Sharp HT-SB300 Sound Bar System

[MrBoylan]

Can a $300 all-in-one audio solution be a worthy accompaniment to your flashy new HD flat panel? The answer is a qualified "Yes."

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[badgirlfran@aol.com]

I have the same sound bar and I was wondering why there is no sound from the sound bar when i put on my didital box, but the sound bar works for the wii, dvd player and the television itself, do i need the coaxial digital audio cables alse hooked to the digital box to the sound bar as well?

[MrBoylan]

Not sure how you have it hooked up now since you don't describe your current hook-up, but yes, a direct digital connection (fiberoptic digital or coax digital) between your cable box and the Sharp soundbar is the best way to go as this will get you 5.1 channel surround sound from compatible programs. But some cable boxes do not output sound over their fiber or coax outputs if you also use the HDMI cable for sound from the TV speakers. You'd want to check your cable or satellite box user manual to see if this is the case on your box.

If you have tried this and still don't get sound from your cable or satellite box, then let us know how you currently have everything connected.

-CB

[fullfuzz]

glad someone has reviewed this. i noticed there is one spdif input and i was wondering what kind of compontent you could place into this port. i want to be able to be able plug in an old cd player that i have but i dont know if it will work well with it. i should get a new one but its been working well for the last few years. i saw on http://www.htibreviews.com that this model can be found for under 300 so rather than pay for something too big that i wont get as much use out of for a simple cd hook up could you recommend a solution? maybe i should just upgrade the cd player? only thing is the receiver i have is from the 70's and i've been using a rca cable. thought maybe i could get better sound throught the upgrade an spdif port?