Good flat screen televisions can now be found in almost every living room. But who thinks of the ears? – the television manufacturers often do not. As a rule, every PC loudspeaker is better than the sound preserves built into the TV. Films and Co. are unthinkable without sound, therefore good sound is not to be neglected. A sound bar is the most popular addition to home cinema in Germany. A look at this test is therefore worthwhile in any case.
The German manufacturer is making a lot of noise about the product description of the test object:
[Die]* Cinebar Duett is Teufel’s brute answer to all the limp sound bears in the acoustically dried out living rooms of crisis-ridden cineastes.
Who leans so far out of the window, can also fall deeply. I unpack the middle class model “Cinebar Duett” for basic tutorials and listen very carefully.
Unpack
I receive both devices compactly and safely packed in polystyrene. Included is a power cable, a remote control and two Quickstarts. The latter describe the application clearly and only in German or English. That’s good – no confusion of languages and no mass export. Visually, striking elements typical of the company immediately show that we can look forward to a product from Teufel and that we do not have any standard mush in front of us.
Facility
The setup of the soundbar goes quite fast . One big plus: There is no cable clutter. The two elements connect wirelessly with each other without delay or loss of sound quality. The configuration for this is concisely described in the manual.
The controls for the subwoofer are located underneath, which is impractical, but allows the flawless design. Since there are only two buttons, you can feel them with a little practice and hardly need them later in use. Once you have done the pairing, there are no more problems with this. The whole process is finished with me after 10 minutes. The connection of the Cinebar Duett is reliable over the whole test period. The operation of the sound bar is then self-explanatory and the remote control clear designed.
First Impression
The first test with Bluetooth and Spotify starts wirelessly. To do this, press the Bluetooth button on the remote control for a few seconds, search for the device with your mobile phone and the pairing is done. At first I am dissatisfied with the sound. In a direct comparison with other products, the soundbar loses house high – for the time being. With a few adjustments, the sound of the Cinebar Duett can even keep up with 3-way speakers. More about that later…
Pairing with Bluetooth is user friendly, but cannot be the basis for a serious sound test. I continue to hear with dozens of different genres and all end devices over a period of several weeks.
The Cinebar Duett
The Cinebar consists of side-firing speakers, an external subwoofer and six front speakers. These are fired by six power amplifiers, each channel gets its own power amplifier. The technology is packaged in a high-quality plastic housing. You can enjoy the sound with the Cinebar Duett with 90 (max. 120) Watt. A standby function minimizes power consumption to 0.4 watts.
At the Cinebar we find Teufel’s well-known Display behind the front. The display is hidden behind a cellulose coating that covers the entire front. It can be dimmed or switched off completely.
There are no disturbing elements and also “off” makes the soundbar something. The subwoofer is minimalistic and modern designed. The speakers are surrounded by red decorative rings. The red contrast is also followed by loops on the back and rubber feet on the underside. The design is convincing.
There is nothing to complain about the basic dimensions. The width is with 96cm just compact. The weight of the sound bar with 2.2kg is quite light, that of the subwoofer with 8.6kg more impressive. The Cinebar Duett stands safe and non-slip on the floor and the TV table. Externally, the sound bar differs from other models. With a little imagination, the test piece looks like an oversized telephone receiver. The shape is deliberately designed to improve room coverage and sound image.
Although not directly part of the product, but nevertheless worth mentioning is the good support and Service from Teufel. There are 8 weeks right of return, if you don’t make friends with the piece. In addition to the 2-year manufacturer’s warranty for electrical components, Teufel offers a 12-year warranty for housings.
Connections
The Bluetooth range is relatively short with 10m, but works in the apartment but also through walls without interference. The transmission is possible with all devices (Android, iOS, Mac OS, Windows PC and Linux) and promises apt-X CD quality with the codec 4.0.
In addition to Aux, Receiver or CD-Player, all known TV types can be controlled via HDMI without any problems. A prerequisite for the latter is that the television supports HDMI type ARC, otherwise an optical digital audio cable is also required. The cable entries on the sound bar are practically moved into the case. The Cinebar Duett is versatile in the connectivity options. It can also be attached with an integrated wall bracket.
An aux cable, or at least one for the connection to the TV set, could have been included in the package, I also miss a control function via USB.
More Features
Before we get to the most important aspect, sound, it is worth taking a look at the settings. First there are the four Quick Configurations “Music”, “Voice”, “Movie” and “Night”. The night mode, for example, separates the frequencies in such a way that the neighbour does not experience every film explosion. The modes are quite nice, but a real difference is only audible for experienced ears. The soundbar sounds equally good in all modes. It is practical to be able to make the settings at the touch of a button on the remote control. After all, you don’t want to torture yourself in a menu for every movie. The rudimentary operation can also be carried out via keys on the device.
