60 reviews for Nakamichi Shockwafe Pro Bluetooth 7.1.4 Channel Dolby Atmos/DTSX Soundbar with 10″ Wireless Subwoofer, 2 Rear Surround Speakers, eARC and SSE Max Technology (New), black : Electronics

1. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Raydiant – March 10, 2024

   5.0 out of 5 stars

   Great system Awesome Tech support!

   I purchased this back in 2019. Work flawlessly for years. I would bring friends over and demo it in my room. It would shake the house and the Dolby Atmos is incredible. About 6 months ago no sound was coming from the sound bar. Did all the trouble shooting and it did not fix it. Sent it in one week ago to Nakamichhi, had to pay 100 bucks for shipping and 100 bucks for repair. Got it back, it still does not work??? So disappointed. This is not a cheap system, even if it died, it should have been repaired properly! So sad!UPDATE: 2-19-24Received an update from Nakamichi. They are sending me a replacement sound bar. The Tech said It might possibly be the power supply. So hopefully new/refurbished sound bar I do not care as long as it works, and power supply might get me up and running again.Update: 02/21/24Ian and tech crew sent out a new sound. They mentioned in their letter that they tested the repair before they get sent out and he was wondering if the power brick might be an issue. I wasn’t sure if they were going to send a new one so I ordered one here on Amazon. Arrived on same day, tried the power brick first on my repaired sound bar…..tada…sound bar and speakers are working perfectly. Thanks to Nakamichi for trying to get my things working to the point of sending me a new sound bar. If you are out of warranty you might have to pay for repair but they seem very serious on trying to get you up and running. Search Amazon for Nakamichi power supply, its a big 25 bucks. Very happy now and back to 5 stars for great service and for standing by their product!

   2 people found this helpful

2. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Casey PflugradtCasey Pflugradt – March 10, 2024

   5.0 out of 5 stars

   Very Excited! New Nakamichi Soundbar for 2022!

   PLEASE READ!Hello everybody this is a review update after getting the new 9.2 eARC for 2022 and using it for a few a bit now. The new eARC setup is mindblowing and definitely worth the upgrade!The first thing I noticed when i got the new system out of the box was that the whole system now has an all matte black finish and bronze logos which looks very sleek but most of all I was very impressed by the much improved look of the subwoofers and the new remote. On top of that the soundbar also has a new LED screen!Another good thing about the Nakamichi soundbar system is that it is much more balanced than a lot of the other major name brand systems because the others either don’t come with any surround sound speakers at all or they only come with barely 2 and they only come with one subwoofer if that. And this Nakamichi system comes with 4 surround speakers and two 10″ subwoofers! The bass is much more balanced and fluid throughout the room and so are the surround sound effects!I’m really happy with the new soundbar system and I think Nakamichi has really listened to their customers and made some dramatic enhancements to an already great system! Which is why I do want to first comment on a few slightly negative comments on the price upgrade that I have read already. I do understand that your comments are before you have experienced the new system and I do understand that for some people every bit of money can mean a lot but also you have to understand how much prices have gone up these days and how much this company has probably dumped into new research and algorithms and drivers and a new remote and more to actually do what people and customers had asked of them! So as a consumer here is a company that is doing what customers are asking! And yes the center channel is much more powerful much! And the bass and subs are louder and stronger! Most importantly I can tell they have a brand new audio algorithm into this thing and it makes it such an impressive upgrade! I would obviously also think new and more powerful drivers. I would totally recommend the new system first of all for sure as it took the place of the previous model and took my home theater to the next level (again). If you are undecided and came to my review, do yourself a favor and buy it and try it out as you will not regret it!Looking at the bass, the previous 9.2 was already the best option in the market in my opinion but the new subs on the 9.2 eARC have blown me away and I’m really happy. Bass is deeper, clearer, louder, more accurate, and it just hits harder, and I actually had to do some more soundproofing to my wall art after testing it out. The surround sound, ambient sound and algorithm they put into this new model is over a 50% upgrade and has surround sound effects going crazy around my room. It has way more sound coming from the surround speakers and going around the room and has taken my home theater experience to a completely different level! Rewatching Unbroken and Dunkirk and many more movies that I watched on my previous sound bars, I heard many new details that I really never knew existed and the directions of where the sound effects were moving towards were much clearer and way more directional. The part in the opening scene where the fighter jet flies from left to right felt so real as though I was in the cockpit. The explosions and gunfire felt much cleaner and harder on the new subwoofers like I was in a warzone and it got me more excited and tensed up I was loving it more than ever.I dont usually listen to music, but the music scenes I heard in my movies were so clear that it felt like I was actually in a concert, especially the vocals and everything sounds richer and more vibrant and much better than before. Music playback performance is definitely on another level as well. I would mostly think this is because of a new algorithm of how it reads and outputs sound and new drivers to do the work!The new remote is probably the best remote control I’ve seen in a surround system and many of you will probably want to know more so here are a few answers. Over the past couple years I’ve noticed that some owners have had to point their remotes at a certain angle towards the bar to get it to respond. With the new remote, there is a significantly larger glossy area for the sensor at the top of the remote and I can now control the soundbar even from the corners of my living room. The responsiveness is much improved as well. Also, the new remote has larger buttons with colors making the controls more instantly recognizable without having to scan through all the buttons to find the right one. Feels more modern with larger buttons and brighter and cleaner backlit keys, making it more user-friendly. The backlit keys are also brighter so controlling it in the dark is a breeze.Thanks for reading my review as I put a decent amount of time into it as well as the review that I had for the previous model. Also, I plan to upload a small homemade video soon about my new system and I just took some new pictures of my new setup as well. I’m pretty excited and really liking it so much.

   112 people found this helpful

3. 

   Rated 3 out of 5

   Y. Ma – March 10, 2024

   3.0 out of 5 stars

   Awesome price/performance ratio but OK sound quality (a brief comparison vs. Samsung Q950T)

   I want to say that I really want to like this sound system. I’ve used it for less than a month but eventually decided to return it after I compared it with Samsung Q950T.Pro:- Loud. I guess this is the first thing a lot people will notice when they turn it on. It definitely delivers a very powerful sound to your room, thanks to its dual sub-woofers. I often need to turn it down because my floor and walls start to tremble and I am worried that will disturb my neighbors- Bass. Again thanks to its dual sub-woofers. If you are really into the booms and heavy beats, this one won’t disappoint you- Immersiveness for movie. This system delivers amazing surrounding effects when you watch movies, if you have the setting refined. Due to the power of the system, you will feel blown away in explosion scenes!- Option for fine configuration. The remote control is complex but allows you to pretty much adjust everything in the system to your liking. For tech savvy people like me, I find this very attractive because I like to play around with different settings. But for most people, this might be a con because they might be daunted by the complexity of the remote and prefer a simpler, one size for all setting- No visible wires running around! I had Elite version which has 2 rear speakers, each connecting to a respective subwoofer placed in the back against my living room wall. Since the subwoofers are wirelessly connected to the soundbar, I don’t have wires running around, giving my living room a really clean look. However, if you have the Ultra 9.2.4 version, you will have 2 extra middle speakers which will need to be connected to the subwoofers so you will have running wires issues. But that’s still better than traditional home theaters (AV receive + speakers) which running wires is a must job to do. Don’t get me wrong! The traditional home theater setup is still the best option if sound quality is your absolute priority. I think most customers consider surround soundbar systems because they want the convenience to set things up while enjoying a good level of home theater feel.- Top notch tech support. During the testing, I had multiple technical questions. Whenever I sent my questions via email to their support team, I got response within a few hours. From the responses, you can tell that their tech team knows about their product. The responses were all spot on and professional.- Price/performance ratio. I got the Elite 7.2.4 version during black Friday sales for a little less than $800. At this price, the price/performance ratio is exceptional. I think at this ratio, Nakamichi easily beats many competitors out there.Con:- Sound quality. A lot people probably equate loudness with good sound quality. But they are different. You can get very loud speakers that deliver crappy sound. However, by no means do I mean that Namamichi’s sound quality is crappy. It’s decent, but after I listened to a few other competitors I have come to the conclusion that its sound quality is just decent, not at the top. One comparator is Samsung Q950T, which sounds much cleaner with a better separation of different instruments. It makes the Nakamichi’s sound feel dull or muffled. To make sure that I am not biased, I invited two friends to my place to listen to two systems side by side without telling them which is which. They unanimously agreed that one (which is Samsung) sounded much cleaner and better than the other (which is Nakamichi Elite). But they also mentioned that one (which is Nakamichi) had a stronger bass than the other (which is Samsung). The difference in sound quality might not be too obvious when you watch movies but it’s quite prominent when you listen to music. I am sorry to say that Samsung wins in that regard hands down.- Subwoofer/Tweeter performance. You might be confused when you see this – “don’t you put bass as a pro above?”. Nakamichi’s subwoofer can definitely deliver very strong, floor shaking bass. However, it dies out quickly at low frequency sound below 45Hz. So in English, it means that any deep sound with a frequency lower than 45Hz is less likely to be heard from Nakamichi’s subwoofer. As a comparison, Q950T’s subwoofer extends to around 29Hz. On the high frequency end (treble), Nakamichi’s tweeter dies away at 6800Hz while Q950T extends beyond 14500Hz. Again in English, it means that for high pitch sound above 7000Hz, it’s more likely for you to hear it from Samsung’s system than Nakamichi’s. Does this matter to many customers out there? Probably not. But if you are some sort of audiophile, this might matter to you.- Dolby Atmos/DTS:X. Again you might say “Don’t you put immersiveness as a pro?” Well, yes, but again they are not exactly the same. Although Nakamichi supports Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, I am a bit disappointed at its performance in these aspects. Particularly, I don’t feel much of height effect with Nakamichi. When watching scenes where the sound is supposed to be coming from the top (for example, airplanes flying over), I can still tell that the sound comes from behind (rear speakers) rather than from the top. In contrast, the height effect by Samsung Q950T literally makes me look up to my ceiling. This could be due to the fact that both Q950T’s soundbar and rear speakers have dedicated upfiring channels so that the height sound is bounced off my ceiling.- Static/cracking noise. One of the rear speakers kept having sharp popping/cracking sound occasionally that sounds like a static. I upgraded the firmware to the latest and made sure that there was no strong interference nearby such as a cell phone. But I couldn’t get rid of this annoying sound. Maybe this is just the issue with my unit.- eARC support. Regardless of Elite or Ultra, Nakamichi doesn’t support eARC. It might not matter to a lot folks. But if you want it to be future proof, Nakamichi is not. Many high end competitors out there are eARC ready.There are also other differences between Nakamichi and Samsung Q950T, such as Alexa support, phone app support, WIFI connection etc. Nakamichi lacks all of those but I don’t view them as cons even though I am a Amazon Alexa user. They are more of personal preferences.I hope my review helps. By no means am I trying to advertise Samsung to you. I did a lot research on surround soundbars online and narrowed down my choices to these two systems based on my specific needs. I happened to have a chance to compare them side by side. As a matter of fact, if you’re price sensitive, Nakamichi might be a better choice for you given the great price/performance ratio. Samsung’s retail price at $1700 is a bit ridiculous in my opinion. I don’t think its advantages over Nakamichi as stated above could justify a $700 – 900 difference. But I luckily managed to get a great discount on Samsung at around $1000 and only then did I feel that I’d be stupid not to go with Samsung.

   67 people found this helpful

4. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Eric B.Eric B. – March 10, 2024

   5.0 out of 5 stars

   great sound but trial and error setup through complicated settings and options menu

   I’ve only had this sound bar a day and have mixed feelings about this. Here’s the short story… it is a complicated device that requires lots of fiddling with to get the sound you want. Fortunately the company provides half decent documentation that explains how to access and change the settings though ends just short of telling how the changes affect the way the system performance changes. They give recommended settings for configuration except don’t tell why I should use them other than it gives the best performance. My old vizio unit was full configuration through the app which allowed me to change from 2 presets (movie/music) and surround/no surround. I could also change the bass/treble of the bar while also separately changing the sub level and also the rear speaker level to compensate for how close they sit to my head near the couch. this shockwafe unit lets you do all the same things except through a complicated remote design pushing buttons while watching the bar closely to make sure you have to right options set and then confirm the change. some changes cause the sound to drop out for 3 to 5 seconds while they take effect which is annoying but reminds me of my old onkyo receiver. I’ve found the best settings so far for myself is to use NATIVE mode which allows the system to decode all formats directly without any special upmixing of the content. I really encourage anyone to go through all the different settings with multiple sources to find the one you like best. I might end up changing my settings later on. Also DSP I disable which are the preset EQ configs like music/movie/game/clear voice. I find these to cause the audio to sound un-natural and less clear/crisp.Most important thing to do is the firmware upgrade before connecting the bar to your tv/components.My unit came with a USB drive with files already on it however they were not the most recent files available on the website. Just download the firmware zip file from their support page and replace the files on the flash drive and follow the instruction page.I chose to wall-mount this bar because my old vizio bar was also mounted up on the wall. I got lucky and was able to line up the brackets to allow the cables to bend and come thru the access hole I have in the wall while keeping everything well hidden, see pictures. Look at how the plugs are setup on the bar and compare that to how many components you want to have directly attached to the bar vs. what you want going to your TV.I have a nvidia shield going into hdmi-4 port right next to the ARC port that way both cables can go straight into the wall. the power adaptor plug cable has to go all the way over to the opposite side of the bar so some people might want to drill a separate hole in the wall just to hide this wire… I have mine tucked floating behind the bar and run it through the same cut out for the hdmi cables.CEC power and volume control works great regardless of whether I’m using the TV remote control or my shield’s remote.mounting the rear speakers is a chore because they technically should have both mounting plates used to hold them to the wall, at the moment I’m only using one because of trial and error for placement.my couch sits right up against the wall in a section recessed against windows so the speakers are literally a foot away from our ears. manual recommends mounting these AT head level for best sound however I might end up mounting these higher and either angled down at us or up for ceiling reflection effect because even at the lowest volume level they are still a little too loud for my listening pleasure at times.finally keep in mind that the sub and rear speakers talk to the sound bar wirelessly over a 5ghz channel which has the potential to interfere with a WiFi router and cause audio drop out at times. this sound bar has a setting to enable a direct frequency (DF) to help alleviate this issue. because routers are also equally complicated to configure the average home user may get frustrated to not end trying to fix this, just contact their tech support. I have a google router which doesn’t allow you to change the channel because it auto senses interference from competing channels. their help page will walk you thru difference solutions for this type of setup. you can use the wifiman app by ubiquiti which shows lots of detailed info about your home network and networks around you.so far this sound bar has recognized all formats I’ve thrown at it both from my sony bravia’s built in apps over the ARC and from the nvidia shield pro running kodi. each time new content starts the bar will display which codec it is playing and you can hit the info button for verification. this is awesome for me because other sound bars will simply either not tell you this information or flat out refuse to decode it leaving you in silence.good news is despite the settings being a little on the complex side, it does allow you to save your preferences to memory.

   15 people found this helpful

5. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   Jordan L. – March 10, 2024

   4.0 out of 5 stars

   Incredible sound quality for Atmos content. Had to work through some issues initially

   I’ve had the 7.1.4 (2020) system for about 8 months now and feel it’s time to update my review. I’m not going to include my original review since I wasn’t very fair to the product given some issues I was having at the time. I’ve now fixed or worked around almost all of them, so I’ll be sure to outline the steps I took below. Let’s get the problems I had initially out of the way first, and then I’ll get to what it’s like using the system daily.ISSUE 1: OVER-THE-TOP BASS / DSP PRESETSMy first impression of the sound system was that there was just too much bass. It was impressive for sure, but just too much, even with bass turned down to its lowest setting. Eventually I figured out that the Movie and Game presets are just over the top, especially in as small a space as my living room. So my first fix was to just turn off the signal processing (“DSP Off”). If I lived further from other houses and had the system in a larger room, I might consider turning it back on, but it’s just not necessary in my current setup. The other thing to check is to make sure you set SSE to the right level for the size of the room. You can find exact measurements in the user manual; for my small living room SSE 1 is all it needs.ISSUE 2: AUDIO CUTOUTSThe biggest issue I had to work through was that Dolby Atmos audio would randomly cut out for a few seconds once in a while. I primarily use the system with an Apple TV 4K and with an Xbox One (now an Xbox Series X). While the Xbox outputs low-bandwidth Dolby Digital Plus Atmos to the sound bar (except when playing back Blu-rays), the Apple TV outputs Dolby Atmos MAT, which is higher quality but requires a lot more bandwidth. It was the Apple TV that was experiencing the audio cut-out problem, and since I’d never had problems with my HDMI cables in the past, I assumed the sound bar was to blame. It wasn’t until extensively researching the issue and talking with Nakamichi support (who were stellar, by the way) that I finally caved and bought the Belkin High-Speed HDMI cable that Apple recommends for the Apple TV 4K. To my surprise, that did in fact solve the problem. If you experience similar issues, definitely try that cable and see if it helps. Worst-case, Apple has a 14-day free return policy if it doesn’t help (double-check that for yourself before making a purchase). Also be sure to get the “High-Speed” HDMI cable that’s technically rated up to 8K. Apple offers a cheaper one for the Apple TV HD, but only the more expensive one fixed the audio problems.ONGOING (MINOR) ISSUESHaving fixed those issues, the only remaining ones have been fairly minor. For one, there’s a noticeable delay when you start to play multi-channel LPCM audio. Each time the content begins playing, initially or after a pause, the audio takes a few seconds to start. If you’re not using subtitles and miss a line of dialog, the “fix” for this is to run it back several seconds. After a while this has become a habit in our home after pausing non-Atmos content. Nakamichi support assured me this was normal with high-end systems, and is intentional to prevent unwanted pops or other noises when starting playback. Why it’s not necessary with Atmos or stereo PCM audio is beyond me. The other minor issue I’ve had is that muting the system doesn’t always mute the sub or rear speakers. I assume this will be fixed with the next software update, but until then the “fix” is to turn the volume down to 0 instead of pressing mute.DAILY USENow that that’s out of the way, here are my thought on using the system on a daily basis. First off, Atmos is incredible. The sound bar excels when playing back properly-mixed Atmos content, especially anything on AppleTV+ or the newer shows from Disney+. It really puts you in the middle of the sound stage, even in our small living room where the rear speakers are off to each side. Dialog is crisp as well, and even on the lowest bass setting with DSP off, the sub is capable of making the room shake. Much like the DSP presets, I’ve found over time that I prefer to leave Dolby up-mixing off. I had it on for the longest time, but frequently found midrange audio, especially around the upper frequencies of dialog, to be a little muddy. In a few edge cases of 5.1 or 7.1 mixes, I even found that up-mixing somehow lost entire channels. In the worst case of this, the dialog was completely gone. As a result, I usually try and disable up-mixing when watching non-Atmos movies and shows (press Direct on the remote until NATIVE appears). The exception to this is when playing music. I absolutely love the room-filling experience of playing back stereo music with upmixing on. It’s quite impressive.SUMMARYOverall, I’m happy with the system. As an avid Apple user I’m used to things just working, and this was not nearly as simple. It was quite a process to overcome my initial problems and learn how to get the most out of it, which is why I gave it four stars instead of five. But it is an impressive setup once you figure it out, and I hope it lasts a long time. It sounds great in our small living room, but I have literally everything set to the lowest setting (bass, rear speakers, SSE, room size…). I hope one day to put it in a larger space where I can really bump everything up a notch and experience its full potential.

