in amplifier, nor processing. So
you will need a receiver to do the processing and provide the power. This works
though, because with the high-quality components, you’ll also want quality
amplification. Connecting the sound bar to my receiver was very
straightforward. The wire terminals on the back of the cabinet are well
labeled. Now that it’s connected, let’s see how it sounds.
For movies, I turned to Top Gun: Maverick. Vocals came out
not only easy to clearly hear, but excellent quality as well. Vocals were silky
smooth, with excellent resolution to hear the texture of the timbre. And no
matter if it was missiles or gun fire, they were life like in aural details
with excellent dynamics. Something I don’t look for in cheap soundbars, but was
easy to hear, was the soundstage. Having heard these drivers before in other
versions of their reference series speakers, I was pleasantly not surprised.
Soundstage was very deep, and at times was almost holographic. What did
surprise me was the width of the soundstage. The 5600-iwr is designed for high
output and power handling. To do so, they employ an AMT tweeter and two large
midrange drivers. But by doing so, there isn’t that much space between the
center channel drivers, and those for the left and right channels. The left and
right channel speakers are also mounted so they fire straight forward and not
at an angle outward. In this aspect I was pleasantly surprised, as I heard
material a couple feet to the left and right of the speaker, as jets were
flying all around the sky.
For music, being the Holiday Season, I turned to some of my
favorites from Manheim Steamroller: Pat A
Pan - Wood block had excellent texture of the wood, shakers beads were
really crisp, the flute was smoother than a Dove bar with excellent air and
tonguing technique that easily came through. Violin provided excellent texture
of the bow across the strings. Snare drums and tom drums were crisp with good
midrange pitch definition and excellent dynamics.
Mannheim Steamroller: God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman, Rock –
the tambourine was really crisp and clean. Horns were as smooth as honey with
excellent harmonics. Piano sounded extremely natural, Hi-hat and Cymbal were
really crisp with good resolution of the contact of the stick on the metal. The
multiple tom drums had excellent pitch definition, dynamics, and low-end
extension. Strings had very good tone and texture of the bow across the
strings. This is a difficult piece with so many instruments, but they were all
resolved with excellent detail. Soundstage was excellent, with not only a very
wide and deep soundstage and a bit holographic, the imaging was also on a dime!
The RBH Sound Impression 5600-iwr proved to be an excellent
soundbar. They continue the decades long tradition of RBH Sound providing
excellent sounding products. The RBH Sound Impression 5600-iwr is an elite
soundbar. It has the price tag to go along with it, so it’s not for everyone.
But if you have the means, it is highly recommended. Keep in mind also, that
while the 5-1/4” woofers had good extension, it would still greatly benefit
from a subwoofer like the previously reviewed RHB Sound Impression 12-i. Based on its design, features, quality and
performance, the RBH Sound Impression 5600-iwr has earned our Editor’s Choice
Award. For more info and complete specs, check out their website at www.rbhsound.com.
