Many of us have shelled out around 50K on a big TV but we remain unhappy with the speakers; they sound awful, which means you need to invest in a soundbar. Even a halfway decent soundbar or surround system hooked to your TV will make all the explosions in Die Hard pop and will make Drake’s music shine (somewhat).
There’s no limit to splurging on a soundbar but it doesn’t make financial sense to spend above 15K on a TV that costs around 40-50K. We recently came across Mivi Fort S200, which is a decent entry-level soundbar. There is enough competition in this price category with the likes of Saregama or the excellent Calcutta-born brand Mulo, which offers fantastic sound without breaking the bank.
So why Fort S200? There are quite a few things to like about the soundbar. It mostly has a sleek design and surprisingly good bass for an inexpensive soundbar. The front grille offers a clean look while the rest of the soundbar has a plastic finish while some of the physical controls are on the side, though this can be a fingerprint magnet. The soundbar is sleek enough to fit under most television sets while the subwoofer unit is primarily made out of wood and does its job.
The subwoofer unit is powerful
The biggest feature — and the one you need — is sound. You can listen to music on the 2.1 soundbar by connecting your phone via Bluetooth or connect the device to your television using the various port options. To get the best sound, hook it up with the TV because with Bluetooth connectivity, listening to anything that’s bass-heavy above 75 per cent volume can bring about some distortion. Hooking the soundbar via HDMI helped and I could hear clearly that gun-toting helicopter flying overhead in Die Hard and enjoyed concert documentaries.
There is enough loudness with a frequency response of up to 15KHz and sensitivity of up to 86Db and the soundbar includes four 2.25-inch drivers. The remote control lets you control the bass and treble, besides allowing you to choose between different modes. Mostly, the ‘movie’ mode works well in way of output and even without support for high-end codecs, I enjoyed most OTT shows. The sound is loud enough to fill an average apartment room and for the best effect, control the bass/treble.
The remote control allows easy access to most features of the soundbar
Being a budget offering, there is no immersive sound technology like Dolby Atmos but that’s fine for most people. There are a few things Mivi could have done better. For example, the LED display, which helps keep track of volume and other levels but it’s hardly visible from a distance. Second, there is too much emphasis on bass; personally I like the soundstage to focus more on vocals.
Should you buy it? If you are looking for a bass-heavy output on a soundbar that will not set you back too much, Mivi Fort S200 is a good option.
At a glance
Device: Mivi Fort S200
Price: Rs 9,999Ports: HDMI (ARC), Bluetooth, USB, Aux, optical
High notes
Bass-heavy soundu Light and portableu Good entry-level soundbar
Muffled notes
Design can be improvedu The focus is too much on bass