Just got it today installed was easy, but it sounded like it was in a tin can very tinny .. I am using the ARC in port . Adjusted TV to Bitstream , everything was set to on surround sound. Still not right . Everytime I would switch source to cable on bar I would see PCM then HDMI. After thinking about it for a few I went into my cable box setting found audio set to PCM. Changed it Dolby and poof fixed instantly sound is incredible now on all channels including Netflix which is accessed theu the cable box, and HDD movies .. Check audio settings of anything your pluging into the sound bar HDMI ports and change it out of PCM mode. Use bitstream Dolby DTS, DTS 2.5 ect anythimg but PCM which is usally the default setting. If anything changes will update this post.

Hello everybody...PLEASE READ!.. Because I have had experience with multiple sound bars including multiple vizios, Samsung HWK950 Atmos, Sony HTST5000 Atmos and both the 7.2 and 9.2 Nakamichi!
I will try to make this simple but I returned the Sony 5000 and the Samsung and the Vizio for the Nakamichi. So, after experiencing all of those this is what I have to say.
I will say that the Nakamichi blows the rest out of the water but let's just start with the sound bar itself not including all of the other things that the Nakamichi comes with that the other sound bars do not. Just solely speaking of the sound bar itself the Nakamichi sound bar easily sounded the best including clarity, bass, depth, and height. Not to make comparisons but just the sound bar itself reminded me of first time I ever heard Bose stereo years ago. That's the impression of the quality in the sound bar. Now, let's talk about all of the other things that this surround sound system comes with - 2 subwoofers instead of one and 4 surround sound speakers instead of two or instead of zero. Also, all of the surround sound speakers have tweeters in them...none of the other systems have that either.
Let me mention a few other answers that might be possible questions. The surround sound speakers are true surround sound and not simulated and from my experience with the Sony 5000 simulated surround sound did not impress me. The surround sound speakers are totally concealable or you can have them out in the open because they look very nice and stylish. If anybody was wondering about the soundbar not being the generic rectangular shape of every other sound bar, Trust me when I say this, it really compliments my TV stand that it's not just another rectangle and it has a little bit of silver accents on each end and on the nameplate to also set it off. If you are wondering about the 7.2 and the 9.2 , I would say it's all about what kind of person you are and where you live according to how much bass that you would like and that's about it. It's about how much bass you want to go for, do you want two 8's or two 10" subwoofers. The soundbar is the same for both units and the extra surround sound speakers are nice but that is a non-factor imo its all about the subwoofers and bass that you want. Also not to mention that all of the other sound bars only come with one subwoofer and with this system you get 2 subs and trust me the base is so much more well balanced because you have 1 on each side of the Room instead of just 1 on 1 side of the Room . Lastly, I just got Terminator 2 remastered in 4k And I wanted to mention that me and my girlfriend were laying on the couch and we thought there was a dog barking outside of my house(it was in the movie in the background of a scene barking). Not to mention the motorcycle driving by and you could hear it left to right explosions sounded like they were in perfect positions above, beside, and behind. And then we watched Blade Runner 4K and it was raining in the movie and It sounded like it was raining inside of my house but then the character in the movie went inside of a building where the rain was still on the outside and I actually thought it was raining up on my roof outside of my house!..
I would be glad to help anybody with any questions about anything and I will be leaving my information feel free to hit me up I love this sound bar and I'm so happy that I came across it and the customer service has been absolutely spectacular! My e mail. Capflugradt at G mail .com

Nakamichi Shockwafe Pro 7.1Ch DTS:X 600W 45-Inch Sound Bar with 8" Wireless Subwoofer & 2-Way Rear Satellite Speakers

This review is for the Nakamichi Shockwafe Pro 7.1Ch DTS:X 600W. Before purchasing, I saw many good reviews but it was difficult to determine if customers were reviewing the $500 product or some of the more expensive configurations of this product. It's frustrating that Amazon groups all of them together, but I do see an insert product link button so hopefully they are trying to address this issue. Now that's out of the way.

