I replaced my $13K Home Theatre with a SOUNDBAR

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Nakamichi was a legendary brand, and they're back trying to compete with the likes of Samsung, LG, Sony and Sonos in the soundbar space while talking smack to high end brands like Bang and Olufsen and Sennheiser. Can their Home Theater in a box, the Nakamichi Dragon, actually hold up?

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MUSIC CREDIT
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Intro: Laszlo - Supernova

Outro: Approaching Nirvana - Sugar High

CHAPTERS
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0:00 Intro
1:53 History of Nakamichi
2:37 What's In the Box
4:16 Impressions of Nakamichi Dragon
6:19 Impressions of Linus' Setup
7:52 Nakamichi I/O
8:29 Impressions of Sonos Arc
8:55 Purchase Considerations
11:22 Outro

[Batyalas]

Me with 10$ earphones: "hmm, yes, I hear the difference"

[Longshot]

One thing I always think about when it comes to theater setups is that good speakers stay good. I helped my parents buy their modest setup nearly 15 years ago. Got them some good Klipsch speakers and a modest Yamaha Receiver. Many many years and few moves later the receiver crapped out. Went ahead and got another modest receiver and they were back up and running with minimal investment. If the sub died, we could just get a replacement sub. Any of the speakers finally fail we can just replace them individually or in pairs or the like.

If the sound bar fails you're now having to buy an entire sound bar again. Which if its a $200 cheapo Vizio one then sure not a big deal, but if its a $1000 - $4500 kit then that's gonna be a bad time.

[keelysmash]

I thought someone blew 80% of their AMD tech upgrade on a fuckin soundbar

[Fov]

I love how "soundbar" is quickly becoming "3.1+ speaker setup".

[birdwatcherr]

Sooo.... it's not a soundbar. It's a full surround sound speaker setup... with a soundbar.

[Sorenable]

Definitely recommend going diy. I started 2.1 with an $80 receiver and 2 sony towers for like $100. Now, a few years later I have a 5.2 system ready to upgrade to atmos (5.2.2) as soon as I'm ready to upgrade the receiver. But I'm no more than like $500-$600 dollars in and it still beats any soundbar in that range

[tavi]

My Dad is an Audiophile, he’s spent roughly 40/45, 000 dollars on sound equipment. His set up is kick ass but goddamn, that’s a whole ass car

[PeterPanarchy]

I always love the home theater content! One benefit with the DIY setup is you can buy used! There are good reasons to buy new with a receiver, but unlike other tech a high end speaker 20 years ago is still a high end speaker today. I have a killer 7.1 setup with an SVS sub and Aperion speakers for $1, 200. Add in the Marantz receiver, which I bought new, and a used Emotiva amp and I'm at $2, 700 for a truly amazing audio experience. And I pieced this together over a few years. I bought 5 of the speakers and the receiver at the same time, but skipped the sub because I was in an apartment. After moving to a house I added the sub, then a few months later the rear surrounds. Shortly after that I added the amp because the receiver couldn't power everything.

[Skradgee]

Linus: How can anyone spend $4000 on a sound bar?
Audiophiles: Hold my money

[smashishere]

this video felt very quick, at the end i was like "wait its over?"

[Massivecarcrash]

The hoffman iron law of speaker design still reigns true, if you want big, loud and deep, you got to go big and powerfull.
For most people who just watch tv and the occational movie, soundbars is a huge step up from tv inbuilt audio. And the technology has come a long way, I've heard several soundbars that are impressive, even down in the more modest budget to mid tier range. But, once you need that power and loudness, most soundbars get harsh, thin or even audibly distorts with the usually small 8" subwoofer chuffing and bottoming out. So if you want a really full, powerfull and deep sound with clarity all the way up to 11, you need to go with fullsized, traditional speakers. But if you live in an apartment where you can never flex the power of your audio gear, soundbars go a long way.

