I know someone who recently bought one of these to go with their new 50in lcd.

After asking my opinion on what to get, from separates, like a sony receiver with a nice set of Mirage speakers (just one of many speaker systems) and a good subwoofer for around $1000 for everything, they decided that a soundbar would be the answer. They had just built a new house and were being lazy. They didn't want to run speakers. I told them a soundbar wasn't really surround and that they would still have to get a reciever and a sub.

Then they decided on a HT in a box, with wireless speakers (which will probably interfere with something in their house). At that point I just gave up and told them to do whatever they wanted.

I no longer give suggestions or opinions because no one really wants them anyway. When they come back to me a year later because something doesn't work or sound good or it's not upgradable, then I can just say hey, what did you expect from a piece of crap.

So here is what they decided to get: The very FIRST thing they told me was that it was like 1000 watts. To which I replied, WOW!!!!!!!

Don't get me wrong, for some people, this system will make them very happy compared to just using the TV speakers but for a few hundred dollars more you could really get something that will last for years and sound much better.

My question is how do they come up with these specs on power? All these companies seem to do it and MOST people who buy them seem to believe it. I really laughed when I saw this.

Also the ratings are at 4 and 6 ohms, does that necessarily mean that the speakers are 4 and 6 ohms also or are they using those to make the specs look more impressive?

Total Power: 1200W
Front: 250W x 2 (1kHz, 6 ohms, 10% THD)
Center: 250W (1kHz, 6 ohms, 10% THD)
Surround: 100W x 2 (100Hz, 4 ohms, 10% THD)
Subwoofer: 250W (100Hz, 6 ohms, 10% THD)