Having never been fans of the whole soundbar genre we were of course a tad sceptical of the boast from Sennheiser that the Ambeo Plus coupled with its partnering Ambeo Subwoofer would make us change our minds! Normally of course Sennheiser are more famous for a wonderful range of top quality headphones…not so much the soundbar thing but all that has changed with the Ambeo models and here we are putting the Ambeo Plus Soundbar and Ambeo Subwoofer through their paces.

Set Up Is A Breeze

First of all set up of the Sennheiser Ambeo Plus was so simple. Just a quick download of the Sennheiser Smart Control app which talks you through the set up procedure step by step and will also very cleverly calibrate the soundbar and Ambeo Subwoofer to your room for optimum surround sound. It gets the bar connected to your Wi-Fi (or you can use Ethernet if you happen to have a cable near your TV), and then guides you through the optional steps for using Alexa as a voice assistant and using Google’s Chromecast built-in.

Set up screen that greets you when you open the app

Classic Movies

Once set up and working with an HDMI connection from our Bluray player I Played a couple of my favourite movie demonstration clips. First I played the beautifully filmed and choreographed Echo Game scene from House Of Flying Daggers with blind dancer Mei played by Zhang Ziyi, in which the floor is surrounded by drums on poles. Her nemesis throws a bean at one of the drums. She is to hit the same drum with the weighted end of her long sleeve. First one bean, then three, then countless beans are thrown, as Mei whirls in mid air to follow the sounds, hitting the drums with beats of her own. This becomes a ballet of movement and percussion with an amazing almost Kodo like drum sound that is a real test for the Ambeo subwoofer, which needless to say it passes with much aplomb. A simply stunning rendition of one of cinemas great scenes!

One of the best scenes in the history of movies!

Secondly I chose the brilliant final showdown gun fight scene from Kevin Costner’s 2003 American Revisionist movie Open Range. The gun fighting scenes in this film were intentionally filmed in giant wide shots and were praised for their intense realism. More importantly the gun fire sound is truly visceral and the Ambeo Soundbar Plus with its partnering Ambeo Subwoofer even make it sound like the echoes from the bullets are totally real as they fade away! This has to be the best gun fight in a movie ever!

You just know this isn’t going to end well!

Don’t Forget The Subwoofer

Although the Sennheiser Ambeo sub works really well it is possible to hook up any sub of your choice, not something that can be done with the majority of the competion. If your TV is wall mounted there is an optional wall bracket that can be had for an extra £50.

That’ll be the subwoofer then! It is possible to use up to four of these!!

A Bit More Info…

With the exception of the Ambeo Soundbar Max, I don’t think you can get a more immersive audio experience from a single speaker than the Ambeo Soundbar Plus. That is most certainly true when you feed it multi channel surround sound formats like Dolby Atmos or DTS:X, but it can be just as thrilling when listening to 5.1, 7.1, or even good old two-channel stereo.

The ambeo plus is a super slim 5.3 inches tall

Musically there is connectivity via Bluetooth, Apple AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect, TIDAL Connect with Dolby Atmos and Google Chromecast built-in too for good measure.

Voice Enhancement allows for better speech clarity while Night Mode offers improved listening at lower volume levels, if the rest of the family are in bed and you don’t want to disturb them.

The Bit At The End…

Ok so this won’t replace a dedicated set of stereo or surround speakers but it is a great way to experience two channel sound in a truly immersive 3D presentation. If you want a single speaker solution with great sound and great looks this may well be for you.

As usual if you are even vaguely interested then you are welcome to give us a call on 01242 583960 to arrange a demo or pop in to the Cheltenham store where the Sennheiser Ambeo Plus is on (fairly) permanent demo. And if you’re just passing by, why not pop in and take a look at it too?