Apollo S70 Ultra 7.1 Detachable Lighting Soundbar review – Big sound for small money, plus cool LED lights!

If you buy something from a link in this article, we may earn a commission. Learn more

REVIEW – I love watching movies and learned that many films lack depth without surround sound. Even run-of-the-mill TV programs elevate with a good surround sound system like Ultimea’s Apollo S70 Ultra 7.1. How does it perform? Please join me for a look and listen – it has a few tricks up its sleeve!

⬇︎ Jump to summary (pros/cons)
Price: $259.99
Where to buy: Ultimea

What is it?

Ultimea’s Apollo S70 Ultra is a surround-sound processor with an integrated seven-channel amplifier, LED-equipped detachable front speakers, wireless subwoofer, and rear speakers.

What’s included?

Center unit
Left and right detachable speakers
Left and right surround speakers
Subwoofer
Power adapter
HDMI cable
Digital optical cable
Stereo 3.5 to RCA audio cable
Left and right soundbar cables (2m)
Left and right soundbar cables (100mm)
Left and right rear speaker cables (6m)
Wall mounting kit
Wall brackets and mounting screws
Remote control
Left and right speaker bases
User manual

Tech specs

Model: U3800
Power supply: Soundbar – DC 18V, 3A, Subwoofer – 100-240VAC, 50/60Hz
Soundbar drivers: Soundbar – 2”x 5, Surround speakers – 2”x2, Subwoofer 6.5”
Frequency response: 55Hz to 18kHz
Auto standby: 15 minutes if there is no audio signal
Standby power: <0.5W
Operating temperature: 0 to 35°C, 32 to 95°F
Bluetooth: Version 5.4
Soundbar Dimensions:1072 x 107 x 58mm, 42.2 x 4.21 x 2.28 in.
Subwoofer dimensions: 232 x 232 x 264mm, 9.13 x 9.13 x 10.38 in.
Surround speaker dimensions: 198 x 112 x 60mm, 7.8 x 4.41 x 2.36 in.
Packaging dimensions: 468 x 298 x 488 mm, 18.43 x 11.73 x 19.21 in.
Net weight: 9.2kg, 20.2 lbs
Gross weight: 11.5 kg, 25.4 lbs

Design and features

After I reviewed Ultimea’s Poseidon D70 system, I was eager to try their new Apollo S70. It arrived quickly in a big, heavy box.

The packaging is excellent.

There are many parts, but the manual is concise. Everything fits together with some pushes, twists, and turns. You’ll only need tools to mount the system to the wall.

Wall mounting hardware is in the box, but I’ll be perching the D70 on top of my living room’s 75″ TV.

Small blocks attach to the walls, and shoulder bolts screw into the back of the speakers.

Atop the center speaker reside buttons for power, input selection, Bluetooth, and volume.

The remote has all the necessary buttons for control from the couch. You’ll need to supply two AAAs to feed it.

Ultimea uses a clever design to use the soundbar as a single unit or by detaching the left and right speakers. End caps pop off the speakers and, with minimal effort, snap onto the center speaker.

Ultimea includes speaker stands to add utility. The speakers can sit upright on a stand or the floor. It’s a great design! Bravo, Ultimea!

The left and right speakers connect to the back of the center channel. The plugs are 4-conductor Mini-DIN connectors – two wires for the speakers and two for LED lighting. Yep, you read that correctly! These speakers have integrated LED lights. So cool! More about that later.

From left to right, the back has connectors for the right channel, DC power input, Aux, Optical, USB, HDMI ARC, and the left speaker channel.

The center unit’s power comes from a 100-240 volt AC “wall wart” that supplies 18 volts and 3 Amps via a coaxial connector.

Two sets of left and right cables are supplied—one 10cm set for use if the speakers are attached to the center and the other for use if they are detached. Another set of 6-meter cables connects the rear left and right speakers to the subwoofer.

The subwoofer connects to the center channel wirelessly, which is a massive plus in my book. There is no need to route and hide speaker wires! Yay!

The subwoofer’s connections include power, rear left, and rear right. There’s a pairing button if the wireless connection is lost, but I never had to use it. The subwoofer worked perfectly right out of the box.

The bottom-firing speaker produces a good amount of thump. Nicely done!

The speakers have frosted covers over the LED lighting.

The setup of the Apollo system took about 20 minutes.

The S70 is compatible with their app. After creating an account, you can power the system on and off, choose the correct input, adjust the volume and settings, select a different preset sound profile, and customize the equalization.

The app also configures, turns on/off, and sets the brightness level of the LED lighting. You can choose a static, cycle through colors, or more flashy modes – Party, Christmas, Halloween. I found the flashing distracting during a movie, but it is very fun when listening to music.

I would have loved to see a mode to synchronize the lighting with the screen image. Ultimea equips the front left, front right, rear left, rear right, and subwoofer with lights. I love this!

The sound quality from the Apollo S70 Ultra is excellent. Voices and music are well-balanced, crisp, and distinct. The bass is room-filling without being muddy or overbearing. Dolby Atmos is absent, but I didn’t hear much difference between the Apollo and Poseidon D80 systems. For $249, the Apollo S70 is an outstanding value!

What I like about the Ultimea Apollo S70 Ultra system

Excellent sound for an excellent price
The LED backlighting is slick!

What needs to be improved?

It is not so much a con but more of a feature request – It would be cool if the LED backlight could be synchronized with the screen content.

Price: $259.99
Where to buy: Ultimea
Source: Ultimea provided a free sample for this review but did not provide input, guidance, or editing before publication.