Polk Audio Surroundbar 9000 User manual

Technical Brief
The Polk Audio SurroundBar®9000 Instant Home Theater™
Specifications
Bar Components
5- 2 1/2" midwoofers
3- 1/2" silk dome tweeters
Subwoofer
Wireless 8” downfiring long throw woofer automatically pairs with
bar
Lower/Upper
-3dB Limit
45 Hz - 20 kHz
Peak System Power
510W - 45 x 8 channels and 150W subwoofer
Inputs
Two optical, two 1/8” analog
Dimensions
bar: 3 3/4" h x 44 5/8" w x 2 1/4" d
sub: 13 1/2" h x 12" w x 13 1/2" d
Backup Remote
Control
on/off, bar volume, subwoofer volume,
mute, source selection, learn
Included Cables &
Accessories
-6' digital (Optical) cable
-1/8" to 1/8" analog cable
-1/8" female to dual RCA male adapter
- two removable rubber feet adjustable along the bar length!
Finish: satin black bar & subwoofer
MSRP: $849

Design Goals
The foremost design goal for our best Instant Home Theater system was to create
dynamic range, system clarity, and bass response of equivalent component home
theater system with the ease of hookup and use consumers expect of a powered
soundbar system. Specifically this includes:
•Provide superior center channel intelligibility and off-axis enjoyment.
•Play all 5.1 audio channels from DTS or Dolby Digital sources augmented by our
proprietary SDA® technology to create a broad, deep and tall sound field that
extends along the side walls and overhead with a high degree of specificity.
•Match an atypical (for a bar) 80Hz high pass with 80Hz low pass of the sub.
This is normal for component home theater systems and results in minimal
localization of the sub and superior blending between both speakers.
System Description
The system consists of a 44 5/8" amplified bar incorporating 5 - 2 1/2" convex dome
drivers and 3 - 1/2" silk dome tweeters, each driven by its own amplifier channel. The
powered wireless subwoofer is an MDF 3/4" thick cabinet with a downfiring 8" long throw
composite PP cone with rubber surround. A backup remote control is included.
Enclosure & Grille
The enclosure is ABS + PMMA (Polymethyl methacrylate), an additive that’s commonly
known as Plexiglass. It adds rigidity, torsional strength and higher damping factor to the
enclosure so it’s more acoustically “dead” and less resonant.
The grille frame is molded ABS with cutouts for the drivers and tweeters so no lattice
grille interferes with each driver’s output. This frame is then covered with acoustically
transparent grille cloth.
Midwoofer/High Frequency Drivers
•5 - 2 1/2" mid-woofers – Center, L&R, Surround L&R
•3 - 1/2" silk dome tweeters – Left, Center, Right
Installation Options
•The bar comes with two rubber feet that can be easily removed and re-installed
anywhere along the length of the bar to allow installation directly in front of any TV,
regardless of the type of stand provided.
•Keyhole slots located 24 1/2" apart allow either onwall installation or attachment to
an aftermarket display mount and center channel bracket.
High excursion 2 1/2" mid-woofer

Technologies
8 Channel Amplifier
Each of the 5 mid-bass drivers and 3 tweeters is driven by a dedicated amplifier channel.
High and low pass filters are handled electronically with no passive componentry in the
signal path. This reduces phase shift and lowers distortion inherent in all passive
crossover networks.
Most noticeable is the greater dynamic range that individual amplifiers provide, adding
an effortless character that may be appreciated as an enhanced sense of realism.
Digital Signal Processing (DSP)
We have incorporated the most powerful DSP engine ever used in our amplified
Surroundbars capable of 160 MIPS (millions of instructions per second) including 58
discrete DSP blocks for delay, frequency shaping, crossover points, signal mixing and
parametric compression. Amplitude smoothing addresses even minor irregularities of all
active drive units. SRS HD4 and our proprietary SDA surround technology are actively
controlled to an even greater extent than our SurroundBar360 of 2010, providing strong
image localization cues and a greater sense of ambience and space.
Optimized Center Array™ (OCA)
All five 2 1/2” drive units contribute to the center channel performance in a sophisticated,
amplitude tapered cascaded array design. The SB9000’s OCA progressively low-passes
the outer and inner driver pairs to mitigate undesirable constructive and destructive
interference that otherwise would result in off-axis frequency response
irregularities. These “venetian blind” (technically known as comb-filtering) effects alter
vocal reproduction for different seating positions. OCA controls off-axis amplitude
response by appropriately limiting each mid-bass driver’s passband for minimal
interference for off-axis seating locations as follows: outer and inner driver pairs
reproduce center channel information from 80 - 450Hz and 80 - 700Hz respectively while
-Full Complement Bass Drive

