The Polk Audio MagniFi Sound Bar™

Features & Specifications

• 3.1 Channel Configuration with wireless subwoofer
• Polk Patent Pending adjustable Voice Adjust™ Technology
• Polk exclusive Full Complement Bass Drive Technology
• Polk Dynamic Balance® Transducers
• Polk SmartBar™ learning remote technology
• Dolby Digital® 5.1 decoding
• Variable Bass output adjustment
• Selectable Music and Movie Immersion Modes
• Bluetooth Wireless Technology with aptX®
• Near Field communication (NFC)
• Polk exclusive free DJ Stream app
• Slim 2 inch height will not block IR receivers
• Sound Bar Speaker Complement: Three 3" x 1" Dynamic Balance™ Drivers with butyl Rubber surrounds
• Wireless Subwoofer Complement: One 7” Dynamic Balance™ Bass Reflex Subwoofer

Audio Inputs:

• Optical (Toslink)
• Bluetooth
• Analog (3.5mm stereo)

Satin Charcoal Gray Finish

What's in the accessory box?

• Sound Bar Power supply and cable (8ft)
• Subwoofer IEC cable (8ft)
• Optical cable (6ft)
• Stereo analog cable (6ft 3.5mm)
• Remote control
• Set Up Guide

Power Supply: 110v/240v

Dimensions

Warranty: 3 years on speakers and 1 year on electronics

MSRP: US $499

Basic Hook Up

The most popular and convenient way the MagniFi™ Sound Bar is connected is via optical out from the television. This allows for the TV to provide all switching from audio inputs such as Cable, Satellite, Console, Terrestrial TV or Blu-ray player. An additional analog input is provided should that be needed.

The MagniFi™ subwoofer is wireless and is paired with the Sound Bar at the factory. First make sure the MagniFi™ Bar is powered on. Then power on the subwoofer. The LED on the back of the subwoofer will turn from red to solid green indicating that it is connected. In the unlikely event the subwoofer does not connect, turn off the subwoofer, press the sync button located on the back of the Bar and hold for 3 seconds. The LED on the back of the bar will blink indicating that they are both ready to be connected. Turn on the Subwoofer. The LED on the back will turn solid green.

Both the Sound Bar and included remote control allow for Volume, Voice, Bass, Mute and Source selection. In addition, the remote has 2 immersion modes for either music or movies.

SmartBar™ Technology & Connectivity

The MagniFi™ can also be programmed to respond to your remote control. Polk Audio calls this feature SmartBar™ Technology. For details on the procedure, please refer to the set up guide that is included in the box.

To use Near Field Communication (NFC), place your device on top of the Sound Bar where the NFC logo is located. NOTE: With the exception of the new iPhone 6 Smartphone, older iOS devices will not support NFC. Android and Windows devices do support NFC.

DJ Stream is a Polk developed app that allows up to 4 connected devices to stream to the MagniFi™. Up to 130 devices can be connected in order to vote on the playlists. It is free and available to download from the Android and Apple App store.

Design Goals

The Critical Midrange

Since its founding in 1972, Polk Audio has never wavered from its basic principle to provide sound that virtually transports the listener to the scene of the recorded performance. The key to this realization is in the critical midrange of the sound spectrum (200Hz-2KHz). This is where vocal intelligibility resides along with the vast majority of music and environmental information (Fig. 1). Through painstaking optimization of its transducers, called Dynamic Balance™, along with careful tuning of crossovers and selection of enclosure materials and design, Polk loudspeakers have developed a longstanding reputation for clear, open, and uncolored sound regardless of the type of program material being reproduced.

The challenge of High Vocal Intelligibility in Sound Bars – Polk was the first dedicated loudspeaker brand to enter this category in 2007 and has maintained a leadership position in the market ever since. While Sound Bars are clearly superior in audio performance to the poor quality speakers found in Flat Screen televisions, they have had issues with maintaining intelligibility of dialog when there are significant other effects present in the soundtrack. This is particularly the case at moderate listening levels where most users prefer to listen. Extensive ethnographic consumer research performed by Polk has confirmed this to be the case. Through the careful use of complex DSP algorithms that take into account spectral balance, time alignment, and amplitude response, Polk has developed the 1st Sound Bar that allows the user to adjust the audio output to vastly increase vocal intelligibility regardless of program material or source at any listening level. This patent-pending technology is called Voice Adjust™.

Exclusive Polk Technologies Employed

Voice Adjust™ Technology

A three-element line array consisting of identical 25mm x 75mm full-range drivers are configured to provide clear, intelligible center channel program material over a wide range of locations throughout your media space. While the center driver plays full range – up to the high frequency bounds of human hearing – the outer left and right drivers are band-limited to ~450Hz via a low-order low-pass filter to play in concert with the center driver for greater output capability and lower distortion (Fig. 2). “Voice Adjust” further entails not only level adjustment for the center channel but also timbre shaping for improved voice intelligibility of difficult, poorly recorded programs or for late-night use when clear, highly intelligible dialogue may be enjoyed at lower overall listening levels (Fig. 3).

Patent Pending “Method and System for Optimizing Center Channel Performance..." Brad Starobin inventor; filed Dec 2013

Additional Technologies

Full Complement Sub Bass Drive

Full complement sub bass drive is a Polk Audio technology that employs all of the drive units in a loudspeaker system to contribute to low-frequency reproduction, thereby improving output capability. This is achieved in part by eliminating channel-to-channel phase variations over the bandwidth extending from 120 – 250 Hz for the MagniFi™ SoundBar.

Sound Bar/Subwoofer Time Alignment

Wireless subwoofers, due to time-consuming error correction and other factors, can be unavoidably late relative to the sound bar when delivering sound into the media space. MagniFi™ recognizes when subwoofer signals are transmitted wirelessly and takes measures to ensure that the SoundBar's and Subwoofer's acoustic output arrive coincidentally (time-coherently) throughout the media space for optimal transients and seamless blending through the crossover range.

Music vs Movie Immersion Modes

These immersion modes are optimally configured for a range of program types. MOVIE accentuates exciting surround and emotionally involving low-frequency effects while maintaining clear, intelligible dialog. MUSIC provides smooth, extended bass and subtle, complementary surround effects, plus MagniFi's signature, clearly articulated vocal reproduction.

Adjustable BASS

Depending on placement proximity to boundaries, the program material itself, personal taste, and other factors, users can adjust the relative bass level via the included IR remote or the dedicated rocker key on the SB itself. BASS adjustment not only affects subwoofer gain but also makes commensurate adjustments to the bar's low-end frequency response for optimal blending through the wide BASS adjustment range.

Dynamic Balance®

Beginning in 1988, Polk Audio began an ongoing research project in partnership with Johns Hopkins University. The result was a full-field heterodyning laser interferometer system capable of revealing the microscopic details of entire vibrating surfaces (such as a loudspeaker cone) in real-time. This research tool enabled Polk to view and analyze the entire vibrating surface of a driver or tweeter. In particular, they were able to see and understand the resonance that develops on loudspeaker cones as they move. Modal resonance is a major cause of frequency response aberrations and other distortions in loudspeakers.

This new understanding of how resonance develops on speaker components led Polk to develop a design technique called Dynamic Balance®. Dynamic Balance uses an analysis of the entire electro-acoustic and mechanical systems to select composite materials and geometry that reduce resonance. The resulting drive units have unusual clarity, detail, and extension. Polk has continued to evolve and refine this technology through ongoing research and development in its labs in Baltimore, MD.