If you would have asked anyone five years ago what a
soundbar was, they would have probably told you it was a bar in Manchester that
was, like, proper mega, our kid. These days soundbars are a must-have item for
anyone wanting to complete their home theatre experience, popping them beneath
their 60 inch TV screens or propping them upright in every corner of the room.
Wanting to get in on the soundbar craze, we checked out one from Goodmans which
seems to be so much more than a TV accessory... the Aspect Bluetooth Soundbar.
The truth of the matter is that the Goodmans Aspect Soundbar
is actually a very good Bluetooth speaker masquerading as a soundboard. Whereas
as other speakers designed for home
theatre use plug directly into the TV or speaker base unit, the Aspect gives
you a few other options which opens it up to other uses, namely the Bluetooth.
Connecting the 50cm wide speaker to your Bluetooth enabled
phone or tablet is a breeze, so long as you first realise it has to be set to
the Bluetooth mode. This is achieved using the included remote, or by tapping
the main power button until it shines blue. The connection range is a pretty
standard ten metres, but connecting was super fast and it held firm throughout
testing. The Aspect also features near-field communication and supports the
tap-and-pair feature whereby you merely have to donk your phone onto the top of
the speaker to link it.
For the old schoolers there is also an auxiliary-in cable
port as well as optical ports for connection to your non-smart telly. As we
said before, the included remote lets you swap between these various connection
methods pretty seamlessly, as well as controlling the volume, bass and treble
of the speaker. Nifty.
In terms of placement Goodmans have made it very easy for
the Aspect to go from a soundbar to a soundcolumn. The included base stand is
actually magnetic and can be placed either in the centre when horizontal, or at
the base near the power and connection ports when vertical. One thing to
remember with this is that although it is a nice touch, the magnets aren't very
strong meaning both modes of placement are quite unstable - especially the
upright method.
(Addendum - Once this review was published it was pointed out to us that the side plate of the speaker can be removed to better accommodate the magnetic base, therefore making it much more stable. Which it does, so thanks.)
(Addendum - Once this review was published it was pointed out to us that the side plate of the speaker can be removed to better accommodate the magnetic base, therefore making it much more stable. Which it does, so thanks.)
Still, once set up and stable, the Goodmans Aspect Bluetooth
Soundbar didn't half knock out some sounds. The speaker knows which way it is
placed and so will adjust the sound profile dependant on whether it is vertical
or horizontal. Either way the quality of music was entirely immersive and
strong - surprisingly so considering the relatively small size of the Aspect.
Beneath a TV it altered the audio quality to something much richer, even when watching
TV and films that were older and of lower specification.
We found that for general music listening in the home the
vertical position was better, placed somewhere in the middle of a wall facing
outwards into the room. And it does indeed fill that room, with all genres of
music sounding crisp and clear, even at high volume. Podcasts and audio books
also sounded very good, meaning this is true multi-media speaker.
Far cheaper than a lot of soundbars out there, the Goodmans
Aspect Bluetooth Soundbar ticks a lot of boxes thanks to being very diverse in both
use and layout. A double win.
£69.99
Available from www.amazon.co.uk