Audio Video News

Soundbars

Vizio V21d-J8 Soundbar: $100

I know what you’re thinking… What kind of upgrade can you possibly expect from a soundbar that costs a hundred bucks? Actually, you can expect a sizable bump in sound quality compared with the abysmal speaker systems built into most of today’s TVs, where audio is at best an afterthought.

Though Vizio is mostly known for its TVs, the company has built a reputation in recent years for producing low-priced soundbars that sound shockingly good. You can add the V21d-J8 to the list. The soundbar is a simple 2.1-channel design that mates a pair of forward-facing full-range speakers with a couple of small woofers in a svelte, fabric-wrapped cabinet just over 2 inches tall and three feet wide. The system boasts DTS Virtual: X surround-sound processing and supports the convenience of Bluetooth streaming in addition to offering analog and (optical) digital inputs, including an ARC-enabled HDMI port.

Leslie Shapiro wasted no time getting right to the point in her review: “For the price, it can't be beat.” And this from a professional recording engineer who was impressed with the J8’s ability to muster “strikingly clear sound” with nice upper-bass impact on music and movies, including the low-budget sci-fi outing Breach, starring the ever-lovable Bruce Willis. For music, she played Lovd Ones x Benjah’s “Warrior Poet,” featuring her friend Sailor Jane on vocals. “Jane's sultry vocals were warm and natural, again with excellent high-end detail.” If you’re looking for a simple, low-cost soundbar, maybe for a bedroom or other secondary space, Vizio’s J8 just might be the best soundbar $100 can buy.

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Great value
Impressive dialogue clarity
Voice Assistant input
Minus
Lacks bass impact
Complicated LED display
Narrow soundstage

Full Review Here (posted 9/1/21)

Roku Streambar Pro: $180

The new Streambar Pro will run circles around the tin-can speakers built into your TV while offering something you won’t find in other soundbars: a built-in Roku media player that puts a whole host of TV and music streaming options at your fingertips. The bar is a bigger, better version of last year’s Streambar featuring four 2.5-inch drivers in a slender 32-inch enclosure (its predecessor crammed four 2-inchers into a cabinet only 14 inches wide) and a handful of audio settings, including one that automatically levels out the volume of TV commercials and another that engages virtual surround sound. Setup is a simple matter of connecting one cable (HDMI-ARC or optical digital) and the system supports 4K/HDR10 video. Roku provides a voice-enabled remote control with a headphone jack for private listening (earbuds included) and dedicated buttons for Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV+, and Hulu. You also have the option of streaming music via Bluetooth or Apple’s AirPlay.

Reviewer Michael Antonoff marveled at the sound quality from this unassuming soundbar: “The first 12 minutes of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker streamed over Disney+ were enough to sell me on the merits of the Streambar Pro. Sound seemed to mimic the direction of moving objects as a spaceship or asteroids hurtled across the screen complete with rumble…Its expansive cinema-like sound makes you forget you’re sitting at home instead of in a theater.” Roku offers a wireless subwoofer ($180) and pair of wireless surround speakers ($150) for those seeking a more robust experience.

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Room-filling sound
Enhances dialogue
Built-in Roku streaming interface
Minus
None worth noting

Full Review Here (posted 7/28/21)

Klipsch Cinema 1200 Soundbar System: $1,899

Klipsch to the rescue for anyone who wants to get in on a little 5.1.4 Dolby Atmos action without the complexity of a receiver-based theater setup with seven or more speakers. The Cinema 1200 is a 5.1.4 system featuring wood construction and comprising a 54-inch-wide Dolby Atmos-enabled soundbar with discrete left/center/right driver complements and an up-firing driver at either end, a pair of Atmos-enabled wireless surround speakers, and a wireless subwoofer rated down to 22 Hz that mates a 12-inch driver with 500 watts of system power in a beefy 16 x 20 x 16-inch (W x H x D) cabinet. This system rocks in more ways than one.

The soundbar supports Bluetooth streaming and includes a generous helping of connections: Analog and (optical) digital inputs plus four HDMI ports, one of which supports eARC (enhanced Audio Return Channel) and allows pass-through of video signals up to 8K in resolution. Setup is dead simple: Run a cable between your TV’s HDMI ARC (or eARC) connection, which lets you use your TV remote to adjust volume, and sit back while the wireless subwoofer and surround speakers automatically connect with the soundbar. The system provides six sound modes mdash; Movie, Music, Game, Party, Standard, and Direct (for passing discrete stereo or multichannel audio through unprocessed).

