![]() So, with the low frequencies far more than adequately taken care of, the rest is joyously reminiscent of what the Millenia CT’s are capable of. That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with a good Golden Delicious, just that a Smith is ultimately more satisfying. If we take an apples versus apples approach and compare with other subwoofers that form part of a soundbar package, then the Paradigm Soundtracks’ is a Granny Smith as opposed to a Golden Delicious – crisp and mouth-watering against superficial and slightly insipid. The first thing we noted was that the Soundtrack’s sub isn’t quite as commanding as that of the Millenia CT duo but, whilst a natural association, that isn’t necessarily fair. It seemed somehow appropriate to start with a spot of Public Enemy, and even more, that their Bring the Noise was the first track we chose to play through the Soundtrack – after all, with any luck, you could make yourself the former and achieve the latter if the system is up to the job. Paradigm gained a lot of their early reputation in the subwoofer market with big bruising war machines of ground-shaking capabilities and whilst the unfeasibly neat sub in this package can’t lay claim to that kind of performance, it does shock in just how accomplished it is. By its very nature, the soundtrack isn’t able to offer the stereo separation on offer with even its – slightly less costly – drinking buddy, the Millenia CT, but that’s not to denigrate its performance because it most assuredly is a superb listen and especially if you’re flush on. Often we find that whilst being pretty serviceable for TV and movies, many soundbars lack proficiency with the slightly different demands of music. Simply by virtue of the Soundtrack System reaching us in daylight hours, its first task was to entertain us with music. As if to underline just how small and ‘looseable’ the remote is, Paradigm has issued warning in the manual that if you do happen to irretrievably misplace it, then it’s not a warranty matter and a replacement will require financial outlay. Given, to put it generously, the fact it’s not a particularly impressive controller we don’t expect many will bother with that feature. Paradigm has endowed the Soundtrack System with the ability to learn commands from other controllers, for example you could ‘teach’ it your TVs volume codes the process involves holding down the corresponding control button(s), that are mounted in somewhat ungainly fashion on top of the speaker bar, whilst pressing the corresponding button on your chosen devices’ remote until a light flashes to tell you the job is done. Operationally, most will be using the supplied remote control that is of vaguely credit card proportions and not particularly blessed with a wide range infra-red output, so you’ll need to take aim at the centre of the bar with a degree of unnecessary precision. In a nutshell, what we’re trying to say is that your most important source is best served by the optical connection, whichever that may be. The only other drawback to the limited input array is the fact you’ll need to choose what source goes where but we’d suggest if your TV diet is mainly broadcast based, use the optical for that or if your consumption is more disc orientated, connect your player that way. Some might lament the absence of Bluetooth, also, and although it does have its issues, it’s undoubtedly a connection option with lifestyle audio market appeal. Many of the more mainstream manufacturers boast HDMI connectivity in their upper tier soundbar packages and the inclusion of Audio Return Channel (ARC) technology is probably HDMI’s biggest win, in terms of operability and (whisper it) wife-friendliness. The Soundtrack provides a little more in the way of connectivity than its Millenia CT brethren in that it also has a set of stereo jacks to add to the singular 3.5mm Auxiliary analogue and S/PDIF Digital audio inputs.
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