I had never heard of Nakamichi before purchasing, but I decided to give them a try after seeing the glaring positive reviews on Amazon. I'm glad I did. Before purchasing, I was considering the Sonos Playbar as it was a 2017 top soundbar by many that I reviewed, but ultimately the price and lack of subwoofer is what turned me to Nakamichi.

Pros:
--the look and feel of the speakers give the impression of high quality
--I'm very pleased with the clarity of the sounds and the ability to fill my bedroom (16'x12') with sound. There is no comparison to what it was like before just using the speakers on my Samsung TV
--Bass -- The bass does thump on my laminate floors. I say that because I would anticipate carpet may lessen some of the oomph but probably not much. The bass is so good I do think it could be a problem for folks living in apartments or condos unless you keep it turned down. Not a knock on the product but a reality of the knock the speaker will produce on the walls/floors, etc. I live in tightly housed residential area with less than an acre between houses and I keep my bass on 7 or lower to be cognizant of my neighbors and not be that guy.
- ARC/CEC - It is nice to be able to use one remote to control the volume and change channels on my TV without having to buy a harmony or universal remote to do this. The soundbar has the ARC HDMI port and if your TV has an ARC HDMI port you will be able to do the same.
-Customer service - I unfortunately had a bad HDMI cable (my own not the one sent) that was causing me an issue of where I could not get ARC through HDMI to work correctly. Instead ARC flashed on the screen and the audio was choppy at best. I called Nakamichi customer service and spoke to Ben. He was very helpful and knowledgeable and walked me through the troubleshooting steps. Ben and I were not able to identify the HDMI cable being the issue but he was able to recommend a satisfactory alternative using solely the Optical Cable for my surround sound. Following it bugged me that ARC was working as I didn't know if it was the soundbar or my TV port. For kicks I tried a different, new HDMI cable that I had and IT WORKED! I chalk the issue up as a faulty HDMI cable on my end, but I mention it here in case others have the same issue.

Con:
-Occassionaly, the sound will drop for half a second (or less) when I'm changing the volume or channel. This is intermittent and not a big issue as it only happens when I'm making a change (sometimes) and last for a very short period of time. Conceptually, it seems the soundbar is playing catch-up/sync when this happens.
-Remote, from 10' feet away and shooting the remote directly at the Soundbar I've had difficulty getting the soundbar to power on. As mentioned before with the ARC/CEC, it is nice that I do not have to use the Nakamichi remote as I can control the volume with my Samsung remote. If I did use the Nakamichi remote this would be a bigger nuisance. I have found that turning the remote 'ganster style' to the side it will typically recognize when I hit the power on the remote.

-- 4 month update --

Added a Xbox One and have tried multiple Bluerays with DTS-MA, DTS-X and Dolby Atmos tracks. The Xbox is connected directly to the soundbar, I found that my Samsung TV does not pass DTS through. This may be stating the obvious, but you do notice that sound has much more presence and clarity and the system truly shines with these higher end audio sources. Also found out that the Spotify app on the Xbox sounds better than Spotify on the TV. The TV app only seems to output PCM whereas the Xbox version does bitstream.

Overall, I continue to be very happy with the system. Now the main question is when I should recycle the humongous box this thing came in.

If anyone from Nakamichi is reading:

I will repeat my earlier comment about wanting to configure one sub and side speakers as front surrounds. If Nakamichi can enable this through a firmware update, it will add more presence and mid range up front. Not essential for movies, but I suspect it will help for music centric tracks and is a good option to have.

Another request is to recalibrate the Bass output levels. I rarely set the subs above 2 and depending on audio source sometimes 1 may be too much. I know it's possible to turn on Clear Voice and reduce Bass further, but it would be nice not to do that and affect other settings. The problem sources are typically older, lower quality recordings. No issues with newer tracks. The subs are sitting on a hardwood floor, I am going to see if floating them makes a difference.

One surprising observation - 4 months in, there are very few professional reviews of this system. Media coverage seems to be very biased towards the big brands.

-- original review --

I got the ultra 9.2 just a couple of days ago and am still testing but I figure people will be interested in another data point for this new product. I am also including some suggestions for Nakamichi, as it looks like their reps do check out feedback. I have already had one phenomenal experience with their customer service.

