# Razor Thin: Harman Kardon's New Sabre SB 35 Soundbar



## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Soundbars. They make purists cringe but appeal to the masses for obvious reasons, offering reasonable price points, easy installation, inconspicuously small footprints, and noticeable sound improvement over standard television speakers. Over the past few months we’ve reported on several new soundbar systems from Vizio and Sony with many more being released by other manufacturers. It has been a soundbar frenzy and its not over yet.

Today, Harman Kardon welcomed the arrival of two new soundbar systems, the Sabre SB 35 and SB 26, featuring ultra slim designs and smart phone app controlled compatibility. 








"When developing the Harman Kardon Sabre SB 35 we wanted to make the least intrusive possible soundbar without compromising the sound performance, design and finish that Harman Kardon consumers are expecting. The soundbar shape and format is so useful. It blends right in with flat screen TVs and entertainment systems," said Michael Mauser, President of HARMAN Lifestyle. 

The Sabre SB 35 soundbar boasts a mere thickness of 1.25 inches, harboring a whopping 8 independent drivers (1.75 inch) and tweeters (1 inch). Add in the SB 35’s 100W wireless subwoofer and Harman Kardon is delivering simulated 8.1 surround sound in an incredibly discrete package with a very unique wall mountable subwoofer. The bar relies on Harman’s Wave surround-mode technology and advanced digital signal processing to create it’s surround experience, along with the ability to decode Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD codecs. The unit’s functionality is further enhanced by its ability to manage volume, keeping sound levels the same during television and movie viewing. 

The SB 35 offers relatively decent connectivity options with 3 HDMI inputs and Bluetooth, paired with one HDMI output. Setup is eased by on screen display assistance.

Harman Kardon’s second new mode, the SB 26, offers slightly less of a wow factor than the SB 35. It’s bar design features two-way dual driver left and right speakers (3 inch drivers and 1 inch tweeters), paired with a separate wireless subwoofer sporting a 10 inch driver and a 100W amp. Connectivity includes two HDMI inputs, Bluetooth, and one HDMI output.

Both units offer useful remote features. Built-in IR repeaters relay standard remote signals in the event that installation blocks a television’s IR receiver. Also, both subwoofers offer remote controlled sound level capability, allowing for easy sound level management. Finally, using the new Harman Kardon Remote App owners can stream their digital music collection from just about any networked portable device. 

The SB 35 and and SB 26 are available now at harmankardon.com, priced at $999 and $599 MSRP.


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## tripplej (Oct 23, 2011)

Excuse my ignorance but for soundbars, do you need receivers? Or you just hook up the soundbar to the tv and that's it? Just curious. Never saw anybody using so thought to ask.


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Nope... as far as I am aware, they are plug-and-play.


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## tripplej (Oct 23, 2011)

Todd Anderson said:


> Nope... as far as I am aware, they are plug-and-play.


Great. That is good to hear. 

I might get me a soundbar then for a bedroom tv. Just have it hooked up to the inputs for the speakers that are available on the back of the tv then.


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