Phase Technology Teatro TSB3.0 Soundbar Preview

Phase Tech debuted their new soundbar at CEDIA 2013. The Teatro TSB3.0 is somewhere between a surround bar and a sound bar. While it boasts a passive design necessitating external amplification, the Teatro TSB3.0 has such features as dialogue lift and side-firing drivers for a wider soundstage.

The question you have to ask yourself is what you want out of a soundbar. Are you just looking for something to sound a bit better and a whole lot louder than your TV speakers? You'll want something that has its own amplification. Do you want something that has a lot of inputs so that it can not only augment your TV's sound, but also connect to your DVD or Blu-ray player, game system, or more? Well, you're going to need something that has a lot of processing power as well as amps. And then you have to worry about compatibility with digital formats and all sorts of other hassles.

But what if you are like many of us and all you need is a compact speaker under your TV? You've got your old receiver which, while not good enough for the main theater anymore, is perfectly fine for your bedroom. It has amps, switching, decoding, and all the other inputs and outputs you'll need. All you want is a speaker. And bookshelf speakers are not something the significant other is interested in.

The Phase Tech Teatro TSB3.0 is just that. A true LCR with a .75" fabric dome tweeter and two 3" poly ultra-long throw woofers per channel, the Teatro TSB3.0 gives you three channels of sound. Contained in an extruded aluminum, ported cabinet, this isn't the plastic housing you're used to seeing. This is a piece of gear that actually matches the quality of your receiver and TV. Covered by a powder-coated steel grille, the Teatro TSB3.0 has the sort of look that most users are looking for these days.

Phase Tech made sure to make the Teatro TSB3.0 8 ohm so that it would play nice with even budget-level receivers. It is 89-90dB efficient so that it can get loud without setting your amp on fire. Phase Tech has tweaked the crossover for precision performance.

All that alone could probably sell the TEatro TSB3.0 but Phase Tech didn't stop there. They added a 1" full-range aluminum inverted driver to each side to increase the sound stage. They also added an EVT switch (Enhanced Voice Technology) to increase intelligibility of voices. Since this is a passive speaker, they must have done this with the crossover or perhaps some sort of EQ to bump up the frequencies most associated with vocals.

Conclusion

We didn't get a chance to hear the Teatro TSB3.0 at CEDIA but we wish we had. It sounds like a very interesting product. Really, though, the question is price. If they are leaving the amplification up to the consumer, it should mean that they can undercut the prices of many of the powered soundbars out there. But with the extra drivers, aluminum case, and other high-end touches, we're betting they haven't. At an estimated $650 price tag, we're hoping that people won't be surprised to find it doesn't have amps. We'll have to wait and see how this product fairs when it starts shipping late October.

For more information, please visit www.phasetech.com.

Unless otherwise indicated, this is a preview article for the featured product. A formal review may or may not follow in the future.