[NegativeROG]

Everybody, be on the look out for old "component" stereo systems, the kind you used to see in the 70's/80's with stacked individual components, in a wood cabinet with a glass front, and a phonograph on top. They usually come with a pair of HUGE speakers, and those speakers tend to be pretty amazing. I have Sanyo SS-1040's, they stand 3' tall, and sound incredible, and they came from my grandmother's old component system from '76 or so. Things like that can often be found at a yard sale, or if someone passes, the family may be willing to part with "old tech". My Sanyo speakers can shake my entire house from end to end, and rattle the glass in the windows. And back then, shit was built to last. I put a 2x12 board across the tops of my speakers, and four 250-pound guys used that as a scaffold. The speakers are fine, but the board is so bowed that if I found some rope, I could launch 2x4 "arrows" across my lawn. PRESERVE OLD TECH!!!

[Barbarapape]

After over 50 years as an A/V tech i have learned one thing, that is to recreate
the sound that blows you away in a cinema you have to move air, lots of it
and you can't do that with smaller drivers no matter how many you have.
The very best soundbars are good, but realy stuggle against a full seperates
system, and ceiling mounted effects drivers are a must for a true atmos experience.
Relying on bouncing the sound off the ceiling is just not the same.

[v-modsolutions]

I own one and love the sound with both music and surround...best compliment to my qm8 and easy, simple setup and use. Any system that sounds good will easily surpass 3400.00 and will occupy much more real-estate in ur room. IMO

[TAPS]

Slightly misleading title though because it isn’t just the soundbar … The Dragon set includes both subs and surrounds. The sonos arc set, if you add an extra sub, is pretty much the same price so that would be an interesting comparison if you get the chance

[MultiJonsson]

B&O be like "hold my beer" and release the theatre 10 549$

[Eli-zbyj]

Title: How could anyone spend $4000 on soundbar?
Linus: I get it for free

[BrianTheMighty]

I have to say that the team at LMG does a GREAT job with producing such high quality videos that we can watch for free.
The editors, the shooters, the hosts, writers etc....
You all makes it look so effortless, which I KNOW it isn't.

I never really thought of the production value until I watched other channels like J2C, GN and others. LTT has MUCH higher production value in my opition. I am not saying that the other channels mentions are terrible and unwatchable, I am just saying that LTT has higher production quality.

If you take 1 video per 6 months from the beginning of the channel until now, you can really see how much LTT has progressed in terms of quality.

Please never stop making such awesome videos.

And also, awesome work from the accounting department so they there is money for Linus to spend on things to review so we don't have to!

And Sales for generating the money
And all the other departments for doing awesome work

[A-stray]

*Laughs in $50 yard sale Polk soundbar with subwoofer*

[presencedistribution]

I watched the review….not a Naka fanboy or guy that feels the need to defend my purchase. That said, this was a very misleading and slanted review at best. At worst, I think that you may not have spent the proper amount of time setting up the Dragon for the characteristics of the room that it’s in.

I actually have a full 7.4.4 Atmos system in my media room with 4 SVS Ultra Towers, 1 Ultra center 4 SVS Subs (2 PB2000’s/2PB1000’s) and Def Tec Speakers for Height and Accent running thru a Denon 6700 AVR with Help from a 5 Channel Emotiva Amp. Out of the box, I was disappointed with the Dragon as I unfairly compared the two. I spent a great deal of time specccing out and optimizing my media room system and NO time tweaking the Dragon system. I set it up based on recommendations made by the owners manual. After tweaking a few settings (crossover, speaker distances, levels) and playing with sub and surround speaker placement, I sincerely feel the Dragon does an amazing job vs my media room system which probably cost close to $20K. It’s not better, but it’s pretty damn good. I’m at the point where I nor my family members have a preference for where we settle down for family movie night. That’s a big deal because the full systems are paired to 150 and 144” screens vs the Dragon which is mated to a 100” U8K. If I were doing it over….im not sure I’d do the full system. The Dragon gets me 85%?of the sound at 15% of the cost of my full system. They key in all this is tweaking the Dragon to fit the characteristics of your room. I actually considered returning the Dragon after using the initial setup suggestions from the owners manual settings. I found a group of people on FB that really help me dial it in. I truly love this thing now!