Panasonic SC-HTB550 Pro Reviews

The Panasonic SC-HTB550 certainly scores high marks in the looks department and the glossy black finish will go well with both Panasonic’s current line-up and many other TVs with a black bezel. The actual build quality leans more towards plastic but there’s no denying that the HTB550 is attractive and will compliment most TVs. The HTB550’s major selling point is that it can be configured as either a standard soundbar or as a more traditional stereo speaker setup. In this sense the HTB550 was a great success, delivering plenty of flexibility and choice for the customer, whichever configuration they choose. The flexibility of the HTB550 is improved still further thanks to the inclusion of a wireless subwoofer and an additional unit that contains the amplification for the front speakers and the connections. These connections are reasonable, although we would have liked to see a USB port and an analogue audio input. We appreciate the inclusion of this main unit because it limits the number of cables to the speakers, with just a power cable for the active subwoofer and speaker cables for the front pair. Unfortunately the main unit doesn’t have a display which makes it difficult tell which source is selected, what levels have been chosen or what features are being used. The tiny remote control is also limited in terms of buttons, necessitating some rather convoluted combinations of buttons to select certain features.