   14 people found this helpful

6. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   Leo – March 10, 2024

   4.0 out of 5 stars

   Impressive sound – Solid product quality – No mobile app – Settings somewhat suck

   SUMMARY/Spoiler Alert: It’s a thrifty audiophile’s sound bar (unless you are ready to spend thousands more) with a somewhat outdated way of checking/changing settings.I knew what to expect when purchasing this sound bar, given my extensive experience with HiFi sound, and after reading quite a number of reviews. In my book, sound quality trumps other factors like design (like rotating speakers on a Vizio sound bar) and/or a cool app.As an audiophile for 2+ decades, I know that one needs to limit expectations. NO sound bar combo can reproduce the quality of sound even close to that of a full-scale system with serious standalone speakers and a HiFi AV receiver, let alone custom multi-amplifier setups. (I have a couple setups with the 8-series Marantz receivers and 8-series B&W speakers at home to compare to). This is not surprising given a huge price and size gap. You simply cannot get truly HiFi sound with tiny speakers, but you can try to do your best…In my case this Nakamichi Shockwafe Pro 7.1.4 is used together with the TV hanging on the wall in front of the treadmill in the exercise room. Both rear surround speakers and the subwoofer are located behind the treadmill. Given the inevitable high level of ambient noise created by the treadmill, I needed two things from this sound bar:- Good sound quality that would not make me wince, and- A sufficient level of sound pressure (loudness/wattage) to hear everything clearly over the treadmill.PROS:1. Comparing this soundbar to similarly positioned systems from Vizio and Samsung I can clearly tell that the overall sound quality is noticeably better; I have no issues with it, and I am quite fastidious in that area. The bass is also solid (even with a single subwoofer of the 7.1.4 system), and one can easily adjust its level using a calibration recording and an SPL meter. I do not care much about 3D/Atmos sound, especially in this exercise room setup, and generally do not watch a lot of movies where these effects are truly important, so I cannot tell anything in this regard.2. The power is tremendous. Even with a high level of ambient noise I never go to volumes above 30 out of 100 even for Netflix movies (notoriously mastered with a lower sound volume). Not getting even closer to the sound bar limits guarantees lack of noticeable distortion, which becomes a factor with lesser systems. (I tried to use an older lower-midrange Yamaha YAS-408 in this setting earlier, and it was struggling, the volume going all the way to 88-90 out of 100…)3. The soundbar works seamlessly and reliably with both 4K Google Chromecast TV w/ Google TV and Amazon FireTV Cube, including automated ON/OFF sequences, etc.4. You can store settings and quickly recall them at any time using System Memory 1-3 buttons.CONS:1. There is no app, and no way to output the settings menu to the TV (like with most AV receivers). You need to check or set dozens of parameters using the remote with 100 (maybe somewhat fewer) buttons and a tiny soundbar LED screen. This method feels awkward and inconvenient. Even the inexpensive and old Yamaha YAS-408 has an app that makes it possible to set or check settings easily.2. No automated room sound correction present on some fancier soundbars. You can only set the room size. Not a big deal, imho.Given that all the primary speakers (except for the subwoofer and surround speakers) are integrated in the soundbar, sound travel distances are the same anyway, and the manufacturer has exact measurements for each speaker upfront. In reality, room sound correction is only required when you use an AV receiver and standalone speakers/sub, with a million relative SPL/location options. In the case of this soundbar the only thing you truly need is to adjust the subwoofer level, which is done easily with separate buttons on the remote.3. While most of the settings can be stored, I had to manually set room size (SSE) level after a power outage.4. Firmware updates look and feel clumsy, and the link provided in the manual does not work. I do not even know how/where to find firmware when a FW upgrade is due… Nowadays such updates should be done via the app; luckily, it’s a procedure you don’t need often.NEUTRAL: Nakamichi Shockwafe Pro 7.1.4 does NOT support Google Chromecast (there’s no WiFi). Well, you cannot cast directly to the sound bar, but given that most modern TVs support this feature you can use eARC and/or you can add an inexpensive Google Chromecast dongle to the setup. So, this is not really an issue.Overall, it works well in my setting, and I like it, given that I do not mind playing with settings once in a while in the nostalgic, 20-th century way, using the remote and the tiny LED indicator on the front panel. If you do not like this medieval approach to settings, I would not recommend this soundbar 🙂

   16 people found this helpful

7. 

   Rated 3 out of 5

   CMMH – March 10, 2024

   3.0 out of 5 stars

   OK sound, OK connectivity, Underwhelming overall

   I really wanted to love this after all of the positive reviews. I purchased this to replace my 20 year old Onkyo receiver and 30 year of Bose Acoustimass speakers . My use case is the standard use case; a sound bar below a 55″ flat screen monitor. My mounting surface is a bit challenging, a brick fireplace surround and a large wooden mantle.The unit came well packaged despite some dings from the shipping and delivery process. The components are well protected, although a lot of Styrofoam packing is used (recyclable/sustainable packaging would be personally preferred). Cables are provided for just about everything. The system also comes with a nice template for mounting the soundbar. Unfortunately, no complimentary template comes for the satellite speakers.A nice “quick start” poster walks you through the process of the connections and setup. They company points out that support is available from their US/Calif based support staff; it points you to their web site and forums (which are not very busy), and various guides. The company does bend over backwards to provide you with connection information, web-based wizards for setting up your various components, etc. Note that the soundbar requires a big power transformer for which a home must be found. Would have been nice if it was built into the bar.The bass unit fortunately does have the power supply built in and a 2.4 GHz ISM band audio link over to the soundbar. The rear speakers have RCA style jacks that plug into the bass unit. About 25’ of cable for the satellites is provided. (The cable is black; would have been nice if it was white to make it easier to hide – at least in my use case)The setup went relatively smoothly, although I did have some issues getting ARC and CEC working with my TCL Roku TV. Eventually that was sorted with the documentation provided. My first surprise was the soundbar has no HDMI-video based interface. The only “UI” you get is a alpha-numeric segmented LCD display. Back to the 1980s. My 20 year of Onkyo has UI that displayed through the video ports.In another surprise, I found that there was no remote interface to the soundbar other than the CEC commands over HDMI and the literal IR remote. No remote via bluetooth/smartphone app. No WIFI. No ethernet port. No serial port. At this point I realized that I really hadn’t done the research that I should of done. This soundbar system lacks a lot of “features” I had thought would be standard in a 2023 era model.When I started playing music on the unit, I found the bass to be very boomy. I did eventually discover the bass settting was high and that was making the bass over emphasized. At this point I realized there is in equalizer (EQ) in this unit – no auto-room measuring / audio adjustment system (such as Audyssey MultEQ) – simply bass and treble controls. Pretty limiting in adjustments. You do get some flexibility in the sub cross-over frequency.The remote has a number of controls including different DSP modes for different types of media to play. It is an IR remote and is relatively picky about pointing – you need to make sure you’re directly pointed at it versus other remotes that are more forgiving.The lack of any other control interfaces makes it hard to integrate into a home automation system. I new the system had bluetooth capability and figured that there was a control interface exposed there, but no. At this point I’m investigating using an IR blaster like a did for for my 90s era components.Not all of the devices I want to integrate can be controlled via CEC.I have auditioned a number of different movies and music on the system. I’m by no means an audiophile, but I do enjoy music and movies at moderate to elevated levels. At the end of the day, I’d say that the music capability is less good that my Onkyo / Bose 20+ year old system. No matter what the adjustments, I cannot get seamless crossover between the soundbar and the bass module. Moving the bass module has helped a bit, but the soundbar just doesn’t have enough of a low-end.Movies and gaming are probably on-par with the old system. Watching some of my favorite movie scenes (Interstellar “No Time for Caution”) sound good, but not awesome.So, at the end of the day, I replaced my system with one that sounds to my ears similar to the old system, and sometimes worse; I didn’t get features that I figured were status quo with modern sound systems. I would not purchase this system, personally, but certainly for a lot of use cases it would be an upgrade.

   12 people found this helpful

8. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   H. Rivers – March 10, 2024

   4.0 out of 5 stars

   Very good for the price but it could be better – not plug & play

   I purchased the 9.2 system during black Friday weekend of 2020. I wanted to wait to review the item until using it for at least a full month. I opened the box and completed the set-up on Jan 3rd, 2021. Hoping to make this review a bit more comprehensive and helpful, I am providing star ratings and splitting the review into the 5 individual sections identified in CAP LOCKS below:1 – PACKAGING (5 Stars)The sound system came well packed and protected. The box was the perfect fit and included well written and comprehensive instructions to setup the sound system and troubleshoot it. All cables needed to make the sound system work are included. It also provides links and references to online resources. Nakamichi has nothing to envy from larger companies/brands on this topic. Well done!!!2 – SETUP (3 Stars)I am reviewing this based on the expectations from must people that expect to have a Plug & Play system that will work flawlessly out of the box. Although Nakamichi provides very clear setup instructions that include images/photos, this sound system is NOT Plug & Play. After completing the set-up following the easy-to-follow steps, I noticed that speakers were not working correctly; specifically, the sound coming out of the speakers was intermittent and not constant. There were also cracking random sounds. In addition, my Wi-Fi home network basically stopped working causing my internet speed to drop from 700 Mbps to less than 100 Mbps. Upon further research, I discovered that the sound system required a firmware update (which requires to have or purchase an USB drive with certain specifications) to troubleshoot this issue and potentially resolve it. Then, made the update but issues kept going. Then, realized that I had to activate a new “dedicated frequency” mode that was supposed to resolve the issue. It certainly helped but was still affecting the Wi-Fi home network. As a last resort, I decided to reset the sound system which seemed to work. When placing the soundbar in front of my 65 inch LG OLED TV, the soundbar was too high and was blocking about 1.5 inch of my TV, which required me to buy a stand to make my TV higher (not good since I believe this could be prevented at the product design phase). Well, it took me about 4 days to complete the setup and perform all the troubleshooting steps that finally allowed me to use and test the sound system.3 – FIRST 45 DAYS OF USE (4 Stars)When working correctly and without the Wi-Fi interference, this sound system battles pretty well with Bose and Sony sound systems that I owed before. When watching Dolby Atmos content, the 2 rear speakers tend to completely loose audio for seconds sporadically which ruins the experience a bit (I believe this has to do with the conflict of the 5Ghz Wi-Fi network issue I mentioned within the setup section above). Other content, other than Atmos (Dolby Digital, DTS, etc.) works pretty well and sound quality is very good. I also tested the Bluetooth mode which I am not a big fan of since it basically utilizes the soundbar and it does not take good advantage of the other satellite 4 speakers. Initially I connected a PlayStation and a cable box to the HDMI ports of the soundbar but later decided to connect these devices directly to the TV because I had to turn on the sound system every single time, I wanted to use the connected devices but there were occasions when I did not want to use the sound system.4 – QUALITY OF SOUND AND HARDWARE (4 Stars)I believe that the sound quality is 5 stars when working correctly without the WiFi signal issues mentioned above. The display of the soundbar could certainly be better, perhaps a small touchscreen display may be installed into the soundbar instead of the small led indicators. The remote control is okay but, in my opinion, it could be simpler or have an option of a mobile app to use as a remote for advance functions. The satellite speakers need stands, I purchased the Atlantic Satellite Speaker Stands 27″- 48″ which seem fine for them. The built of the speakers seem to be good quality but the subwoofers are the star of the show. The subwoofers are well built and gives you outstanding bass (sad for me I am unable to take full advantage of the bass power due to living in an apartment and having close by neighbors). If considering a redesign for a future model, Nakamichi should consider not making the sound bar that tall and maybe come up with a flatter design.5 – FUTURE USAGE (3 Stars)I wrote this review after watching the movie “Judas and the Black Messiah” that has Dolby Atmos sound and is a recently released movie. As of today (Feb 21), the sound from the rear satellite speakers was still intermittent and not constant in various occasions of the movie. I wish this was not the case and that I could simply enjoy of constant Dolby Atmos sound. However, it still a better experience than watching the movie and using your TV’s speakers. I hope that Nakamichi comes up with software update that finally resolves this intermittent sound loss from the rear satellite speakers and completely fixed the conflict of 5Ghz WiFi signals between the wireless speakers and your 5Ghz WiFi home network. Because I have to learn to live with these ongoing issues that diminish the user experience, I had to rate this section 3 stars.

   14 people found this helpful

9. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   Sky – March 10, 2024

   4.0 out of 5 stars

   Minor techical/software issues

   So far so good. Iv been impressed and enjoyed these speakers sound capabilities. Great base, loud, never need to go beyound 28/30… Two subwoofer and 4 rear speakers in itself is great selling point and one of the main reasosn I went for it. It’s performance is arguably one of the best. Now functionality wise, I feel they could of done much better when it comes some really simple features that most cheap speakers have but that dont take points away. But the main issue I had is with the demo disk, I am unable to play it on my ps5 or ps4. I even bought a blue-ray player to attach to my laptop and that also didn’t work, I reached out to the manufacturer and never got a response. This is when points start getting deducted. No downloadable disc or way to update the firmware that much needed to improve and drops and lag you get. I watch a vidoe when some experience the same issues that was improved onces updated.Now when it comes to price. Is it worth it? I honestly don’t know if I can say yes or no, especially with the state of our economy’s cost of living and state of the world generally speaking, alot going on everything that’s effecting the concept of the finer things in life. And in comparison to other speakers that are cheaper and probably will give you decent quality sound(not compare to this but enough) with less difficult functionalities. That decision is completely up to you but personally alot of these tech can wait. This is coming from anxiously driven consumper. Games, security cameras, bikes, excerise equipment, running shoes, recovery tech, smart tech. At the end the day none of it is as needed as much as you wanted it. So rather you Can afford it or not the desire is short lived.But if none of that effects you. And you want decent, look no further. Now let’s see how it holds up over time.

10. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    John – March 10, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Great sound

    Still making the little adjustments to get just right but wow. Originally just took out of box plugged it in and watched a movie without adjusting anything and even my wife noticed a huge improvement to the sound. Good price as well since to go with true surround sound with speakers everywhere a decent receiver alone can cost 600 to 800 to start. Then you still need everything else. Other then the delivery driver I am completely satisfied. I live on a second floor and the 2 people that delivered it left at entry way leaving me to bring up alone. Yet when I buy a shirt they bring to my door.

11. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Nick Snow – March 10, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    11/5 Recent Purchase 9.2.4

    So this is my first review of any product ever. Let me start by saying that if you are hesitant to buy this system because maybe you have never heard of this brand, or because of the price let me stop you right there; it really is worth every penny spent on it. The system I got came fully updated with Atmos and DTS:X so no need to go through trying to download the update like I did, it is ready to go already. I initially tried the Samsung Q90R to try out atmos and was less than impressed, and it was really glitchy. So after hours of research, (I never buy anything on a whim), I decided that because I am in an apartment I would try this rather than go full surround sound. This thing had a lot of positive reviews and I can confirm that they are justified. I will address the 2 main negative reviews and get those out of the way. The first one is that it came in not working. Mine came in working fine, the only glitch it had that was that my ATT modem was too close to one of the subs interfering with the signals, I simply put it on top of the sub and that fixed it right away and I have not had a single issue since. To be honest its not just Nakamichi, but every electronic product you can think of has some systems that come defective, no matter if its samsung, apple, or lg. it happens, so get over it, send it back and get a new one. The second criticism I read was that the bass was inadequate for this system and to that I call BS. Im not sure if some people have to give criticism in their reviews but the bass is overwhelming if nothing else.Now to the positive. Bass, “OMG” that’s the only way to describe it. For an apartment its way too much, but there are so many adjustments and you can make to the bass and treble that can balance it out. But to say the bass isn’t that great like some reviews say is just silly. Its almost like some people need something to complain about to make it sound like a “critical review,” but pay no attention to those reviews, the bass is spectacular. Setup takes about an hour or so, but once its set up control is easy. I have an Apple TV 4k, PS4 Pro, and Sony X700 bluray player attached to it, and I have the sound bar plugged in using eArc to an LG Nano9 65 inch TV. I have 2 satellite speakers up by the TV and 2 near my couch which adds great surround sound effect. So far on apple tv i have watch John Wick, Interstellar (that scene with the ocean world is really intense), and Batman Begins. John Wick is done in Dolby Atmos, which sounds amazing and I have been hearing sounds I have never heard in surround sound. But even Interstellar and Batman Begins being in Dolby 5.1 sound great. The sound bar has amazing clarity, especially if your willing to take the time to adjust it to settings you will like. I listen to apple music a lot, heavy bass for hip hop, then take down to more of a clarity setting for 80s rock and it handles both really well. When I watch scrubs (my favorite show), it offers a ton clarity as well.In my personal opinion there is only two drawback and one is minor, the other is a good problem to have. The first is the satellite speakers can be a little lite on sound, which is okay because you will still know they are there, especially in atmos movies, but that is just not enough to take a star away. The second is of course the bass, its not that it is bad, its too good for an apartment so I have yet to fully experiment with it which sucks. So if your gonna get it for an apartment like me that may be a little bit of a let down unless you don’t care about your neighbors lol.Overall this is a great system, the best on the market for “sound bars” if you can call it that. To be honest its really more of a home theater in a box than anything else. It pairs so nicely with the Apple TV 4k which offer by far the largest streaming library of Dolby Atmos/Vision Movies. The only reason I get a 4K bluray player is that I ordered the 4K special edition marvel movies that all now have atmos (which comes in next week!). But honestly everything else can be watch on Apple TV, which if your like me and you love movies than the combination is of the Nakamichi 9.2.4 and the Apple TV 4k should set you up for years to come. Don’t hesitate to get this system, its well worth it I promise.

