VIZIO VSB200 Universal HD Price Review

Product Overview intended for home theater fans, this Sound Bar will include cutting edge sound technologies like SRS TruSurroundHD for an enveloping sound experience and features like four 3 Inch high efficiency hand built mid/bass transducers and two ¾ Inch high performance aluminum dome neodymium tweeters. The VSB200 is the ideal edition to your home theater and will give you the HD sound experience you’ve generally wanted. VIZIO Where Vision Meets Value! extra Features Include: High Performance 32 Bit 150MHz DSP Audio Engine, remarkable Sound Pressure Level measuring 98dB SPL max @ 1M, Advanced 24 Bit Linear PCM to PWM Engine with integrated thermal, over current, over voltage, over current protection, new Virtualization & Volume Leveling Technology from SRS Labs, SRS TruSurround HD virtual surround, SRS TruVolume removes undesirable deafening commercials and channel to channel variances SPEAKER BAR DIMENSIONS ,Length: 39 5/8 Inch,Depth 4.26 Inch deep,Height: 4.67 Inch with stand, 3.69 Inch without stand

128 of 128 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of five stars Shockingly Big Sound!, January 17, 2011
By Deuga See all my reviews This review is from: VIZIO VSB200 common HD Sound Bar (Electronics) We newly bought a new Vizio LCD TV for the bedroom. The TV is great, but the sound quality is thin as is the case with nearly all LCD TVs. When I learned the price of this Vizio soundbar and saw the reviews, I came to the conclusion that this is a no brainer.

It produces amazingly broad sound without a sub woofer (a sub woofer in a bedroom looks like overkill anyway). It fills the space wonderfully.

A not many pointers:

The is an enclosed set of speakers with an amplifier. The soundbar doesn’t supply any treble/bass/equalizer control over the sound. , it simply transmits the sound depending on the input source. Modern TV’s tend to have good audio controls for treble and bass. This is where you’ll control the breadth of the sound. The soundbar does but enable you to turn on or off SRS Surround. From trying it on and off, I found that ‘on’ sounds much better. I read one professional audio review of this sound bar that said half jokingly, ‘just turn on the SRS Surround then break the switch’. I could have to agree.

If your ordering the soundbar from you may think about ordering the toslink audio optical cable simultaneously. They now cost $2.77 with free shipping. At that cost for the improved sound quality it is an unbelievable bargain.

The soundbar has one weakness, as was portrayed many times from other reviewers. Out of the box the remote has a restricted range. The problem isn’t the remote, it is the IR receiver on the soundbar has not got a clear line of sight to the remote from all directions. Vizio commmitted an engineering blunder here, but as mentioned by a last reviewer this is easily solved:
Carefully remove the speaker grill. It is connected with rubber plugs that hold it in. Start from one end, it will come right off.
On the bottom right side you will see the LED lights and to the left of the lights, you will see the little black IR signal receptor.
The back side of the grill is a plastic honeycomb. Just cut a square out of the honeycomb to make room for the IR signal being cautious to avoid cutting the speaker grill cloth simultaneously. I used a pair of wire cutters.
Once I did this simple manuevuer I had an excellent signal from the remote from all directions.

If you are on a budget and want big sound at a reasonable price for your living room TV, I think this is an excellent choice. I could purchase this without a sub woofer. Once you hear it you may be able to judge if to use up extra on a sub woofer.

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145 of 146 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of five stars Fixed the Remote Issue, November 9, 2010
By FixedIt See all my reviews This review is from: VIZIO VSB200 common HD Sound Bar (Electronics) If you have one of these.You have to remove the speaker grill. Look on the lower right side and you will notice an opening for the LED indicators, but they failed to create one in the framing to accommodate the IR receiver. Some snips with many sidecutters and you may be able to crack the problem. My remote now works flawlessly from all angles at a significant distance.

I dont have room or need for a subwoofer in this application and this sound bar was perfect, at the price I couldn’t pass it up.

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251 of 262 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of five stars The Good, The Bad, The., November 22, 2009
By fisherKing (Brooklyn, NY) See all my reviews This review is from: VIZIO VSB200 common HD Sound Bar (Electronics) I got this for $99. Refurbished; no tax, free shipping. Read all the reviews (here & elsewhere), and seemed like a great deal.

Easy setup. I bought an optical audio cable in advance, so could hook that up to my samsung tv. Hooked an airport express up to the analog inputs (wireless itunes from my macbook). At 1st, thought the unit was dead; no audio. Turns out the remote didn’t work. Replaced the battery and.Still nothing. Emailed the merchant. But.Bent the battery contacts carefully with a small screwdriver, and now it is working. Shouldn’t have had to do this.

The unit sounds great. I typically don’t use the surround gimmick (but it sounds great on “big” movies, ie “the 5th element”, etc). Remote works ok, it must be pointed in the right place.

What i do not like: when i 1st took it out of the box, it may sit right up against my tv; but, with the cables (in the back center), it has to stick out a bit. Shame the cables were not on the back to one side. And the silver plate with “vizio” is a mistake; my eye is drawn to it periodically; the unit could be better all black (like many of soundbars); i want to watch the tv, not the soundbar. The remote not working, and now, working (but finicky).

Still, in general, a great deal (even new at $150). The remote may be better, could be nice to have many eq settings alternatives (even presets like “movie” “stadium” etc), but a great deal in general and worlds better than the interior speakers in most tvs.

3 1/2 stars really (docked a 1/2 for the remote).

EDIT: bumped up 1/2 star. Vizio (quickly) sent me a new remote; i also removed the faceplate (and replaced the default ‘legs’ with small black rubber ones.
And am happy(er).

EDIT 2: two days afterward, and the new remote stopped working. Had to bend the battery clips inside this one also. So three 1/2 stars after all.!

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