The Dragon system plays loud, and its dual subwoofer configuration configuration brings a heavy dose of deep bass.
Its more akin to an AV receiver in its design, features, and execution.
The Dragon isnt as feature-packed as expected given its relatively lofty price.
At 58.1 inches wide, the Dragon requires a substantial TV stand for support
Basic setup of the Dragon soundbar system is surprisingly easy, however.
The Dragon systems sound does its name justice.
But if your main thing is action movies or gaming, theres not too much here to complain about.
The Dragon soundbar and surround speakers use matching 1.5-inch Air Motion tweeters.
If that all sounds appealing to you, youll find the Dragon to be a good value.
Theres no onboard Wi-Fi for streaming, but the Dragon soundbar does support Bluetooth aptX HD for streaming music.
Along with these, 3-inch drivers are located on the soundbars side panels for an enhanced surround sound effect.
The Dragon’s dual subwoofers are fairly tall, but can be tucked unobtrusively into the corners of a room.
Nakamichis tall, tower-like dual-opposing wireless subwoofers each house a pair of eight-inch drivers inside a ported cabinet.
At 32 pounds (14.5kg), its also a heavy one not surprising given its stainless steel enclosure.
The same design chops carry over to the Omni-Motion Reference wireless surround speakers, which also get optional stands.
The Dragon soundbar’s rear input ports include 4 HDMI 2.1 ports (1 w/ eARC)
Nakamichi Dragon review: Setup & usability
The basic setup of the Dragon system was incredibly easy.
So much for the easy part the next part of the setup was much more laborious.
Nakamichi gives you an easy out by providing Small, Medium, and Large room options.
The Dragon surround speakers have matching tweeter-woofer arrays on either side to deliver rear and side surround channel, and there’s an upward-firing driver on top for Atmos height channels.
With 11.2.6 total channels for the Dragon system I tested, were talking a lot of speakers to adjust!
The effort was completely worth it, though, since sound clarity and bass evenness received an immediate boost.
Theres also a Dragon control app that gives you many of the same adjustments.
The Dragon’s full featured remote provides instant access to many adjustments for tweaking the system’s sound on the fly.
My annoyance with this was mainly during my initial setup and early use, however.
And for under $1,000, theres theLG S95TR, a 9.1.5-channel system.
Another option is theSony Bravia Theater Quad(around $2,200).
The Dragon soundbar’s top-panel control buttons
Finally, the Dragons $3,000 price is a threshold where you should also consider an AV receiver-based system.
But going the AV receiver route means running wires lots of them plus a more complicated setup.
Should I buy the Nakamichi Dragon?
The Nakamichi Dragon with its two subs in my home.
Here’s our fullSonos Arc Ultra review.
Bonus points if you own an LG TV, which provides features to enhance the S95TRs performance and usability.
Here’s our fullLG S95TR review.
Here’s our fullSamsung HW-Q990D review.
I have 20-plus years of experience reviewing home theater speaker systems and components, including soundbar systems.