    58 people found this helpful

12. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Zapix – March 10, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Shockwafe Ultra 9.2 vs. no competition

    Setup:BedroomLG OLED65C6PSamsung UBD K8500When looking for a sound bar, I had a few requirements.1. It had to have 4K and HDR options2. It had to have something better than basic Dolby/DTS processing3. It had to fit the space requirementsInitially, I was going to just get a sound bar without surround, but I grew to like the sound from my LG OLED. It wasn’t bad. However, my C6P has fantastic 3D, while my home theater tv has crosstalk issues that make it unwatchable to me. This left me having to choose between watching a movie in 3D or watching it with 7.1 surround. So I decided to look for a sound bar with 5.1 to 7.1. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of options in that group that have 4K, HDR, Atmos or DTSX.. Well, there are if you want simulated surround.Originally, I had listed the Nakamichi Shockwafe 7.1 as one of two sound bars I was interested in. So when I started looking again, the Ultra 9.2 was listed… Certainly there was a catch! No, there’s no catch. 1000W system, 4K HDR passthrough, Dolby processing and DTS:X. Checked the measurements to be sure I could fit this all in the bedroom… Requirements met!While in transit, I noticed the lack of Atmos/TrueHD and the lack of Dolby Vision. An oversight on my part. Perhaps I’m used to home theater receivers… When I recently bought an Onkyo RZ920, the flagship model, there was no question about HDR, Dolby Vision, Atmos or DTS:X. A flagship audio component should be be just that… The model that does it all, no questions asked. So, when purchasing the Nakamichi Shockwafe Ultra 9.2, I assumed no questions asked. After all, this is Nakamichi, a brand that years back was considered one of the great audiophile brands. Still, having read posts on AVSForum, it appears these things (7.1 TrueHD decoding and Dolby Vision passthrough) can be added via firmware updates, should Nakamichi decide to do so. Not likely though seems to be the general feeling as sound bars take sides in the Dolby vs DTS war.One other thing of note is that this system is intended to have the subwoofers at the rear since the rear speakers also plug into them with RCA plugs. You can place them at the front and run the included cables, but they’re about 16ft long. The cables are also about the same thickness of the cable to your phone’s wired earbuds. I replaced mine with heavier 25ft RCA cables.No regrets though. Despite the lack of native 7.1 TrueHD or Dolby Vision, I would still be searching for something if I wanted everything. That’s just the way sound bars are.Setup was simple enough. Unpack, plug in the HDMI cables and power cords. Connect the rear speakers to the subwoofers (be sure to connect left rears to the left subwoofer and right rears to the right subwoofer) and turn it all on. The subwoofers automatically pair (via bluetooth) to the sound bar.First impressions were not what I expected. I played Guardians of the Galaxy 2 via the LG Netflix app. It seemed muddled. Turns out there were a few things going on, but after tweaking the settings and sitting a little further back, everything was good!My primary movie settings are…DSP: Off (Movie setting adds more bass, but the clarity of the sound gets taken out back)Pure: Off (enables DTS Neural:X processing/upmixing)Bass: 7 (after a lot of testing with Passengers, 6 or 7 seems to be about the highest setting before voices were affected)Treble: 7 (just to match the Bass setting)Center: 10 (helps with the voice clarity)SR: 7 (I noticed almost no change between 1 to 10 while watching movies, but while listening to music, it was night and day)SB: 7 (I noticed almost no change between 1 to 10 while watching movies, but while listening to music, it was night and day)Now, you might be wondering, what do I compare this to.Well, that’s not easy or fair to answer… My home theater system is an LG 86UH9500 tv, Onkyo RZ920 receiver, Oppo UDP 203 4k player, with Klipsch Forte speakers (front), Klipsch KSC-C1 (center), Klipsch WB14 speakers (surround), Acoustic Research M1 speakers (rear), and a Velodyne subwoofer. This is like comparing a soccer mom’s mini van to a Porsche 911, and thus not a fair comparison. What would be fair though is perhaps to compare to the Logitech Z906 system I have connected to the computer.The Logitech Z906 is a true 5.1 surround system that at full price will cost you $400. Now, the Z906 has flaws. It hasn’t been updated in years, and it doesn’t have HDMI inputs, so it’s not a good option for a home theater setup unless you don’t mind using optical/coax and being limited to basic Dolby and DTS processing. Despite all that, used it for years to watch movies on the computer in the bedroom. That being said, if Logitech had ever updated it with HDMI and 4K HDR passthrough, I would have bought that without a second thought since I’m familiar with it.Coming back to the Ultra 9.2, the sound quality is good. I’m not going to spend hours comparing apples and oranges, but with years of the Z906, I’d say the sound quality of the speakers here are just as good, but technologically, there’s more of them, and they do a lot more with DTS:X and Neural:X supporting it. I’ve spent a bit of time with it watching the first 2 Hunger Games movies in 4K (as well as testing a bunch of movies while setting up the audio) and I’ve been pleased with the results.The only real weakness I find is the subwoofers. There’s 2 of them, and I expected a lot more room shaking punch. They’re really about the same as the subwoofer that comes with the Z906, except they’re downward firing while the Logitech is front firing. The impact is right about the same when I gave it the Jurassic Park test. T-Rex won’t scare anyone or anything with either. Safe to say, the home theater Velodyne makes things fall down, but again, that’s not a fair comparison. Also the placement could be a factor. Firmware updates since the original release also make them a bit heavier sounding.I have experienced some odd issues since setting up the Nakamichi. The UHD player sometimes appears to have a stroke and believes it no longer has an HDCP 2.2 connection and reverts to 1080p. Twice now has my TV had a stroke and just starts turning 3D on and off for no reason. And a few times now my Roku 4 picture looks like it was put through a blender and reprocessed in 8bit pixelated gaming Minecraft blocks, and the issue appears to be with HDCP 2.2 going AWOL. The last issue is related to startup. I use a Logitech Harmony remote, and when turning everything on, the Nakamichi input will change as intended, but then it will for no reason decide it wants to be on ARC (HDMI 1) and switch back. This is an issue after starting up, and it doesn’t always happen. It seems I need to wait at least 15 seconds before changing the input, otherwise it will always go right back to ARC or won’t change at all. I’m hoping this gets worked out with firmware.Lastly, I mentioned a lack of Dolby Vision and 7.1 TrueHD. Dolby Vision isn’t on a lot of components. If you happen to have an LG TV and an Oppo player, you can simply use the HDMI audio out of the player to plug into the player, and leave the HDMI video to the TV. In the case of 7.1 TrueHD, you can set your UHD player to PCM instead of bitstream to maintain lossless audio, as suggested on AVSForum. However, you’ll want to change it back for DTS:X audio. Personally, I say just leave it on bitstream, and disable Pure mode so that Neural:X can just do its thing. Yes, it’s lossy audio then, but I’d be amazed if anyone could tell the difference on a sound bar system. Just the same way 192 bitrate MP3s work fine on your phone with earbuds, but you’ll notice it if you play that same MP3 on a high end audio system.So let’s end this. The Nakamichi Ultra 9.2 is a one of a kind. It’s a real 7.2/9.2 surround system with DTS:X, and 4K HDR passthrough. In the sound bar market, there’s nothing else like it. It achieves what it set out to do, and Nakamichi should be proud of it. Yes, there’s room for improvement, and I’m sure Nakamichi knows this, but only time will tell what comes next.I would probably give this 4 out of 5 because of the lack of lossless TrueHD and Dolby Vision since this is the flagship, and it is Nakamichi. However, I’m going to let it slide because you can work arounds stated above. There’s the issues I’ve run into as well, but I’m confident firmware updates will resolve it. A few interactions with support have left me feeling Nakamichi really wants to be liked the same way they were long ago. It’s under warranty, so I have time if firmware fixes are not an option. For what this is, a 7.2/9.2 sound bar surround system, there’s currently no equal.UPDATE: November 12, 2018Nakamichi has announced an update that will now include Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision. This update will be available for those of us who already own the system via firmware. This is a big deal! Nakamichi already had a superior soundbar system here, but now it’s going to even better.I’ve lived with this system for nearly a year now, and the Shockwafe 9.2 has remained everything I hoped for as a bedroom system. I stand firm in that if you can afford a real surround system that includes an A/V receiver, and stand alone speakers, and the technical knowledge to set it up, that THAT is a far superior experience. However, for ease of use, space saving, and lower cost, THIS will obliterate whatever speakers your TV has, and give you a home theater experience from a soundbar system that no other can provide.UPDATE: February 2, 2019Nakamichi for the last month has been providing owners of the 9.2 with the firmware upgrade. After the announcement, I purchased a Panasonic DP-UB820 4K player since Oppo went out of business, and I wanted a good player with Dolby Vision.With the Nakamichi 3.0/3.1 firmware, it does indeed let you use Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision now, however there’s problems, and it’s a problem with ARC, Roku, and 4K discs.With the new Dolby enabled firmware, there’s a 5~7 second audio delay. I’ve also had issues with audio suddenly sounding like it’s coming out of a tin can. Nakamichi has stated there could be random audio drop outs as well, and users on AVS Forum have complained about it.That said, I downgraded back to the 1.0c firmware, the last update before the Dolby upgrade. If Nakamichi fixes the issues, I’ll return to it. With or without the Dolby Atmos/Vision update, I still say the best soundbar you can get, and the best you can do without getting a real home theater system.

    201 people found this helpful

13. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    ChandruChandru – March 10, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Nakamichi shockwafe ultra 9.2 or nothing!

    *** Nov 16, 2018 update ***I have been having a great experience with this system since early June 2018 when I purchased it on amazon. This is in spite of the remote control issues that everyone has mentioned. Since I use a logitech harmony ultimate, this is not an issue for me, but definitely something that Nakamichi must work on.The biggest reason I am writing this today, is the news I saw just today morning about Nakamichi supporting dolby atmos & vision via firmware update that will be available next month on the shockwafe 9.2 system 2018 model!!! They are calling is SSE (spatial surround elevation) technology. There have been many including me that were constantly giving feedback atmos & vision support to them… this once again goes on to show Nakamichi is indeed listening to customer feedback & their overall wonderful customer support!!! Go Nakamichi…. I can’t wait for SSE firmware release to test it out to feel how much of a difference this will make to my June 2018 model to extend it to “9.2.4” atmos & vision compatible system. Thank you Nakamichi![btw, I didn’t see 9.2 shockwafe listed yet on dolby’s website under atmos soundbar category… assuming it will go up there soon after Nakamichi’s SSE firmware official release next month?]*******************************First impressions after using it for couple days (more detailed review to follow soon after I test it more esp. music): This IS the product I have been looking for – a hands-down, clear winner, worth every penny considering not just the no. of speakers/drivers, dual subs, but more importantly the well-balanced performance – audiophile grade!. So far I have tested this “beast” in the following set-up: Nakamichi surrounds in dipole config coz of space limitations in my room – btw, they came with surrounds joined together out of the box for dipole, felt like Nakamichi knew I was going to use it in that config (ha ha ha!), Samsung UN65KS8000F 65″ 4K TV, Sony UBP-X800 4K player, Xfinity 4K box, PS4, media streamers (Roku 4K, Amazon fire TV), 4K titles – Battleship – DTS-X, Atomic Blonde – DTS-X, Blade Runner 2049 – Atmos; 1080p titles: Master and Commander – The Far Side of the World – DTS HD-MA, Knight and Day – DTS HD-MA.Summary:PROS:Bottom-line: I made the right decision to replace the bose ST300 with this “beast” – Nakamichi is a clear winner without a doubt, hands-down!Audio performance:- excellent theater-type sound stage, superb sound clarity, crispness & channel separation; well-balanced & deep bass (dual subs are well sync’d)… I am really amazed by its channel separation & sound clarity capabilites. Having used the bose ST300 for over 6 months now, I thought that’s the best one could get from a soundbar… beware Bose – you have lots to catch up on!Unboxing & set-up: Solid packaging… set-up was straight-forward & simple (read ahead/plan/follow the steps); I also did firmware update coz the system came with an older version – very simple & quick (I initially thought it might be complicated, but was pleasantly surprised here too!)CONS (mostly minor but, Nakamichi, pls listen…am fairly sure you are):Remote: keys are small, backlight is not sufficiently bright for me to read all the keys in dark environment; some keys are not back-lit up anyways; importantly, as others have said, it is a challenge to point the remote at the soundbar for commands to work.Soundbar display menu: not good at all – very cryptic, given only a few characters available & importantly, very difficult to read what’s being shown unless I am up close. Nakamichi, don’t cut corners here – incorporate better resolution display (not the very poor dot-matrix type you have now) incl. audio format logo to be displayed as it would be a nice touch… and, more importantly, as others have suggested, have the set up screen menu displayed on TV over hdmi!Audio: It takes about 9 to 10 seconds of “deafening silence” before sound comes on esp. when I switch sources or pause & play movie scenes. Not sure why… also, seems to fall back to ARC most of the time, which means I have to hit the hdmi-2 (or -3 or -4 as the case may be) again & againInter-operability over CEC: Running into challenges currently; Nakamichi does not switch to the correct hdmi port & play sound based on source I select. I have followed instructions outlined in the manual/on-line resources, etc. My current set-up: Nakamichi & TV connected over hdmi – arc; audio only hdmi port from Sony X800 4k player connected to hdmi-2 on Nakamichi & video/audio hdmi port connected to TV & Sony 4K player config settings according to steps outlined by Nakamichi; xfinity 4k box & amazon fire tv box connected to TV over hdmi. Roku 4k box & PS4 connected over hdmi to Nakamchi’s hdmi ports 3 & 4.Kodi 17.6 krypton running on fire tv (I suppose this is not a Nakamichi problem): “Audio output device” greyed out & therefore not able to select Nakamichi (all other Kodi system settings are in line with what I could find online – not sure if Kodi has withdrawn this feature in v17.6)Dolby Atmos, True-HD & Vision support: Lacks all these currently. My feedback is this: given it’s increasing popularity & adoption (iTunes has lots of content that supports DV already & increasing further, and Apple have announced that ATV 4K will support Atmos this fall with tvOS 12 release!!! And TV brands like LG, Sony, Vizio, etc have it already & apps like Vudu, Netflix (in a limited way) etc, support it! From Atmos standpoint, I do understand that a pair upfiring speakers in the soundbar is more of marketing than true experience & requires hardware changes, but Nakamichi could consider coming out with optional Atmos-enabled in-ceiling speakers to further complement shockwafe 7.2/9.2 systems in a 7.2.2 or 9.2.2 (*.*.4 might be two too many!!!). On the other hand, I believe dolby vision is a firmware implementation and so Nakamichi must be able to quickly implement support in a near-future firmware release in a such a way that DV signal is passed thru to TV without compromise. Till such time, only workaround is to connect 4k player like Sony X800 that supports DV directly to TV & use the second audio-only port to Nakamichi over another hdmi…. but what if I have more than one source that supports DV & I have more such sources to connect than my TV’s hdmi ports (in which case, I will have to use hdmi ports on Nakamichi & I don’t want to invest in a separate hdmi switcher)… why no Dolby True-HD? Licensing cost issue? Lossless format is always better… but if 4k players & streamers can bit-stream out this format to Nakamichi, then fine, otherwise, hmmm… I got to check :-)Overall BEST product (for the price-point & boy, the VALUE), but I guess to make it TRULY GREAT, Nakamichi should fix the CONS soon! Thank you Nakamichi!

    126 people found this helpful

14. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    Andrew RAndrew R – March 10, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Incredible System! Go for it!

    4.5 Stars. This is a legitimate home theater system. I’ve been putting it through its paces for 4 months now. First, I have it connected to a 2023 85″ Samsung 4K QLED TV through EARC and I have a PS5, Xbox Series X and 4K Google TV box connected directly to the unit through HDMI. Now, the reason I subtracted half a star is, occasionally, when first turning it on, the bass does not connect from anywhere from 2-10 minutes, regardless of the source. This is in no way a deal breaker and somewhat minor but this has been my only issue. Now, the plus. The sound is AMAZING! Full and clear and the bass is house leveling! I have both woofers positioned behind the sofa on either side. Everyone that experiences it is shocked and yes, it is an experience. The remote is large straightforward and easy to use. I had a full Sony 7.1 system before this and it compares in no way. 9.2.4 is the way to go! I can never go back again. The Dolby Atmos and DTS are flawless. Highs, lows and mids are all on point. Watching a movie at home with this is far more enjoyable than going to the theater now in my opinion. I was deciding between this and the Dragon but didn’t want to wait so I went with the Shockwafe and I am completely satisfied. I don’t see how someone could not enjoy this system because there is no way whatever you had previously is better than this. If you’re on the fence, GO FOR IT! You won’t be disappointed. It’s on another level.

    2 people found this helpful

15. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    JayJay – March 10, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Best Sound system ever?

    Bought this system after careful consideration of other brands and other possibilities! I read the reviews, and based off of that primarily I decided to go with shockwave ultra. it is unbelievably impressive that comes out of these things set up was pretty straightforward. I did have a problem with the Apple TV. It’s one of the newest ones with the 4K. It had sound cutting out and popping when watching movies mess around with it with several hours couldn’t get it to work almost made me decide to return the system thinking there was something wrong with it. Then I pressed the reset button on the audio settings inside the Apple TV app and this seemed to fix the issue. I’m guessing it is something on the Apple TV side that is not working well with the Nakamichi system , regardless of this, I would recommend the system to anyone thinking about a clean, good looking nice sounding sound bar system.

    2 people found this helpful

16. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    jjnbos – March 10, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Updated: 9.2.4 Sounds great. Broken HDMI input caused much extremely difficult debugging.

