The Birth of the Soundbar (1998 - 2019)

The EVOLUTION of the Soundbar - Soundbars have really came a long way in the last 20 years. So in this video we wanted to do something a bit different and take a trip down memory lane to visit the very first soundbars and how this great device has evolved over time.

It was the year 1998, a year that gave the music lovers a marvelous gift in the form of a box called "soundbar". The credit for creating the 1st all-in-one modular sound box goes to Altec Lansing, who released the first modern soundbar.

Altec Lansing named their first state-of-the-art model “The voice of the digital theater”. This soundbar consisted of a separate sub-woofer and offered only stereo and dolby pro-logic sound. The invention was a breakthrough in sound systems which eliminated the complex wiring mesh and was a boon for homes with limited space. It used Altec Lansing’s side-firing technology and algorithms to provide surround sound from the sides, rear and front. 

Despite pioneering this field, Altec didn't follow up with subsequent models.

During the following years, many companies like Pioneer, Philips, Yamaha, B&W, and other music giants, launched their own versions of soundbars with modifications and new sound drivers technologies.

The first one was Pioneer who announced the PDSP-1 in 2002 - the world's first digital sound projector with more than 500 watts of power and a quite interesting & bold design.
Pioneer's take on the soundbar resulted in a really huge box that definitely stood out from the crowd.

Later followed Polk Audio, Philips and Yamaha, each with their own interpretation of how soundbars should look and sound.

Out of them, the company that really took soundbars audio innovation to the next level was Yamaha.

In December 2004, Yamaha launched its YSP-1 soundbar – the world's most advanced digital sound projector.

At the time, it was considered a real breakthrough since the YSP-1 achieved the world’s first real 5.1 channel surround sound. As a completely new kind of a single speaker surround sound system, it opened up a new market for home theater systems.

Yamaha's YSP series later continued to evolve and improve with their subsequent models, the YSP-1000 - released in October 2005, and the YSP-500 - released in October 2007. Each model brought extra features and improved the surround technology with more power, better sound separation, heavier bass, and more features like automatic microphone optimizations, support for newer sound formats, additional ports and more.

Alongside Yamaha, more and more tech companies continued to enter the soundbar market due to its increasing popularity.

In 2011 Bose released its first soundbar system, The Cinemate 1 SR, to compete with the likes of Polk Audio's "Surroundbar" in 2005 and Philip's "Ambisound" in 2007. However, It was designed primarily to just receive audio output from a TV set and enhance the sound experience.

Now, looking back on the last 15 years –

Design-wise – we can say that the design elements haven't changed too much – as mainstream soundbars mostly kept the same elongated wooden speaker box appearance. It's quite reasonable since there isn't much wiggle room to evolve with the design of speakers except for small tweaks in external appearance.

But taking a closer look at the internals and audio evolution, it's a completely different matter:
Soundbars went from 3.1 channels to as many as 7.1.4 channels.
From a standalone speaker with a wired sub-woofer to complete surround systems with wireless speakers and wireless active sub-woofers.
From stereo and Dolby pro-logic sound to the very cinematic Dolby Atmos and DTS:X which can envelope an entire room with sound.
From few analog connections to the latest HDMI standards and multiple wireless streaming options.
From a TV audio enhancement accessory to a full-on independent sound system, streaming device, video pass-through hub and more.

We've truly come a long way…

So, what's next for soundbars?
Except for a few insiders, nobody really knows exactly what the big corporations and innovative startups plan for us next, and what interesting soundbars are currently cooking in their labs - for that we'll just have to wait and see.

What we do know is that for some of us, the soundbar really changed the way we set up our sound systems, saving us the cost and space of additional surround speakers and cable clutter. For others, the soundbar simply improved our TV watching experience with richer and more immersive audio.

We can keep expecting soundbar audio to keep getting better and better, and to see many more features around the audio to keep popping up in future soundbars as technology rapidly moves forward.

It's truly going to be an exciting future for soundbar enthusiasts and tech lovers in general.

Let us know what you think in the comments, and we'll see you in our next review.

Thanks for watching!

Видео The Birth of the Soundbar (1998 - 2019) канала Gearly Reviews