Dynamore Ultra is one of the functions that make the sound bar really interesting. Adjusting the sound range and spatial expansion at the touch of a button is super practical and child’s play. The sound image expands to a slightly greater spatial distance. This leads to the fact that it really arrives at the sofa – and that unmistakably better than before. The disappointment described in the first impression dissolves quickly. The sound is output with the system in all directions and diverted from the room. In this way, both the spatial acoustics and the sound from a medium distance (approx. 3m) are significantly better.
Several small features of the sound bar as well as the sophisticated Design elements stand out positively. When restarting, the volume resets so that your ears do not bleed directly, depending on the earphones. Small red cable loops on the rear side bundle the cables practically. The subwoofer can be adjusted at the touch of a button (+/-). The user can switch between Inputs “TV”, “Bluetooth”, “HDMI”, “AUX” and “OPT” with the remote control.
The Sound
If tested for a longer time, the sound scores in all ranges. The initial disappointment is ironed out with the Dynamore Ultra function. It’s a difference like heaven and hell. The eight midrange drivers (44-mm) and two tweeters (20-mm) perform well despite their comparably small size. The 20l subwoofer radiates downwards (Downfire-Subwoofer). You can find that good or bad. Although the directional pattern of the bass tones suffers, the system provides even coverage of the room. The 165-mm bass driver gives the Cinebar Duett a good basis.
The directional characteristic of the ten drivers is convincing during the test. All seating positions in medium-sized rooms can hear well. There is no background noise and no noise interference. Even in silent sequences the sound output is pure.
Musically Teufel’s TV box scores particularly well with Hip-Hop, Techno, House, Electro etc., thus with bass-heavy genres. She is always strong enough for football evenings and small celebrations in the apartment. It is particularly convincing for blockbusters. She impressively enhances films and series, this applies equally to quieter and action scenes. The quality is enough to make cinema feeling come up. The Cinebar also resolves the test film music from Game of Thrones, Batman, Interstellar and True Detective respectfully.
With the Cinebar Duett you don’t have a high-end music system, but a multifunctional sound bar for this price and with this sound – not much more is possible. It can score high in the test for music and home cinema alike. The overall picture of the sound is differentiated and precise . Individual sound elements can be easily distinguished from each other (e.g. voices in films). The mids and highs are good, the lows very good. The sound, which is rare for sound bars, does justice to many musical genres. The sound elements are well matched to each other, the overall sound image is upper class.
Criticism
The Cinebar Duett is a sound bar of the upper middle class with a very good sound. Audiophile users should still use speakers with more volume to listen to music. The Cinebar is a compact solution and cannot compete with high level speaker systems. In comparison, the highs are not clean, the weaknesses are especially audible in classical music and quieter passages. The frequencies could be separated more cleanly and it lacks Volume despite dynamore. Even with the functionality of the remote control there is still room to move upwards. Operation is simple and functional for everyone, but could offer a wider range of functions. In addition, there are small things like a lack of playback capability for USB and the fact that a cable is not included in the scope of delivery. The sound pressure is – understandably – not sufficient for larger rooms.
Conclusion of the Teufel Cinebar Duett Review
Soundbars often only feel comfortable in certain niches, the Cinebar Duett everywhere. It has good speech intelligibility, adequate bass, can play movies and many types of music with surprising performance. In short, the Cinebar Duett is an all-rounder.
Teufel leaned far out of the window, but didn’t exaggerate. The features and the special design are very well thought out. The keyword here: Finities. The variety of functions despite easy operability, the sound and the price-performance ratio are convincing. Here you can hardly complain about anything, we make a buy recommendation. Those who spend the money will not be disappointed with regard to the competition of this price segment. Teufel does everything right. If you want even more, you would have to switch to stereo/5.1/7.1 and in particular much larger systems, but also take into account a corresponding price increase.
Overview of the manufacturer
- Lank, top-class sound bar for thrilling TV and music playback
- 10 high performance driver, 2-way system, 6 power amplifiers + subwoofer for the best sound in this class
- Dynamore® Ultra technology with side-firing speaker for virtual surround sound
- Cableless downfire subwoofer for deep, precise Teufel bass
- Bluetooth 4.0 with apt-X® for wireless transmission from Smartphone (Spotify, Youtube etc.) in CD quality
- HDMI (1 IN, 1 OUT), CEC and ARC for TV remote control operation, single cable connection
- Integrated wall mount, line-in, optical digital input, sound adjustments, night mode
Teufel Cinebar Duett
Workmanship
Usability
Sound Film
Sound Music
Design
Features
Value for Money
First in Class
Teufel does everything right, the Cinebar Duett gives you a cinematic feeling and also convinces with many music genres. It also scores with user-friendliness and design.