    Update 24 DEC 2019:– All is basically forgiven, the sound is that good –It’s sorta of complex to get perfect sound, but this thing can make great sound; see long discussion of what I did to get that sound at the end…At this time I can say this thing sounds awesome. Like it brings me joy to listen to this soundbar. However was a pain to get to this point. Nakamichi service, Alberto, was extremely professional and efficient.In retrospect it was all clear. One of the two HDMI inputs the soundbar that supports Dolby Atmos (must use either #2 or #3) was broken. In particular it was intermittent. This was infuriating and really hard to debug. It also has an aggravating quirk (when soundbar is reset, the two memories get set at super loud, you will be shocked how loud it is when you accidentally hit “M1” or “M2”)– but All is basically forgiven, sound is that good –Nakamichi Makes great sound, but you’ll be need to be an enthusiast to realistically be able to get it all set up. Or just spend a $100 and have a “geek squad” person install it.=== Getting rid of the no sound problemsI was also real disappointed like some reviewers, however after a lot of debugging it turned out the constant rebooting came from several things related to it takes the sound bar about 10 second to sync up with the input signal. Any glitches (e.g. change channels, Netflix buffers) cause some failure and then no sound. So have reported changing the volume while waiting for the sound to come back will reliably cause the problemI did several things to make “no sound” largely a thing of the past. Key was getting the Netflix streaming device (Apple TV 4K) on a wired ethernet connection. That keeps the time buffering way way less, and sound bar is now rock solid streaming. Yes that was a pain because I had to get room wired. Try it and see with a long ethernet cable…Secondly I moved the old TiVO DVR from the sound bar input to the 2019 LG C9 tv, which appears to give the sound bar a solid signal, even when changing channels on TiVo and so on. In the end I have the Apple TV and a Blu-ray directly connected to sound bar, and the DVR connected directly to the TV. That is in the manual BTWThird I found that when the now rare glitches does happen, and no sound happens, rather than reboot I j switch the soundbar input to something else, e.g. optical or other input for a second, and then immediately back to the desired input. Works every time. Yes that is a pain, but after fixing the first two things, its so rare I do not care.=== Getting amazing sound? Here’s what I did.As far as poor quality sound/music I was also disappointed at first. Here are some of the things that fixed that. I love the sound now.The most important is that the sound quality is hugely impacted by the placement of the speakers.Boviously. Way more sensitive to small changes than I expected. I’m talking about a few inches. Height makes a surprisingly big difference. I placed these their sides, but which side, etc. It all matters a lot. I was casual about this, but just for fun/desperate I followed the placement suggestions on the large setup guide EXACTLY.First make sure all 4 surrounds are exactly ear height. I initially had the Backs on a shelf at wrong height and place. === Height really matters! == I finally used a tape measure, sounds silly, was a big deal.Next I use all 4 speakers, 2 back 2 front. No dipole. I have them on their side in what Nakamichi calls “Elevation”. This means all four are on their side and the speakers are pointing up towards the ceiling at a 45 degree angle. Key to great surround sound. Trust me.Location matters. A lot. In particular I moved the surrounds to exactly 2m (6.5 feet) away from center of FRONT of couch, pointing exactly down the front edge of couch. Exactly as it says on the huge folded setup guide, but they don’t make it emphatic that –you really need to do this–. The backs and the surrounds all point to the center of the front edge of the middle of sofa. The surrounds need to lined up along the front edge of couch and backs at 135 angle from front edge. The backs are also 2m/6.5 feet from the front edge of couch. Use a tape measure. It matters.–> Suddenly great spatial effects.–> Great music.Sounds silly; try it and see! Keep everything at ear height 6 feet from center of couch. I think you will be amazed.Next part of this puzzle, use the demo disk “Helicopter” sound track to adjust the volume of the surround and back and center speakers until the helicopter sound is at constant volume and therefore sounds like helicopter is always a constant distance away. It should sound like a helicopter circling you at a constant speed and distance.I needed to fiddle with the location of the back speakers to get constant speed from helicopter sound.I needed +8 on the back and +7 on surround and +4 on center to get constant volume. Obviously you’ll need to fiddle for yourselves, but “Helicopter” really shows what this thing can do when adjusted just right.Almost done and this is easy. Make sure all the DSP stuff is OFF. No stereo, no night, not native, not game, not music, SSE is off; get rid of it all. No easy way to do that. Just cycle thru “info” on remote and see what is turned on. Then get rid of it.You want ONLY “movie” and “dolby surround”. Now the fun! Fiddle with room size and SSE. SSE has 4 choices (0-3), and size has 3; try all 12 combs (easy). I find small room SSE 2 or 3 works WONDERFUL for TV and music. You might prefer SSE 0 for music.SSE makes it seem, for example like the saxophone player is standing up, and it changes how tall he is. It also changes the sensation of how far apart sideways the musicians are. Makes the stage seem bigger. When I got it just right? I can stare with my eyes at the sound bar and it still sounds exactly like Coltrane is 6 feet tall and about 6 feet from the piano. My sound bar is 24″ off the floor. I find most of “stereo imaging” stuff like this doesn’t work if my eyes are open. This sound bar does this wonderfully using my Apple TV 4K to play music.Lastly I fiddled with the subs. I was amazed how critical it is to get them at the right place and pointing in the correct direction. Other wise I got nothing but room resonance or “boom”. This makes bass guitar sound like a thud; you know loud but cheap stereo in a car. I moved, and turned and fiddled with the subs while listening to John Coltrane music; key is prominent acoustic bass on a quality recording. Try his song “I Want to Talk About You”. That sort of music usually causes a sub to resonate with the room making bass sound like drum; it “booms”. I tried moving the subs out of the corner, into the corner, away from the walls, point the port on the back towards corner, towards side wall, or the back wall. etc etc.Hint: turn the volume way down and the bass up to say 8 and move the sub around. At very low volume you know the sub is not distorting from lack of power and so on. You may or may not like booming bass, some do, (but you’ll know it when you get what you like).Slowly but surely I got clean, deep bass with little booming. In my particular case the ports point away from the couch, the subs are near the couch but a foot away, and the couch is about 2′ from wall. That was to get the back surrounds in right place. I expected very low “spouse approval” for subs in room, but we have small end tables. And sounds so amazing, this is not a factor.Sound really is almost perfect. Last key step, the sub crossover frequency on setup menus needed, in my case, to be turned down from 180 to 110.Hint: while fiddling with this crossover setting, nothing happens till you exit the setup menu, and there is a few second delay when you change it; etc. $%&# , but try it and see if the boom goes away.Whew. Watch something with clean sound on Amazon that I thought had bad sound; I found “Seal Team” dialog amazingly clear. A first! Explosions do NOT boom! Music? Bass sound like a bass, not a drum. Listen to some techno and you’ll see most techno is all drum, no bass! And so on. Clear Clear Sound. And when the people down stairs are away; crank this bad boy up. Lots of clean power + clean sound = wow.I’m telling you this thing started like a nightmare and now makes sound so clean, it brings me joy. Obviously you going to have to fiddle with your subs location and orientation and the couch’s position for the back surrounds, and so on; but keep all the surrounds and back at the exact same ear height, and at the correct distance from a very unlikely place, (aka center front edge of couch), and I think you will have awesome sound too.

    150 people found this helpful

17. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Amazon Customer – March 10, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Excellent value

    I connected my unit to a Sony Bravia XR65A95K and a Sony Bluray player. My room is about 14′ x 20′ with 9 foot ceilings. I have the soundbar just below the TV which is on a cabinet, the subwoofers are on the floor in front, two speakers on stands to the left and right and the two rear speakers on stands. I use the system as much for listening to music in surround as I do for watching video content. The great news for music fans is that this system rocks! It is loud! Heavy duty bass response from the two subwoofers, excellent separation and phenomenal performance. The soundbar is a fantastic centerpiece. When watching dvd or bluray, it’s like I am in a movie theater. Remote is simple and compatible with my TV remote. No connectivity issues at all. Very easy to set up out of the box. Overall, I love this unit. For the money, you can’t beat the value. Thank you Nakamichi for making the 9.2.4 such a beast!

    One person found this helpful

18. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Maurice Ragland – March 10, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    3-4K grade system for less.

    First, allow me to explain that I am more than an audiophile. I produce/DJ/Audio Engineer and sound design. This review stems from my professional background of nearly 20 years in a non-treated room (since most consumers do not do so, a fair study would be done how the average consumer listens). I am currently limited in space and needed a solution for my family and me to bring the theater here without taking away from my studio budget for the upcoming upgrades. I glanced at Image Dynamics at first but then stumbled upon this soundbar which is more like a home theater than a sound bar when I saw the name… Nakamichi and I grew up with one of the outstanding tape decks. I had to try and was at first going to purchase the 7.2, but then I could not resist the 9.2 when I discovered it was in production.9.2 channels for.a sound bar are unheard anywhere and especially at this price point with this setup! I ordered the system, and the big box came. I unpacked it which took a bit because it was packaged so well. The box is heavy so, unless you are me, you will need two people incl yourself to carry it. The quality of the system is near flawless with two subs being wood! Wood is the best for bass, and I like 10-inch subs for clean, tight bass unlike 12 and above. Unfortunately, to keep the costs down, the system is supplied with cheap RCA cables. I swapped mine out with a custom pair from Worlds Best Cables (Amazon) Canare star quad from Amphenol which made a world of a difference, and I achieved increased density and more air (high-end openness) with a couple of new decibels. The system took about 30 mins to hook up. I first tried di-pole mode and initially was not too impressed with my medium sized room. Speaking of which room size matters with this beast and you will want to consider treating your room for acoustics with it (make sure you only deal with the ceiling minimally). The product shines in its 9.2 setups with at least 6 feet of distance from the satellites and 9-11 feet from the soundbar, and the subs may be placed behind you, but I would encourage them off to the side at a distance of 9 feet. DTS:X neural works pretty good minus at times with whatever device you use (like the Nvidia shield tv) where it does not always upmix to 9.2 but when it does, it is immersive with everything flying around and over you. The system does decode everything else pretty well including Dolby Atmos when using DTS:X neural (pure direct button to turn off to activate it).I demoed a lot of movies from IT to XXX (Xander cage) to Independence Day 1 with the DSP movie setting and without. Without any DSP you can achieve the rated specs without distortion but with the DSP on the bass at times is too powerful (nature of how the movie is mastered) and creates a lot standing waves and reflections in spaces that not necessary. I feel there is not much headroom needed for the subs and that they should be 300 instead of 200 because with music and movies the subs pop with the bass level set at anything above two. There are also some time alignment issues (a delay between explosions), and I wish there a way to adjust the parameters of the subs or even a limiter/compressor to prevent the popping. I hope Nakamichi in the future considers consumers are allowing a wired option since nothing beats a cable to the speakers! Also, a different connection could be found for some maniacs who want to integrate this bad boy into their current setup that may use XLR connections (oppo blurry even).Here are things I like:​Great immersive experience and sound quality that commands you to pay more than the asking price.Clean bass that is tight and replaces transducer (buttkicker)Great dialogue clarityHandles 4K content wonderfully and source switching with CEC is incredible.Good selection of output options.Loud as hell and beyond theatrical, I stopped going to the movies because of this thing.It is CHEAP IN PRICE! Your family will love it, treat your room!Ok for small rooms (13×13, nothing less)The CEO is fantastic and I admire his and the company’s customer service.What I do not likeI replaced a dead rear speaker, QC needs to be on top of this.Music EQ is worthless and unintelligent. I would like to have my EQ options instead of presets. I do not master music with presets!Subwoofers are the only the speakers to distort with a pop sound at any bass level above 2. It should have a soft limiter/compressor.Cheap RCA wires but this is my personal preferenceNo subwoofer options available other than bass level. Where is the low pass filter? The crossover? Phase? Individual sub levels?No option for wired connections for the subs. Qualcomm Apt-X technology will never replace a wire connection.XLR/Neutrik should be made available to analog guys like me.Hi-Res?Perhaps a way to calibrate the speakers, in general, would be a great idea?I do admit that despite some of the limitations, I would not change my purchase decision except for an upgrade from Nakamichi. There is some room for the company to explore for future sound bars but they nailed it with this one given that they just started making sound bars. They should stick to soundbars because the systems are just that good! Forget the other brands like Trident, image dynamics, Bowers and Wilkins, and Bose (haha do not get me started with them!). Buy this thing and treat your room and decouple (float) your subs from the floor, get some good RCA cable from worlds best cables and a 48 gig HDMI cable…. prepared to be rocked!

    28 people found this helpful

19. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    NV – March 10, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Sounds amazing. Deserves serious consideration.

    — 6 year update –TL; DR — Yes, I still have the system and it’s awesome! Hard to believe I am updating a review for a tech product after 6 years.Firmware updates enabled Dolby Atmos a few years ago. My primary input source is now a 4K Apple TV connected to one of the HDMI ports on the sound bar. The TV is now a Dolby Vision capable Sony connected via HDMI Arc. The TV supports HDMI eArc but it’s not supported by the (original 2017) sound bar, this setup enables both Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. Biggest change is that I replaced the extra long chicken wire that came with the system for connecting surround speakers to the subs with better quality, thicker and shorter RCA cables. These are average quality not high end in any way, but they have made an appreciable difference to the surround audio levels and clarity.After listening to other sound bars, what continues to strikes me is the clarity of the vocal track and the separation that you get with the sound bar. The comments below still hold. Yes, there are things I could be improved, the mid range could be better, the system could be better for music and so on. But its also clear the alternatives won’t be in the same price range, nor will they offer the same convenience. This sound bar has worked extremely well for its main purpose, enable a very capable entertainment setup with the least cabling headaches.The system has worked well for the past 6 years and I don’t see a reason to change it. Happy to see that Nakamichi is continuing to push the envelope with the Dragon. Perhaps a discounted Dragon will come calling this holiday season? :-)– 4 month update –Added a Xbox One and have tried multiple Bluerays with DTS-MA, DTS-X and Dolby Atmos tracks. The Xbox is connected directly to the soundbar, I found that my Samsung TV does not pass DTS through. This may be stating the obvious, but you do notice that sound has much more presence and clarity and the system truly shines with these higher end audio sources. Also found out that the Spotify app on the Xbox sounds better than Spotify on the TV. The TV app only seems to output PCM whereas the Xbox version does bitstream.Overall, I continue to be very happy with the system. Now the main question is when I should recycle the humongous box this thing came in.If anyone from Nakamichi is reading:I will repeat my earlier comment about wanting to configure one sub and side speakers as front surrounds. If Nakamichi can enable this through a firmware update, it will add more presence and mid range up front. Not essential for movies, but I suspect it will help for music centric tracks and is a good option to have.Another request is to recalibrate the Bass output levels. I rarely set the subs above 2 and depending on audio source sometimes 1 may be too much. I know it’s possible to turn on Clear Voice and reduce Bass further, but it would be nice not to do that and affect other settings. The problem sources are typically older, lower quality recordings. No issues with newer tracks. The subs are sitting on a hardwood floor, I am going to see if floating them makes a difference.One surprising observation – 4 months in, there are very few professional reviews of this system. Media coverage seems to be very biased towards the big brands.– original review –I got the ultra 9.2 just a couple of days ago and am still testing but I figure people will be interested in another data point for this new product. I am also including some suggestions for Nakamichi, as it looks like their reps do check out feedback. I have already had one phenomenal experience with their customer service.About Me – Technically savvy and very discerning about the tech stuff I buy. Drives my wife nuts even while she appreciates the results. Specifically for audio, I do notice subtle quality differences and will pay up for quality but I hesitate to classify myself as a “total and complete audiophile” because I will let other pragmatic considerations direct my decision.My comparison criteria – Looking for a wireless true surround solution for our family room, preferably one not reliant on reflections. Listened to a number of soundbar and discrete AVR solutions at local stores to get a sense of what is possible, ideally under 2K.Comparing audio systems in stores is a crapshoot, but my conclusion was that none of them met all of the criteria. Sonos – decent sound but nothing special and the playbar is plain outdated for 2017 (No HDMI, nothing above DD 5.1). The Bose SoundTouch 300 package (soundbar + sub + rears) sounded better to my ears than the Sonos, but there are well known ARC/CEC compatibility issues between it and Samsung TVs. The Sony HT-ST5000 w/Atmos is impressive but no rears. The thing is heavy, so installing it on a wall is another challenge. Went to two different Best Buys to try the Samsung HW-K950 w/ Atmos, but it wasn’t working. If I was looking for an audio only solution, my money would be on the BlueSound Pulse. Their NAD heritage shows in the warmth and depth of sound. Also looked at the Denon Heos, the Klipsch 20B and a few lower end bard. None of them have a rear speaker solution or the base is too wimpy. On the discrete side, I would have paid up for the Klipsch Reference HD wireless system if the center channel was in a slimmer sound bar form factor. The current solution does not work for a TV mounted over a fireplace.My setup for now is very simple – 2016 Samsung KS8000 series 65″ 4K/HDR TV connected via HDMI ARC to the Nakamichi 9.2 and direct Ethernet to the home router. Comcast x1 still connected to the TV which is supposed to do 5.1 pass-thru. Will add a Blueray player soon.My current testing is mostly with the native Amazon, Netflix and Spotify apps on the TV which will do Dolby Digital 5.1 but none of the higher quality standards. The TV is set to output DD. It also has an option called DTS Neo 2:5, which I tried but noticed a loss of quality. The LED display on the Nakamichi confirms source format is DD or DTS. I also tried a number of Dolby and DTS test files off the net. These were loaded on a network drive accessible to the TV and played using the native media browser app. It’s not able to play the Atmos content, but was able to play DTS-HD and DTS-HD MA files. I am not sure if its downsampling them down to DD 5.1 or doing a pass-thru (very likely the former). Hope to test higher quality media soon.Room Configuration – This system is set up in my family room, with the 9.2 currently sitting raised up on a box in front of the TV. The room is not a proper rectangle, but there are walls on the left and right for reflections and the ceiling is a flat 10’. The size is around 16’ x 22’. The Nakamichi remote has an option to select room size between small, medium and large. I went with medium. The family room is slightly sunken and the far end opposite the TV connects to the kitchen which is at a higher level, so a large portion of the back wall is open. Flooring is wood with a concrete subfloor. I have the rears in a dipole config for now about 6′ behind a sofa which is about 12’ from the TV.Packaging – I was pleasantly surprised by the packaging. Clear instructions on how to open the box and everything nicely laid out. Includes cables and installation hardware.Build Quality – Very nice, looks and feels premium. The LED display on the front of the bar is very helpful in comparison to other sound bars which often have minimal feedback. The display can be dimmed, which is a nice touch. A minor nit is that reading the acronyms on the display through the metal grille can be hard at times. My suggestion to Nakamichi would be to move it outside the grille and go to a higher res dot matrix display in a future device.Remote – Feature rich remote and its nicely backlit. I had no issues with distance or lag, works from over 14’. The remote is somewhat directional, have to figure out the correct vertical angle (pitch in aeronautical terms) for it to work. Suggestion to Nakamichi, the buttons could be larger with a larger font.HDMI ARC/CEC worked seamlessly between the Samsung TV and 9.2 for power on/off and volume. I didn’t have to do anything special to get it working. After all the gripes I had heard about CEC and especially the Bose 300, using CEC was a non event.For Movies & TV -The short conclusion is that the system sounds Exceptional. Even my wife commented – it feels like we are in a real theater! The MOVIE EQ preset is a very good starting point. My preference was to disable Pure Direct (which keeps neural:X enabled but disables other processing). Center channel dialogue is very clear. Wide front sound stage with very good separation. The surrounds add an immersion that should handily beat all of the simulated products out there. The final battle scenes in Star Trek: Beyond, the fight scenes in Avengers or Civil War are alive. Watching The Hunt for Red October made me feel I was inside the sub. Even non-action films with a mellow background track like Amazon’s The only living boy in NY city feel immersive at low volumes. (Yeah, Kate is cute, but that movie is far from 5 stars.) The dual 10″ subs make their presence felt in many ways – from the obvious loud crash bang sounds to adding ambience for sound tracks. The base setting stayed at 3 or lower, there wasn’t a need to go higher.My room layout is not amenable for a true 9.2 configuration but can’t wait to try it out, especially with higher quality tracks.For Music Playback -The system is good but less capable for music and this is partly due to its speaker configuration. I listen to a lot of acoustic tracks and the sound stage feels off if you are in the middle of the room. All of the full range speakers on the soundbar are 2.5” while the surrounds are 3” and closer to the 10” subs. So the the higher frequencies tend to be apparent in the front of the room with the lows in the rear. This 7.2 or 9.2 configuration works fine for movies, but not what you expect for music. The MUSIC EQ setting helps, but not completely. The bar by itself is not designed to handle a wider range as would be the case for one that relies on simulated surround and has a broad range of drivers up front (for instance the Bose, Sony, DefTec or BlueSound), so turning down the surrounds or going to stereo is inadequate. On the other hand, the sound feels much more balanced if I am in the kitchen listening in from the outside as it takes away some of this directionality. So capable system, but layout is better suited for movies.If anyone from Nakamichi is reading this, I have a suggestion that could possibly be implemented with a firmware upgrade. There will be many people who can’t take advantage of a 9.2 layout and will either go for the 7.2 system or use the 9.2 in a dipole config. An alternative 7.2 layout for the 9.2 system would be to put one sub and its surrounds up front and keep one at the back of the room. The front surrounds can be repurposed as front left and right channels and the rear as surround left+rear and right+rear. The surround performance for movies should be similar to that of the 7.2 system (or better because of the 10” subs), but with a much more capable front sound stage. This is something that could be supported as a different EQ mode. If you can do this, it will give music fans a crazy good reason to upgrade to the Ultra 9.2.It’s the holiday season, so one can hope right?So in summary, I am super happy I went with this system. My current testing is limited to average sound sources (DD 5.1) but that’s the bulk of streaming content out there. Can’t wait to try out higher quality tracks.If anyone is looking for an easy to install and very capable home theater solution, the Nakamichi 9.2 deserves serious serious consideration. It’s a kick ass true surround system at a very good price point. To find anything better as of today (Nov 2017), you/we will likely have to upgrade to a discrete AVR system in a higher price range. And deal with the installation, cabling and setup.

