Along with the announcement of its new line of SUHD and UHD TVs, Samsung also announced a slew of products to round out the company’s home theater experience, which include a new wireless speaker and a set of curved soundbars.
Let’s start with the speaker. Samsung has made its first omnidirectional speaker with the Wireless Audio Radiant 360 R7. It accomplishes this thanks to Samsung’s “Ring Radiator” technology, which we saw earlier this year at CES with Samsung’s WAM7500 and WAM6500 multi-room speakers.
In short, Ring Radiator allows the R7 to deliver balanced audio across the bass and treble within a 360-degree radius. That way, there’s no need to rearrange your setup in order to get balanced audio in all corners of the room.
Much like the WAM7500 and WAM6500 multi-room speakers, the R7 will work with Samsung’s Multi-Room app, which allows the R7 to connect to connected devices in the home. The app has been updated with a new user interface and now allows for custom queue lists. The R7 can also connect to Samsung multi-room audio products using Multiroom Link.
If this all sounds good to you (get it?), the R7 will be available later this month for $500.
Moving on to the curved soundbars, it’s no surprise they were designed to compliment Samsung’s upcoming curved TVs. Today, Samsung revealed four such curved soundbars: the HW-J8500, HW-J7500, HW-J6500, and HW-J6000.
The HW-J8500 includes 350 watt output capabilities through 9.1 channel output, with the HW-J7500 throwing in 320 watt output through 8.1 channel output. Finally, the HW-J6500 and HW-J6000 both include 6.1 channel output. Regardless of the channel output, every speaker will include a wireless subwoofer, which utilizes MAG Woofer technology to deliver deeper bass.
Every speaker includes High Frequency Audio Restoration (HFR), which promises to bump up the fidelity of your music. However, only the HW-J8500 speakers support HD audio. In addition, the HW-J8500 is equipped with side speakers, allowing it to project audio from three sides.
The most expensive of the four, the HW-J8500 is currently available for $1,300. The HW-J7500, meanwhile, is also currently available, but steps down in price to $800. The HW-J6500 will be available later this month for $550. Finally, the HW-J6000, the budget model of the four, is now available for $500.