Signa S3

Overview

The Signa S3 is a low-profile Polk Audio soundbar announced in May 2020. The bar is 898 mm wide, 56 mm high and 83 mm deep and comes in black. It hangs on two keyhole mounts on the back, and wall mount spacers are in the box.

The bar has four drivers, two 1.25 x 4.4-inch full-range oval drivers and two 1-inch tweeters, and comes with a wireless subwoofer with a 5.25-inch driver in a ported enclosure. Polk lists a frequency response of 45 Hz to 20 kHz.

The TV connects over HDMI ARC or optical; Polk says it works with HD, 4K and 8K TVs over HDMI ARC. The bar also has a 3.5 mm aux input, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Chromecast built-in streams from apps such as Spotify, Tidal, Qobuz, Deezer and Amazon Music HD, groups the bar with other Chromecast speakers in the Google Home app, and lets a separate Google Assistant device control playback by voice. Polk lists Movie, Music and Night modes and VoiceAdjust with three dialogue levels. Polk says the bar works with Samsung, LG, Vizio, TCL and Sony TV remotes and with most HDMI-CEC TVs.

The box contains the remote with batteries, an HDMI cable, an optical cable, the bar's power supply, two power cords, the wall mount spacers, the quick start guide and a registration card.

What the specs mean

• 2.1 speaker setup: two main channels (left and right) and one subwoofer channel; the ".1" is the wireless subwoofer in the box. There are no center, surround or height speakers.
• HDMI ARC: the Audio Return Channel sends the TV's sound to the soundbar over one HDMI cable, and the TV remote can control the bar's volume.
• No HDMI passthrough: the Signa S3 has no HDMI input, so a console or streaming box connects to the TV, and the TV sends the sound on over HDMI ARC.
• Audio formats: Polk lists Dolby Digital 5.1 decoding for virtual surround sound; the product page's comparison table lists Dolby Digital and DTS.
• Chromecast built-in and Google Assistant: music is cast from a phone app to the bar over Wi-Fi. Voice control needs a separate Google Home or other Google Assistant device, sold separately.
• Expandability: none; Polk states that the Signa series was not designed to work with surround speakers.