    205 people found this helpful

20. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    J. ReiterJ. Reiter – March 10, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Nakamichi Shockwafe Elite 7.2.4Ch review (About as good as you can get for a consumer sound bar)

    If you want anything better than this, don’t get a sound bar.Who is this for?- Movie watchers who enjoy being “enveloped” in the movie at close to theater level loudness,- Mixed content consumers (Youtube, hulu etc.)- Casual music listeners- Gamers who want explosions to rattle themWho is this not for:- Anyone who lives in an apartment (Unless you’re in VERY good with the neighbors)- Audio purists, Serious music listenersSpeaker System reviews are highly subjective and audio listening experience varies drastically on several factors including environment ( a room and all objects in the room have resonate and reflective frequencies just like different materials reflect different colors of light), sound signature preferences and source material. I’m just stating my personal opinion and experience.Overall Rating A- ( For the purpose )Sub-woofers: Overall rating: B+Sub-bass 0-50hz: C ( Usually low rumbling or just shaking, often not even audible, thuds, explosion aftershock )Bass: A+ (Drum beats, explosion rattle )Mid Bass: C ( Low end of male vocals usually, deep non bass instruments)Let’s start off with bass first since most people looking to buy this product probably want to know about this most (especially with the two sub-woofers). I purposely chose the dual 8 inch sub model because I thought that it would help round off the listening experience versus the 10inch model and it’s less expensive as a bonus. Most sound bars suffer from mid bass drop off due to the driver size in the sound bar. The sound bars typically have less than 4″ drivers, while Mid bass drivers sound best around 5.5″ to 6.5″. To me there is a “Golden sound” to speaker systems and it does involve a significant amount of mid bass. This is the type of sound signature that really shines in tracks like 1979 by the smashing pumpkins and Everlong by Foo Fighers. While the sub drivers to kind of help with the mid bass issue, it’s not a cure-all, it can cause a confusing sound stage having part of the vocals come from one area and the rest from another. Mid bass is tricky to get perfect. Listening on quality studio or standing floor speakers to the tracks “Lucille” by Kenny Rogers or the Contrabass saxophone in “Have a Lucky Day” or “Cure for Pain” by Morphine is not even comparable to the synthesized sub bass on these speakers. What I’m trying to say is real mid-bass is magical when properly balanced (unbalanced makes vocals sound muddy). These subs are great for movie watchers and upbeat music. The subs pack good a punch, you can get a slight back massage or move medium size items in the room, but it’s not earth shattering/head rattling like high powered 15/12 inch subs that makes it seem like the apocalypse. I would say these are perfectly suited for drum kick bass and explosions. For being ported, these subs do a good job of staying tonal and agile but there is noticeable “port hum” which caused by the resonate frequency and size of box port. It’s not specific to this speaker system, all ported boxes suffer from this flaw. Although because it does such a great job of still being tonal I don’t ding it any points and the engineers made the right choice because ported boxes generally output at-least 1.5x more sound than sealed boxes but at the expense of the port distortion. You literally get more “bang” for your buck with a ported sub-woofer. With the 8″ sub woofer there is no sub-bass unfortunately. One track I used to test this was “Ritz107″ by Fischerspooner. At 3:20ish the whole room should be shaking but I could tell the low end cutoff was set high for these subs (Possible around 25-35hz) as those frequencies were completely missing. That’s not surprising considering they’re just 8” woofers on a digital crossover but a little disappointing. At first I was a little worried about having two sub-woofers due to phase interference but it wasn’t an issue. If anyone has issues try changing the angle of the sub or move it a few feet and you’re good.Side speakers: AI’m glad that these speakers are beefier than most side speakers and think they sound great. Positioning can be tricky as with any surround speakerRemote: AHigh quality back lit remote with lots of features and memorization.Vocal tonal balance and fidelity: BI want to give an “A” but due to the lack of mid bass which haunts most sound bars I cannot, However the vocals are extremely well balanced for this setup. You’ll be able to crank up the volume on this sound system without the fear of sharp vowel sounds from “A”s and “E”s and enjoy listening even more at high volumes rather than shreaking. I appreciate the engineers choice in acoustic cone and cabinet material as well as digital processing which are the primary reason for this balance. This is why I say it’s great for multi content consumption because its subdued enough to where it’s not going to annoy your ears or cause fatigue. But they are slightly too subdued for my taste. My favorite tweeter dome material has to be silk, but these sound more like a Mylar or composite plastic (haven’t checked what they are). If they are silk dome then the “E”s and “S” are extremely subdued and something is wrong.Frequency Response, Power curve: AFrequency response is a tricky question. A power curve is the amplification level map per frequency for a given volume setting. Humans don’t perceive audio linearly, this is why Fletcher Munson curves exist that are supposed to map perceived loudness to frequency and SPL. Also lower frequencies take exponentially more power to produce the same perceived loudness as higher frequencies. These speakers have a great power curve for average listeners and starts to really fill room out after 30. If you’re listening below 30 and want a fuller sound, the “stereo” and “night” modes should help outSound Processing, Sound Stage: A-Good amount of options for sound buffs, could be tricky for noobs but the simple “Game”, “Movie” buttons help out a lot. It’s good that there’s an option to disable sound processing altogether. The noise floor is almost non-existent compared to other speaker systems. I feel like that to achieve such a low noise floor there must have been some sound processing algorithm applied that also impedes vocal fidelity as a consequence. That’s just my hunch. Sound stage is great for movies and good for music. During movies my wife was looking around when bullets flew by and when listening to songs it sound like you’re in a medium size cafe about 15 feet from a 30 foot wide stage.How I would improve this product: Increase the surface area on the center drivers to compensate for the driver size and help fill the mid bass gap, then remove the 8″ sub line and only sell 10″ subs because the 8″ frequency range has too much crossover with low end vocals which convolutes the sound stage. Possibly add a sealed sub alternative option.I graded my listening experience for a few songs:”Heart of Gold” – Neil Young : B”Under the Milky Way Tonight” – The Church : A”The Killing Moon” – Echo and the Bunnymen : B (Stereo mode, bass @ 2)”Lifes Been Good” – Joe Walsh : B”Piano Man” – Billy Joel : B”Rocket Man” – Elton John : A+”Hotel California” The Eagles A”Safety Dance” – Men Without Hats : B-“Walk Like an Egyptian” – The Bangles : CThe biggest drawback for music is the port hum (not noticeable for people who don’t know to listen for it) due to the ported design, but it’s better for movies. Hopefully this review helps someone!

    97 people found this helpful

21. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Dan Howell – March 10, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Great Value

    East install and operation. Self-explanatory instructions and probably the nicest literature package I’ve seen for electronics. Excellent!

22. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Brandon – March 10, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Great sound!!

    I first heard news that this model was coming out back in February or March and bought it almost as soon as it came out this past summer. Before purchasing my 2019 Nakamichi Shockwafe Elite 7.2.4 DTS-X/Atmos unit, I spent months researching a soundbar to buy. My dad has a Sonos system and spent somewhere between $1400 and $1600 for two satellite speakers, a soundbar and a subwoofer. The neat thing about that system is how easy it is to group speakers together.Well, I had a budget and I wanted the best possible sound for as cheap as possible. This model is for sure not cheap, but it is definitely not the most expensive. I looked at other brands and wanted something that would connect to Google Assistant. Alexa is cool and all, but IMO Google is better. Well, unfortunately there were not many soundbars with both great quality sound and an assistant – reviews were a bit mixed. So I went for this one.Pros: – Sound is spectacular, especially movies. – The different audio modes work well. – Lots of options and customization is nice although can be a bit much. – Lip sync buttons are nice and useful when some apps tend to have latency. – Set up was quick and easy. – Online help and documents are easy to find. Even when debugging issues, Nakamichi does a great job. – Customer support is quick and helpful. I had a defective subwoofer circuit board which prevented right back satellite speaker from working. Got it replaced in 1 to 2 days and has not stopped working. – CEC support is nice, but can be troublesome sometimes with Nvidia Shield. More below. – Samsung TV and Shield work nice together. Can turn on TV and everything comes on (could be problematic – see below). Also, can turn on Shield and everything comes on with it. – 4k passthrough works great.- ARC works well for retrieving audio when tv is using other inputs for video. – Having 2 subs is great!!! I encourage this option for anyone!! – Satellite speakers work great!! Wish I got the 9.2.1 for best experience.Cons: – With CEC, when trying to turn on the TV and use a different soundbar input, sometimes the Shield randomly decides to take over. Might be more of a Shield problem. – There is a 3 or 4 second lag when audio first starts playing. I wish there was no lag, but this is caused by changing audio formats. On the Shield, I believe it uses DTS as primary output, but then may switch to another format when video starts playing with Netflix or Plex. This delay is super annoying, especially when I have to pause. I often find myself rewinding just so I can catch the words being missed. I think this problem would not exist for (disc movies) like with blu-ray players or gaming consoles, since formats don’t change suddenly. – No support for Google Assistant or Alexa. – Lacks Wifi connection for streaming. Bluetooth is nice though, but never use it because I carry my phone wherever I go. – Music using the audio jack and Chromecast audio just doesn’t get as loud as through HDMI devices, even with volume up to 36 or 38. I usually max it to 28 or 30 when watching a movie. It sounds great, don’t get me wrong, but it might be a limitation for the audio jack. – The Music, Movie, Game, and Direct buttons are nice, but I wish there wasn’t so much customization sometimes. What do I set Direct to anyways? Do I really need to be an audio engineer to figure out when to use Native, Dolby Upmix, or Dolby Surround? Would my wife figure this out without me? There are 2 preset buttons which might help, but I haven’t bothered with them yet.Overall I love this device, but I wish it was faster when switching audio formats and more modern. It needs to have internet capabilities and smart assistants. Also, it would be great if there was a mobile app to configure the soundbar. These few features alone would put it off the charts and make the soundbar an unbeatable competitor.

    10 people found this helpful

23. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    Craig J.Craig J. – March 10, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Nakamichi Shockwafe Ultra 9.2.4Ch 1000W Surround System

    When you have the right movie 🎬 playing, this system pulls you into the movie 🎬. No previous surround sound system has ever done what the Shockwafe 9.2.4 system can do. The placement of the surround speakers and the subs depends on the size and configuration of your room, we have our subs, far left and far right, at the front of the room, 3 feet in front of the screen, we keep the bass level at 6 or 7, and we nevee have the system volume above 20, but keep it at 18 or below. On the surround speakers, do as the manual says and position them at ear level around your seating area. We gave the system 4 out 5 stars because sometimes the audio drops while watching a movie 🎬, I assume this is a software issue, ww will be contacting Nakamichi to see if there is a fix for it. Next, we are on to gathering a list of movies 🎬 thar will come alive through this system, it really does envelope you with the sound and pull you into the movie 🎬. On the speaker wires, if you zoom in on the photo, you can see the cord cover we used to hide the speaker wires, both wires fit inside the cover. I placed the link for the cord cover below…One Cord Cover Wall – 153in Mini Wire Hider, Wire Cover for Hiding Speaker Wire, Baby Monitor Cord – Paintable Wire Channel for Cable Concealer, 9X L17in W0.5in H0.35in, CMR05 White https://a.co/d/h0gygIW

    One person found this helpful

24. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Sung yoo – March 10, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Blown away

    It shakes my entire townhome! I love it! Have yet to try bluetooth but this sound system is the best ive ever owned.

25. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    John C. GettlerJohn C. Gettler – March 10, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Pairs excellent with the “Atlantic Satellite 77305018 Speaker Stands”

    I am loving my Nakamichi Shockwafe 9.2! But instead of trying to pile on to what has already been said about the soundbar, features and audio quality, let me instead give you a high recommendation for which speaker stands to pair it with. And also give you some interesting additional information I have gathered from communications with Nakamichi customer service (Ray) that I have never found elsewhere:I did a ton of research of speaker stands. One of my primary requirements along with being height adjustable, was the the RCA cables from Nakamichi fit down through the support tube, in order to not have the cord dangling/taped/zipped tied all the way down. I highly highly recommend the “Atlantic Satellite 77305018 Speaker Stands” that Nakamichi also frequently recommends. At this link:https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000289DC6/Here are the reasons why they work well:1. The *straight* RCA plug on the subwoofer side of the cable *will fit* down the support tube. The right angle plug that is intended for the back of the speaker won’t go through, but the straight end will go through, then you can pull the entire length of cable through the tube.2. The stand comes with the two different sized vertical “L” wire brackets. Your first instinct will be to use the taller one, since it can reach the highest of two support screws on the speaker. But this taller one is also shallower, and forces the speaker to sit too far forward on the stand, therefor making it a bit more tippy. You should use the shorter L bracket, which is also deeper, and lets the center of the speaker sit back more centered on the stand, and make the overall balance much better. In fact, as long as your use the shorter L bracket, these stands will also support the double speakers in dipole mode.3. These stands will also support using the speakers in “elevation” mode why they lay of their side, and the speakers face at a 45 degree upward angle. You just rotate them, and secure using standard shorter L bracket.4. They don’t come with “carpet spikes” but as long as you use the shorter L bracket, there is no danger of tipping at all on carpet.5. You can use the screws that come with the speakers to attach the L bracket. If you want, you can also add a washer that comes with the speaker.6. Great price (currently at $42) for 2 stands in one box. So if you plan to use the 9.2 speaker separately, just buy qty 2 of these pairs to get 4 stands.7. Adjustable height allows for aligning the speaker at ear level to the listener.8. Good quality build with high end appearance, and quality black matte finish.Also here are a few interesting tidbits I have received from Nakamichi customer service that I could not find elsewhere:A. As to the future Dolby Atmos/Dolby Vision passthrough firmware upgrade timing it looks like they are planning to have it out for the 9.2 by Dec 31st 2018: Ray at Nakamichi said “Although we already received Dolby’s certification for Atmos and Vision, we still need to do tons of testing because every tv manufacturer, streaming box maker and app developer is doing their own thing when it comes to output. It will not be ready until late Dec, providing that stability testing goes smoothly.”B. I suggest you consider buying the new 2019 SSE remote for $30 if your Nakamichi came with the 2017/2018 DTS:X labelled remote, due to my positive review of it found here:https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JXS1QRH/C. If your volume goes up by 2 each time you press it, then you have new enough firmware, to sit and wait for the new Atmos firmware.D. When you make any change in the Setup mode, you need to hit ENTER again after making your selection with the left right buttons, for it to remember your choice.E. Here is the difference between DIMO and DIM3 settings:”Dim 0 = After 10 to 15s of not pressing any function on the remote, the LED display will turn off completely until the next function is pressed. Use Dim 0 if you want your whole entertainment experience to be completely dark with no LED display. Dim 3 = Brightest LED display. The display will always be on and will not dim out.”F. Both subs in the 7.2 and 9.2 configs “both play the same mono signal” and not unique left and right bass sounds, so they always combine to create a room filling uniform thump.

    199 people found this helpful

26. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Chris04976 – March 10, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    The sound quality it amazing…!!!!

