Polk Signa S3 Soundbar Review & Comments

[ssbib]

Hi ssbib,
I don't have the S2, but was considering it. I'm looking at the reviews and comments on soundbars, and the most common gripe about the S2 was the obligatory power-down after 10 minutes of no input, and the fiddle to get it going again. I was hoping the S3 might be different, hence my question to Steve.
Now homing in on the Yamaha YAS-207 instead, which is quite a bit more expensive, but has a 15% cash-back until 31 December with some dealers (including RS). Haven't yet found any functional drawbacks, and folk seem to think it's a pretty good performer in its price bracket.

Hi Alan. I’ve had the S2 for about a week now and the power down feature you mentioned isn’t an issue. As I’m using ARC and have CEC on the soundbar boots up the second you unpause your movie etc. It takes a few second to power in fully but it’s been great and not causing any issues. Thought I’d let you know if you were thinking this feature made it unusable.

 

[AlanX]

Hi ssbib
Thanks for that. I'm surprised, therefore, that the issue came up so often in customer reviews, followed in one case by a note from Polk saying it was a 'feature' and 'sorry'! Perhaps not all CEC controls are identical - I do hear that some implementations can be a bit iffy.
However, I have now gone for the Yamaha YAS-207. Very happy with it, and CEC control seems fine. But it does have a mildly annoying habit of switching itself on again 1-3 hours after everything else is switched off. Seems to be a random time, and happens even when all other input devices are unplugged from the TV. Will have to play a bit more with things like soundbar and TV standby settings. Not a show-stopper, just costing me a few extra pennies on the electricity bill!

 

[ssbib]

Glad to hear you’re happy with the Yamaha. Best way around that is to turn things off at night. I do that to save as much money as possible.