VIZIO - 5.1-Channel V-Series Soundbar with Wireless Subwoofer and Dolby Audio 5.1/DTS Virtual:X - Black

I got this soundbar in order to complete my home theater setup and ditch my TV’s wimpy integrated speakers. Good sound makes a difference to the movie watching experience and I was happy with the performance I got from the Vizio V51-H6. DESIGN The soundbar and satellite speakers have a nice industrial design with their U-shaped textured black plastic and cloth cover over the speakers. The cloth does collect dust over time but can be cleaned with a vacuum. The soundbar is not that tall, but it did block the IR receiver of my Samsung TV so make sure to check that your TV stand is tall enough. The soundbar connects to the subwoofer wirelessly which allows an easy installation of the sub and the satellite speakers. The only wires are those connecting the wireless sub to the satellite speakers. The remote is intuitive and has a little screen that helps to navigate the setting menu. The only indicator on the soundbar is an array of vertical LEDs which help show the volume level as well as the type of audio connection. CONNECTIVITY The soundbar has an HDMI ARC port, headphone jack, and optical TOSLINK connector on top of the ability to connect via bluetooth. HDMI ARC and TOSLINK support only Dolby Digital 5.1 (compressed surround sound) or 2.1 PCM (uncompressed stereo). This means that the best sound that you can get from the Vizio V51-H is compressed 5.1 surround sound (Dolby Digital). In order to get uncompressed surround, you need a soundbar with an eARC connection or an HDMI-in port. You can only send a stereo audio signal using the headphone jack and bluetooth. When sending a stereo signal to the soundbar, you have the option to turn on a virtualized surround sound mode which will utilize the satellite speakers, the subwoofer, and the center channel of the soundbar. In my experience, the virtualized surround is actually pretty good. I conducted a couple of tests playing Dolby Digital 5.1 and then playing 2.1 PCM virtualized surround sound, and there wasn’t a perceptible difference. I had no trouble getting Dolby Digital 5.1 from my TV using ARC when streaming from HBO Max or Netflix, but I did have trouble getting it from my 4k blu-ray drive. I couldn’t force my blu-ray drive to convert DTS-HD MA to Dolby Digital on the fly using HDMI ARC. I would recommend using the optical TOSLINK connector directly from the blu-ray drive to the soundbar if you want DD 5.1. SOUND QUALITY This soundbar is a definite improvement over any integrated TV speakers since it gets very loud without distortion and can fill a large room. Each channel can be separately adjusted to your liking. I personally boosted the center channel for clearer dialogue in movies. The sub is fairly small, but it’s adequate for my medium sized living room. This soundbar is not without its quirks. When watching a movie for example, the audio from the soundbar occasionally lags because it is resyncing with the wireless sub. It might happen once or twice in every movie, but this is to be expected from any wireless sound system. Overall, the sound quality is great even with its quirks. TLDR: This soundbar is a great budget 5.1 surround sound system if you are ok with listening to compressed 5.1 surround sound (Dolby Digital). If you want uncompressed 5.1 PCM, then I would suggest looking into the Vizio M51a-H6.

This is our first soundbar/surround system, We bought it for 169.99 for black friday and for the price I think it's good bang for the buck. So much so that we also bought it for another friend. The box did not come with an optical cable even though it was advertised but in all probability you would still use it with an HDMI arc cable. There is only 1 port though. The sub is small but the bass is more than ample and it connects wirelessly to the sound bar so you have more flexibility on where to place it. Sometimes we hear some clipping while watching content buts it's rare. All in all pretty good deal

After many hours over a couple of days looking at reviews I finally found the one. Went to the store a half hour away because it was the only one with vizio on display and it sounded the best besides the JBL 9.1 which if you have the $1000 I'd say go for it but for budget vizio sounded the best to me. Note that maybe some were scewed reviews because at the store over half of the subwoofers wernt working but going just by the bar sound system without the sub vizio still won (I'm a bass head and approve) And paying the bit extra for the sourround (I believe the best quality for the cheapest sourround) was totally worth it considering some sound bars without sourround were more expensive. I will NOTE while adjusting your new sound system go into the effect and turn sourround sound to DUAL. I didn't really read the manual and missed this, dual allows your sourround sound to actually work 100% of the time, while it is sourround sound while set to ON not everything you listen to is 5.1 Dolby/set up for sourround specifically so it won't come through as sourround without DUAL on. So I spent like 2 months without sourround, while still good it's even better when they all work. Comes with all cables needed, I only had a port for optical/no hdmi audio output and it works fine, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. I will mention that the cables from the sub to the sourround/side speakers are VERY long so no need for extra cables, you'll have the freedom to put them anywhere, you'll just have to route the cables (they have to be connected to the sub to have power, but the sub doesn't connect to the sound bar so you can place anywhere) also I'd suggest putting the sub by/behind the couch for best effect, it'll shake the couch too ;) If you're looking for someone to finally tell you to buy this sound system then here it is: Buy this! It's worth the price, dont let name brands make you think otherwise so you spend an extra $100-200 for lesser quality... besides JBL's 9.1 haha