    I have been a Bose user in the past. In my opinion this is much, much better. Installation was easy, instructions were clear, easy to read. Connections and placement of speakers are all covered in the instructions. Don’t worry if your speakers can’t be placed in the perfect location. It will sound amazing. If you live in an apartment, beware. The bass is thundering. Everything you need comes in one box. Yes, it’s a big box weighing 80 pounds.

27. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    Matt Klein – March 10, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    System Died – Would like to write a glowing review but cannot – Edited 4.3

    Purchased the system in August of 2020. Set up in September. Worked great, until it didn’t. December 27th notified Nakamichi of VERY LOUD POP and crackling noises, no other sounds. Had to shut off immediately it was so loud. Continued to happen each time we turned on. Nakamichi responded that there was interference from either the neighbors WIFI setup or my own. Suggested that I download the update patch that would change the Wifi channel so as not to interfere. Did that, still happening. Nakamichi took the soundbar back, “fixed” it with no explanation of what they found, sent it back. Same issue. They told me to take a snapshot of my Wifi system data so that they could see. Kept telling me that the router needed to change channel and that the EERO system I had was not working nicely. With the EERO, you cannot change the Wifi channel so Nakamichi kept telling me to change the channel range on the soundbar. Each time I did, no change in performance. I questioned them as to if this was the problem, why did it take three months to manifest, to which I received no reply only that it was a channel issue.I must say, that up until about a week ago, they were responsive, friendly, somewhat helpful. I am in Hawaii and time difference makes for communication lag times. They did take it back and paid for shipping. They have been responsive until now (although with no resolution). We did schedule a phone call after their normal working hours to try and work out over the phone. I admit, I missed the call by about 5 minutes. Since then, the system has died all together. No sound At All. Nothing. I have tried to call support multiple times, email multiple times. Apologizing for missing the call, begging for help, never demanding.My patience has worn thin and I am not getting any response now. I need to let others know that this may not be the system for them. I have been happy with their level of support until now and for the three months that the product worked, it was great. All I want it a system that works. I don’t want an upgrade. I don’t want an apology. I just want sound and I would like this to be over.If anyone from Nakakmichi is monitoring, please call me or respond. I just want to be done with this. I tried filing a claim with Asurion, but they tell me that it is still under manufacturer warranty, to which I get no response.Please help.Edit 3.11.21 Nakamichi apologized for not getting back to me over the past week and a half and are sending me a new soundbar with prepaid return for the old. Hopefully be here in a couple of days. I have appreciated their continued customer service. Hopefully this will get fixed and I can upgrade to more stars.Edit 4.3.21 Sent the new bar and all is well again. After going back and forth previously with the old CSR about how the system was not working well because of interference, turns out that it was not interference (like I had been insisting) and was just broken. Received the new bar, paired and it has been working great. Sean, the Head Ninja (their words) has been great with service and follow up. I appreciate the elevated level of response and concern. The only reason I can’t give it 5 stars is that while the system is good, it isn’t to the level of my previous two 7.1 wired systems. I would love to experience that again, but with the new space, it’s just not possible, for now. The system sounds great for what it is and the Bluetooth surround works great. This is the best system for the cost and will meet the needs of most people. I appreciate their follow up and new customer service.

    9 people found this helpful

28. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Jason R. – March 10, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Best soundbar system I’ve ever Owned

    System is AMAZING! Easy setup, great sound, bass, and spatial sound.

29. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Bernard Jones – March 10, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    The sound is like being in the theater

    I like the sound and that is has 2 sub woofers

    One person found this helpful

30. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    J. Laine – March 10, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Great bass. Amazing sound.

    Absolutely insane value with this equipment. I was trying to build something similar with individual components but my price was nearing $2k, making this package roughly half the price.The sound bar and satellite speakers are fantastic. The double bass is unbelievable. It’s almost too much for my apartment (even at low volume), but my neighbors haven’t complained yet.Sound quality is great. Shows and movies are great/theater quality. Video games and anything with spatial sound really pop out. Music has been perfect using HDMI (haven’t tried BT yet)My only complaint is that it doesn’t have a visual menu/UI for adjusting settings. The 5 digit display gives you the necessary info, but it would be better if a user interface screen was an option. Everything is on the remote and nothing is more than 4 buttons away (if it doesn’t have dedicated +/- buttons)

31. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Justin – March 10, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Great product only few dislikes

    Starting with setup. Setup is pretty straightforward and simple as long as you know where you are going to put your speakers. Only thing about setup I didn’t like was I wish power cords for subs came longer. I had to go out and buy additional electrical supplies to make it work.Sound is incredible sounds like you are in the scenes on the Dolby movies. Don’t even have to have soundbar volume up much to be heard loudly. Only negative about sound is I thought 2 10inch subs would be too much but honestly my living room could handle more. Was kind of disappointed in that aspect. Don’t get me wrong it bumps but not to what extent I was thinking.But overall great experience to the delivery, setup, and sound. I will have to do more in depth review when I use it more I just got it setup yesterday (2/3/2024). So maybe will do a 3 moth review.

32. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Amazon Customer – March 10, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Nakamichi shockwave pro

    I was amazed at sound of my tv, improved 100%. I have a small living room and I don’t like wires running or hanging everywhere. We had this home built so I was adamant about my tv not showing wires hanging down to its soundbar or power source. They’re behind the wall. I had to order a longer hdmi cable as the provided one was too short.Once it was set up we just watched tv and no longer had to put the volume up to 30+ to hear it. The soundbar by itself is enough, it was clear for spoken word but also caught the sounds in the background that we didn’t hear before.Add the rear speakers and the sub woofer and I was blown away. The clarity of the rear speakers was astounding and rumble of the sub woofer was so cool. Watching movies in surround is definitely a plus.Most might think the price is too high. Prior to purchasing this unit I had listened to competing sound bars my friends owned and none at a lower price point sounded this good. It more than held its own against the likes of more expensive ones too.I highly recommend this unit.

33. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Brad Kassouf – March 10, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Best Overall Soundbar in the Industry Hands Down

    Let me start off by saying that I am one of those people who do their research… extensive research. My family actually makes fun of me because I get so into the details of something I am thinking of buying. I am a bit of a tech geek and always are looking for the latest and greatest. I have been a member of multiple Audio/Video forums these past few months educating myself on the common questions an audio/video newbie like myself would have. My biggest dilemma was trying to find a soundbar that supported both DTS X and Dolby Atmos. These are the two newest audio formats that movies, TV shows and documentaries are being produced in. It adds another element to sound in that it doesn’t just come from your front, back and sides but also from above you. The goal is to completely engulf the listener in sound. Just like 4k, the amount of content that supports this currently is limited. However, more and more movies and shows are coming out with these audio formats. I felt it was important to make sure my soundbar was “future proof” and that I wouldn’t be wanting a new one in the next 4-6 years.It didn’t take me long to find the Nakamichi Soundwave series of soundbars. In all honesty the word soundbar is a bit underwhelming when you talk about this system. It is more of a soundbar/home theater hybrid system. I am not aware of another soundbar system out there with 4 satellite speakers and 2 subwoofers. In addition to the multiple sattelite speakers the soundbar also comes with 4 HDMI inputs which is crucial for anyone running more than one device on their TV/projector (Xbox, Playstation, Cable Box, Fire Stick, Chromecast, Roku etc.). I was sold on the equipment as there isn’t another product available in the price range with the features the system comes with. The only thing that was missing at the time was Dolby Atmos support which was critical for me since I have an Xbox One X.In November Nakamichi announced they were implementing Dolby Atmos support and other Dolby sound specificiations into their future hardware. This was huge news as this would be one of the only soundbars to support DTS AND Dolby! The real sweetener though is that Nakamichi is giving a FREE firmware update to all it’s current customers. This is very rare in the audio/video industry. Generally tech companies release new products with a few new features that requires the customers to upgrade if they would like the new technology. That is not what Nakamichi is doing. The licensing fees to get the new Dolby audio costs thousands upon thousands of dollars yet Nakamichi is rolling it out via a firmware update to it’s existing customers for free! When I found out about this I knew that this was the sound system for me.I ordered the 9.2 system through Amazon and the box came clean and with no dings or dents. The box is HUGE and weighs 80 lbs so I suggest you have someone help you move it when you are carrying it around the house. Everything was nicely packaged and the instructions were easy to read with colored photos. Set up is pretty straight forward but one field that I absolutely need to touch on is Nakamichi’s customer support. The website alone is loaded with helpful information on getting whatever device you would like to use completely optimized. Additionally, their response time is incredible! I emailed their support email on a Sunday afternoon and had a response in an hour. WOW! I never have had a customer support line reach out so quickly and let alone it be on a Sunday.Sound Quality is exceptional. One thing people need to realize is that each device you use will have different audio formats and settings. For example, my XboX One X can support DST and Dolby Digital. The surround sound from this is great and the audio is clear and crisp. I wasn’t sure how the dual subs would be at first but after testing them out multiple times I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to go back to one. Not only are the subs huge but by having two of them it really does do a wonderful job of leveling out the bass/vibrations. You feel it all around you and it really does give you a sense of being “there”. One thing I wanted to touch on is if I switch to my Chromecast the audio output is PCM which isn’t as high a quality as what the Xbox is outputting. As a result I need to turn the volume up on my soundbar a bit in order to hear it. This isn’t the Nakamichi’s fault but rather the device that the video/audio is being sent from. (i.e. the chormecast in this case). So if you are seeing reviews saying the volume is inconsistent then it is more than likely user error and not the Nakamichi itself.I ended up loving the 9.2 so much that I got a 7.2 for my family room and was able to convince my father to get a 7.1 for his home as well. You simply can’t beat the quality and customer service for the price.

    7 people found this helpful

34. 

    Rated 3 out of 5

    Joseph – March 10, 2024

    3.0 out of 5 stars

    Bad Connectivity

    I really want to like this, mostly due to the price I paid and length of time I have screwed with this. But the end result is super irritating connectivity problems. Syncing anything at this point is annoying, always requiring me to switch back and forth between inputs or reboot the bar just to get sound to play. Plus the connection fizzles out way more often than I would like, sometimes in fits. Another fun thing is if I connect my computer to the bar, sound no longer plays out of my TV through the ARC HDMI. Way back, I used to be able to fix it by toggling some settings in the TV’s sound settings. Not anymore. They were nonsensical changes anyway, and it felt like luck. I just needed to try something to refresh the synchronization. The guide does walk you through how to totally resynchronize all your equipment. It is a total pain and takes a good bit of time, and often does not fix the problem. In this case, my TV absolutely will not output sound through the sound bar. Every other device on every other HDMI port of the bar works, just not my TV ever since the last time I connected my computer. Ridiculous.The subwoofer is slightly blown now thanks to Lego Star Wars (The Force is way too strong and emits speaker-crushing lows over prolonged lengths of time). That is on me for underestimating The Force, but if I finally throw in the towel and get another woofer, I do not believe I will ever go with Nakamichi again. This is way too annoying for this amount of money, and the quality was never what I expected for the price. I may be able to do what some other reviewers did and put in massive amounts of time and tinkering while working with a company representative, but I have done plenty of tinkering over the years to mess with it. Maybe if I had bought the 2 woofer setup, things would be better? I swear I read something about how you cannot add a woofer to this, like they don’t sell just the woofers individually.Sorry, but I can’t recommend this product. It is not the worst, by far, just annoying.

35. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Sandip B.Sandip B. – March 10, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Great! But some issues.. Please read me Home Theater buffs!

    Let me preface this review by saying that I’m a huge home theater guy for many years. I’ve used Polk, Focal, Paradigm and now in my current setup I have a full SVS Ultra Tower setup with SVS 13 Ultra Subs. Not saying I’ve heard the “Best” out there but I do have a pretty critical basis as I paid nearly 6 times what this sound bar costs in speakers alone not including the Marantz pre processor and Emotiva amps!I wanted a living room setup as my dedicated theater is nice but overkill for watching some things. I hated the Samsung built-in TV Speakers (Obviously) but didn’t want to spend the money on another 7.2.2 sound system. I brought a JBL soundbar, returned it. It sucked! It was better then the TV but I needed something better. All my research brought me to this soundbar.So big question will this soundbar keep with the big boys? The answer is *drumroll*….. surprisingly yes!!! With some caveats.Sound quality out of the box in my opinion was completely horrible, the subs were muddy, too loud and overbearing. While this may be favorable for some I found it horrific and was automatically putting my return hat on. However with most sound/video equipment out of the box does not show it’s full potential espically when it comes to personal preference. I found out the “Movie” mode was on, which in my opinion was very overbearing and trying to hard to be a almost IMAX like theater experience. Besides the basd, the main soundbar voices sounded way to high and hollow/boxy like the mids were turned up all the way! Long story short I messed around with the remote and found DSP Off. Once it was off hooray! A nice flat sound stage. SVS Sound stage? No. but nonetheless quite impressive!The overall sound is good and especially the surround speakers have great imaging that engulf you in a little sound bubble. A horizontal bubble I might add because Atmos… yeah I don’t hear anything above me. Maybe I’m spoiled because I have dedicated atmos speakers in my theater but at no point did a helicopter fly over me and find myself saying “wow”. Don’t buy this with the idea that Atmos is just magically going to work. It’s not. But in my opinion for what this overall soundbar is and how it performs for the cost it’s hardly a deal breaker.Also not a knock on Nakamichi because I’m sure they had to cut some corners to get the price point. But the tweeters/high end can be quite fatiguting at higher volumes. I can run my SVS Speakers at full blast no distortion and my ears are fine. I find when pushing the Nakamichi at high volumes when watching something like Avengers my ears seem to have the “after a concert” feeling. I’m being a little nit picky here but this is something I would have like to known during my research period.I’ll sum it up here:Pros:Excellent sound to cost ratioHas a premium look unlike many other soundbarsExcellent connectivity options with the HDMI inputs all running HDMI 2.2.Easy installation! Comes with everything you need including speaker brackets.Absolutely solid wireless connection between the main bar and subs. Literally no lag or dropouts.Cons:Compared to my SVS system, this one sounds a little boxy with resonance. Probably would help put extra sound deadening material in each component.When starting a show or media the system plays the sounds. Stops for 1-2 seconds then the system will resume sound. More annoying then anything after that initial hiccup after starting every show or movie it works great.The menu system sucks! I guess I’m spoiled with great receivers I use that have great interfaces that let you control the sound. This one is ALL LCD which can be frustrating as some things are abbreviated. Please in your next soundbar try to implement the menu system on the TV itself.Since the Left Center Right are stuffed into one unit it’s nearly impossible to get a true sound stage experience. Nakamichi was smart on placing the outward tweeters to give the effect of this but still, this does not replace a true front LCR setup.With all that said I would buy this again and again especially for those who don’t have a dedicated theater space.Great job Nakamichi! Can’t wait for your next generation of products!

    20 people found this helpful

36. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Andrew – March 10, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Top of the line

    So where to begin I’ve had this system since July 2023 and I want to give it some time before I wrote this review. The surround sound on this is ridiculously awesome you actually feel like you’re there in the game you’re part of the movie part of the TV show it’s just incredible. That’s just the surround, which btw is fully custonizable. You can adjust center, right surround, rear surround and bass volumes also there is a treble adjustment. The volume is an entirely different story. My last system was a Sony and when watching movies I would have it set to 70 sometimes 80. This system 40. At 100 I can open the doors and windows and hear music anywhere on my property, which is 2.25 acres. That will give you an idea of how powerful it is. This is a quality product and I highly recommend it.

37. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    Al Romero – March 10, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Great and bad…

    In all honesty this is a surround sound system for sure! Music even in all stereo simply sucks! Action movies are literally like being at the theater which I love! But during the day we like to have music playing in the back ground and at only level 6 or 8 there is literally zero bass what so ever and I have the bass set to 10 which is max and all the other speaker levels set to 0 which is minimum! Only reason I don’t send it back, because 1800 bucks is a lot of money in my opinion for only liking movie time, is because I got fed up with Samsung sound system constantly having issues! It would randomly turn off and it was SO annoying! I’ve had zero connection problems and my 5ghz router is right next to the sound bar! I saw there’s a return offer for one year on this product so in time I may get fed up and go for the big dog Dragon setup but who knows, for now enjoying movie time!

    One person found this helpful

38. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Mike L. – March 10, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    5 minutes to great audio!

    What an amazing system! First off, 5 minutes after unpacking it, we had amazing audio. Right out of the box, plug it in, hook it up, and “boom”, great sound.We hadn’t even properly placed everything yet, just to get it going, and we were instantly impressed.Also, it is so great when a system comes with everything you need to mount and wire it; literally everything!On another note, I have several other, modular systems, that cost 3-4 times as much, and are shamed by the amazing depth, punch, and spatial sound environment that this system delivers.Lastly, since I bought this as a gift for my son, I’m now seriously considering buying another for myself!5 stars, truly awesome!

39. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Amazon Customer – March 10, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Very easy setup!

    I installed this with an 85″ Samsung oled tv. The room an A frame with 34′ high ceilings. I have to say that the sound is fantastic. Great bass that shakes the house if you want it to.I can’t say enough good things about the system. I am going to purchase another one for our game room in the future.

40. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Alfred Schmidt – March 10, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    What are you waiting for?