only the center driver plays center channel program material through the upper midrange
all the way up to its crossover point with the center tweeter (80Hz - 4kHz). Meanwhile,
the outer tweeters are also employed as “super tweeters” (6kHz – 20kHz) for center
channel material in addition to serving their primary duties in the reproduction of Front
(FL/FR) and Surround (SL/SR) channels. So as to avoid unwanted localization, the
outer tweeters’ acoustic output is appropriately delayed.
OCA results in an unprecedented clarity and intelligibility of center channel information
over a very wide listening area. Even listeners far to the side hear vocal reproduction
and other center information with similar tonal balance to on-axis listeners. Everyone
hears natural sounding, clear dialog, musical instruments and center-channel effects that
are firmly anchored to the screen.
!
Dolby Digital & DTS Decoding
Both optical inputs can decode and reproduce Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 program
material. Many bars may decode but few will play back all of the discrete channels as
intended for optimal surround performance and fidelity.
Full Complement Bass (FCB)
All five 2 1/2" drive units reproduce the summed L/C/R/SL/SR channels over the 80Hz to
200Hz passband, in addition to serving their normal duties as centers, surrounds
(main/SDA), lefts (main/SDA) or rights (main/SDA). FCB provides the equivalent surface
area of a 5 1/4" mid-bass driver to give the lower midrange and upper bass tonal
richness and speedy transient response, ensuring that no single driver is overtaxed
since all share the demanding 80-200 Hz band equally. The low 80 Hz crossover point,
achievable by employment of FCB, effectively eliminates localization of the subwoofer.
SDA®Surround
SDA Surround is a two-channel technology
originally developed by Polk which was
intended to overcome a fundamental
problem of stereo reproduction known as
Interaural Crosstalk (see Figure 1) when
listening to 2 separate loudspeakers.
SurroundBar SDA Surround technology
utilizes the same basic principles but
expands it to produce a precise image that
wraps around the listener from a single bar
type speaker. SurroundBar technology uses
techniques similar to those used in noise
canceling headphones to cancel out the
sounds that tell your brain where the
speakers are actually located. The
technology then replaces those with sounds
that, to your ears and brain, are
indistinguishable from actually having sound
Figure 1

sources all around you. As far as you are
concerned there really are sounds all around you.
This technology requires no reflecting surfaces or
special speaker placement. It works well in virtually
any room of any size or shape and delivers a
surround sound experience for almost all listener
locations (see Figure 2).
Smartbar™Remote Control Learning
Probably the most appreciated feature by consumers is that they can use their TV or
cable remote control to operate our SurroundBar. Simply teach the remote codes for
volume up/down, power on/off, and mute directly from your favorite remote to the
SurroundBar.
1. Press and hold the “Learn” button on the SurroundBar until the LED blinks
orange. This puts the SurroundBar into learning mode.
2. Tap the “^” button (volume up) on the SurroundBar several times until the LED
will stop blinking and remain orange.
3. Press and hold the TV remote “Volume Up” button for one second and then
release for one second. Continue this sequence until the LED on the
SurroundBar blinks green.
Repeat steps 1-3 to program Volume down, Mute and Power.
Wireless Powered Subwoofer
Our 5/8” thick MDF cabinet houses an 8" downward firing long
throw driver and a 150W peak (75wrms) amplifier. Our engineers,
employing computer modeling, designed a flared J-Port that
optimizes laminar airflow and eliminates port noise. The
subwoofer can be placed up to 50' from the bar.
Just find the most convenient place for the subwoofer, plug it in
and it pairs automatically with the bar.
J-Port Design
Figure 2