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The Mythos SSA-42 is a pretty rare beast: a high-end soundbar, capable of delivering a surround sound-style effect from just one single speaker. Soundbars tend to be affordable options aimed at movie fans who want to cut down on living room clutter without forgoing the sort of seat-of-your-pants audio that can elevate a middling action movie into something approaching a religious experience. Read our Mythos SSA-42 review now for the full verdict.
Yes, we know, the Mythos SSA-42 is hella expensive. The £849 price tag is high enough, but you’ll also need a surround sound receiver to power the speakers, not to mention a subwoofer to deliver that floor-quaking, eardrum-pounding bass. The Mythos SSA-42 is merely a speaker, you see – there’s no built-in amp or processor, so you’ll need to rig it to your system via five speaker cables (one for each of the channels). So you’re looking at another few hundred quid at least – in fact, you can buy the speaker in a package with a Mythos Supercube III subwoofer for a mere £1,648.
We tried out this combination with our Pioneer VSX-LX50 receiver and found the Mythos SSA-42 to be a hugely capable performer. First things first: it doesn’t really produce a convincing surround sound effect, or at least it didn’t in our living room. Crank up the volume and you start to hear the left and right rear effects coming from the right sort of places, but it’s no substitute for a traditional 5.1-channel speaker setup.
Read our Panasonic SC-BT200 review now
We say that about pretty much every soundbar we review, because it’s largely true. But that’s not to say the Mythos SSA-42 won’t enhance your home entertainment experience – the speaker serves up crystal clear sound, even at high volumes, and works well with any source, including CDs and games.
The problem is the price. We suspect those with the bank balance to afford a Mythos SSA-42 are pretty serious about their home cinema gear, aren’t the sort of people to be too bothered about having speakers dotted around the room, and would probably get more out of a standard 5.1 setup.
We should also mention that the Mythos SSA-42 can be wall-mounted or placed on a tabletop or rack, and that it’s designed to be paired up with 40 and 42-inch flat screens. If your TV is a bit bigger, there’s the SSA-50 (which costs £1,099).
This IS mega expensive.. where are the affordable alternatives? I’d be quiite happy with even a decent stereo soundbar.. burt at these prices it makes my wd tv hd seem positively underpowered.
Annoying review this! The reviewer fails to point out that this is a top-end ’soundbar’ solution, so although the surround effects may not be to your liking, you’re getting amazing OVERALL sound for your money… He should have reviewed it properly – ie, within the confines of the soundbar genre – then we’d really have been able to judge how it compares. Those that prefer full 5.1 will – of course – buy full 5.1, so he shouldn’t have really compared this here – soundbars are a LIFESTYLE solution!