    It is on sale, get it. You want it. Even if you do not know yet.Seriously: If you think it is not possible to see the Glockenspiel through your ears, you are wrong. This system proofs it. Unless you listen to Techno, Hip-Hop, Country or other crap (Sorry, I feel for you if you suffer from that condition – you have my sympathy) it will come to you as a revelation. And even then, it might take you back to the last Rave you attended.I never, ever give out a five star rating. Not this time.Its weakness: dialogues. It probably is annoyed of them as Marvin when sent to open a door.The thing I regret? Not having procured something similar the last 30+ years.Is it powerful enough? Come one, this is the Rolls-Royce of Sound Bars. How much HP does a Rolls-Royce have? Enough. See?Will it deliver nice sound? No, it will not. It will deliver sound to get you high on. Exceptions: see above…Will it be good “loud”? Moot question. Every manufacturer can “loud”. However, the 9.4.2 delivers at ANY volume.Caveat Empor: It is addictive, there will be no going back, ever. And it will reveal any limitation in the source. Including your old treasures and poor streaming. Therefore: It will ruin some memories of yours .Does it replace something? Yes, my old buddy, a Bose CineMate II got retired. Bye, Bye, no tears.Since I did not pair it with a BT device, I will not rate the connectivity.And now I got to go and watch Rutger Hauer and Harrison Ford…

41. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Sandpiper – March 10, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    I waited and WOW (Update 02/21/19)

    First, a little background. I am by no means an audiophile, an expert, nor even somewhat of an expert. I’m just a basic consumer whose eyes glaze over quickly when trying to digest specifications and reviews. So my ultimate criteria is does it sound good to me. I also want to point out that I use the soundbar system for everything: watching TV, streaming movies and TV, watching DVDs, listening to music and listening to internet radio.This unit replaced a previous 5.1 soundbar system with which I have been very pleased for a number of years. But I wanted a system that had a bit more oomph in volume as well as more flexibility for me in placing the rear speakers.I have an L-shaped living/dining room with cathedral ceilings. At best I could only get the rear speakers to the side of me and not to the side and behind. I still enjoyed the sound the previous system produced which was such an improvement over the poor speakers of the TV as well as the power-hungry amplifier for music. In looking for a replacement system I wanted to be able to mount the speakers up on the wall. The choices were limited since the rear speakers are wired to the wirless subwoofer in most soundbar systems. The ones with true wireless surrounds were quite pricey in my opinion. I stumbled upon this system in my research.Does this unit produce 9.2 sound? I have no idea. Does it sound good to me. Oh my, but it does sound great!My rears are wall mounted about 7 feet up and angled down toward my seating area. The two subwoofers are placed on opposite sides of the room. I can’t attest to how much the room’s acoutics come into play, especially since I don’t have flat ceilings. But I honestly feel that I’m enveloped in this rather extraordinary bubble of sound.I swear, the other evening I was watching something on Netflix or HBO or Showtime. There was a scene in a Turkish bath. I kept hearing these hissing and splashing sounds from behind me. I had to pause the movie because I thought there was water running in the kitchen. Yep. It was the soundtrack of the movie.I’ve gone through one firmware upgrade since purchasing. They continue to improve the unit with the firmware releases. I will confess to being a bit nervous having to manually upgrade the firmware. But since the unit does not communicate with the internet, manual upgrade is the only way.I haven’t had to use the supplied remote very much. I have a Logitech Harmony Hub remote system and all of the codes for this unit are available. The supplied remote has a lot of buttons to access things directly. It is a bit difficult to read the buttons in my opinion. But I probably just need new glasses.Am I happy I finally bought this unit? Dang right I am.* UPDATE 02/21/19 *Performed the recent firmware upgrade which I believe is 3.1 This soundbar just gets better and better. The manufacturer can better describe the changes made in this firmware release, but in short they’ve upgraded/replaced the sound engines.Once again…Wow…just wow!The sensitivity and levels of the volume have been improved dramatically. I used to watch many things on level 40 and above. Now it’s level 20 and above. The way it upmixes the audio signals, even basic stereo, is remarkable. I am still so pleased that I purchased this unit.

    13 people found this helpful

42. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    A. Stallworth – March 10, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Truly great budget surround system

    Everyone says that JBL is better, but I went from a JBL system back to Nakamichi, and I couldn’t be happier. My JBL system was always terrible, it always failed it’s calibration, the fake bounced surround sound never sounded right, and you had to be sitting 45 degrees off from the TV for the sound to sound “right.”Plugged the 7.2.4 Nakamichi in and it’s just perfect super clear sound, great highs. And it’s real surround! There is noise coming from behind you, not fake bounced sound that doesn’t work anyway. My one single complaint is also one of the system’s strong suits… dual 8” subs. They are not nearly as snappy as the JBL 10” sub, but they allow you to have an essentially wireless setup if you set the surround speakers on or very close to the subs. I’ve had a Nakamichi system before, so I was aware their wireless frequency tends to disrupt wifi signals very badly. So out of the box you should know that you’re going to need to change either the wireless channel if the system or your wifi router.Is this system perfect?, no, will it satisfy the greatest self proclaimed audiophile? Probably not. But for a sub $1,000 eARC, hdmi 2.1 true surround system that just works… no need for a receiver, endless wiring, buying individual components, etc. And you have tons of customization settings vs something like JBL where you have volume and bass. Being able to customize the eq, plus individual speaker volumes is perfect. Not to mention actually having read satellite speakers.

    One person found this helpful

43. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Amazon Customer – March 10, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Solid Surround Sound

    Update 7/23/19: This is a GREAT system!! One guest after another in our home is blown away by the quality. It has some quirks that are mildly annoying but, I can live with the minor quirks. I will be giving the system as a birthday present to our nephew in November. UPDATE 2/10/19: OK. This is the 9.2 system. We put the speakers on stands, 45″ high, and just finished the software upgrade. The upgrade was a pain that took ordering one of the recommended flash drives and using Brave browser. For some reason this was the only one that produced the file of the right size and one that the soundbar would accept. So, it took 20 minutes to finish the upgrade, reset and reconnect. And what we have is astounding! The upgrade seems to have improved everything about this soundbar! The volume is HUGE, the clarity is crisp, and the surround experience is truly wrap around. Absolutely, DO THE UPGRADE! This really is a great system. I am not getting any of the cut outs or popping I have read in some of the other reviews. I am sorry they are getting that, because this is really fun! ORIGINAL review: We bought the 9.2 and we have not done the updating to Atmos yet. So far … it was as easy to set up as I have found with any previous system. Everything connected, no connections have dropped into day 2 (10 hrs each day). The quality of the materials appears to be excellent. And, each part of the system is attractive and has the appearance of quality. The Subs are real Subs with better sound definition than I had come to expect from less expensive, more popular systems. The surround speakers can be adjusted to some extent. The soundbar itself is substantial with overall very good sound. So far, the surround sound experience is solid, very solid. And, i am saying that without even close to an ideal set up, yet. The sound is very good with both movies and music, and bluetooth works flawlessly paired with an iphone or a Chromebook. We use the Firestick and it works exactly as the instructions say. So all of that is the “up side.” The “down side,” so far, is limited to 2 areas. First, as mentioned by several previous reviewers, the high end sound can be shrill, sharp and excessive at times. Lowering the treble helps. Second, the remote and set up menu just fall flat. At my age, with my eyes, I have to sit 3 feet from the soundbar to be able to read the display to be able to do the set up program. Even then, I can’t tell when my choices registered and are in effect. Nothing flashes or shows up to tell you “You got it!” It would be much easier if the setup menu or choices could show up on the tv screen and you could make your choices in that way. I thought initially that the sound volume was not enough. I was wrong. The volume is great in a large family room (20 x 25) with a very high ceiling. I can only imagine how great it will sound in a room designed for a home entertainment system. The look is clean, I don’t have to fuss with wires running through the walls, the surround sound is very good on its own and excellent compared to many soundbars, and most important, my wife and grandchildren can turn it on and off without having to fool around with it too much. (If the volume is set at an acceptable level, they just need the Firestick remote and everything turns on!) Right now, without the speaker stands and Atmos update, I am more than satisfied.

44. 

    Rated 3 out of 5

    Bri – March 10, 2024

    3.0 out of 5 stars

    Extremely Disappointed in Nakamichi

    I ended up purchasing this soundbar due to the hype behind it. It is highly rated all over the internet and comes in as a recommended buy. I ended up waiting approximately a month before I could use mine, as I was in the process of selling my current home and buying a new one, so effectively no reason to unbox it and play around.Install and setup of this soundbar is very easy and straightforward.The sound quality on the soundbar is relatively decent, however having to change audio settings depending on the source is quite annoying. One setting that sounds really good on Netflix might suck on Vudu, iTunes, etc. Never can I find the power of the bass unless I’m using one setting that makes voices sound like they’re talking into a bowl. Even when the bass isn’t really present, the audio still lacks and isn’t totally clear.Since opening my box and using my Shockwafe 7.2.4, I’ve had issues with video dropouts when there is a lot of video and audio bandwidth at play. I have tried all sorts of brand new 4K certified and 8K cables to no avail. I cannot enable Dolby Vision while utilizing ARC, otherwise the video just continuously drops out. Have tried other sources on my TV to no avail. When the same source is connected directly to my TV with HDR enabled, I have no issues. Unfortunately when you connect a source to your TV directly, you abandon Atmos support. I noticed that the HDMI board gets hot to the touch when I’m having problems, yet this isn’t a tip-off of probable issues. It does not experience this level of heat otherwise.I have been in contact with Nakamichi since January, the day I opened the box, to no avail. When I started with them, I felt like I was working with a single person, however to this date, I feel like I’m working with several people. I’ve been asked to do various troubleshooting over and over and over again, and then they ask for things that you’ve provided several times over. I don’t get it…Clearly my product is defective, however Nakamichi asked me to send it back to them for repairs rather than exchanging it. I’m expected to pay for packaging and packing materials, however they will pay for postage.***** Will NEVER buy another Nakamichi product and could not recommend this based on the extremely poor customer service. *****I will update this review if I ever get this resolved and working properly.** 04/07/20 Update **After speaking with Nakamichi CEO Ray Cheng, we discussed the possibility that HDMI 1 (ARC) is limited in bandwidth from the probable utilization of a “Single Mode” ARC port, which limits the bandwidth to 3Mbps. In the end, 3Mbps is nowhere near enough bandwidth for Atmos and Dolby Vision. Ray assured me that Nakamichi uses a “Common Mode” ARC port, which allows for 12Mbps bandwidth on the port. With my AppleTV requesting more bandwidth than what a “Single Mode” ARC port can handle, it is possibly causing stuttering in the video. I’m going to accept this answer at this point, as it is a very plausible answer. Unfortunately for the consumer, most TVs do not support “Common Mode” ARC, unless you get into the high end QLED Samsung and OLED LG TVs.In the end, I’m basically leaving it at that and hooking up to a standard HDMI port and eliminating ARC. This is unfortunate, because now I cannot utilize any apps on my TV nor any devices connected to HDMI. I did still see occasional blackouts on standard HDMI ports, but I’ve given up on that, as they are not frequent.Sound quality, I’ve reset the soundbar again and seem to have gotten better quality audio. Power from the subs still seems quite lacking. I wish you could lower the crossover beyond 110Hz, as that’s way too high. I know their idea is to fill the room with more sound with the higher crossovers, but one should have an option to drop even lower than 110Hz.

    6 people found this helpful

45. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    vb reddyvb reddy – March 10, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Compete Nakamichi Shockwafe Ultra 9.2.4 with my Son’s system

    I was always purchasing “high-quality” systems that compete with “high-end” audiophile level systems due to my modest income. Cut long story short, Son got a “high-end” system installed which ends with “*ose” and the amazing quality. I was about to purchase same system but it was out of inventory. Son made me realize my humble beginnings and threw a friendly challenge if I could purchase system to compete with his. Only requirement system must be as “wireless” as it can get, similar to his. I have not posted the Surround speaker placement, but Center and Subwoofers.Did research and finalized to test out Shockwave 9.2.4 “Japanese technology UNDERDOG – that did not have a similar ad budget in US”:1. Able to use Bluetooth technology. I found, this option in existing IR Remote but, it has to be enabled which was not enabled automatically.2. Even though specified wireless – the satellite speakers are connected with Surround speakers in wired mode. But this was not a deal breaker.3. Always used HDMI, but eARC technology was new with upmix, native and other Surround modes. Took almost few months to fine tune everything – the way I WANTED to ENJOY.4. Didn’t want to purchase additional systems amplifiers, but just connect to 4K Sony Bravia TV capable of handling Surround system – which has native apps to manage streaming such as Amazon Prime, Netflix etc.,5. Connect my MacBook Pro wirelessly to TV and get full blown “in-meeting” experience working from home.Bottomline: Invited my son and his friend to judge the system I have built. Both of them were blown away by the quality of sound and clarity with effects. Immediately both of them took the pictures and shared with their friends and went ga-ga. It was most satisfying to see the millennials competing with Gen-X and appreciating the new technology despite the age gaps. Needless to say now my sons friends are MY friends too…

    7 people found this helpful

46. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    David Plokhooy – March 10, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Amazing sound

    I do not usually review products until I have lived with them for some time. Oddly enough I had out of the box problems with this but I’m still extremely happy with it. 18 months ago I purchased Samsung’s top of the line TV along with Samsung‘s top of the line surround system. It was a nightmare to connect, neither product recognized the other but after hours working with tech support, applying numerous updates, it finally worked. I thought it sounded outstanding. 18 months later the sound bar stopped working, no power. Got a new power supply, no help. Samsung’s tech support basically did not care.I purchased this unit to replace the Samsung. Setup was simple, pretty much plug and play, except, Samsung’s top of the line TV just refused to see it, refused to Mack the eARC port function. Samsung’s tech support stated “call the sound system company”.One call to Nakamichi and a very knowledgeable tech walked through the setup, had me switch to optical and it worked. Sound quality make the old Samsung sound like a child’s toy. The tech wanted to make sure the eARC on the Nakamichi was not the problem so he immediately opened a ticket to replace it. Customer service Samsung, 0 (or less). Customer service Nakamichi, 10 (or higher). I expect the problem will turn out to be Samsung’s TV is just as defective as their surround sound system but Nakamichi did absolutely everything positive. This is a great company. These are not cheap products and when you buy one you want to know the business appreciates you. Nakamichi definitely gets that, Samsung definitely does not.In addition to the excellent service, the sound quality difference is phenomenal. Running through optical on the Nakamichi vs eARC on the Samsung, the Nakamichi sound is magnitudes above Samsung’s. If you are looking at this, get it. Great sound, great service, great company. There is no better combination.

    4 people found this helpful

47. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Robert D. – March 10, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Top Gun II

    Buy it, watch it you won’t regret it

48. 

    Rated 3 out of 5

    Lance P – March 10, 2024

    3.0 out of 5 stars

    Out of the box the speakers stutter and subs pop

    I couldn’t believe the amount of troubleshooting I had to do and frequency deconfliction I had to do. Turned off my my wifi to isolate some of the popping and chop in the satellite subs and speakers. So after I rechannel my wifi router, I still have to figure out why my subs sound like they’re making coffee? Maybe if I pay $5000 or $7000, these ‘premium’ sound systems might do the work for me? I’m a radio operator by trade and I understand how complicated frequency deconfliction can be, but instead of making it simple by creating preset channels to navigate and set your auxiliary system, YOU have to build your wifi router and space reality around 4 speakers (stands not included, but they’ll sell them to you for $400+ more), 2 subwoofers, and a soundbar.I can only imagine someone buying this thinking it’ll be great for a home theater, but it’s just a car stereo hot wired to an HDMI soundbar and they would have to hire someone to come figure it out or just send it back.It sounds great, sets up easy, operates like I’m at work and I have to troubleshoot issues until it sounds mostly right. This a $1200 market system that operates like something that would cost $600 to make from the same components, and you get zero convenience.I wouldn’t recommend this boondoggle unless you’re done kind of wavelength theory hobbyist that likes cinematic movie experiences.

49. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    Rick – March 10, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    I wanted to hate it….I want to love it….

    There is potential here. I read and re-read all of the reviews. I knew what I was getting into. I enjoy suffering.I suffered. It was a slow process getting my system up and running with this:Components: Personal Score:VAVA 4K projector (1010)Nakamichi 9.2 Ultra ( 810)Fire TV cube (4K) (910)Sony 4k disc player (910)Directly connected to a Samsung mesh router (1010)I use this as my main viewing system, getting away from the separate theatre room design.After taking a day figuring out the inputs and which HDMI everything was on, and PCMDolby etc. , listening to the sound from different sources, using ARC or not, I was able to get a configuration that works, albeit, not perfectly. When the projector turns on, the 9.2 unit takes almost 30 seconds to get an image. A display noting that it’s searching inputs is visible. Often, like 3 out of 10 times, the display is scaled way down and then zoomed in and you can see the scan lines of old-times clearly. Switching inputs and back again clears it up. Sound, is on a long delay upon switching inputs. About ten seconds on average. So, starting any video you will miss the first 5 seconds of play…not a deal breaker.I wanted to mention, I was a victim, a long time ago, of the white van selling speakers. Yeah, but a cheap lesson learned hard. When I unpacked this Nakamichi the smaller surround speakers were JUST like those white van speakers. Very light weight, very cheap connecting cables. I had a dedicated theatre system prior, but I needed a workout room. I wanted to buy the expensive thicker cables, even make my own perhaps, but after a while of using the system, it really does handle the higher volume well. It’s not perfect but for a main system it’s great. I’m getting over the ‘cheap feel’ of the speakers. I hope eventually updates will solve the input switch lag, the volume delay and the remote control.There are too many tiny buttons with tiny print that do not light up. I have to use a small LED light, when it’s dark, to see what buttons I’m pushing.Lastly, for the product R and D department. Please think about adding a programmable button. Just one. A button that I can have set for multiple parameters such as using PCM on HDMI 2 with volume set at my preference and for movie mode. All that with one button would mean I don’t have to push buttons if I do change anything. thanks!I do like it….I could love it though. We all could!

50. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Kindle Customer – March 10, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Excellent surround sound quality at a bargain price

    I cannot express enough how much I am enjoying this purchase.Setup:This is just a breeze. Have a few decent quality HDMI 2.1 cables, plug them into the right spots in the quick setup guide, do your best to position the speakers at the right places as described in the quick setup guide, and then plug in again….and you’re more or less done. I would emphasize that speaker placement does matter. So perhaps do some research on the room you’re going to put these in and decide if you can get decently close to being able to place the speakers where intended.A few places have mentioned that you need to do a USB firmware update to add some features like Dolby, but when I started to go through it, my system told me that the latest firmware was already there. So if you’re buying today, you don’t need to do that step.And I love the sound quality. The dual base is just magnificent, but even more importantly is the clarity of the voices. With me personally, one of my big pet peeves has always been how sometimes dialog is drowned out in games or movies because of to loud sound effects, but that is not a problem with this system. The various sound presets make sure to adjust so that voices come across very clearly.Speaking of the presets, they’re perfectly named for the type of media that they’re supposed to be used on. For example, I video game a lot so the Gaming preset is one of the ones that I use the most. It ups the surround sound of he speakers behind so when you’re walking through, for example, a busy city you hear the sounds of the city all around.But if you instead are listening to music and you select the Music preset, it ups the front soundbar and the two dual subwoofers to feel like you’re at a live concert with the band onstage playing at you.There’s two other features that I particularly like.The first is that the remote has an ability to specify whether the system is setup in a small, medium or large room. It then adjusts the output accordingly. So since I’m in a large room with very high ceilings, meaning less room for the sound to bounce off and reverberate back and more room for it to dissipate, it increases certain volume levels. (And vice versa.)The second is a dedicated “Night” button on the remote. I’m sometimes restless at night. That combined with having different work hours means that my wife and I don’t 100% of the time go to bed at the same time. The “Night” button at a single touch (like with the presets) automatically adjusts some of the volume levels around to account for this sort of thing.I’m very pleased with my purchase and would recommend this to others. I hope that your experience is as positive as mine if you select this option.