About Me - Technically savvy and very discerning about the tech stuff I buy. Drives my wife nuts even while she appreciates the results. Specifically for audio, I do notice subtle quality differences and will pay up for quality but I hesitate to classify myself as a "total and complete audiophile" because I will let other pragmatic considerations direct my decision.

My comparison criteria - Looking for a wireless true surround solution for our family room, preferably one not reliant on reflections. Listened to a number of soundbar and discrete AVR solutions at local stores to get a sense of what is possible, ideally under 2K.

Comparing audio systems in stores is a crapshoot, but my conclusion was that none of them met all of the criteria. Sonos - decent sound but nothing special and the playbar is plain outdated for 2017 (No HDMI, nothing above DD 5.1). The Bose SoundTouch 300 package (soundbar + sub + rears) sounded better to my ears than the Sonos, but there are well known ARC/CEC compatibility issues between it and Samsung TVs. The Sony HT-ST5000 w/Atmos is impressive but no rears. The thing is heavy, so installing it on a wall is another challenge. Went to two different Best Buys to try the Samsung HW-K950 w/ Atmos, but it wasn't working. If I was looking for an audio only solution, my money would be on the BlueSound Pulse. Their NAD heritage shows in the warmth and depth of sound. Also looked at the Denon Heos, the Klipsch 20B and a few lower end bard. None of them have a rear speaker solution or the base is too wimpy. On the discrete side, I would have paid up for the Klipsch Reference HD wireless system if the center channel was in a slimmer sound bar form factor. The current solution does not work for a TV mounted over a fireplace.

My setup for now is very simple - 2016 Samsung KS8000 series 65" 4K/HDR TV connected via HDMI ARC to the Nakamichi 9.2 and direct Ethernet to the home router. Comcast x1 still connected to the TV which is supposed to do 5.1 pass-thru. Will add a Blueray player soon.

My current testing is mostly with the native Amazon, Netflix and Spotify apps on the TV which will do Dolby Digital 5.1 but none of the higher quality standards. The TV is set to output DD. It also has an option called DTS Neo 2:5, which I tried but noticed a loss of quality. The LED display on the Nakamichi confirms source format is DD or DTS. I also tried a number of Dolby and DTS test files off the net. These were loaded on a network drive accessible to the TV and played using the native media browser app. It's not able to play the Atmos content, but was able to play DTS-HD and DTS-HD MA files. I am not sure if its downsampling them down to DD 5.1 or doing a pass-thru (very likely the former). Hope to test higher quality media soon.

Room Configuration - This system is set up in my family room, with the 9.2 currently sitting raised up on a box in front of the TV. The room is not a proper rectangle, but there are walls on the left and right for reflections and the ceiling is a flat 10'. The size is around 16' x 22'. The Nakamichi remote has an option to select room size between small, medium and large. I went with medium. The family room is slightly sunken and the far end opposite the TV connects to the kitchen which is at a higher level, so a large portion of the back wall is open. Flooring is wood with a concrete subfloor. I have the rears in a dipole config for now about 6' behind a sofa which is about 12' from the TV.

Packaging - I was pleasantly surprised by the packaging. Clear instructions on how to open the box and everything nicely laid out. Includes cables and installation hardware.

Build Quality - Very nice, looks and feels premium. The LED display on the front of the bar is very helpful in comparison to other sound bars which often have minimal feedback. The display can be dimmed, which is a nice touch. A minor nit is that reading the acronyms on the display through the metal grille can be hard at times. My suggestion to Nakamichi would be to move it outside the grille and go to a higher res dot matrix display in a future device.

Remote - Feature rich remote and its nicely backlit. I had no issues with distance or lag, works from over 14'. The remote is somewhat directional, have to figure out the correct vertical angle (pitch in aeronautical terms) for it to work. Suggestion to Nakamichi, the buttons could be larger with a larger font.

HDMI ARC/CEC worked seamlessly between the Samsung TV and 9.2 for power on/off and volume. I didn't have to do anything special to get it working. After all the gripes I had heard about CEC and especially the Bose 300, using CEC was a non event.