Reviewer Rob Sabin described the system’s music chops as very good to excellent but was really taken with its ability to reproduce movie soundtracks. “Movies proved to be the Cinema 1200’s real sweet spot, and Atmos soundtracks in Movie mode were a total treat due to excellent ceiling placement of the four virtual height channels (confirmed with Atmos test tones) and the backbone provided by the subwoofer on action flicks.” As one of the least expensive high-end soundbar systems available, the Klipsch Cinema 1200 over-delivers on value and sound quality. Editor’s note: Between the time the review was conducted and when it was posted on September 22, Klipsch increased the system price from $1,699 to $1,899.

AT A GLANCE
Plus
All-in-one 5.1.4 Atmos system
Stupendous dynamics
Great sound quality with music and movies
Class-leading 12-inch subwoofer
Minus
Ineffective surround processing of stereo music
No mic on remote or bar for Alexa and Google Assistant
No DTS decoding

Full Review Here (posted 9/22/21)

Subwoofers

OSD Audio Nero TubeBass 10 Subwoofer: $199 (up from $179 when reviewed)

I don’t know about you, but my first thought was “too good to be true” when I saw how much OSD is asking for its Nero TubeBass 10 subwoofer. Turns out, the little canister is a brute that offers ridiculous value for $179, while trading the usual black-box form factor for a 19 x 13-inch cylinder that packs a down-firing 10-inch driver and 400-watt amplifier. This is a subwoofer that won’t dominate the room. But given the low price, it’s also a no-frills design that (unavoidably) lacks wireless connectivity, app control, EQ presets, and DSP/automated room correction. Instead, you get the old-school basics: a volume control, a rotary dial for selecting a crossover point between 30 and 120 Hz, a phase switch, line-level RCA and LFE inputs, and a black-mesh-fabric-covered tube with rubber feet that provide stability and clearance for that down-firing woofer. That’s it.

For his evaluation, Al Griffin set up the TubeBass 10 in the corner of his 12 x 16-foot home theater and hitched it to a Rotel RSP-1576MKII surround processor feeding Elac Uni-Fi 2.0 speakers and set the Rotel’s low-pass crossover to 100 Hz. Then he ran some test tones and confirmed usable output down to 30Hz before firing up some music. Comparing Bill Frisell's "Blues Dream" from the CD With Dave Holland and Elvin Jones, Griffin was surprised with “how much bass OSD Audio's cylinder sub was actually generating in my room” and marveled with how tight and impactful the bass guitar and kick drum sounded on Roxy Music's "The Space Between" from Avalon on multichannel SACD. The little subwoofer also did an impressive job with movies, adding fullness and punch (sans infrasonic rumbling) to the mayhem in Pacific Rim without audible distortion. What more can you ask from a sub that costs less than 200 bucks?

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Inexpensive
Compact form factor
Good extension and output
Minus
Limited features
No wireless option

Full Review Here (posted 4/14/21)

SVS SB-1000 Pro and PB-1000 Pro Subwoofers: $500, $600

It’s really no surprise that two of the latest subwoofers from the bass specialists at SVS deliver impressive performance at budget-friendly prices. What many will find surprising is that the new, super-compact SB-1000 sealed sub and its ported big brother, the PB-1000 Pro, come equipped with the company’s best-in-class app, which makes it super easy to set up and fine-tune the performance of either sub, each of which mates a 12-inch woofer with a 325-watt RMS Class D amplifier. Instead of having to get down on your knees and crawl around to the back of the subwoofer, you can simply grab your phone (and a sound meter) and use the app to adjust a surprising range of parameters from your easy chair.

In addition to controlling volume and setting crossover points or correcting polarity, the app lets you adjust phase, select room gain compensation (to tame bloated bass in smaller rooms) and puts a highly flexible parametric equalizer with frequency and bandwidth (Q) controls at your fingertips. The app also provides three presets and a port tuning mode on the PB-1000 Pro with customized "Standard" and "Sealed" frequency response curves for maximizing low-frequency extension or output.

Switching out his regular SVS SB-3000 subwoofer (our 2019 Top Pick of the Year in subwoofers) for the new models in a 1,200 cubic-foot room, S&V’s resident bass guru David Vaughn was impressed by what he heard and felt while watching The Haunting, which features a reference-quality Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack known for its deep bass. In the scene where protagonist Nell flees for her life while being attacked by the evil spirit, the SB-1000 held its own but the “PB-1000's ability to go a bit deeper and play louder definitely enhanced the experience with bass that displayed more prominence and heft.” Conversely, while both subs also performed well with music, the SB-1000 Pro had the edge, rendering bass in the tight, punchy manner you’d expect from a sealed design. If you’re looking for good bass on a budget, you really can’t go wrong with either of these subwoofers. Editor’s note: SVS is raising the price of the SB-1000 by $100 and the PB-1000 by $200 (both with a black ash finish) on October 4th.

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Deep bass from a small box
Best-in-class control app
45-day in-home trial period
Minus
No auto-calibration/room correction
Best suited for smaller rooms

Full Review Here (posted 5/19/21)