    9 people found this helpful

51. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    fun12u – March 10, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Very nice sounding system

    This review is for the 9.2.4 I received it about a week ago. It sounds very close to my yamaha Aventage and klipsh speaker 9.2.2. The only thing I dont like about this system is that it dont have an onscreen menu settings. Instead its a very pixelated digital display on the soundbar thats almost impossible to read. Id like to address some of the negatives mentioned in reviews that i have found to be incorrect. For 1 is that Dish network remote wont work the soundbar. I have dish network and it was no problem getting it to work the on and off and the volume. Also there are reviews says it caused their wifi to slow down to a crawl. Well my Internet was not affected at all and I have 2 of these systems in my home. The 7.1.4 and the 9.2.4 both of which neither affects my internet. I was blown away by the sound quality even though i dont notice the atmos very well. There dont seem to be any overhead sound at all but still is the most interesting sounding system Ive heard even comparing it to my Yamaha Aventage where i have over 3 thousand dollars tied up in that system for my mancave theater. Im finding myself not going to my theater room since I have this system. I cant bragg enough with my friends and family and they all love this system too. As for setup it was easy. I dont understand some of the settings but straight from the box it sounds great. Thank You Nakamichi for producing a great sounding soundbar my only recommendation to make it better is to make an onscreen display instead of the settings being on the bar. Or at least make an app for the phone for it. In which I think a firmware upgrade could fix my issues. And make this soundbar more user friendlyUPDATE: Not quite as impressed as I was in the beginning. I have dialed in my Yamaha Aventage rx-a3080 system and it far surpasses this by a long shot. I can hear the overheads on my Yamaha but the amp alone was over 3000 dollars not to mention the klipsch speakers but everyone knows you cant get true theater sound from a soundbar system but I cant take away from this system it does sound great the only problems I have with it is I cant hear the overhead sounds coming from the atmos sound of this system. Its just non existent to my ears. I do hear them very well on my yamaha. And the 9.2.4 system is the one with the pixellated screen. Nakamichi fixed the pixellated with their earc but they took away clear voice on the remote with the eARC versions as well as many other buttons on the remote. Other than the pixellated screen for the ARC versions I personally prefer the ARC version to the eARC the older versions are better than the new. Nakamichi went backwards in their advancement between years. I have knocked 1 star for them going backwards in their development

    8 people found this helpful

52. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    FuzzyLogician – March 10, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Nice looking system but has notable exceptions.

    Not intuitive, have to fiddle with it a good bit.Sony tv’s ARC audio system seems to fight a bit with the NakamichiSound seems muffled and “tunneled”, have tried cycling through settings and can’t get it where it needs to be for the perfect theater sound.Expensive for what it is/does.My Logitech 5.1 DTS 5000 keeps pace with this system even as old as the Logitech’s equipment is and at 5.1.

53. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    Technovore – March 10, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    EARC Audio issue

    There is an issue where if the soundbar is connected to the TV via EARC it causes a 2 second missing audio at the start of every playback. Lots of people complaining about this. Any apps built into the TV or anything connected to the TV will have the issue. Its very annoying when watching Youtube videos and every commercial or resuming a video from pause causing 2 seconds of missing audio.This was connected to a Samsung Q70T then a QN85C and both have the same issue when playing anything connected to the TV. If connected directly to the soundbar there is no audio issue.Nakamichi says this is normal as whats happening is the TV is doing the processing then sending video before it sends audio to the soundbar. But if connected directly to the soundbar the soundbar does not send video to the TV until the audio is ready as well so there is no missing 2 second audio.It instantly caused WIFI issues in my home. Took me 3 days of googling to figure out it was the speaker system causing my WIFI to have connection issues. But after following the instructions on their website to change the channel on the router all issues went away.Also, 3 months later im throwing out the box an I find the full manual, demo disc and wall mount guide, on taped to the back of the Styrofoam on the bottom of the box. When i opened the box and just saw a quick start guide I though that was all the instructions that came wit the unit and everything else was online so i went online to download the manual.

    2 people found this helpful

54. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    Vincent Tsang – Review Vault – March 10, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    The most cost effective yet high quality way to bring theater sound home!

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    Having just got it on positive buzz and reviews surrounding this machine, I finally tested it out in numerous settings and it doesn’t disappoint at all, it actually exceeded them. The setup was straightforward and speaker placement along with wiring was the only adjustments that takes time and patience to get done. As well as finding the right settings to your needs and room. Once you get that down pat and find the right spot to sit, it is audio heaven. I have recently finished a full feature now with Dolby Atmos and not only did the sound come off strong, it creates an invisible audio dome that envelopes around you. This creates an effective soundscape that films that have a well balanced audio track can take advantage of and enhance the more narrow audio formats (from Linear PCM to Dolby Sound with 2.0 formats).This also packs so much features on the remote to control the different aspects of audio that can be intimidating at first but becomes another tool to fine tune and create the right sound settings for each content.The base model will handle all of the audio formats available on the market, with the other models allow for more balanced and stronger sound punch. I highly recommend this model and they have earned themselves another positive mark for a brand that is still on the down low within the sound bar community and industry.(The video is best viewed with a headphone, to feel the power of the bar and setup in action)!Amended after 1-2 weeks with the unitOkay, If I have legit criticism to provide, it would be the way the subwoofer connects with the sound bar. It actually has been having connectivity issues, specifically in stabilizing the link, mainly as it rides the router’s signal to keep a steady connection. Not doing so, creates an audio distortion that is noticeable when you switch over to the next HDMI port. To get rid of this, there are few ways to go about it. The audio mix buttons (music, movie, and game/news/sports) can re-establish quickly if needed, switching the wi-fi router channel (that usually clears it up), or if needed, set it to USB mode and re-pair it that way. I am adding another troubleshooting advice from my experience. Apparently, the new DF Frequency feature from their latest firmware (FW35) caused many problems with connectivity and distortion when switched on. Switching it off could solve your connectivity problems, if you are experiencing the issues I have been dealing with.This is a quibble that I feel can be worse if your internet can’t handle 5GHZ signal or doesn’t have one. Which does legitimately get it a deduction (but bare in mind, my neighborhood is notorious for having above average internet)One last troubleshooting tip and solution for those having problems, I found that doing a clean install of the firmware and then reset the sound bar, along with making sure you have a working and clean HDMI cable feeding the ARC port, got not only the subwoofer sound pops to stop but finally got the DF feature to work as intended by cleaning the connection for smooth and hard hitting bass to come through (it definitely helps to have the Router on one of the approved channels as well, for me 48 was the magic number).This doesn’t really detract from how great the sound comes across and the quality of the unit, but I feel it needs to be mentioned for those that have apprehension or problems getting it working properly.

    16 people found this helpful

55. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    Rodney A. PruittRodney A. Pruitt – March 10, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Great system for the price with lots of bass

    I’m an audio guy. I have been in av since a teen and now I manage video conference design for a large tech company in silicon valley. So sound is very important to me. I was using PA speakers and a crown amp in stereo for years as my home system. The speakers sounded great but the tech required lots of adapters to make it work and caused all kinds of minor issues like having to use a sperate device and remote for volume. I updated my tv to a nice LG with dolby and decided it’s the to go back to surround that integrates easily with the screen and can give me Atmos sound. After weeks of research and considering my favorite brands like Klipsch and seinhiser I decided to give this brand a shot. It seemed like good price point and I didn’t want to go with bookshelf style because of all the wires and amp etc. I’ve set it up and here’s what I think.Its very well packaged with tons of literature. They even emailed me with how to guides before the order arrived. There’s many mounting options for all of the speakers. Figure out how you want to install mount and and it really is a snap to install.Setting up ARC and eARC is easy and well documented. Plugging in all of your devices is straight forward. I’m very happy with the setup to make it work.Now to the sound. The subs will rattle your walls and the surround is great. Once you understand the remote changing settings is pretty straight forward. Here is where I get a bit critical. Its really kind of hard to get the center channel to be clear right out of the box. Of course there’s lots of documentation and online stuff to work on it. After a few hours of watching shows, playing games, and tweaking I finally think I got it figured out. I was spoiled by my EV pa speakers as front speakers as they were so full. But after learning what each setting does and how to ensure the true surround is getting processed I am pretty happy with the center sound. As far as the other speakers they pretty much always sound great and you just need to adjust the levels.I find when switching between sources and apps Im still tweaking sometimes.I tested it tonight and played Dune in 4k Atmos Dolby vision and I was not disappointed. I had to turn my subs way down to be careful not to upset the neighbors. I think I made a great choice. I really wished it would just work but as an audio guy I think there’s so many settings because it’s got a lot packed in there that can’t be simplified without hurting the sound overall.So I say unless you want to spend 3000k on a huge sound system with lots of wires and a large receiver to figure out this is a good value and packs a lot of punch.

    3 people found this helpful

56. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    Jorge E. Roman – March 10, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Amazin soundbar system with one little quirk

    Great soundbar surround system purchase and your best alternative if you don’t want to pay thousands upon thousands for a full on sound high quality surround system with similar capabilities of Dolby Atmos, eArc, etc.For purchases like these I would normally give it a 5 stars without a second thought, but I have to deduct it one star because of one issue: Losing signal when there is no immediate audio.Long story short if I understand correctly everytime the soundbar gets a signal it decodes what to use (Dolby, LPCM, SSE, etc.). This normally means it takes it a few seconds before you hear audio. No biggie. The issue stems from when the source (video, pc, game, movie, etc. ) doesnt have audio for a bit the signal seems to be lost so it takes it a bit to recover if not lose it entirely.Normally it’s able to recover the signal so it isn’t like a huge deal, just annoying. But I recently used a Nintendo Switch directly plugged into the soundbar to play Zelda, and it would lose the signal for surround sound WAY too often which forced me to go to the Switch menu and reselect surround sound. This was VERY annoying and I see no real way to make it better unless they can patch it out which seems doubtful at this stage.So overall you’ll be very happy with your purchase as the price to quality ratio is extremely good even among competitor soundbars, but just keep in mind of this annoyance.

    One person found this helpful

57. 

    Rated 2 out of 5

    Scott F – March 10, 2024

    2.0 out of 5 stars

    a muddy buggy mess at best I’m afraid

    I purchased this to downsize my living room audio system without sacrificing sound quality but to be honest I am “upgrading” from a mid 2000’s Onkyo 7.1 HTIB so anything should be an upgrade. I chose this soundbar over others because of the overwhelming positive reviews, hype, the legendary Nakamichi name of yesteryear, atmos, and dual woofers, however I didn’t listen to it before hand and that was my downfall. This is to be used to compliment my Samsung Q6 television, chromecast, Yamaha blu-ray, and Technics SL-1200 turntable with Pro-Ject S2 tube pre-amp and Shure M77-4 cartridge.So why give it only 2 stars? For a variety of reasons I’m afraid.1. sound quality- The sound quality is barely better than the stock speakers on the television especially at low volume when you can really only get audio out of the soundbar and the surround and woofers are nearly inaudible.- It sounds tinny and muddy at the same time. I’m not quite sure how you can even accomplish this but they did a great job. My vinyl collection has never sounded so terrible- my 15 year old Onkyo HTIB sounds much better than this2. remote control- the soundbar doesn’t always respond to a key press, i think this may be a result of the screen that is over the entire front of the soundbar and the IR receiver being behind it. The instructions even highlight pointing the remote at the soundbar which I found odd but I believe its because of this issue. So I assume Nakamichi was aware this was a problem and that instruction was how they remedied it sadly.3. buggy firmware- I performed the firmware upgrade before anything as I read that it performs much better than what it ships with, if this is better then it must have been almost unusable before- when I turn on the television the soundbar turns on briefly but goes into standby immediately so I have to turn it back on with the soundbar remote every time- sometimes if you change between inputs it doesn’t output sound and you have to turn it off and back on in order for it to do so- sometimes while watching a show streaming through my smart television I turn on the soundbar using the ARC button and it will immediately go into standby mode. I have to turn it on multiple times before it finally stays on, nothing else changes, I’m in the middle of a show!4. Soundbar display- its not clear due to it being behind the screen and sometimes difficult to read and I have to change my angle of viewing to figure out what its saying- you cannot turn it off but you can adjust the brightness5. Settings- some of your settings will stay, for example the main and subwoofer volume and such while others such as the clear voice, stereo, and direct need to be reapplied each time you turn on the soundbar. It would be nice if settings stayed with the inputs, so AUX stays with stereo ARC stays with Direct, etc6. Bluetooth- only one device can be connected at a time, so its either my phone or my wife’s but not both.- pairing isn’t a smooth operation, the phone sees it but it took multiple retries to actually get it to pair with the soundbar, Samsung S9 phone and I have never had an issue connecting anything to it.7. It isn’t smart- I didn’t buy it because I thought it was, but it would be nice to be able to ask google to turn it to whatever input I desire and it have a wifi remote instead of IR because of the above issues. So really this is just a formality.So what do I like about it?1. Its pretty- aesthetically pleasing- fairly small but that came at a price though Bose doesn’t seem to sacrifice like this does- the woofer finish is very nice2. dual subwoofers- I always thought the idea of omni directional woofers and the need for only one was BS and this thing proves it.- I placed them on either side of my couch and they sound great! My wife hates it and that makes me smile.3. packaging- You don’t have to worry about it in shipping, I have never seen packaged this well, they could have dropped it out of the UPS plane into my backyard and it would have been in pristine condition4. instructions- These are the most idiot proof instructions I have ever seen, the online walk throughs are great, and among the best I have seen. Even going over each of the features clearly. You could say its idiot proof.5. tons of features- lots of sound settings and compatibility with anything you can throw at it- if you can get them to work…ConclusionI will never buy another piece of equipment like this without trying it out first. I really wanted to like this, it checks all my boxes and its a NAKAMICHI but it needs more refinement. The issues with the ARC, remote, and settings are annoying and the sound quality makes me angry with how much I paid. The dual subs make up for some of its short comings but not all. I am going to play with my pre-amp, perhaps tube roll it and maybe change out the turntable cartridge to get that to sound better, if all else fails I may hook up an EQ to it but the idea was to get rid of equipment not add to this.Thanks for reading!

    5 people found this helpful

58. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    trbizwiz – March 10, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Great sound, after you download the current firmware from the included thumb drive

    So I really like a lot about this system. It’s not perfect, so I’ll mention my concerns as well, and rather than telling you to buy it, it’s the best ever. You can make an informed decision.What I like:The system overall disappears in the room with a little effort. The rear surrounds are the hardest to disguise but I intend to wrap them in white speaker fabric, to disappear in our mostly white living room.The sound out of the box was fine. But it came with an included USB drive, which was loaded with current firmware. Now I did not initially load that, because other reviews said you have to write a positive review to download the firmware. I didn’t want to mess with any of that until I had done time with the system. I should have looked in to my specific application. My unit came with the current firmware already loaded in the thumb drive, I only needed to load it. No need for downloading anything, or writing a review in advance. The system really came alive with the update. The rear surrounds really started going their job. The sound was so much more immersive, and balanced.I like the dual subs. I didn’t initially want to spend the extra bucks for the 9.2.4. Ultimately I valued the extra rear surrounds, and so after a special offer during Black Friday, I went for it. The bass from the dual subs is tunable, so you don’t have to be overwhelmed by bass, but still get the room filling stereo effect, from the dual subs, with out shaking the house off the foundation. Now if you want earthquake shaking, I have no doubt you can achieve that too. I mostly watch movies after my small children go to bed. So that’s not in the cards for me.The system is mot wireless. You need to connect the rear surrounds to the subs for signal and power. But you do not have to run wires from front to rear. So most of the wiring can be hidden by furniture, and requires no trips to the attic. I currently have my system set up with rear dipoles. But I want to build a sofa table and place two rears on that facing up and the other two rear surrounds on speaker mounts. This will really make the system full surround, with more Atmos effect.The only downside for me is that the sound in the rear speakers can cut out at times. It happens more with something content than others. I also noticed surround sound is much better from blueray than streaming. Even when comparing HDX streaming. Not sure why that is. I have a very current Sony 4K tv.The front sound bar matches my Sony beautifully, it almost looks like they were made for each other. I did buy a sound bar mounting bracket to Mount the bar to the tv. I think that is a must do project as well.

59. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    lpsouth1978 – March 10, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Best Soundbar available!!!

    Let me start by saying that I am not a professional and I purchased this system for my own enjoyment. I will also not make this a really long review, there seem to be enough of those already.This is hands down the best soundbar I have ever heard or used. I have had a number of system, from Vizio, LG, Samsung, even Bose. This Nakamichi beats them all! It was very easy to connect and set up, and the rear speakers and subs connected effortlessly. The remote is big and has a lot of buttons, but once you understand how to use it, it is easy to use, and I like being able to changes many settings without having to go through pages of menus.The quality of the sound is astounding. I could not believe how great it was and how the relatively small bar was able to fill the room with so much sound. The other big selling point for me was the dual subs. These are amazing, and a total game changer. The bass fills the room and I am unable to tell the direction it is coming from. This is exactly what you want from a sub in a home theater setup. Dolby Atmos and DTS:X are both incredible, though I actually prefer the Atmos.Now, even though this system is amazing, and I do not regret getting it, it is not perfect. I has great low frequency response, and dialogue is good. However, there is a bit too much in the mid range and the highs are lacking a bit, nothing concerning, and dialogue is still easy to hear and understand, but could be improved. Also, it took a lot of trial and error to find the settings that worked best for my room. I suggest using the Perfect Device Matching Tool on Nakamichi’s website. It helped me get all of the settings selected for my TV and XBox Series X. I also found that I got better sound quality by connecting my devices to the TV and using the eARC HDMI to connect the TV to the soundbar. It still works if connecting to the soundbar and then to the TV, but I got some static and drop out issues doing this. Connecting through the TV seems to have eliminated that.Final Thoughts – If you are looking for a soundbar system, this is the best you can get. It easily rivals many full home theater setups, and flat beats home theater options in the same price range. My only regret is that I didn’t opt for the 9.2.4 system.

    5 people found this helpful

60. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    clark – March 10, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Sound bar

    Great system for the money