SoundBar SB500

Vast improvement over your standard downblast speakers integral to your TV. This unit replaced a troublesome and more costly JBL system with Bluetooth subwoofer. Although we do not consider ourselves 'bassheads', we had become used to the subwoofer. We tested this unit w/ and w/o a wired subwoofer and decided we liked the richness the subwoofer provided. If you are not replacing a unit like we were, odds are the bass will be adequate. We were after something that was easy to install and use and this fits the bill. This unit does have some depth to it, about 6-inches, so be mindful if you want to position below a TV on a stand. If you are wall mounting or suspending below a TV (we hung below a 75-incher on an articulating mount), its perfect. We also wanted a unit that was easy to use; it does not get much simpler than this. No fussing with ARC HDMI cables, multiple inputs/outputs and the like. Comes with a nice digital optical cable that plugs into your TV and away you go. Bluetooth works flawlessly. LED display built-in behind the cover tells you volume level, surround output (three choices), and whether AccuVoice and sound leveling are on or off. You can easily adjust these settings and bass/treble from the robust remote (not the little credit card thing others offer). Has nice, big buttons on the end of the unit for power & volume. If you are looking for a well-built unit (with or without wired subwoofer) that can easily fill a 20x20 vaulted space with clear sound and crisp dialogue, this unit is for you. Anyone hard of hearing or tired of commercials blasting you out of the room (us in both cases), look no further. Researched several manufacturers and websites; doubt you can find a better deal in this price range. Stop your research, pull the trigger, you won't regret it.

Purchased a like-new refurbished unit from ZVOX through Amazon. Speaker arrived in new packaging with all new accessories and looks like it is brand new. This is an outstanding sound bar for the price. I've been looking at and listening to high end sound bars from Bowers and Wilkins and Paradigm, While they sound great they simply aren't worth five times the price of this bar in my view. If you value audiophile level sound but don't want to overpay I suggest you check this sound bar out. Additionally, built in Bluetooth and numerous sound settings allow a great deal of placement flexibiiity. Installation and setup were easy. Unpack the sound bar, set it on a table, plug the digital optical cable into it from your source device, plug in the sound bar power cord and use the remote control to power it up. That's it. Ten minutes max. I'm using this with an LG PF1500 HD Projector which projects 110 inch picture on my living room wall. I found a short stand to place the soundbar on and it sits out of the way below the wall. Quite a compact setup which plays music and movies with amazing dynamic range on a very large screen. The dynamic range, highs, mid range, and low end are finely balanced. I don't see the need for a subwoofer but an output is available. Music sounds very good and movies sound fantastic considering this is not a full 5.1 surround system. Trust me on this. In my basement I have an expensive 7.1 component sound system connected to a 65inch TV. That system is state-of-the-art but requires a lot of real estate and wiring. The SB500 can't compare in terms of surround capabilities but sonically it gets the job done with little wiring and lots less work. As you may know, ZVOX has several features which help refine and tune the sound output and they all work as expected. I tend to leave the settings neutral but with a slight bass level boost because of my large room. Surround settings 1 or 2 work best in my room. This soundbar turns itself on when a signal comes through the optical cable and turns off after about 15 minutes with no signal. A very useful feature. Would I like to have a $1500 B&W or Paradigm sound bar? Sure. I simply can't justify it knowing this sound bar comes close at one-fourth the price. Highly recommended.

I almost never give 5 stars, and the fifth star here is in light of the really good prices available on the SB500. It is amazingly good at it's price. In part that's because they aren't trying to get the bottom octave from a sub. Quality bass is always better than loud, flabby bass, and this speaker sounds clear and punchy, but it doesn't go that low. Adding a sub is up to you, but now you're spending a lot more, and maybe the Sonos would have been a better deal. The 500 is very good at what it does; it's very well made, easy to setup, and flexible. I'm even using it as a bluetooth speaker, and I've never done that with any other speaker. The surround programs basically just direct more signal to the drivers that are more to the edges, and the more they do that, the less pronounced the dialogue. Accuvoice is strange but effective. I don't have hearing loss, and when Accuvoice first engages, it sounds terrible, compressed and tinny, but after a minute it sounds fine, and it definitely emphasizes dialogue. This thing also gets plenty loud. In fact, it seems to have more power than it can use, but that is not much of a criticism.