For Movies & TV -

The short conclusion is that the system sounds Exceptional. Even my wife commented - it feels like we are in a real theater! The MOVIE EQ preset is a very good starting point. My preference was to disable Pure Direct (which keeps neural:X enabled but disables other processing). Center channel dialogue is very clear. Wide front sound stage with very good separation. The surrounds add an immersion that should handily beat all of the simulated products out there. The final battle scenes in Star Trek: Beyond, the fight scenes in Avengers or Civil War are alive. Watching The Hunt for Red October made me feel I was inside the sub. Even non-action films with a mellow background track like Amazon's The only living boy in NY city feel immersive at low volumes. (Yeah, Kate is cute, but that movie is far from 5 stars.) The dual 10" subs make their presence felt in many ways - from the obvious loud crash bang sounds to adding ambience for sound tracks. The base setting stayed at 3 or lower, there wasn't a need to go higher.

My room layout is not amenable for a true 9.2 configuration but can't wait to try it out, especially with higher quality tracks.

For Music Playback -

The system is good but less capable for music and this is partly due to its speaker configuration. I listen to a lot of acoustic tracks and the sound stage feels off if you are in the middle of the room. All of the full range speakers on the soundbar are 2.5" while the surrounds are 3" and closer to the 10" subs. So the the higher frequencies tend to be apparent in the front of the room with the lows in the rear. This 7.2 or 9.2 configuration works fine for movies, but not what you expect for music. The MUSIC EQ setting helps, but not completely. The bar by itself is not designed to handle a wider range as would be the case for one that relies on simulated surround and has a broad range of drivers up front (for instance the Bose, Sony, DefTec or BlueSound), so turning down the surrounds or going to stereo is inadequate. On the other hand, the sound feels much more balanced if I am in the kitchen listening in from the outside as it takes away some of this directionality. So capable system, but layout is better suited for movies.

If anyone from Nakamichi is reading this, I have a suggestion that could possibly be implemented with a firmware upgrade. There will be many people who can't take advantage of a 9.2 layout and will either go for the 7.2 system or use the 9.2 in a dipole config. An alternative 7.2 layout for the 9.2 system would be to put one sub and its surrounds up front and keep one at the back of the room. The front surrounds can be repurposed as front left and right channels and the rear as surround left+rear and right+rear. The surround performance for movies should be similar to that of the 7.2 system (or better because of the 10" subs), but with a much more capable front sound stage. This is something that could be supported as a different EQ mode. If you can do this, it will give music fans a crazy good reason to upgrade to the Ultra 9.2.

It's the holiday season, so one can hope right?

So in summary, I am super happy I went with this system. My current testing is limited to average sound sources (DD 5.1) but that's the bulk of streaming content out there. Can't wait to try out higher quality tracks.

If anyone is looking for an easy to install and very capable home theater solution, the Nakamichi 9.2 deserves serious serious consideration. It's a kick ass true surround system at a very good price point. To find anything better as of today (Nov 2017), you/we will likely have to upgrade to a discrete AVR system in a higher price range. And deal with the installation, cabling and setup.

My first unit was lost in the mail so Amazon refunded me to purchase another. Easy setup and it sounded good with a full, rich sound for a soundbar and with nice base, but I experienced audio gaps (silence) of ~500ms every 5-10 minutes or so. Their tech support seemed quick to respond and friendly but we never made any progress and it was a little time consuming (like 10 emails over 2 weeks).

Then, it just stopped working. It turned itself off in the middle of a show and we couldn't get it to power back on. I emailed their tech support again but they gave me the same troubleshooting instruction as they initially did for the audio gaps (I'd been replying off the same email thread). Now I was starting to lose patience and said that if we can't figure it out soon then I'll have to move on to something less hassle-free, but then it was nothing but crickets even though they have "guaranteed tech support response within 24 hours or less". I even emailed a couple days after that too and still no response.

So, an unfortunate set of circumstances on what could have been a winner, but I just don't have time for faulty electronics troubleshooting. Though the lack of a 'guaranteed response', twice, made the decision to return it easy.